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 #5091 AUSTRIA Naval and Maritime Mail 1914-18 Danube River Flotilla during World War One, collection of 33 covers or cards presented on exhibit pages, variety of "K.u.K.Donauflottillenkomando" (imperial and Royal Danube Flotilla Headquarters), FPO markings, cachets of "SMS Leitha" and "Maros", the oldest monitors in the fleet, mailed from Giurgiu (Romania) and Orsovo (Hungary), others from "Koros" and "Szamos", censored mail from "S.M.S. Bosna" sent through the Black Sea to support activities in Ukraine, written by a crew member at Kherson on the Dnieper River. Numerous other monitor cachets are included, such as red "S.M.S. Temes", "Bodrog", "Inn", "Enns", "Barsch", "Compo", "Viza", also from patrol boats, Armed Steamers, Auxiliary vessels, Shore Station cachets, numerous censor and Naval markings, mixed condition, scarce (The campaigns of the Danube Flotilla could literally be called a backwater of the Great War. During Peacetime, the flotilla was responsible for enforcing the border with Serbia, patrolling the Danube down to the Iron Gates, up the Sava to the mouth of the Drina and sometime up the Drina (water level permitting) and occasionally up other tributaries of the Danube, mostly chasing smugglers. However, the flotilla gained a place in history when its ships fired the first shots of the war)  | Price Realized $3,000.00 |
 | Lot #5092 AUSTRIA Naval and Maritime Mail 1916-17 Austro-Hungarian Submarines, three cards displayed on exhibit page, one from "K.u.K.Kriegsmarine Monarch", others from "U-6" and "U-21", sent from Cattaro, Sibenik and Pola, first one showing cachet of Headquarters of the I.& R Submarine Group in Gulf of Cattaro, very scarce | Price Realized $475.00 |
 | Lot #5093 AUSTRIA Naval and Maritime Mail 1917-18 Danube Flotilla River gunboats, three cards addressed to Vienna, each originating in Romania (Orsova, Turnnu-Severin and Braila), showing different cachets of Danube Flotilla Headquarters and "K.u.K.Etappenpostampt 348", "Hadtap Postahivatal 449" and "K.u.K.Feldpostampt 299" markings, fine and uncommon group displayed on exhibit page | Price Realized $270.00 |
