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 #5003 United States Intervention in China 1900-41 Postal History of the American Forces in China, exhibit documenting the history of the American military involvement in China, from participation in the multinational intervention to suppress the Boxer Uprising until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The story gives emphasis to the large variety of postal markings used on mail from the U.S. Army, Navy and Marine personnel deployed to China, with earliest and latest known postmarks, Registered mail, incoming markings, various Military Stations, studies of rates and other relevant information, eloquently conveyed by Mr. Kugel, who spent several decades acquiring this material. The collection includes a cover from General Chafee (commander of the U.S. forces in China Relief Expedition) to General Randolph in South Carolina, forerunner mail sent through the Japanese Post Office, U.S. Postal Station in Tientsin, registered cover from Germany, with rare "Received Military Postal Station No.1 China" pmk (less than 5 recorded), plus many others. With over 180 covers and cards, this collection can be easily transformed into a gold-medal presentation  | Price Realized $13,000.00 | |
 | Lot #5004 United States Intervention in China 1900 (20 Sep) Legation of the United States of America, Peking, China diplomatic cover sent from Peking without postage, assessed Postage Due of 2 cents when handled at the Military Postal Station in Tientsin, with "Due Cents" and "2" in blue crayon, returned to sender, with Oct.4 M.P.S. No.1 arrival, fine, one of the only two (!) recorded examples of the Due marking on China Relief Expedition mail | Price Realized $2,200.00 |
 | Lot #5005 United States Intervention in China 1900 (20 Sep) cover to Port Carbon, Pa, endorsed "Soldier's Mail", franked with C.E.F. Indian stamps prepaying the UPU rate, nevertheless not recognized and assessed Postage Due of 2 cents when handled at the Military Postal Station in Tientsin, with "Due Cents" and "2" in blue crayon, fine, with arrival (21 Oct) pmk on back, one of the only two (!) recorded examples of the Due marking on China Relief Expedition mail | Price Realized $3,250.00 |
 | Lot #5006 United States Intervention in China 1904 (30 June) cover from New York to Kobe, Japan, franked with 5c Louisiana-Purchase, seized by the Russians during its Trans-Pacific journey on "S.S. Calchas", recaptured during the Russian retreat from Southern Manchuria in August, when it received "Delayed in Transmission having been Intercepted by Russians on board "CALCHAS", various blue crayon markings, finally arriving Kobe on 9 Sep 04, filing fold and some hinge marks, interesting cover used during the Russo-Japanese War | Price Realized $625.00 |
 | Lot #5007 United States Intervention in China 1905 (28 July) cover from Captain John Pershing (later General "Black Jack" Pershing, commander of the AEF in WWI), an observer in the Russo-Japanese War attached to General Kuroki Tamemoto's Japanese First Army in Manchuria, initially addressed to his wife care of American Legation in Tokyo, forwarded care of "Taft Party" in Manila (where then Secretary of State William Howard Taft was on an inspection tour), transit and arrival pmks, some cover wear, scarce and appealing item | Price Realized $750.00 |
 | Lot #5008 United States Intervention in China 1906 (15 June) cover (opened for display) from Buffalo, NY to Batavia, Dutch East Indies, with a manuscript direction "Please forward to Pekin, China", backstamped at Batavia, Weltevreden and Soerabaja, Hong Kong, Tientsin, Peking, where it was endorsed "Not in American Legation Guard, Peking, China", turned over to the Japanese Post Office and returned back to sender after five months. A well traveled cover | Price Realized $1,000.00 |
