Lot# 9055

airmail cover sent from Panmunjom, North Korea to Poznan, Poland, mailed by a Polish member of the Korean War Armistice Supervisory Commission. The cover bears inscriptions in Polish, English, and Korean, with the sender’s location typed as “PANNMUNJOM – KOREA”, addressed to a Polish delegate of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, it is franked with a single R series Tiananmen 8,000 yuan stamp, canceled with “PEKING 53.11.3” cds and handled by the Parcel Section of the Peking Post Office, which managed diplomatic and neutral commission mail. The reverse bears a “WARSAW 8.11.53” transit, showing that the mail traveled via Moscow and arrived in Poland five days later. This cover was sent during the 7th Postal Tariff Period (1 May 1953 - 31 December 1954). At that time, the correct airmail rate to Eastern Europe was 7,600 yuan, consisting of 2,200 yuan for the first 20 grams of international letter postage plus 5,400 yuan for each 10 grams of airmail surcharge. However, this cover was overpaid by 400 yuan, franked with 8,000 yuan in total. According to postal archives, mail from the Korean War Armistice Commission could only be routed through China for delegates from socialist countries, and overfranking was common among foreign coordinators unfamiliar with the RMB postal rate system. This is a rare genuine postal example of Korean War Armistice Commission correspondence, slightly overpaid but fully authentic, illustrating China’s role as the postal intermediary for international mail exchanges following the Korean War. The cover, with its multilingual inscriptions and diplomatic-military nature, reflects the early People’s Republic of China’s participation in international communications and postal cooperation. It represents an important postal history item from the early PRC period, being a scarce example of airmail sent to Eastern Europe for official use, highly significant for both exhibition and scholarly study.