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USSR – 1928 – High-Rate Official TASS Agency Registered Express Surface Cover to Denmark – Gold Standard Issue

Main Description

Official international surface cover sent from the Soviet TASS news agency in Moscow to the Ritzaus Bureau in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 9 February 1928. Dispatched under a mathematically exact combination of Registration and Express surface services with a flawless 58 Kopeks franking from the Soviet Gold Standard issue using the 8k Worker and 50k brown bearded Peasant stamps, the cover features complete Moscow Telegraph office cancels and a clear Danish arrival postmark on the reverse.

Overview

This exceptional interwar Soviet Union postal history document features the official printed Cyrillic state business header of the Telegrafnoye Agentstvo Soyuza Sovetskich Socialisticheskich Respublik (TASS), located at Armyanski per., d. No. 13 in Moscow. The envelope tracks a high-priority institutional press correspondence addressed to the Ritzaus Bureau (Dansk Telegrambureau) at Ny Ostergade 3 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The front accumulates premium speed and security labels of the period: a light pink R MOSCOU / No. 123 registration label and a magenta bicultural Russian-French delivery label reading NAROCHNYM / EXPRES. It is franked with a dual-stamp combination from the 1923-1927 Gold Standard definitive series totaling exactly 58 Kopeks: a single 8k brown-olive stamp depicting the young Worker profile and a heavy 50k dark brown large-format stamp featuring the portrait of a bearded Peasant modeled after Ivan Shadr’s iconic 1923 revolutionary design. Both stamps are beautifully tied by circular bicultural MOSKVA / TELEG. P. 36 / 9.2.28 departure cancels. The reverse (dorsum) features philatelic tracking notations alongside a pristine, perfectly centered circular Danish arrival sorting handstamp reading KOBENHAVN K. / 13.2.28, documenting a swift express surface transit time of just four days across Eastern Europe.

Postal Rate Analysis

The total heavy franking of 58 Kopeks corresponds exactly to the official international tariffs regulated by the Soviet postal administration under UPU guidelines in early 1928 for multi-service premium surface envelopes. The rate breaks down perfectly as follows: 28 Kopeks for the basic international surface letter fee (up to 20 grams), 12 Kopeks for the fixed international registration fee, and an 18 Kopeks international express (delivery by messenger) surcharge. The combined 8k and 50k Gold Standard stamps provided a mathematically flawless, single-envelope tariff solution without a single kopek of overfranking.

Technical Details

• Country of Origin: USSR (Soviet Union)
• Year of Issue: 1928 (Dispatched 9 February 1928, Arrived 13 February 1928)
• Item Type: Official Registered Express Surface International Cover (Front and Reverse)
• Franking: 58 Kopeks exact (One 8k brown-olive young Worker and one 50k dark brown bearded Peasant Gold Standard definitive stamps)
• Postal Rate: 58k official international surface letter (28k) + registration (12k) + express (18k) rate
• Postmarks: MOSKVA Telegraph Office circular departure cancels on front and complete KOBENHAVN K. circular arrival delivery datestamp (13.02.1928) on reverse
• Condition: Very Fine (VF) clean condition on both sides, pristine labels, exceptional edge preservation for an institutional item, and highly crisp cancellations