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 #5063 United States Army at War - World War II 1942-45 "The ALCAN Highway Project", a single frame (16 panes) exhibit of 27 covers or cards, mail from various APOs along the route, mail from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Official registered cover from the Office of the Chief of Engineers in Washington, D.C. to the Engineering Liaison Office on the Alcan Highway project, paying 30c Special Service fee, mail from HQ at Fort St. John, BC, others from Muskwa, Fort Nelson, Morris Lake, various "Free" frank letters from Watson Lake, Carcross, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, including Registered and censored mail, covers from engineering regiments on Canol Project, NWT, etc., mixed condition, very rare (following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, American leaders were concerned with the vulnerability of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska to Japanese aggression. Military leaders proposed a land route that would transport troops and equipment to Alaska and isolated outposts that otherwise would have to be supplied by air and sea. Wartime necessity put into action prewar plans for the construction of a road through the Canadian wilderness from Dawson's Creek to Fairbanks. The U.S.Army sent an Engineer provisional brigade of approximately 9,000 men that included segregated African American units. A total of 10,607 U.S. Army Engineer soldiers worked on the road, of which 3,695 were African American. The difficulties encountered in building the Highway were enormous. First, the climate dictated that there were only four months of good construction weather, and even then poor conditions hindered topographic surveys, route reconnaissance, and construction itself. Frequent rain caused delays. Flies and mosquitos tormented the soldiers. The rest of the year brought extreme cold and deep snow. Second, soldiers were forced to live in tents year-round and frequently had to subsist on monotonous rations. Lack of heavy equipment, especially specialized machinery and tools, meant much of the clearing and transport work had to be done through arduous manual labor, exhausting soldiers already working extra shifts during the long summer days. Though the Japanese threat to Alaska and Canada that had prompted the construction of the Alaska Highway had faded by 1943, the road nevertheless served as a vital conduit for the construction of airfields and other military infrastructure. This infrastructure served not only routine coastal defense but also was a vital base to transfer Lend-Lease aircraft to the Soviet Union during the war. The highway opened to the public in 1948, allowing access to remote areas of Canada, and has become a popular scenic tourist route, a notable legacy for what was a significant military engineering achievement of U.S. Army Engineers)  | Price Realized $950.00 |
