Lot 227

Offices in China, 1900 (August 18), 2nd Brigade military cover from the French Expeditionary Forces in China to Lyon, France, struck with violet four-line unit cachet CORPS EXPÉDITIONNAIRE / DE CHINE / 2e BRIGADE / RÉGIMENT D'INFRIE DE MARCHE, alongside black double-circle maritime strike CORPS EXPED. DE MADAGASCAR – L.V. No. 2 ("18 AOUT 00") and Lyon arrival c.d.s. (29 Sep), worn edges, back bottom flap removed, tiny edge piece missing at bottom front, scarce.

Posted in the weeks following the relief of the Peking legations, this cover bears a maritime agent's handstamp originally assigned to the Madagascar expeditionary corps; with new China-designated devices not yet issued to the fleet, agents on the Ligne V route (Yokohama–Marseille) continued using their existing Madagascar equipment. Troops from Madagascaer were the first French force to reach China after the Boxer Uprising.