This is an 1872 letter from Kiev to Germany. The 10k stamp is canceled with a postmark reading KIEVSK.P.O./KIEVO-ODESSK.Zh.D. and I'm just not getting that. Let's start with the obvious: the postmark is recorded in a 2002 Kiryushkin & Robinson update, so at least I'm not the only one hallucinating. The part where I get puzzled is the concept of a Kiev-Odessa Railway in the first place. Any look at a railway map (like map S4 in K&R) will tell you such a line would be a bit of a beast. The TPO postmark of line 47-48 tells a bit of the story, being used on the line Zhmerinka-Volochisk and station number 1 being Zhmerinka also makes sense. From Kiev to Zhmerinka, then from Zhmerinka to Volochisk at the border and on to Germany (also note the rectangular German TPO mark on the front). So was the line from Kiev down to Zhmerinka (and on to Odessa in 1872) truly called the Kiev-Odessa Railway?
On one website I found the following schematic detailing the mergers of railways in Ukraine:
Note: no mention of a Kiev-Odessa railway... Help?
