Lot# 8010

tied by a strike of double-circle English datestamp “FORMOSAN REPUBLIC / TAINAN”, dated October 15, 1895. Posted barely ten days before the fall of Formosan Republic, this cover was sent during a time of great political turmoil, when Japanese forces were about to occupy Tainan. Despite the imminent collapse of the regime, the local postal authority continued to maintain external communications, a remarkable testament to the Republic’s determination to preserve administrative order and autonomy even in its final days. This cover stands as a rare surviving example of Tainan Local Post’s external correspondence, evidencing the brief but genuine operation of Taiwan’s independent postal system following the cession from the Qing Empire. It further illustrates the continuation of foreign trade and private correspondence during the last phase of the Republic. An item of outstanding historical and philatelic importance for the study of Taiwan’s postal evolution and the operation of Formosan Republic’s postal administration. Ex Meiso Mizuhara Collection.