At the 54th Christoph Gärtner Auction, a registered letter from Kharkiv/Ukraine with lot number 2727 was auctioned on Tuesday, 18 October 2022, with proceeds benefiting orphans in Ukraine. The cover achieved a impressive sum of 1.100 € (hammer price without buyer's premium). Auktionhaus Gärtner increased the price to 5.000 €, which will be donated to Ukrainian orphans with the help of Blau-Gelbes Kreuz e.V..
POSTAL HISTORY UKRAINE: COVER FROM THE WAR ZONE
The registered letter with the registered number RD610195254UA was posted at Kharkiv Post Office number 72 in Ukraine and sent to Italy. The cover is an official envelope of the Ukrainian Post Office and franked with stamps for domestic (F) and foreign (W) second issue "Russian Warship", postmark 17.08.22.
According to the tracking number, the cover went from Kharkiv via Kiev and further abroad (presumably Poland) and from there to Italy, where the letter was delivered on 01.09.22. In the evening of the mailing day 17.08.22 the metropolis Kharkiv was hit by Russian missiles. Six people in a residential building were killed and others injured. The city is located about 40 kilometers from the Russian border.
The donator of the registered letter, Gerhard Freund, arranged himself to receive registered letters from various places in Ukraine. "I still can't believe that this was possible from an organizational point of view," he comments.
