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 #5131 BULGARIA First Balkan War 1912-13 collection of 46 covers, cards, Parcel and Money Order forms, neatly displayed and written-up on exhibit pages, starting with first day of fighting, Field Hospital cachet on cover from Kaybilare (17 Oct 1912) to Rustchouk, numerous Army unit cachets, including "Bulgarian Army Occupation Forces Authority", "First Field Army and the Headquarters of the Cavalry Division", Field Hospital "Yambolska Military Hospital" (addressed to Geneva), Money Order for 9 Leva sent from "Gumurdjina" to Sofia, bilingual markings on cards and Telegraph form from "Kavala" (today, a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia), also "Kechane", "Koukouch", "Lozengrad", "Okdjilar", "Porto-Lagos", "Pravechta", "Saray", "Soflou" and "Sofoulia" (one of only two recorded), "Tsaribrode", "Zaribod-Gare", various markings from "New Bulgaria", used in Xanthy, Dedeagatch, Soloun, other towns in Eastern and Western Thrace, few Registered (rare), also card and cover from the Second Balkan War, used from Odrin and Samokov, mostly fine. An insightful presentation (The First Balkan War was an unmitigated disaster for the Ottoman Empire. Bulgaria mobilized nearly 600,000 men and fielded a well equipped and professionally trained army, focusing on actions in Thrace and Macedonia)  | Price Realized $2,400.00 |
 | Lot #5132 BULGARIA First Balkan War 1913 ("Liberated Towns") exhibit page with postcard and two 5st stationery cards with bilingual (Cyrillic/Latin) pmks, including "Alpolou" (18 Jan 1913), Dedeagatch (14 May) and "Dmotika" (9 Feb), first and last addressed to Sofia, the other to Smyrna, minor card creases, otherwise fine. The "Alpolou" marking is considered to be one of the rarest from this period, only two or three examples recorded | Price Realized $475.00 |
 | Lot #5133 BULGARIA First Balkan War 1913 (28 Feb) Ottoman Patriotic envelope (red Coat of Arms on reverse), sent from Lozengrad to Rousse, with red cachet in Cyrillic, reading "Hospital of the Community of St. George of the Russian Red Cross Society", bilingual arrival pmk (4.III.1913), fine and rare, if not unique marking (although not an active participant in the fighting, Russia provided humanitarian assistance to its Slavic brothers in Bulgaria during the conflict) | Unsold |
