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 #5277 BRITISH COMMONWEALTH AUSTRALIAN FORCES IN CHINA - BOXER UPRISING 1900 collection of 14 covers or cards displayed on 13 exhibit pages, with a cover from FPO 4 (Tientsin), with C.E.F. franking, addressed to a Staff Surgeon Nickson in Newcastle, paying 1p concessionary rate to NSW military personnel, cover from FPO 1 (Peking Legation Gate), with 1a C.E.F. franking, addressed to Sydney, with "New South Wales Naval Contingent in China" handstamp (the only recorded (!) example), Chinese 1c stationery card with C.E.F. and 1c and 2c Coiling Dragons franking, sent from FPO 1 (Peking Legation Gate), via Hong Kong to New South Wales, Naval Contingent mail, three covers with "N.S.W. Naval Contingent" cachet, sent from FPO 7 (Tartar City) and FPO 1 (Legation Gate) to Sydney; C.E.F. 1/2a stationery entire envelope with additional 1/2a franking, sent to a Naval Officer in Newcastle, Concessionary rate not recognized and "3d" Postage Due assessed on arrival in NSW (this is the only recorded example of Postage Due charged on Naval Contingent mail); also incoming mail, two covers (one quite fragile, missing some of the coverback) addressed to Contingent members in Peking (only two covers and two coverfronts recorded). In addition, there is a cover from South Australia inbound to "H.M.C.S. Protector" at Hong Kong (the only recorded example of mail related to South Australian participation in suppressing the Boxer uprising), two covers from FPO 4 and Base Office B (both at Tientsin), sent by members of the Victorian Naval Contingent (only eight such covers recorded). An important collection, usual condition, extremely rare (as part of the British contribution to putting down the Boxer uprising, the Australian Colonies sent a number of expeditionary forces to China. At the time, the majority of Australian forces were engaged in the Boer War in South Africa so Naval contingents from three Australian states (South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria), including reservists and ex-navy personnel, were sent to offer support through coastal defense. The first Australian contingents, mostly from New South Wales and Victoria, sailed in August 1900. Australian personnel sent to northern China arrived too late to be engaged in combat. Six Australians died of sickness and injury and none were killed as a result of enemy action)  | Unsold |
