Lot# 9053

posted 24 October 1953 from Kaesong to Kolin, this airmail cover was franked by the sender with 16,000 yuan in four stamps, applying the 6th Postal Tariff Period rates instead of those of the current period. The mail passed through the CPV Military Post Office at Antung, showing its transit marking, and was cancelled at the No. 6 Peking Sub-Post Office at Changan Avenue West on 28 October, a post office officially designated for handling Armistice Commission correspondence. Under the 7th Postal Tariff Period, the correct rate for a 20g airmail letter to Eastern Europe was 13,000 yuan (comprising 2,200 yuan for the surface letter rate plus 10,800 yuan for the air surcharge at 5,400 yuan per 10g × 2), making this cover overpaid by 3,000 yuan. This is a significant postal history item showing how Korean Armistice mail was carried through the CPV military postal network and formally processed by PRC civilian postal authorities in Peking, illustrating the operational interplay between the two postal systems during the post-Armistice period.