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- £1050.00
Sweden. (Sudan - Aden -Ethiopia). 1936. Envelope (plus Ambulance cover_ addressed to 'Director General des Postes, Gore, Abyssinie, Occidentale, Afrique, via Soudan, Egyptian' bearing Sweden Yvert 197, 20 ore orange and 'Air Mail' Yvert 6, 50 ore blue tied by Helsingborg date stamp '31st Aug 36', routed via the Red Sea, opened by the Italian authorities in Aden and re-sealed with 'Amministrazione delle Poste e dei Telegrafi' label tied by two strikes of Aden '4th Oct 36', re-routed via Sudan with Port Taufiq '30th Oct', Cairo Station '30th Oct', Cairo-Asyut and Shellal-Halfa T.P.O. No 1' transit '3rd Nov', held in Khartoum with hand-struck 'UNCLAIMED' on reverse with m/s '31-1-1937' in red ink and oval 'Returned Letter Office/ Khartoum' dated '27th April'. routed overland via Egypt with bilingual oval 'Return To Sender' in cerise on face, via London with framed instructional 'Received in Damaged condition in the Returned Letter Office, London' in violet on face and put in special envelope for damaged mail (Ambulance cover) inscribed 'Inneliggande Forsandelse har ingatt hit I skadat skick' (contents entered here in damaged condition) and Malmo arrival '4th May 37', over eights months after first departing Sweden.
The Italian Invasion of Ethiopia began on October 3rd 1935 leading after many battles to the fall of Addis Ababa. Before he departed to exile in London Emperor Haile Selassie ordered that the Government of Ethiopia be move to Gore. At the end of November 1936 an Italian column occupied Gore and the Ethiopians were defeated on 16th December 1936.
This extraordinary cover could not be delivered due to the fighting and later occupation of Gore in southern Ethiopia.
