1883 disinfected mail addressed to Germany, franked by 20c o...

Hammer

£220

1883 disinfected mail addressed to Germany, franked by 20c on 64c red-brown, tied by Colombo duplex for NO 28, the cover was carried on the French M.M ‘Pei Ho’ (with French mark at foot for 3 Dec) having missed the P & O ‘Siam’, the vessel suffered a broken propeller at Aden and the mail was transferred to another P & O ship ‘Khedive’ and arrived in Port Said on 26 Dec, the mail was once again transferred to the ‘Cathay’ to Brindisi via Venice.  This route was due to the Cholera outbreak in Egypt; the Italians would not accept mail which had come into contact with Egyptian soil. The envelope was disinfected in Bavaria with two slits, whereas the contents were seemingly given separate treatment and received three slits. Very rare, thought to be only recorded example of mail from Ceylon disinfected in Germany. The contents of the letter itself are of great historical and medical interest, being from Dr Fisher to his assistant Dr Loeffler, both of whom were bacteriologists who had worked with Dr Robert Koch, who discovered the germ that caused anthrax and would later go on to investigate the causes of Tuberculosis.