HISTORAMA AUCTION #7 - 'Buy or Bid' Sale

Rare incoming mail to small Jewish settlement (Mesha-Tavor): 15-04-1914 commercial cover on business stationary ("Cloth and Manufactory Trade | A. U. Katznelson" - суконно-мануфактурная торговля) from OVRUCH Ukraine to "Colonie MESHA-TABOR near Tiberias" & addressed in French to P. Katznelson c/o J. Rotblatt, franked on reverse (probably standard overseas letter rate) & tied by 1 strike of local postmark on front and 2x on back; backstamped 8-5-1914 CAIFA transit via the Austrian Postal service (postmark Ba 115) which handled mail to the Jewish settlements & 9-5-1914 TIBERIADE (Tiberias) arrival via the Ottoman Turkish post (black postmark Ba 813).

Addressee may be Pinchas Katznelson, who appears to have been of a Hassidic lineage (grandson of Rabbi Yitzchak, son of Rabbi Yehudah) but of a more secular orientation, involved in the forestry business, who returned to Russia later that year and stood to be drafted into the army in September & possibly a distant relative of the Zionist leader Berl Katznelson who was in Northern Israel at that time. Joseph Rotblatt was born in the settlement, was a friend of the future Palmach commander Yigal Allon - also a settlement native, and was killed in 1937 while serving as a 'Noter' (settlement guard). The Jewish settlement is now known as Kfar Tavor & was established in 1901 and initially called by the name of an earlier nearby Moslem town called Mesha (Mecha/Miskha). Backflap missing. Rare mail of a tiny settlement, especially as overseas incoming mail + as cover and not postcard.
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This lot is being offered in a buy or bid sale format, whose initial buyout price is: $449. This price will rise by about 5-10% for every new bid received once the bid level passes the midway mark between the starting bid price and the initial buyout price. In such cases please check the latest buyout price on our homesite or contact us.
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Product Tags: Holylandish, Russian, Ukrainian, Philately - Postal Covers, Holyland Colonies and Postal History from Holyland, Russia, Ukraine, and from 1904-1914 2nd Aliya, 20th Century, 1910s which are Philately - Small Locales, Philately - Significant Addresses/Persons, Unique/Discovery Piece, Philately - Unusual Origin, Destination or Postal Link, Philately - Earliest/Latest, First/Last & Proving dates or places