Lot 20552 – 1901 Postcard to Italy underfranked by 2c by the British P.O., in combination with China 2c

1901 (June 24) German illustrated postcard « Count Waldersee inspecting the Italian troops » from the « Forte Italiano »in Taku to Italy, bearing C.I.P. 2c tied by bilingual « Tangku » cds on dispatch, and similar type of Shanghai at right, entering the British P.O. in Shanghai with Hong Kong 1900-01 2c tied by corresponding Shanghai cds, with British 2c not applied and taxed on arrival with « T » and « 05 » (5c) in ms to be collected on delivery. Interesting sender’s text: « …one year that we are confined within these four trenches, is this the solution? We are unaware of everything, here we learn the news from the Italian newspapers which arrived once every three months », demonstrating the state of mind of part of the troops and the deficient service of the mail. A rare underfranked mail and probably a unique combination as such.