[marghes]

Hello to everybody. That's my first post. I apologize if i write it in english, but my polish is still too poor. Let me know what do you think.

The letter i want to show you has been sent from Warsaw to Oppeln (Opole), in Slesia (Schlesien) throught Myslowitz. On the front, the red postmark WARSZAWA and the transit postmark AUS RUSSLAND. On the back, the postmark of the train post office MYSLOWITZ KANDRZYN. The postal rate for these letters would have been 3 sgr (10 kopecs) if prepaid, 5 sgr if not prepaid. The letter has been marked at the beginning with a 3 (sgr), but after the 3 has been cancelled and changed with a 5, which is the correct rate for non prepaid letter. So far, nothing special.

What has to do with all of this the 35 kopecs stamp (1917, Mi 118) and the mute cancel in the top-right corner?

Mute cancels similar to this were introduced at the beginning of the war to cancel stamps. There are in a wide range of shapes. The one used in Warsaw, for instance, was made by six concentric circles. In reality, this is an easy forgery in which i fall down like a stupid. A prephilatelic letter can be found on the market at cheap prices. A common forgery consists of adding stamps, hinged perhaps, anyway cheap and common, and a fake cancel, getting in this way a much more interesting letter with russian stamps used in Poland.

Some postmarks used in the prephilatelic period were in use even after the 1858, so, the resulting letter could not appear strange. But in this case maybe, that's too much. What has to do a stamp of 1917 with a letter sent 60-70 years before? Which postal rate is 35 kopecs? What has to do a mute cancel on a stamp of 1917, when in 1917 those cancels were not in use anymore?