Lot# 8012

tied by a struck of double-circle English datestamp “FORMOSAN REPUBLIC / TAINAN”, dated October 15, 1895. Posted barely ten days before the fall of Formosan Republic, when Japanese forces were already advancing toward Tainan, this cover evidences that the local official postal system was still functioning and capable of maintaining external mail dispatches to Hong Kong. It vividly illustrates the Republic’s determination to uphold its postal service and international communications despite imminent collapse. A rare and highly significant example of outgoing mail from the final days of the Formosan Republic, of great historical and philatelic importance. Ex Meiso Mizuhara Collection.