The Alfred F. Kugel Collection, Part Three
February 11-12, 2025
Welcome to the third sale dedicated to material meticulously assembled by Alfred "Al" F. Kugel over a multidecade effort to build an expansive collection of philatelic and postal history items focused on military conflicts of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Upon his passing in 2022, Al Kugel entrusted the American Philatelic Society (APS) with his entire philatelic estate, including 180 boxes of philatelic literature and military postal history material. Much of the material offered across the first three sales has not appeared on the market for decades, many of the items originally acquired through Cherrystone Auctions, where Al was a frequent and valued client. Now, this exceptional collection returns to the marketplace, offering collectors a rare opportunity to acquire significant pieces enriched by Al's extensive scholarship and research.
Al's collection spans global conflicts and military mail from the late 19th century through modern times, with a focus on the break-up of Austrian, German, Ottoman Empire and Russian Empires, military campaigns in the Balkans, with Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Allied Interventions in China during the Boxer Rebellion and in Russia during the Civil War as well as the two World Wars and their aftermaths. An extraordinary array of regional Military and Naval mail from those violent actions form the core of Al's exhibits, China, Japan, and other nations.
This sale will take place via CherrystoneLIVE
| Images | Description | Current Bid |
 | Lot #5076 ALBANIA Italian Occupation of Albania 1914-43 The Italians on Saseno (Sazan), collection of 10 covers or cards, well described on exhibit pages, showing three stages of Italian Involvement on Saseno, from the first Military Occupation into the post-World War I period, followed by the formal annexation in 1923 and use of Italian postage on the island for the next 20 years. The collection includes censored mail, Fieldpost "Comando Distaccamento R.Marino Sasseno" markings, "Isola Saseno Comando", "Saseno/Isola", Registered cover used 12 Mar 1943 to Bazi, with a new unit cachet ("Headquarters Royal Navy Detachment Saseno"), mixed condition, unusual group (Italy occupied Saseno in 1914 and established a military post. After World War I, Albania formally ceded the island to Italy and it became administratively part of Lagosta, in the province of Zara. In those years the Italian authorities built a lighthouse and some naval fortifications, and populated the island with a few families of fishermen relocated from Apulia. The island was united with the Italian Governorate of Dalmatia in 1941 during World War II and ceded back to Albania in 1947)  | Price Realized $1,100.00 |
