Page 31 - Russo-Persian Postal Relations

I.A.2.d Astara Exchange POs postage due
Exchange of closed mail. Inaugurated in 1902. Very small amount of mail
From Central Asia to Ardabil in Persia near to Astara at the Russian border
Note that Persian mail had earlier come across the border at Astara presumably privately and duly
cancelled and forwarded by the Russian post office since long established
Postage Due. Very few recorded from abroad properly charged in Persia during the Qajar period

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Rates: 7 kopek = 3 kopek underfranked. Postage due: 10 chahis
Routes: Samarkand (in Uzbekistan today) 9 July 1902 to Ardebil vis Baku 13 VII and Astara
exchange offices (all Julian calendar)
Notes: : Astara is a border town and a port between Persia and Azarbadjan (Russia) on the
western coast of the Caspian Sea
The Russian P 0 on the Russian side of Astara had opened many years earlier.