Historama Autumn Mail Auction #5

Early Israeli outbound mail: undated surface mailed cv ("Mataf" stationary) ex J'LEM (no r/a), addressed entirely in Arabic to "Dear respectable friend Jacop Yousef who is living in house number 13/91 in Hedar Khan area BAGHDAD", franked 20m per period surface rate to non-UK destination using 4x Mand. Pictorals 5m (Ba93; interim franks not authorized for outbound mail) & tied by 2 strikes of J'LEM Minhelet Ha'am "Rosette" pmks of the temporary Sorting Office (the only location where interim pmk could be used to cancel outbound mail; in J'LEM only 3 items known cancelled by Mandate devices) - as this not open to public, cv probably deposited in street post box; here, rare combination possible only for 2 days: 13 May was FD of Rosette pmk & 14 May was last day of use of Mandate stamps.

Cover was posted at height of siege on J'LEM & probably taken on 2nd convoy to TLV (carried mail posted 13 May - 21 June; arr. 21/06); as not reg. mail, no b/s; as lacking any other postal marks/IMs ("no service", RtS, DLO, arrow/circle) - esp. "DLO" as in JAFFO, not J'LEM, VERY PROBABLY DELIVERED: absence of Heb. writing/interim franks/Isr. r/a may have helped; also, J'LEM not recognized then by UN as part of Israel (i.e. Doar Ivri stps could not be transported to J'LEM via Latrun road under UN guard) + surface mail more improvised than period airmail routes - this unique: Iraq has had no postal relations w/Israel since her founding on 15 May '48 (Jews persecuted & Zionism criminalized in 1948), but Israel didn't officially suspend such service herself (so didn't stop this mail transmission): probably carried via SS "Kedmah" to 3rd country on route to Marseille via Genoa & other ports. Possibly the last Mandate/Israel mail to reach Iraq before actual postal suspension effected. Opened roughly, few tears; some repair; toning; o/w fine & highly unusual.