was a Polish official in the Russian Postal Service, who applied this cachet to mail from abroad which was checked to see if it had some objectionable feature. Perhaps our Polish readers cen advise of further cachets of this kind. I (b) The two Hungarian stamps show in fig. 12 form pert of 14 values in the definitive series of 1 to 70 fillers, issued in Hungary in June 1939. The stamps I possess all show a two-line overprint reeding ''Melitopol / 25 NOV. 1941". This is applied in black at angles varying from 40 to 54 degrees on the following values: 1,2,4,5,6,10,16,20,25,30,32,40,50 and 70 fillers. On most values, the "i" of "Melitopol" has the shaft shaven at top right (see the 70 f. stamp in fig. 12). Melitopol is a city in the Ukraine and this overprint was presumably applied to commemorate its capture by the German and Hungarian forces on the indicated date. It is very unlikely, however, that this is an official issue, since the arrangement of the date is contrary to Hungarian usage. In quoting dates, the Hungarians put the year first, then the month and day, in that order, and just the reverse to that is shown on the stamps. moreover, Hungarian servicemen had the privelege of free rranking, with stamps only required for a few special charges. It seems that the overprint is bogus, and I would welcome more details on its fabrication. (c) Pre-war covers of the USSR, addressed abroad and going beck to the 1930's are known with various cachets in french on the backs, stating that they, had been received in a damaged state, the flaps poorly sealed etc. I This practice was continued in the post-war period and I have a cover sent from Gri~i, Latvia on 2 Nov. 194g (bilingual RussianLatvian cancel struck in lilac with serial letter ''b"). Addressed to Amberg in the U.S. Zone of Germany, it was backstamped at Riga on S Nov. and at the same time, an unframed two-line cachet in reddish-violet, measuring 54xl4 mm. was added to the back (fig.13). It reads ''Received at Riga in I damaged state'', Do our Latvian and other members know or other such markings, emanating from Latvia and other parts of the USSR in the post-war period? Marcel Lamoureux, Providence. R.l. It was of much interest to me reading Dr. A.J, Caresa's letter in the~otes from Collectors" article which prompted me to re-read Mr. Popov's notes in Journal No. 69 on his cover with mixed franking. I examined my collection of covers end came across two which contain similar frankings. I am enclosing copies which I ran off on the office duplicating machine. The larger of the two covers was mailed from Trostanets on July 31st 1g23 to London and contains four copies of 50 Rubles (Scott number 231) and two copies of the 4 Rubles (Scott number 239). The other cover was mailed from Boguslav to London and is franked with four copies of the 100 Rubles (Scott number 237) two copies -80- I