Journal of the Rossica Society of Russian Philately

THE JOURNAL
of the

ROSSICA SOCIETY
of

RUSSIAN PHILATELY

Silver Medals at Belfrade National Exhibition "Zefil 1937"and
the International Exhibition. Koen;isberg "Ostropa 1935"
Bronze Medals at the International Exhibition"Praga 1935"and
Vienna International Exhibition "WIPA1933"
Recent lternat;onal Awards:
Silver Medals at Berlin.-Bephila 1957", Parana"Eficon 1958"
and Buenos Aires,'Temex 1958"

No.56 1959

Editor
Dr. Gregory B. Salisbury
49th and Locust Streets
Philadelphia 39, Pa., U. S. A.

EDITOR IN CHIEF Dr. G. B. Salisbury
MI"m ID M a STMNT EDITt JBL ER AND ASSISTANT EDITal
EN S EDITION R. A. Sanrevski SSIAN EDITION A. N. IArov
EDITGtALT BOMID
g Sajr A. M. Rosaelovitqh
K. Adler A. Chebotkovich N.'Kapmilev E. Marcovitch E. L. Wisovoll

I N D E I
Pages.
2 Officors & Ropreesntativs of the Society, Honcrary Members.
3- XXX AnnIdversry of Rossica. A. A. Chobotkevitch.
34 Editcrial.
5-.16 Tho PAkov Town Post Issues 1941-1942. Dr. C. de Stadelberg.
17-22 Russin 109-19 Issue with Chalk lUn NotitMc. A. Roseoleviteh.
S23-28 -Resedah on Modorn Mongoli,a.* Jamos NEog-,
28 Mongolia. Short Bibliogr apy.-
29 Csochoslovkida-Mongollan Archoological Expeditiozn. G. SrRuse21.
30-34 Noes on the Russian Coins. N. A. Kapn'lev.
35-36 A Footnot. o s'dano.gar, F. W. Spore.
36 Stamps of the Russian Empire Used Abroad. Part. IV. S. D-. Tehilin-
hiaidn-'and V,.; E St; e*4 eh*.A '* .*'
37-43 -Russian Post in the Firat Haaf XIX Century. 'Voi Keppon. -
43-45 hilatolic NdAtq. .
45-48 -* entenary Jubileo Exhibition Zonring tho let. Russian Postago Stamp-
Keld in Mbeco vid al eningrad ,
48 Reeontcly Publishsd Bocos An our. Fild.
49-51 Zemstvo Stamps Oittod in Chuchin. N. Matishov. Cbntk from #55, P. 52.
251 -Fr&pox -Awqd- to T.. Spoos. '
52-52 Cataloguo of Fiseal Stamps of Russia & Countrios of the asiann Gr'ou.
55.62 Gonoral Wrangol's Refugoo- Post w Tho' Constantinople Ovorprints. I. I.
G. Bailie 'and W. E. C.,Kethro..
63-69 Cataloguo of Russian Vignettee-.hantasies. E.. Marcovitch. Cont. from 55
70 Russian Post Offices in Carpatho-Ukrain Z; 1951. (UPU listing)
70 tydia Callahan Exhibition Winner. -
71-79 Ropt to Mosars Boillic and Kethro. -A.Rosselevitch.
79-81 Sixth l1 Woarld Pestival of routh land Studbnts Moscow 1957. K. Adler.
81-82 Intornational Philatlic Exhibition Moscow 1957. K Adlor.
83-85 # 100th. Annv. of the Russian Postage Stamps. K. Adler.
85-86 Thilatlic Exhibitions in Russia During 1958. K. Adler.
86-88 Sputnik Stamps of: USSR.
8889 emstvo Prioos. A. Prinst Jr,
89-90 Illustrated Enelopes of the Organization of Russian Young Scouts.
R. PolchaninoCf. .
90-96 -Issues, Printings and Plate Charactesritica of the Qno Rquble Arm
Stamps 1910-1923 Camrist Iseuos 1910-1917 and Soviet.IRsaia 1918-1923.
F. Juliae Fobs. "
96.97 Bock Review of Ukrain by Dr. Soichtor. Roviovod S. D. Tchilinghiian.
97-99 Life in the Society.
99-102- Thano Touva, A Gemral Surwy. A. oronin and W. S. E. Stephen.
Continued from #55, Page 17.
102 From Rossica Exportization Committeo.
102-103- Editcrial Notes on CO Rublo Arms Stamp Article by F. Julius Fo. 1
#56 go 1

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY

RESIDENT A. A. Chobotkovitch 11 Clement Street, GLen Cove, New York.
SECRETARY ussian SieakinR Section A. N. Lavrov.
SECRETARY English Speaking Section Dr. G. B. Salisbury.

HONORARY MEMBERS

A. A. Chobotkevitch V. A. Rachmanoff IF. M. Shenitz
N. I. Kordakov A. M. Rosselevitch R. A. Sklarovski
A. N. Lavrov Dr. G. B. Salisbury V. P. Cerny
E. 1. Marcovitch N. V. Savitzky J. Rubach

REPRESENTATIVES OF T H-E S SOCIETY

NEW YORK CGOUP V. Cerny 91-15, 68th Avenue, Forest Hills, Long Islands New York.
WTEN U.SA. L. S. Glass P. O. Box 36646, Wilshire La-Brea Station, Los Angeles
36, California.
3Q MSj' 3 K. Janson. 624 16th. Aivnuo, San Francisco, California.
GREAT BRITAIN J. Barry 77A St. James RoauI, Stton, Surrey, England. : .
BELGIUM I. Braunstein 6, rue Mignot, Delstanchep, Ielles, Brussels, Belgium
ZPMm Dr. Waopirnsky GLponesttasse 364, Koln-*Merheim, Germany.
U. S. Zone.
ISrJYL A. Trumpoldcr Arba rtzot 25, Tel Aviv, Israel.
FR. IMCQOCO V. N. Butkov 49 Rue Laperouso, Casablancat, French Morocco.
AN1ADA *: G. Rozday Woda 29 lyon Lvoenu, Toronto 10, rntario, 'Canada.
VENEZUELA I. Marcovitch Edif "Camuril" Apto. No. 25 Callo Real de Sabana
Grande, Caracas, Venezuela.
RAZMIL. P.. Bel off Rua Ibdrozo 238, Caixa Post 2960, San Paulo, Brazil.
San NPulo Region. '
ARGENTINA B. Riasnianaki Larrazabal 2870 Buonos Aires, Argentina.
RNCE A. Lashenko 1 Rue du Bocage, Paris 15, France.
AISTRALIA V. Tvi6kmeyor 45 Garner's Ave., Marrickville, Sydny, Z.S.W-.,
Australia.
R A. Vansovich c/o. Livraria Freitas Bastes, Caixa Postal 899, Rio
De Janeiro, Brazil. Rio De Janeiro Region.
----------------------. ------- ------.- --- --- -- --- -----.. .-.. . .---- ... .
Membership dues are $3.00 pr a m r am all countries. Application
forms, which nmst be filled out, are available upon request. Journal membership
lists, code, bulletins, and supplements to membership-lists will be sent out annual.
Please make chocks payable to A. N. Lavrov instead of Dr. G. B. Salisbury.

We.. welcome advertisements fran members, non members and dealers.
Full page $30.00. Half page $15.00. Quarter page $7.50. Twelfth of a page (5
,limes) $2.50. Members of Rossica pay only 50% of the cost. With a discount per
line cost to members is only 25 cents By helping yourself you also help us.
------------------- --------------------------------------------------

Page 2 # 56

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY

RESIDENT A. A. Chobotkovitch 11 Clement Street, GLen Cove, New York.
SECRETARY ussian SieakinR Section A. N. Lavrov.
SECRETARY English Speaking Section Dr. G. B. Salisbury.

HONORARY MEMBERS

A. A. Chobotkevitch V. A. Rachmanoff IF. M. Shenitz
N. I. Kordakov A. M. Rosselevitch R. A. Sklarovski
A. N. Lavrov Dr. G. B. Salisbury V. P. Cerny
E. 1. Marcovitch N. V. Savitzky J. Rubach

REPRESENTATIVES OF T H-E S SOCIETY

NEW YORK CGOUP V. Cerny 91-15, 68th Avenue, Forest Hills, Long Islands New York.
WTEN U.SA. L. S. Glass P. O. Box 36646, Wilshire La-Brea Station, Los Angeles
36, California.
3Q MSj' 3 K. Janson. 624 16th. Aivnuo, San Francisco, California.
GREAT BRITAIN J. Barry 77A St. James RoauI, Stton, Surrey, England. : .
BELGIUM I. Braunstein 6, rue Mignot, Delstanchep, Ielles, Brussels, Belgium
ZPMm Dr. Waopirnsky GLponesttasse 364, Koln-*Merheim, Germany.
U. S. Zone.
ISrJYL A. Trumpoldcr Arba rtzot 25, Tel Aviv, Israel.
FR. IMCQOCO V. N. Butkov 49 Rue Laperouso, Casablancat, French Morocco.
AN1ADA *: G. Rozday Woda 29 lyon Lvoenu, Toronto 10, rntario, 'Canada.
VENEZUELA I. Marcovitch Edif "Camuril" Apto. No. 25 Callo Real de Sabana
Grande, Caracas, Venezuela.
RAZMIL. P.. Bel off Rua Ibdrozo 238, Caixa Post 2960, San Paulo, Brazil.
San NPulo Region. '
ARGENTINA B. Riasnianaki Larrazabal 2870 Buonos Aires, Argentina.
RNCE A. Lashenko 1 Rue du Bocage, Paris 15, France.
AISTRALIA V. Tvi6kmeyor 45 Garner's Ave., Marrickville, Sydny, Z.S.W-.,
Australia.
R A. Vansovich c/o. Livraria Freitas Bastes, Caixa Postal 899, Rio
De Janeiro, Brazil. Rio De Janeiro Region.
----------------------. ------- ------.- --- --- -- --- -----.. .-.. . .---- ... .
Membership dues are $3.00 pr a m r am all countries. Application
forms, which nmst be filled out, are available upon request. Journal membership
lists, code, bulletins, and supplements to membership-lists will be sent out annual.
Please make chocks payable to A. N. Lavrov instead of Dr. G. B. Salisbury.

We.. welcome advertisements fran members, non members and dealers.
Full page $30.00. Half page $15.00. Quarter page $7.50. Twelfth of a page (5
,limes) $2.50. Members of Rossica pay only 50% of the cost. With a discount per
line cost to members is only 25 cents By helping yourself you also help us.
------------------- --------------------------------------------------

Page 2 # 56

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY

RESIDENT A. A. Chobotkovitch 11 Clement Street, GLen Cove, New York.
SECRETARY ussian SieakinR Section A. N. Lavrov.
SECRETARY English Speaking Section Dr. G. B. Salisbury.

HONORARY MEMBERS

A. A. Chobotkevitch V. A. Rachmanoff IF. M. Shenitz
N. I. Kordakov A. M. Rosselevitch R. A. Sklarovski
A. N. Lavrov Dr. G. B. Salisbury V. P. Cerny
E. 1. Marcovitch N. V. Savitzky J. Rubach

REPRESENTATIVES OF T H-E S SOCIETY

NEW YORK CGOUP V. Cerny 91-15, 68th Avenue, Forest Hills, Long Islands New York.
WTEN U.SA. L. S. Glass P. O. Box 36646, Wilshire La-Brea Station, Los Angeles
36, California.
3Q MSj' 3 K. Janson. 624 16th. Aivnuo, San Francisco, California.
GREAT BRITAIN J. Barry 77A St. James RoauI, Stton, Surrey, England. : .
BELGIUM I. Braunstein 6, rue Mignot, Delstanchep, Ielles, Brussels, Belgium
ZPMm Dr. Waopirnsky GLponesttasse 364, Koln-*Merheim, Germany.
U. S. Zone.
ISrJYL A. Trumpoldcr Arba rtzot 25, Tel Aviv, Israel.
FR. IMCQOCO V. N. Butkov 49 Rue Laperouso, Casablancat, French Morocco.
AN1ADA *: G. Rozday Woda 29 lyon Lvoenu, Toronto 10, rntario, 'Canada.
VENEZUELA I. Marcovitch Edif "Camuril" Apto. No. 25 Callo Real de Sabana
Grande, Caracas, Venezuela.
RAZMIL. P.. Bel off Rua Ibdrozo 238, Caixa Post 2960, San Paulo, Brazil.
San NPulo Region. '
ARGENTINA B. Riasnianaki Larrazabal 2870 Buonos Aires, Argentina.
RNCE A. Lashenko 1 Rue du Bocage, Paris 15, France.
AISTRALIA V. Tvi6kmeyor 45 Garner's Ave., Marrickville, Sydny, Z.S.W-.,
Australia.
R A. Vansovich c/o. Livraria Freitas Bastes, Caixa Postal 899, Rio
De Janeiro, Brazil. Rio De Janeiro Region.
----------------------. ------- ------.- --- --- -- --- -----.. .-.. . .---- ... .
Membership dues are $3.00 pr a m r am all countries. Application
forms, which nmst be filled out, are available upon request. Journal membership
lists, code, bulletins, and supplements to membership-lists will be sent out annual.
Please make chocks payable to A. N. Lavrov instead of Dr. G. B. Salisbury.

We.. welcome advertisements fran members, non members and dealers.
Full page $30.00. Half page $15.00. Quarter page $7.50. Twelfth of a page (5
,limes) $2.50. Members of Rossica pay only 50% of the cost. With a discount per
line cost to members is only 25 cents By helping yourself you also help us.
------------------- --------------------------------------------------

Page 2 # 56

SED IT OR-I AL I

The Jubilee Issue of our Jurnal is the result of many months of pre-
paration. We hop. that in celebrating our 30th year 'of existence, our
S members would compare he "thproosnt iseup with our 1st bilingual #.4 of 1954,
and with the 'old Russian editions published in Jugoslavia; Our cep thanks
to the editorial staff, to the writers and the 300 members who haw' made our
progress possible.

We have appointed Hon. Member LA. Rosselovitch as the Chairman of the
Editorial. Board and he shall now join. the oecnutive committee of the editor
in phief and.the two Associate Editors and iPblishers, Mossrs. i N. tavrov
and R. A. Sklarovki. We have likewise addod Kon. Member N. A. K'armilev to
the editorship of the department of numismatics and paper money.

Our futture issue #57 will contain the present paerals, and will resume
the T.P.O. of the Imperials by Messrs. Barry and Kethro, an article by I. L. G.
SBaillie South Russia" (Youg Rosali), one by Hon. Mombe Sklaroevdd on ontires,
one by Hon. Member Rossolevitch on "wrangol". as well as, others, "Ams Typos
of Russia" by Dr. C'. do Stackelberg, "Outstanding Covers" by Kurt Adlor as
woll as "Arctica and A-carctica", Philatelic Notes by thb late fo. Member
Modvodeff of Paris,. as well as short articles by Mossrs.. Russell, Huddy,
-Spoers, Sollins and Foha. We regret that we had to carry them over to #57,
but we simply had no .spoo. "Notes 'froo Cllectors" rich in philatelic info-
"rmation will be resumed likewise in the next issue,

We welcome the now column "Life of the'Society" which is being edited by
honorable Presldont A. A. Chobotkovich and which will supplant his "President's
Message" in the future. Ploase send-him your news, problems, wants and offers
of snle. Help us to tintcrin the personall touch". in the journal.
Our deepest thanks to the executive committee of the Rossica Journal
for the double amount of wcart involved in producing this greatly enlarged
Jubiloo number. We now look for our 50th Anniversary In closing we wish
to thank American Philatolic Congress for inviting your editor in chief to
be the banquet speaker at S 0 J E X in Atlantic City in October.

XXX ANNIVERSARY OF ROSSICA
by Iresidont A, A. Chobotkovich

On 14th of April we celebrated the founding of Rossica by the late Hon.
President E. M. Archanguolsky.

I remember my intensive correspondence with the founder and that day
when I became member #3 of the Society. At the same time entered Iron, Member
V. A. Rachmanoff (#6). To my sorrow no other member of the first ton is alive
to-day.

Ordinarily 30th anniversary does not present any groat occasion, however
in our condition of shifting emigration this period is important. Shortly
after the organization of Rossica, financial crisis prior to the World War II
caused unbelievable difficulties of collecting do o. In spite of this our

Pago 3 # 56

SED IT OR-I AL I

The Jubilee Issue of our Jurnal is the result of many months of pre-
paration. We hop. that in celebrating our 30th year 'of existence, our
S members would compare he "thproosnt iseup with our 1st bilingual #.4 of 1954,
and with the 'old Russian editions published in Jugoslavia; Our cep thanks
to the editorial staff, to the writers and the 300 members who haw' made our
progress possible.

We have appointed Hon. Member LA. Rosselovitch as the Chairman of the
Editorial. Board and he shall now join. the oecnutive committee of the editor
in phief and.the two Associate Editors and iPblishers, Mossrs. i N. tavrov
and R. A. Sklarovki. We have likewise addod Kon. Member N. A. K'armilev to
the editorship of the department of numismatics and paper money.

Our futture issue #57 will contain the present paerals, and will resume
the T.P.O. of the Imperials by Messrs. Barry and Kethro, an article by I. L. G.
SBaillie South Russia" (Youg Rosali), one by Hon. Mombe Sklaroevdd on ontires,
one by Hon. Member Rossolevitch on "wrangol". as well as, others, "Ams Typos
of Russia" by Dr. C'. do Stackelberg, "Outstanding Covers" by Kurt Adlor as
woll as "Arctica and A-carctica", Philatelic Notes by thb late fo. Member
Modvodeff of Paris,. as well as short articles by Mossrs.. Russell, Huddy,
-Spoers, Sollins and Foha. We regret that we had to carry them over to #57,
but we simply had no .spoo. "Notes 'froo Cllectors" rich in philatelic info-
"rmation will be resumed likewise in the next issue,

We welcome the now column "Life of the'Society" which is being edited by
honorable Presldont A. A. Chobotkovich and which will supplant his "President's
Message" in the future. Ploase send-him your news, problems, wants and offers
of snle. Help us to tintcrin the personall touch". in the journal.
Our deepest thanks to the executive committee of the Rossica Journal
for the double amount of wcart involved in producing this greatly enlarged
Jubiloo number. We now look for our 50th Anniversary In closing we wish
to thank American Philatolic Congress for inviting your editor in chief to
be the banquet speaker at S 0 J E X in Atlantic City in October.

XXX ANNIVERSARY OF ROSSICA
by Iresidont A, A. Chobotkovich

On 14th of April we celebrated the founding of Rossica by the late Hon.
President E. M. Archanguolsky.

I remember my intensive correspondence with the founder and that day
when I became member #3 of the Society. At the same time entered Iron, Member
V. A. Rachmanoff (#6). To my sorrow no other member of the first ton is alive
to-day.

Ordinarily 30th anniversary does not present any groat occasion, however
in our condition of shifting emigration this period is important. Shortly
after the organization of Rossica, financial crisis prior to the World War II
caused unbelievable difficulties of collecting do o. In spite of this our

Pago 3 # 56

members, Russian philatolistso scattered all over the earth, living generally
under terrible stzewo maintained the Society and gia it a wide world re-
putation.

Now departed are: Archanguelsky, Schmidt, Lavrov, Zv!rikin, Hanson,
Prigarao Manjoloy, Masloff, Sokoloff, Vitkovaky and others, but thoir memory
remains. We can not forgot their aid when from #11 Rossica Journal was trans8-
forrod from Jugoslavia to Riga and from #24 to Talinn, and when the Second
World War began, to China.

When the World War II started we who wore in Jugoslavia wore cut off
from th re at of the World, undoir occupation of Gormans. In 1944:wo ldft
our second homeland and had. to revive the society, for our founder was old
and ill and cotd not leave Jugoslavia.

While in Germany I contacted E. M. lrchanguelakjy, and in 1947, in the D. T
P. 6amp Scleihoim, ,near Munich, gathered a small group of Rossica members.
Or iecrotary--troeauror A. N. Lavrov organized a similar group in PlLsay,
edited a bulletin and maintained contact with Archahguelsky.

We left Germany almost simultaneously in 1950 and came to U.S-.A. In
1952 we issued our lat Bulletin, on October 15th, as a symbol of rovival of
Rossica, We issued 20 Bulletins, and in 1954, after the entry of Dr. Bondaon-
ko-Salisbury, our tirelces editor in chief, appeared the revived Rossica
Journal. Remembering the XXXth Anniversary we also should celebrate 5th year
of the rebirth of our journal, which has given us already three major models
at three .international philatelic exhibitions entered.

In summing up our efforts during the .past 30 years we can boldly say that
the greatest achievement of ours is our Journal whore all the work is voluntary
by our members, who sacrifice all of their spare time for its success. This
journal in an enlarged format; is the only philatelic journal in the world!
in the Russian language, and it gives much valuable assistance to our phila-
telists.

My Russian thanks to all editors, honored members, writers, members
"(300) and the editors of the American Philatelic pross. who write up the main
events of the society.

Thus we advance boldly and in friendship on behalf of the glory of
Russian philately.
ooooo0 oooooooo0oo000

#56 hG4o 4

SOCIE TY PAGE

IIR .R .CHe cOTI IC.H
GEO-RGIE TTfjI PORSIDEP'T C.C. CRA TSE IERG
-NEN MEMSFR- ROSSic SOCIT)y PPCSIDENT
NEWCURATO0R SMTHSONIRAN )nS+(+u+e RMEjRfCN PH ILIF-LIC
DIVISION PHILRT6LY.,POs-rLt, HISTORY 5oc. e.-Ty
PRlSIDENT P.L.R. RND RM. PHIL.CONFREs5 > oE RT R,- ossc nnui
,eieTING IM NI'. Yo4(

7rnies NUS 7 J.) L% US F, H
NEw M W6Af,
_N.A. KIORML.,EV tOT-D PUTHOr R.ENOWNEDO o. C DR C.dS cKelber
NEO ITOIf Ran EDITOR. RESEARCH I M NENT utho
NUTriSMATICS A/i T'1. ISSU S nu DPLo Mr.
PRPe MONw/ E PT.

Left: S..TCHILoe4GaSw q IfOiIA Uo-cm n TO( L'AIIA
J-= Ij) ILK_ o"; IifST

S'To U ED ~a oD'Erc. GRAND 'AW c A N
RtC,H"r" f., N 01:'oR onq:rI N I k RTCA A toiiL

I.L.G. SAILLi F- Rti n CSarT

..rR. .tfp LV N TE| A Ry O

PFovE AND I rlMERF. %l- Srrvt+ary 65RP
.RI) b DesICNER.-fA.R05SELEVITCH s : Formwer EdfAtrt
ELL6 PETHi PRoDoc R R. POLcKARN NO FF B. ournal _
GOb LUCK DSTRI BU-TOR .LA VORV RussiAn Ph.*-trly
GOOD LUCK WIW.N RTCRIC.KE

Illustrations for Article

S .t A. by Cde Stacklbeer

1. ) kit de 7. "uI t 1941 wrl dar Powt arotv fr dil Stalt
dor Proiao PLekl *toa t su bn.r Salt vor a. o.
2.) ZaU Lsltr d Po at s.la Pei..kn lit e- R. aI P lI te 6 Pple..k.ude4 11. 7o. 1941
ro=ll l stir t or den. .
) 1i. Oe.a5n. bats. a 3Stadtvrkehr vomit Zo Epk B *A.b h i
So Xepekua.fia&d r%. r.o tI o k o 1 1
4 S) re no.h ora artsn o 508slaIohe.. nosrt.e loh ten ( sI.r-
0ene.lrtsn and l0rilmoaaotao nit kuf.idronakta Marks.) e oat ela plskea.
.l4 ultl ,i d s*ofrt be. d_ r Pldtcadutu, .)Ma. Foiaaid ulaitsr i. 9.
sal r. sasht :hbri-p4. d roofl. A *flk..h
l% wo *rt ah 1iraB d d A Ok F*lrmd 6nu i-entmr 11. lo. 1941
Sti1 Daruroh.d.. die d.ateuhn Brlefuken Mr Plean oaht aSr Ws -
5.) lach kufbrfnoh dar IBrlan noao. Oor.faden.a. Broftka. w.0b -dn dUrfaousd eiAl di ho.hwrl, so b.aohafeiden rs-
aoovrts 00 Pitd uatt., w h.r eduo e hlarken tlt Jbflrrhk al".hn Merkoa gu Pltslloh epl l noarBun erdaO.-h d-rah
st n .te tst : Wart sugagbas. a. tark.. Potflriab 5 l..ei.s l a i,41 Drifrker
6 ) Die lr.fI*cna in der tadt P1.a U. arda. b frr Pleaket slcharm.rtlle Protok o 1
lahl"l:It unotrmaot. Di. "a Batrleb 0naoin4 werd.n k.a-
Ml."hot. Die F.B 611 hat lm E -Ivmnehaen Ml dem irglater nu 2 Brief
7.) =ar blhhsrlg PFo.trteleh.. de.r fel14ko.aatn brieCt, h o r d .r bretll. laU .*Da.e 5 2O ah.. uo rot
ksm ahta BDloaiuOa erholtn,. (die IZelhna .*%.llt da&s WppY-.. o lio ku.,e.n e ie.. nde ie s t at eoau.eortr d. oh d1en tln5..dn ..rasmeliter
PleIk ,d,. 6. 8. 1941. d e S.1atlol l ().. A a ltr. Su So opek.en fr tuily r Tohemp wln .atwr vrrpfllot.t.d.dn Ob.orl iO von 4 Ko-
l akj6.. 9 r a(ldImo.r...rt. td r dii). X I pokn der ns. hernn.toaebeildan rootl. .lt.ke.tn oD.a
t:^:r a a 4_ P mfUhr..iaf .. lPoh die .lad.1.rrt. Plosa .verbs.... rt nre
sa. B:oosoare Onrad aIo wi WoihatiS*e. t Is n brnk haere- elt.lko .so1n..
ekean plus 4o opek=ean Woh1UstlgelitsoaU. Da... 40 0opeken Die Feldkaowaoda b hllt loh else control. hiertber vo.
Obratloetaat. mlad Ist be.ilh sdn rit.okoll Sli Verba...runay o.aa lsSer..
art.n beitaNtMloh,. hb hter eioaerloh.tt werden uad e.er
eo.a.n Sotl.s. .-tr-a hSlfen oll.

Sntlntt ldoa b tlstaat ud ld dat.
IV;<. ^a/yu t- .

LiunaeteLle IPadpost Vo 44 1 0.0 en 5. 42

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5 3b51b50t0 2.. 012. Mal 1942 k-^t. Ui^ ro .001.. j 5

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a.tr.n. ap.o. for 4 ,tc. R..t rot -o..s........... ... SMit gpstrl ) ata rde a d.. -ute4 Roa e s au f Poast- 4. u
seheckk*to o 6070 in weiterr Btr.lg von

.ldo... ssu.r. 4 10 prruNhrt. (G. 1rlkLr4 lS S) .

SMd. fhreso ade e A4 0- a ary OUdn0.
wIl -^~-I~~ dr -r VJwv T -j- ~-y -.

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AnS doar s Rei tmL Inish ,- PowMs;e A!WI. II.i
13- -nd &ILArn, .4-A

IibtBez Dank as c r O'o 26. .Trau ; 42 und- hdl-fr 100..
S1- --i ae I",O0C -.- .0. ...- n U t ..A soL fr*4htr i
27 100 -."6O 0 fo 2 .710s.. bdlu/i Lt- 066.1U
? 817 Vlo-tr ,k 10 die e 7.l17t r.? en 17.0 e h
d kiikua hdt Ag n se die 00 d.es1m Gud far de 1r.5n o, o., _, ,
DIr azuustteii pln te ae -- ah u. s.h.r V* ., e it r
tlP.0.t. t 90.91
sK-OP.. fPtrr p l/,.fl 04.ril/.J.^

an o a* s /P 'aue -1. Mhi l942

Diensistelle Feldpost No. 44130
SconderfUhrer de Bary O. U., den 23. 3. 42
Betr.: Pleskauer Briefmarken slhfiriiMsipon Nord P., .e k, t n 21.3.1942
upHmtIcpbeklMP n Honld e n r0 .ie dln 21.'k194r
An das Reichspostministerium fStt 47 .0
8 er lin Pldkoa mndn tur 21

Mit Bezug auf das Schreiben Ihrer Abteilung Ost'vom 26. 2. 42 und die Verhandlung zwischpn Herm aartrsT, sorc .t. i i..r1t- as 14.3.1940
KVR Dr. Schultz und Herrn Oberpostrat Korzendorffer wurde von Herrn KVR Dr. Schultz in Bezug auf Ia2utr .610 A'.5 00a .?. i.r;0d.Slt ro rt d.ro;;n
das nochtragliche Abstempein der Pleskauer Briefmarken mitgeteilt, daBf es sich bei diesen Marken br G' s aWt-.r daoa. a 21tl0 ors 005 .sI i hSr. i
nur um StOcke handelt, die einzig und allein fir das Postmuseum bestimmt seien und as sich bei -urd.; Ser r nS ato oi ul. ..t
diesen Marken um amtliche deutsche Ausgaben handelt, die aus diesem Grunde for die verschiedenen 0.4 .,0 ....05 00 irna.1515n 04.-a. no..0r1..
Postdienststellen benatigt werden. Die Standortkommandantur ist geneigt, die eingesandten Marken *t.; t.O?;;tIb.r1iot;; t .0095 riofpiS.
und Gonzsachen gema3 Ihren Winschen noch abzustempeln, bittet aber dieserhalb noch um schrift- : r;Tln. r.oiralto obr tW. .prIt .. Srtol s"chtt. ;n
liche Bestatigung, dafi es sich bei den Pleskauer Mcrken um eine amtliche deutsche Ausgabe handelt _drs... DSr 9to:. ar ?o. Mr0B0 ..o f 6c!;,, a. ... -
und diese noch nachtraglich abgestempelten Marken nur fur Zwecke des Reichspostmuseums bzw. an. gSikS, 'fa^!iSSlo!irtcotS:bIr b IsnCthO p i:ao.
derer Postdienststellen ben6tigt werden. Nach Abstempelung der Marken werden die beiden Ober- a*l..* Utir ;ra e r bet berkuern, 00.I.0 0t0.e in
d-n tllllo Il~gntn fehlen wuden, leh ha, lhrhemltte.
druckstempel dann an Sie eingesandt werden. lur. oer.r .uafOhruron an die R: 241 ueaet.
i. A

Sonderfuhrer

THE rSKOV TOWN POST ISSUES
1941-1942
by Dr. C. de Stackelberg

1. Many collectors still look uon'Town Post issues of Pskov either
with unwarranted suspicion as a private issue printed for philatelic par-
poses or simply declare them bogus.

The background of these issues is highly complicated. Facts, documents
and then existing conditions are either unknown or unaccessible to the
average collector. Thus a short summary of these facts, as gathered from
the philatelic literature, may be of interest to the readers of Rossica, as
these stamps, were issued in Occupied Russian Territory.

A list of the philatelic literature on this issue will be found at the
end of this article.. The greater part of the facts, conditions and docu-
memts mentioned here may be found in.a long article written by Regiorung-
srat Dr. Hermann Schultz of Erlangen, Germany, in Nos, 10-19 of the German
publication "Der Samhlordienst" of 1955, entitled "Die Stadtpostausgaben
von Pleskau".

Dr. Schultz has firsthand information on the subject, as during 1941-
1944 he was himself with the Economic Administration of the Pskov area and
was able aftdr the war to gather important original documents dealing with
these issues. It was he who negotiated for months with the Postal Ministry
and other Government-De artments in Berlin and finally obtained the except-
ional order directing the Ostland Postal Services to opon a Post Office for
Official Mail in Pskov, which as it will be seen later, took over the Town
Post of Pskov in 1942.. Dr. Schultz is thus recognized to be the greatest
authority on these Pskov issues- nd is one of its chief expertisers.

2. On June 22, 1941, the German Armies invaded Soviet Russia. In the
North, during the month of July, of the same year, the "Soviet" Republics
of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were speedily occupied, and the German
Armies continued their advance towards Leningrad..

3. During the second half of July, 1942, the old town of Pskov was also
occupied. It is strategically situated, 9 miles from the Southern end of
Lhke Peipus (Pskov), situated in the Southerncorner of Leningrad Region.

Pskov is not only a comparatively large town (60,000 inhabitants, but
on occupation by the German Army it became one of the main railway-and road
communication centers and one of the main supply bases of the German North-
ern Front. Around it were -stationed important German Air Force units.

4. At the end of July, 1941, the Mayor of Pskov, Mr. Vassili Tschere-
penkin, who had been appointod:by the Germans, approached the local Field
Commander, Lt, Col, Bolongjare Crevenna (Field Command No. 611) with the
request to rooren postal services.

As the German Field Post was only authorized to serve German Military
units, and as the German Civilian Administration Departments which were
being established in Pskov, badly needed postal service in this area, the
"Field Commandor gave the authorization to reopen postal services in Pskov.

# 56 Page 5

5. A "protocol" or legal declaration dated August 6, 1941, still
exists (see illustration A) by which the Field Commander authorizpd the re-
opening of the Town Post Office at the Market Pace for the town and for
the nProvince" of Pskov, as the Main Post Office at the railway station had
been completely destroyed and looted during the Soviet retreat. A report
dated August 10, is also in existence, and is quoted in full by Dr. Schultz,
by which the Field Commander informed his supriors (the Commanding General,
General von der Rocques in Verro, Estonia) about the establishment of postal
services in Pskov.

The protocol and the report both state that the Town Post was reopened
on August 7, 1941. Postal rates were set at 20 kopeks for the ordinary
letters, and at 60 kopeks for the registered (the exchange rate between
the German Mark and Soviet Ruble was fixed by the German Authorities at the
rate of 1 to 10 for all the occupied Soviet territories). A Mr. Matveev
was appointed Postmaster, who with thG help of former Russian postal employ-
ees was to organize and reestablish the postal services in Pskov area.

6. As stated in the preceding paragraph the Main Post Office at the
railroad station of Pskov had been destroyed and looted and only a few
Soviet stamps, post cards, stamped envelopes and three Russian cancellers
were found at the Town Post Office at the Market Place.

The Field Commander ordered the postal material mentioned above, over-
printed diagonally "P L E S K A U" (Pskov in German) and issued by the Town
Post Office for postal use. The handstamp used was made from rubber, cut
from a piece of a rubber car mat. The postal users had thus to buy these
newly overprinted stamps at the Post.Office, instead of using Soviet un-
overprinted stamps which still remained in the hands of the population,
some of which:may even have been lcoteod from the Main Post Office.

7. This rubber handstamp was kept under lock and key at the head-
quarters of the Field Commander of Pskov. The stamps themselves were over-
printed at the Field Command's H.O. by or under the personal supervision of
the non-commissioned officer in charge of postal communications. The over-
printed stamps were only then handed over to the Town Post Office for postal
use. Thus, strict military supervision, control and accounting of all
stamps for postal use was kept by the Field Command. This is stressed in
all reports to the Postal Ministry in Berlin, etc.

It is further to be noted that all stamps with errors in overprint,
i.e. inverted or badly centered overprints, were removed from the sheets
at the Field Commanderls headquarters, before being handed over to the Town
Post Office for postal use.

8. At first even no color pads could be found in Pskov and the color
for the overprinting was obtained from a piece of cloth which was soaked
in red and blue ink, Later a violet color pad was obtained and used for
overprinting. This explains the two colors of the overprints.

9. The first Provisional Issue of August 7-10, 1941, is mentioned but
not listes in Michol's Catalogue, as it was very small. A report from the
Mayor of Pskov dated, November 7, 1941, which was sent to Riga and which is

Page 6 # 56

reproduced by.Dr. Schultz in his article, states that the following Soviet
stamps were overprinted:

Michl Value Color of the 1ichel Value Color of the
Number Overprint Number Overrint
69 5 k. violet 772 10 k. red
596 10 k. violet 793 10 k. red
698 15 k. violet 800 30 k. violet
699 30 k. red 703 10 r. red (only 5 stamps)
753 30 k. violet

As there wore only about 30 to 50 copies of each of the above mentioned
stamps available,.a total of approximately 300 stamps were otorprinted thus.
It is, however, possible that a few other Soviet stamps wore also overprint-
ed at that time (like Michel No. 703, listed above), as well as some old
Latvian and Estonian stamps for the presentation to the members of the
German Armod Services'at the Field Commander's H.Q., for purely philatelic
purposes. (See paragraph 30).

10. This issue was used up in three days, as these stamps wore used
not only to frank the newly mailed letters) but they wore also affixed to
letters, which were found by postmen in mail boxes, when they first empiod
them.

11. Those stamt s were cancelled with the throe old circular type
Russian cancollers "Pskov a, g and k" which wore found, as stated earlier,
in the Town Post Office. The cancellers "a" and "ge wore supposed to be
used for the incoming mail, and the canceller "k" for the outgoing mail.
However, this rule was not always adhered to.

12. After the First Provisional Issue of approximately 300 overprinted
Soviet stamps had been used up the .Fiold Command at .Pskov obtained 1 and 3
rfg. Hindenburg stamps of Germany. Those stamps were oirerprinted vertically
readingg down) at the Field Commanderts H.Q. with two new metal handstamps.
The two line ovorprints, surrounded by a double frame read "Fleskau 20
kop." and "Fleskau 60 kopU These metal handstamps were made by a locil
Engraver Gregory iloxeev.

13. When ir. Aloxeov received the order to make these handstamps he
misunderstood it and engraved the 20 korek value with "P S K 0 V" in
Russian. The few stamps over-rinted thus were never used postally and are
known as essayss". A few post cards, with these.stamps affixed, exist
philatelically cancelled, with the Russian Post Office cancellers. The
first rubber handstamp and this metal handstamp wore kept under seal at the
Field Commander's H.Q. and on October 1, 1941, were sent to the Postal
Ministry in Berlin (See paragraph 23).

14. On September 16, 1941, the German Postal Ministry in Berlin,
through the German High Command forbade the overprinting of German stamps
and their use outside of the territory of the German Reich. Thus only 1165
1 pfennig Hindonburg stamps were over-rinted "Pleskau 20 kop." in black
(lichelNo. la). Then as the black cverprint showed badly, 1150 stamps of
the same value were overprinted in red (Michel No. lb). Only 50 (some say

i #56 Page 7

400) 3 pfennig Hindenburg stamps were overprinted "Pleskau 60 kop." in
black. However, they were never used postally. This Second Provisional
Issue (Michel No. la) first appeared on August 11, 1941.

15. Confronted with the order forbidding the use and overprinting of
German stamps, the Field Gommand of Pskov obtained a new supply of Soviet
stamps from Estonia and Latvia and overprinted them with the two metal hand-
stamps described in paragraph 12. These stamps are known as the Third
Provisional Issue, and are listed in Michel as Nos. 2 to 9.

The following Soviet stamps were overprinted OPleskau 20 kop." in
black with a metal handstamp:

Michel Value Quantity Michel Value Quantity
Number Overprinted Number Overprinted
365b 1 k. Total 697 5 k. 3898
779 1 k. 2550 596 10 k. 3751
367a 3 k. 757 698 15 k. 3606

The following Soviet stamps were over'rinted ,Pleskau 60 kop." in
black with a metal handstamp;

Michel- Value Quantity Michol Value Ouantity
Number Overprinted Number Overprinted
783 20 k. 3582 784 50k. 2437
699 30 k. 4010 700 60 k. 24

As the 60 kop. (Michel No. 700) already showed the needed valuation,
50 to 65 stamps were over7rinted with the word "Pleskau" only.

16. In October, 1941, the Field Commander of Pskov ordered the above
mentioned engraver, Girgory Alexeov to design and to prepare dies for the
printing of a Final Issue of stamps of the Pskov Town Post. The designs
were to.depict local or religious, i.e. non-communistic themes; this is why
they'show the old coat of arms of the town, the cathedral, and a famous
local Madonna. (See illustration B). The stamps were printed by typograp-hy
at the printing office of V. Chlebnikov in Pskov, in sheets of ten stamps,
on unwatermarked white paper with white gum, and issued perforated 11-.
These stamps were issued on October 17, 1941.

Michel Value & color Quantity Description
Number Issued
lOx 20 k. brown red 15,050 Arms of the Town of Pskov.
llx 60 k. green olivel6,900 Cathedral at Pskov
12xa 60 plus 40 kop. H Madonna of Lubiatova
red brown 10,305

17. However, on October 18, 1941, the Commanding General of the Army
Group "Nord" in Verro issued an order closing forthwith for security reason
the Town of Pskov. The German High Command was afraid that the very active
partisan detachments in the Pskov area could use the postal services for
transmission of news even obtain military information, though.letters of
military importance were never sent through the Pskov Town Post, but through

Page 8 # 56

the German Field Post.

18. As stated earlier, Pskov had become-a very important military and
civilian administration center. The civilian population of the occupied
area of the Leningrad Region acne amounted to 1,200,000 inhabitants. The
Town Post of Pskov was extensively used by the German Civil Administration
for their official correspondence, especially the German Labor Office in
Pskov, which was sending out daily, hundreds of citations, ration cards for
those in German employ, etc., etc. Labor Office Citations 'or sucnonecs
were for instance first sent out by ordinary post card; in case of non-
appearance, a second citation was sent by a registered post card or letter.
This explains the comparatively large number of registered post cards
and letters still in existence.

Other larger German organizations which employed local labor for the
building of roads, bridges, air fields, etc., etc., also used the Town Post
of Pskov extensively.

As the need for postal services was so groat, the High Command of the
Army Group "Nord" finally cancelled its order of October 18, and as of
December 1, 1941, authorized the Town' Post of Pskov to be reopened again.

19. During the following five months, and until the. Town Post; of Pskov
was taken over by the German Post Office for Official Mail (Deutscho-Dienst-
Post) on May 1, 1942, the stamps of the 'Final Issue of Oo.tobor 17, 1941,
wore in constant use.

20, One must realize that the conditions in Pskov and in the -whole
German occupied area wore still rather chaotic. Suprlies of paper and ink
for -rinting and glue for gumping of these stamps was rationed and could
only be obtained aftor endless (buroaucratic)"difficulties and only in very
small quantities. This explains the numerous changes in the color shades of
the stamps, the kinds of -papr and gum used, and the technical difficulties
involved. Even the. perforating machines broke down and and the stamps had
to be issued imperfCoate.

On January 5, 1942 Michol Nos, 1Oy and lly appeared on thick grayish
paper with yellowish gum, No. 12y on the same paper,. 12xb on ordinary
uhite paper and No. 16B on.yellowish papar with yellow gum appeared at a
different time.
Michel Value and Color ..Ouantitvy Date of Issue
Number Issued
10y 20 k. light red brown 16,980 January 5, 1942
lly 60 k. dark olive groen 17,579 January 5, 1942
12y 60 plus 40 k red January 5, 1942
brown. 12,550
12xb 60 plus 40 k. dark rod December 23, 1941
brown. 5,410
16B 60 plus 40 k. dark red March 16, 1942
brown. 24,100

On March 16, 1942 the colors of the 20 kop. and 60 kop. stamps were
reversed to conform with similar colors of German stamps, and the following

S56 Page 9

quantities of each were issued.

Michel Value & Color Quantity
Number Issued
lAB 20 k. green olive 26,600
15B 60 k. brick red 28,000

As stated before the perforating machines broko down and the following
stamps were issued imperforate.

Michel Value & Golor Quantity Date of Issue
Number Issued
14A 20 k. green olive 3,000 March .2, 1942
15A 60 k. brick red 3,000 March 2, 1942
16A 40 plus 60 k. dark '. 3,000 Feb. 27, 1942
red brown

Please note that the new 20 and 60 k. stamps first appeared imperfo-
rate (Nos. 14A & 15A) and shortly afterwards, when the perforating machines
wore repaired, perforated ll- (See Nos. 14B & 15B above). Same applies
to the 60 plus 40 k. Red Cross (Soe No.16B, listed on the previous page).

21. On December 1, 1941, the 60 plus 40 k. Charity stamps were issued in
Souvenir Sheets, on watermarked,ungummed paper. The small, 121x163 mm.
imperforate sheets, contained a block of four imperforate stamps. The two
line inscription above the block of four, reads in Russian "Red Cross"'
(first line) and "Pskov 1941 year" (second line). Both the stamps and
the inscription are enclosed in double, widely spaced, vertical rectangle.
They were sold for 5 rubles each

Michel No. 13x -.dark red brown horizontal watermark 1100 sheets.
Michel No. 13y dark red brown vertical watermark 1208, sheets.

Second Printing issued February 28, 1942, issued on yellowish paper,
sometimes showing the watermark of the Ligat Paper Factory in Latvia, was
sold for 10 rubles each. Crbss in brown was added above.

Michel No.17 --dark red brown 2597 sheets.

Third Issue appeared in March, 1942. It was issued perforated 11l,
in sheets of 114xl53 to 160 mm. on various paper with white and'yellow gum,
and with and without Ligat watermark. It varies from Michel No 17, by
having red cross instead of brown. Sold for 10 rubles.

Michol No. 18x dark red brown yellowish paper, with and without Ligat
watermark yellow gum 2575 sheets.
Michel No. 18y dark red brown unwatermarked white paper white gum -
2645 sheets.

22. The issue of Charity stamps, both in singles and miniature sheets
was obviously made to obtain as much of- revenue as possible, first for the
Kindergarten of the'iown of Pskov and later for the German Red Cross .

Page 10 # 56

Various receipts awd documents are still in existence showing the transfer
of various amounts to the German Red Cross (See Illustration C). The total
proceeds from the sale of the these Charity Stamps and souvenir sheets
amounted to about RK 12,000 or 120,000 rubles.

23. It has often'been stated that the issue of the Town Post of Pskov
was at most a "unofficial local" issue or oven only a "private" issue. The
-facts are,. however, somewhat different.

Already on Soptembor 26, 1941, The German Ministry of Post in Berlin
inquired about the Town Post of Pskov, asking for details and samples of
stamps issued, etc. By a letter datod October 1, 1941. printed in full by
Dr. Schultz, the Field Commander in Pskov answered this query, giving the
Ministry all the portinnt data as set above in paragraphs 5, 6 and 7
forwarding to Berlin, the Town Post stamps worth RK 17.20, for which the
Ministry of Posts paid by postal transfer. At the same time the Field
Commander forwarded to the Ministry the first rubber handstamp as well as
the metal stamp with "Pskov" in Russian, which, as stated in paragraph 13,
was nor used postally. At the.request of the Ministry of Posts samples of
all further issues wore regularly sent to Berlin for their Postal Museum.

24. As Pskov was inside the Military sector and outside of the oper-
ational area of the German Mail (Reichspost) and of.the German Official Mail
"Ostland", (Dionst-Post Ostland) no authorization from Berlin to operate the
Town Post. of Pskov was necessary, nor was it ever asked. Nevertheless, it
is clear frpm the still existent correspondence and memoranda of conversa-
tions with the Postal Ministry in Berlin, that the Town Post of Pskov was
approved by the said Ministry and tho-stamps were looked upon by them as an
official local German issue (Soo Illustrati.on D)..

25. It must be recalled that Pskov belonged to'the operational area
dr sector of the German Army and not to the civilian administrative area
"O0stland", which encompassed the -territories of Latvia, Lithuania and
Estonia and the area around Minsk, which was called "Whito Ruthonia", and
which had its own Official Gcaran Mail Service (Dionstpost).

Already in August, 1941, the German Field Command in Pskov had approach-
ed the appropriate German authorities requesting"the establishment of a
German Post Office for Official Mail in Pskov. This and subsequent requests
were denied by the German authorities in Berlin as they felt that it was
outside their jurisdiction to open a Post Office in an area of military
operations.

26. However, owing to the increased military, economic and adninistra-
tive importance of Pskov and the over increasing amount of mail handled by
the Town Post of Pskov an authorization was finally obtained in April, 1942,
by which the Official Mail of "Ostland" was to open a post office in that
town.

Thus on May 1, 1942, a German Post Office for Official Mail was opened
in Pskov, taking over at the samo time the services, the personnel, the cash
assets (MK 4461.) and the remaining stamps of the Town Post Office of Pskov
amounting to RIK 18. (See Illustration E of this document).

S56 Page 11

27. Until the arrival of Hitler "Ostland" stamps in Pskov, a few days
later, the remaining Town Post stamps were used. As the new German cancel-
ler "Ploskau", which had been ordered in Leipzig, did not reach Pskov until
the middle of June, 1942, the three old Russian cancellers, described in
paragraph 11 were continued to be used by the new German Post Office for
Official Mail.

28. It is of interest to note that the German Post Office for Official
Mail in Pskov was, with one other exception, the only Post Office establish-
ed by the Postal Administration "Ostland" in the military operational
sector and functioned until the German withdrawal in 1944. Only later
during 1942, another Post Office for Official Mail was established by Ost-
land in Slanzy, an important il shale mining center, just South East of
Narva, Estonia, in the Leningrad Region.

29. Conclusions: In paragraphs 4 and 18, I explained the actual need
for postal services in the Pskov area, and in paragraphs 25 and 26 the re-
luctance of the German Authorities in Berlin to open a Post Office for
Official Mail outside the area of their jurisdiction. The first tacit,
later open approval of.the Pskov Town Post by the German Ministry of Post
in Berlin, is also indicative that this Post was not a "private" operation,
but that its stamps are an official "local" issue.

The many varieties of color shades, paper, etc., were explained in
paragraph 20 which were necessitated by the local conditions, beyond the
control of the Field Commander, and not for philatelic purposes.

The issue of Charity Stamps and Blocks of Four on Souvenir shoots was
not necessitated by postal needs, but simply to obtain as much revenue as
possible for such charitable purposes as the Kindergarten in Pskov and the
German Red Cross. It must be recalled in this connection that in the
"30's" the neighboring countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, had
shown the example, as to how to obtain appreciable revenues for charitable
purposes by issuing quite a number of charity stamps and miniature sheets.

I hayo further to remind, as explained in paragraph 7, that the Admini-
stration of the Town Post of Pskov and the issuance of stamps was, very
thoroughly supervised and controlled by the German Field Command in Pskov.
I have. mentioned in thd same paragraph that any defective or inverted over-
prints were removed from sheets at the headquarters of the Field Commander,
before the sheets lacking these errors were.handed over to the Post Office
for postal use.

30. But here- lies perhaps the main point why the Town Post issues of
Pskov are still looked upon with suspicion by some collectors; for instead
of destroying these defective stamps, they wore given as "presents" to imp-
ortant visitors or friends of the Field Commander. The same happened
apparently to the so-called "essays" of the final issue printed on card-
board and the few stamps overprinted with the Russian Pskov handstamp,
mentioned in paragraph 13.

A few additional Soviet, Estonian and Latvian stamps, which have never
been available in Pskov itself, but had been brought to Pskov by members of
German Military Forces, were also overprinted for friends at the Field

Pago 12 56

Command's Headquarters for purely philatelic purposes. But one must again
remember that these stamps had never been issued officially for postal use,
although a number of covers with these "essays" hrve been cancelled, for
philatelic purposes, by the Russian Pskov cancellers. It is indeed regret-
able that these irregularities did occur, but these wore irregular times
and they affected only a few stamps, which I repeat again, were never
issued for postal use. This is why some catalogues list these irregularly
issued stamps separately from the regular stamps issued for postal use.
Collectors ought to treat them accordingly. Similar irregularities are
known to have occurred in many other countries and do not constitute a large
proportion of the regularly issued stamps for postal use(approximately
200,000 stamps).

31. There is another "suspicious" matter which has been mentioned.
Lately quite a number of registered letters have come on the market address-
ed to Lt. Col. Bolongaro Crovenna, the Field Commander of Pskov, showing on
the -covors the names and addresses of various senders, but written in the
same handwriting. It is not known whether the Field Commander employed
someone to write and mail to him letters or covers for philatelic purposes
until his death in November, 1941, but they probably stem from the recent
sale of his estate in Germany. However, it also must be pointed out that
a large segment of the local population was illiterate. Thus they often
had to use the good offices of some employee at the Post Office'or of a
scribe to write their petitions, etc., addressed to the Chief Administrative
Officer of the rrea, the Field Commander. This might explain why many
postally used covers addressed to the Field Commandor are written in'the
"same handwriting.

In this connection I ought to mention also a cover which was shdwn by
a dealer during the recent 10th ASDA Show in New York. It is a cover with
stamps of the First Provisional Issu. of Pskov, cancelled August 8, 1941,
by the well known Russian canceller of that Town Post and behold: addressed
to Leningradt It probably stems from the dead letter office of the Tcwn
Post of Pskov' nd was mailed by some trusting and hopeful soul, when hear-
ing the day before, that the P. 0. was again open Or this cover may be
from a letter found in a mailbox,,4s mentioned in paragraph 10.

32. Not mentioned here are a few recurring flaws of the final issue,
such as a broken bell tower, broken ornaments in the design, etc. Their
occurrence is understandable under prevailing printing conditions.

33. Finally a few words must be said about the fakes of those issues.
Fakos already started to appear in 1942. The faked overprints wore as a
general rule "too clean" and their size was wrong. Faked stamps of the
rarer denominations are oven known to be-r the imprint of the original
Russian Pskov cancellors. These must have been mailed by forgers or spe-
culators and wore not detected as fakes by the Russian postal employees in
the crowded and poorly lit post office.

It is therefore suggested never to buy stamps of the Town Post of Pskov,
which have not been exportizeo.

34. Considering the documents and data which had been published in
various serious philatelic publications and the listing of those stamps

# 56 Page 13

in such famous catalogues as Michel, Muller, Zumstein. I am of the opinion
that the stamps of the Town Post of Pskov which were issued for postal use
can not be called private or bogus and are good collectors items.

BIBLI 0 GRAPH Y

Dr. Hermann Schultz of Erlangen, Germany in his above mentioned article
"uDie Stadtpostausgaben von Pleskaun in Numbers 10-19 of "Der Sammlerdienst",
Coburg, 1955 (See paragraph 1 abovo) lists the following articles dealing
with the Town Post issues of Pskov:

1. Hinter den Kulisson der Ploskauer Stadpost, by Dr. Schultz, Deutsch-
landsammler 1953, Nos. 6 and 7.

2. Ploskau, by Konsul Hermann E. Sieger, Lorch, Sieger-Post 186/1952.

3. Postage Stamps from Plaskau, F*L Publications, 'New York, 1948.

4. Pleskau )Pskow)-Stadtpost in Russland, by Dr. Schultz, Philatolistisches
Journal von Dipl. Ernst Muellor, Nos. 6-9/1948/49.

5. Lokalposton in Nordrussland, by Dr. Schultz, Phil, Journal, Nos. 10/49.

6. Artikel der "AG Doutscho Besetzung 1939/45 ubor Ploskau" by Dr. Schultz,
Deutsche Briofmarken und Flugpostzoitung (DBZ), 1949/50.

7. Die Ausgaben von-E lskau, by Martin Opitz, Noumunster, now Hornbach/
Pfalz. DBZ 1948/49.

8. Postwertzeichen von Ploskau, by Dr. Gagarin, DBZ 1942.

9. Die Stadtpostra1gaben von Pleskau, by Dr. Schultz, Bern Briefmarken-
zeitung 1949.

10. Ostland, by Konsul Hermann E. Sieger, DBZ 1942, No. 155/156.

11. Uber das Wesen dor Ostlandlckalausgaben, by Dr. R. Gagarin, DBZ 1942.

12. Was Sind Lokalausgaben. by Dr. Dub, Sammlerschau 1942' (No. 4).

13. Ostlandlokalausgabon, by Dr. Schultz, Sammlerschau 1942.

14. Die Postwertzeichen von Ploskau'by Dr. Gagarin, Sammlorschau 1942/46.-

15. Uber das Weson der Ostland-Lokalausgaben, Borichte des Berlinor Philate-
listenclubs, 1942 by Dr. Gagarin.

16. Die Madonna von Pleskau in "gabriel" Nos. 8 and 4 1949-41 by Dr. Gagarin.

17. Die Ganzsachon von Pleskau in "Die Ganzsacho" September 1942 NQ. 8/9
by Dr. Gagarin.

Page 14 56

EDITORIAL COMMENT

Wo saluto Dr. C. de Stackolborg for his thorough treatment of the sub-
ject matter, and for his presentation of one side of the controversial
issue. The article was created at our request. We appreciate the phila-
telic and the historical data given, however we feel that certain points
are not clear and are debatable, and that all of the statements of Dr.
Schultz can not be accepted as the final words on the subject.

Editors do not deny the existence of the stamps in question issued
during the occupation of Pakov, their use on letters, and their cancellation.
What is not clear is "For whom were they created". We doubt that they were
made for postal needs of the townspeople, and we are not convinced that the
population was allowed to freely correspond in the occupied zone so close
to the front. We add that the inhabitants of a town of such size did cor-
respond with each other, instead of going on foot, a few streets to deliver
their message. As for the letters of the Russians supposedly written to
other Russians in near by'villages of the Pskov Region, we.must state that
we have not seen any and we doubt if any could have been written and sent.

We know that a large majority of these stamps, all mentioned in this
article are found in cancelled state either on cover without addresses
(philatelic) or on a letter or post cards addressed to Dr. Schultz, or to
the commandant or to the officials of the German military and civil admini-
stration, or more often on notices of Labor office, According to our know-
lodge, such notices had to be returned to the Lobor Office upon the appear-
ance of the person before the establishment, being as it is known, a German
government section, branch of the Ministry of Labor.

The German government bureaus of the military and the civil occupation
setup did not use anywhere any stamps, and all of the official papers,
notices, and commands for appearance, wore mailed without postage stamps,
even if they travelled through the occupied land. The question that comes
up for whom were these stamps needed." Not for those who couldoond their
letters without stamps, and not for those who either were not allowed to
use the post, or wore groatly limited infsuch a privilege.

Editors do not debate the competence of Dr. Schultz as an expert of
the overprints and the stamps of the town post of Pskov, the overprints of
Liady (See Rossica # 55). Even if Dr. Schultz was not the creator of those
issues, ho was so close to them that he was able to-concentrate in his hands
various specimens of these issues. Studying the deductions which Dr. Schultz
gives as reasons for the necessity of these stamps, we come to a conclusion
that the deductions given do not prove anything.

It is very likely that it made very little difference to the official
Berlin, whether a few stamp issues appeared in the East, as long as there
was no loss to the treasury and as long as they did not compete with some
branch of the German post. The revenue obtained from the sale of the
Charity Issues, which were issued in form of stamps and souvenir shoots,
aided the German Red Cross, thus actually helping the German interests. The
last jesture may have caused the government to shut its eyes to the doings
in Pskov.

# 56 Page 15

Editors feel that it would be more correct to consider these issues not
as private or fantastic but purelely temporary 16cal issues created by
philatelists for philatelic use. Their true use, covered a certain period
of time, merely because of the special military situation. Similar issues
were created in various lands and at various times, during foreign and
civil wars, revolutions, etc. Special character of such issues does not
lessen their interest to collectors and editors extend their gratitude to
Dr. Stackelberg for presenting the subject so ably.

We also feel that the percentage of illiterates is not as great as
indicated by the author.

00000000000000000000000000000000000

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000OOO00000000000 Co 00 OOCCOOCCCO CCCGCC' CCCC COOCOCOOO 0000000 0 0OCCC000000000
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Page 16 56
f: 56

RUSSIA 1909-19 ISSUE WITH CHALK LINE NETWORK
by A. Rosselevitch

Recently, many of our readers and friends have shown great interest in
this issue, which up to now has been more or less neglected. The study of
the numerous printings of this issue, will no doubt reveal many interesting
facts, up to now undiscovered. At the present time I wish to dwell upon
one angle, which has been mentioned in-private correspondence with various
members of Rossica, and has been the theme of my speech at the Annual-Meet-
ing of our Society, on November 23, 1958. The subject involves the print-
ing of R 0 U B L E values in other than normal colors.

1 to 70 kop. values were printed as soon as the plates were ready, and
distributed to the post offices immediately upon demand. The rouble values
were printed only when the orders for them were received. As in other
typographical undertakings, prior to the printing-of the needed.number of
sheets, the 10 ruble stamp trial or proof printings were made on one sheet
for the purpose of checking the register of the typographic plates. At
first, the background, consisting of dots and dashes, was printed in black,
instead of normal yellow.color, since the latter would have rendered check-
ing useless because of its light color. Proof of frames and centers was
then made on the same sheet, using the normal red and grey colors, which
were sufficiently dark to inspect for faults. Frames and ovals were printed
either in their proper places, or sometimes without regard to the position
of the backgrounds. Thus, in certain rare instances, a sheet was printed
with a black background instead of yellow. In other cases the proper
alignments of the various parts of the postage stamp were disregarded and
the backgrounds, frames and ovals were printed in different positions.
After the inspection of the trial sheets was made, the normal procedure
was to destroy-these sheets. However, during the 1914-18 war years the
control of the stamp printing at the Government -Printing Works was greatly
reduced and was: not- as strict. Many of the experienced workers were called
into the Army, and the replacements were either inexperienced or careless.
After the revolution, especially the one of October, the control became
more and more careless. The 'quality of the printings became poorer and
poorer, the control sheets were mixed up with the sheets of normal colors,
and most likely in some instances those control or proof sheets-foll into
,private hands. It is also quite possible that after the trial printings
were made the plates were only partly wiped off or not wiped at all. The
remaining black ink thus showing, either as a black or as a dirty background
on subsequent printings.

Several examples of such 10 ruble stamps have been found at different
times in Russia and abroad. As one may agree:, these stamps are not true
"errors of color" in the full meaning of the tern. but printers waste,
which eluded the control, either due to carelessness or deliberately, and
wentt-rough the post on par with the normal stamps. These examples are
actually not varieties, but curiosities, which of course does not lower
their value or scarcity. Of course such examples may also exist of the 5
ruble stamps, i.e. the black background, the dark blue frame and the light
blue oval. But as far as I know there is no record of such varieties
existing. However, in the collection of Kurt Adlor, there are two rare and

# 6 Page 17

very interesting stamps; the 10 rubles with the inverted green background
of the 5 rubles stamp, instead of the normal yellow, and a 5 rubles stamp
with a normal background in yellow instead of green, i.e. the color of the
background of the 10 rubles stamp. These two varieties should be considered
as genuine rarities and errors. They occurred when the printing controls
after the revolution were very lax or reduced to zero.

The trial control printings of 1 ruble stamps, having the background
network in black instead of normal light brown, appear comparatively more
often. Normally these proof sheets should be imporforate and ungummed,
with brown frame, orange oval and the numeral greatly shifted in relation
to the background. Quite often such proofs are found not only with the
gum and perforations faked, but also with genuine gum and perforations.
This proves first of all that these proof printings were made in large
quantities and that they were saved for future operations of gumming and
perforating, just as if they were normal stamps. From this we see that the
basic.purpose of the above mentioned operations, was the future sale of
these sheets as rare proofs, probably abroad. We note in passing. that
besides these proofs with the background in black, other endless.number of
varieties of 1 ruble stamp exist. One may find stamps with extreme shifts
in the background and the center, double and triple backgrounds and centers,
missing centers, missing backgrounds, and etc., etc. The existence of all
"of these varieties creates an impression in one's mind that they were pre-
"pared deliberately for an ultimate,financial gain. Large quantities of
these so called varieties, mainly of I.ruble stamp, printed in 3 steps:and
in 3 colors', and their varied and fantastic appearance, plus, the fact that
only a few of them were found *cancelled, causes us to eliminate the thought
"that they are proofs, or errors of accidental nature.: It seems that at
first all of this material was released abroad gradually, but later the
Soviet government, selling large lots of sheets of the old Russian stamps
to foreign firms, mixed normal sheets with the previously described so
called fantastic sheets (we can't:evqn call these, sheets as printers waste).
Both normal and so called fantastic sheets were sold at the same cheap
price,. *

-It is quite possible, that in rare instances, sheets of 1 ruble stamp
with a proof black background and having a perfect.alignment, i.e. no shift,
could have escaped inspection and have been sent along.with the groups of
normal sheets to the post offices for sale. We consider these genuinely
gummed and perforated stamps without a shift, when cancelled, as printers
waste used by error by post.

Besides the previously described varieties of 1 -ruble, the following
varieties also exist:

a. -Background network in light green instead of brown.
b. Frame in black instead of dark brown.
c. Oval and numerals in orange red.

On page 20 of the Soviet Catalogue (4bh. edition, printed in Moscow)
these stamps are designated as "proofs" and notes that they are black,
green and brown in color.

Page 18 # 56

Our member, and noted specialist in Russian stamps, Dr. P. Jemchoujin,
states that he saw two sheets of such stamps among a large number of sheets
of 1 ruble, acquired a few ye&as ago from-the Soviet Government, by a stamp
firm. He also stated that this group included sheets with various shifts
and errors and that the price was cheap and the same for the normal and the
varieties. According to him these facts eliminate the thought that these
Stamps with the green network of the background are of speculative nature.
My personal opinion is that these st-mps are not proofs, and that they
are of speculative character. I shall say before hand that I saw in
Europe several such stamps.

One was on the vertically laid paper. The network under the frame was
light brown and green only in the free areas. The frame was dark brown and
not.black., I consider this example-to be the'product of chemical tampering.

Another example that I saw had a green network and a black frame. The
network of the background was not clear and covered with white spots, with
thickenning .-f the color here and there aed Vith certain deformations of
the design in places. These characteristics gave the stamp an appearance
of being worn or subjected t: rubbing. This stamp gave an. impression that
1 .l of its surface with the exception of the oval and numerals was subjected
to a chemical action, which 4inltaneously produced the following results.
a. The brown color of the network was changed to light green, thin
parts of the network were spoiled in places, nad in some places
completely eliminated.
b. The dark brown frame was. changed to black (more.accurately dull
-black-grey) 'col or
c. In placos:the color of the design was thickened and the design
deformed. .

Practically all of this.is fully possible. -We know of many instances
"of chemical tampering with mint or cancelled stamps, by various methods,
whore neither the gum nor adjacent parts of the design were affected.

It is sufficient to mention the 7 and 8 kop. values of 1875, where the
center was completely eaton away by the red color, leaving only a colorless
relief of the eagle. Also the 1 kop. stamps where the yellow color was
altered into black; stamps of 1909 15 kop. where the blue center was cha-
nged to green) 35 kop. whero the green center as changed to blue and the
25 kop.. where the.violet center, was changed- to rose or red, and etc.
As Dr. Jemchoujin stated before, full shoots of those 1 ruble stamps
were found mixed with the normal shoots, purchased from the Soviets. Un-
doubtodly the Soviets did"'not resort to chomic'l alterations. We assume
these stamps were printed by.the Government Printing Works, or wore saved
from the days of 1917 -1919 -1923.- We shall try to analyze all possible
origins of such stamps,
# *56 Page 19

S

Supposition that they are proofs, as in the case of 5 and 10 rubles
with black background, will not stand criticism. Light green color is less
visible than the light brown, and it does not help but retard the control.
Change of the frame color from dark brown to black is also absurd, because
they are both equally dark. Also it does not appear as an error of color,
discovered later in a batch of normal sheets. First of all, when printing
- stamps in three colors, an error is possible in one of these (such as the
10 rubles with an oval in blue instead of grey), but not with two colors.
SIn the instance of the 1 ruble stamp the variation in two colors does not
appear as accidental, but as a deliberate one. After all, these stamps
were not printed by blind ment

Errors in all colors, in bi or tri-colored stamps.(such as Finland
3 r. 50 k. printed in the color of 7 r.) are explained in the following
way. Stamps of the same design, except the value, when in the process of
printing, after examination of a sample sheet were found to have a damaged
cliche in a plate. In replacing the cliche a wrong one was placed on the
plate and.because the error was not discovered until later the sheet of
stamps contained a stamp in wrong color. Another example is printing of
stamps in a color designated for another stamp.

The Soviet Government in 1919 declared that the ordinary internal
correspondence would be free, thus the need for stamps.was eliminated in
1918 and 1919. A large part of the European Russia and all of Siberia was
under the control of the White Armies, therefore the demand for stamps to
be used for postal communications on the Soviet territory was greatly
reduced.

While the first Soviet issue was in preparation (it appeared in August
1921) the supplies of:the old Imperial stamps were utilized, and because of
high postal rates, and the need of high values, the ruble values were
reprinted several times, i.e. as they were needed.

Taking all'of the facts mentioned into consideration one eliminates
the need for proofs of one stamp, the one ruble value, in new colors, or
the use of thelmporial arms. Ono would have at least expected the eagle
off or overprinted by a five pointed star.

There remain only two explanations for the existence of these stamps -

a. It's fantasy prepared by someone working in the Printing Works,
who could have utilized its facilities for production of a number
of sheets in other than standard colors. I.doubt that one man
could have, without control, taken various steps needed to produce
these stamps.

b. These stamps could have been printed at the Government Printing
Works on government order, with a speculative aim, for a future
sale abroad. Such thought is supported by the fact that a large
quantity of various, what we call fantastic varieties of 1 ruble,
do not appear as proofs or errors, but as printers waste, without

Page 20 #56

need or reason. Actually, what could have been the reason for
printing a sheet of stamps on a sheet that already had printed
centers sidewise or inverted. To do this one need not be inex-
perinced or blind We could have believed the existence of one
or two such sheets, but not a huge quantity of them.

The information given by the Soviet catalogue can not be taken as an
irrefutable fact. I am fully convinced that the 1 ruble stamp with the
.green network, black frame, and the countless variations of this stamp in
normal color is a deliberate product of 1918, 1921 or perhaps even later.

Nothing is proven by the fact that those stamps, in full sheets, were
included in lots of normal shoots, sold by the Soviet Government in large
quantities abroad, at a cheap price, to foreign firms. IPrhaps these ab-
normal sheets were mixed with the normal sheets, so that the dealer would
discover them, thus making the unloading easier, rather than having a
separate sale, at the timo, when the demand for these abnormalities was low
and the supply was greater than the demand.

In a resume of what I have stated before, I would like to underline the
ain, thought. There are varieties, errors and proofs, the existence of
which can be explained logically, as those that have boon produced by
accident or by necessity. However there are other examples, which according
to me, have a fantastic character, where the element of accidental product-
ion is so unlikely, that even an inexperienced man can realize that the
creation of such fantastic material can only be with a purpose in mind,
such as future gumming and perforating.

Our problem is not only to write up and classify various issues, but
also to have a knowledge to separate the genuine varieties, both normal and
errors from those of fantastic and purely philatelic origin, even if they
wore created not by private individuals but by the government establish-
ments.

All of those 1 ruble values with green network and black frame, that
show no evidence of chemical temporing, should,4bsolutely not be considered
as proofs and as logically explainedd items. T1us for a long time, many
believed that the 3 kop. plus 1'kot. Charity stamps of 1915, on orange
colored paper, the Turkestan and other numerous stamps were genuine issues
of Russia or obc of its border states. The difference lies in the fact that
in one case the fantasies wore fabricated by private -individuals, while in
the other case, by the government' itself. The purpose behind thoso issues
remains the same, i.e. speculation and creation of an income at the expence
of uninformed philatelists.

ADDENDA

When the article was already written I received for inspection a
number of imperforate 1 ruble stamps of the issue in question. The centers
and the frames of all the stamps in question were in most fantastic positions
and colors. Among them was an imporforate block of four with a wide margin,

# 56 Page 21

green network of background, and orange red oval and numerals all in
normal position, besides, the stamps had a second frame, not ,black but in
normal brown with a considerable shift to the right. Thus we had stamps
with a double frame in two different colors.

This bears out that the 1 ruble stamp with green network of background
is of speculative nature. It is clearly seen that there is no question of
errors of color, either in proofs in new colors; why should a second frame
be added on an already finished stamp with an old dark brown color.

The answer is that the aim was to fabricate as many fantastic varieties
as possible.
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Page 22 # 56

^ '; ': *\ \!

RESEARCH ON MODERN MONGOLIA
by James Negus

During 1955 I became interested in solving a problem. I had begun
collecting Mongolia and the catalogue told me that the last set of stamps
had been issued in 1932. This was not remarkable, except that one single
stamp had appeared in 1945 with nothing else since. I begun to wonder what
prompted the Mongolians to do without a new issue for 13 years, produce a
solitary stamp, and then relapse into silence for another 10 years.

I very soon learned that there was little hope of getting information
from Mongolia direct, since all communications seemed to got lost on the
way or be ignored on receipt. I tried writing to Moscow: Mezhdunarodnaya
Kniga officials were very polite, but pointed out that they did not deal in
Mongolian stamps. I found at this time that few collectors or dealers
either knew or cared much about Mongolian philately in general or recent
events in particular. The country was unknown and unloved, it seemed.

I began at this stage to read the philatelic press reports from 1945
onwards, and found this very rewarding. It was evident that quite a number
of stamps had been issued since 1945, and it was the catalogue which was
lagging behind in recording them. I also uncovered much muddled reporting
in the new issue lists. The same stamp night be chronicled as a "now issue"
in different papers years apart, while the description often turned out to
be wild guesses.

Aftor a while, however, I was able to put together a list which seemed
to describe the issues of Mongolia since 1945. I still had never seen an
actual specimen of any of them.

Then my luck changed almost overnight. I read that Mr. Ivor Montagu
had travelled to Mongolia in 1954 and I was delighted to learn from him that
he had sent about 25 of the stsmps to- a friend in England. I had the good
fortune to be allowed to borrow these to chock against my list. I was also
pleased to hear fram the well known German student of the. Far East, Mr. Theo
Klewitz, that he had managed to broek the "sound-barrier" by finding a
*orrespondent inside Mongolia; this correspondent had sent my German col-
league a very complete collection of stamps but with some quite ludicrous
data to go with it. Herr Klewitz very genernunly sent me everything on my
list which I had not seen before. I next hoard from a Chinese dealer who
had started to get supplies. By this time, fellow collectors bitten by the
Mongolian bug started to get in touch with meI and a kind of unofficial
"study circle" began to form. By our combined efforts more copies of the
eluAive stamps began to appear, and everyone I contacted was exceedingly
helpful in lending me whatever I asked for from their collections.

Mr. Montagu returned to Mongolia for another visit in 1957 and while
there captured further specimens for me. He also labored valiantly in
official quarters in a quite disinterested fashion (he is not himself a
philatoliEt), and we owe him a debt of gratitude for making it known in
Ulan Bator that there exists in the outside world a body of people vitally
interostod in Mongolian philptely. L philatelic Bureau was set up about the

# 56 Page 23

time of his visit, from which I was delighted to receive a letter in Soet-
omber 1957. As enclosure wore 50 Mongolian stamps, all neatly cancelled to
order.

Making a list

Part of the problem was therefore solved. By repeated efforts from all
these sources, I felt fairly confident that we had now brought.to light most
(if not all) of the stamps issued in Mongolia since the last catalogued set
of 1932. They total 68 so that thore are more stamps outside the catalogue
than there are in it'. I give a checklist of these 68 stamps at the end of
this article and have also tried to give an indication of relative scarcity.

The more difficult part of the exercise was, however, to deduce a
catalogue listing for this abundance of riches.. Few of the stamps give any
immediate clue on why they were issued. But a detailed examination of the
style of design, the printing method, and the inscriptions help to suggest
what stamps constitute sets. The biggest stumbling block, which held me
back for a long time, was trying to make up sets where no one denomination
was repeated. I assumed eventually that this could be just a Western.
convention in Mongolian eyes and having cheerfully abandoned this restrict-
ion, everything fell neatly into place.

I set out the reasons for grouping the stamps as I have done in a
paper published in Gibbons Stamp Monthly.in August 1956. The only error
that has so far come to light is that some of my first set are now known
postmarked 1943. I had datcedthoml945-46. I do not for a minute suppose
that there are no.mistakes in the list, but I think it about the best we can
do with the data presently available.

Gibbons have been very interested in my list. They proposed at one
time to put it in the 1958 Part III Catalogue, then being prepared. But
they withdrew at the last minute, saying that much as they appreciated my
work, it was, after all, pure conjecture, and that they would like official
confirmation first. They have now decided that, as this confirmation may
be rather slow in coming, they will use my listing as it stands in the next
(1960) edition.

This will, I imagine, set the seal of.respectability on these stamps.
The episode is quite a curious one to my mind, rather parallel to the
problems of compiling a listing of stamps of North Korea and North Viot-Nam:
like Mongolia, these two countries have also been wrapped in mystery, as no
one seemed to have set up any apparatus for publicizing their issues to the
outside world or exporting supplies into the philatelic market. Native
philatelists in the countries concerned were conspicuously absent, and so
another of the normal routes for supplying information was absent, too.

The position of Mongolia is further made difficult since she has been
consistently refused membership of the United Nations and is not a member
of the U.P.U. This adds to her isolation.

The Philatelic Bureau at Ulan Bator does not seem to be functioning
fully as yet, although its director (0. Bizya) is very helpful in his
letters to me. He tells me that a catalogue of all Mongolian stamps is in

Page 24 #56

preparation and as this will be the first native philatelic publication
over it is bound to be important. (All previous published work on
Mongolian philately has appeared from countries outside Mongolia'. There
has never boon any data flowing out from the country itself hitherto.) As
a matter of interest, EM. Bizya's address is: PLoshad Sukhobatora 5, P.O.
Box 175, Ulan Bator, Mongolian Peoplests Republic.

Value of Recent Issues

I am often asked to give the market value of modern Mongolian stamps,
and this is difficult to do. As very collector knows, the value of a
stamp is governed very largely by the law of supply and demand. In this
case, we have lots of demand but no supply But nobody yet knows whether
"ano supply" arises from definite rarity or bad organization. I incline to
the latter. I think there are probably fair quantities of these stamps in
Mpngolia, but because there are no regular export channels an appearance of
oearcity is presented'to the outside world. We have discovered, for example,
that the 1932 pictorial set is still valid in Mongolia and that odd values
are still in stock in Ulan Bator and are used up quite indiscriminately with
the later issues. So it would not surprise me one day to find that large
quantities of these now scarce unlistedd" issues have boon exported from
Mongolia for philatelists.

Even so, it is possible to place some sort' of value on these stamps
now. Most of my own specimens have boon obtained by gift or exchange with
fellow collectors. Those that I havo bought have been on the basis that
one Mongolian tuhrik equals one Russian Ruble; my own few purchases have
boon virtually at face, but no doubt a dealer handling this material would be
obliged to add profit and overhead.

Covers bearing these issues are not easy to find dated before 1955,
but from that time arC more abundant. The Mongolians are going in for *
postal stationery and pictorial envelopes in the Russian style and these ar
fairly frequently soon now. Since the upsurge of interest in Mongolia
(dating from about 1955), a very much greater amount of material of all
periods has come on to the philatelic market. Demand still outpaces supply,
of course, but a great deal of the incredulous wonder which used to greet
the appoaranco of any sort of Mcngolian cover has now ovaporated. Some of
glamour has undoubtedly departed but it now allows students to observe the
postal history of this interesting country with a more balanced judgement
than was possible even a few short years ago. In probing into why so many
Mongolian stamps never achieved catalogue status, I hope I'have contributed
a little to this new look,

CHE CK LIST OF ODE R N M ONG OL IA

Those notes supplement the checklist published in Gibbons Stamp Monthly,
Volume 29, Page 163 (August 1956). The information given in my letter to
the editor (G.S.M., Volume 30, Pago 55 for January 1957) is included and
corrected. I retain the numbering as it stands to avoid confusion:

#56 Page 25

the "a" and b"t numbers showing where later information was incorporated
will undoubtedly disappear when this list is included in a standard
catalogue. Relative scarcity indicated on scale of 1 to 5: I is the least
scarce, 5 is most scarce.

1943. Definiti-ves.' TyporTaphed, perforated 12.

1, 5 n, green on light green Mongol man 5
2. 10 m. dark blue on light blue M ongol woman 5
3. 15 m. carmine red on rose Soldier 5
4. 20 m. orange brown on orange Camel Caravan 5
5. 25 m. orange brown on buff Building 5
6. 30 m. scarlet on red Arms of Republic 5
7. 45 m. purple on mauve Portrait of Sukho Bator, 1894-1923. 5
8. 60 m. dark green on green Pastoral scene 5

1945. Commemorative. Photogravure, perforated 12 .
1 t. black brown Marshal Choibalsan 3

Catalogued as Gibbons No. 59 and Scott No. 75. Possibly issued to
commemorated Marshalts 50th. birthday.

1946. Commemorating 25th. Anniversary of Indepondence. Photo., perf. 1291.

9. 30 m. bistre Choibalsan at age of 4 2
10. 50 m. dull purple Choibalsan (left), Sikhe Bator (right)2
11. 60 m. chestnut Choibalsan University 5
12. 60 m. black Choibalsan as a young man 5
13. 80 m. chestnut Victory"imedal 2
14. 1. t. indigo Medal for 25th. Anniversary 2
15. 2 t. rod brown Sukho Bator 2
1951. Commemorating 30th. Anniversary of Independence. Photo., perf. 12L.

16. 5 m. black brown on rose Now dwelling houses 2
17. 10 m. blue on rose School children at desoa 2
18. 15 m. emerald on palo blue Altai Hotel 2
19. 20 m. red orange. State Shop 5
20. 20 m. blue, red, yellow & orange blue frame. Arms.& flag 5
21. 25 m. blue on pale blue Choibalsan University 2
22. 30 m. blue, red, yellow & orange red frame. 'Arms & flag 5
23. 40 m. red violet on rose State Theatre, Ul3a Bator 5
24.' 50 m. black brown on pale blue Pedagogical Institute 2
25. 60 m. black on pale-rose Sukho Bator Monument 5
26. 1 t. rcd,bluo, yellow, green & brown. (Scare. 2) Flags of Communist bloc
27. 2 t. brown on orange Sukho Bator 2
28. 3 t. multicolored. Lenin 2

Page 26 # 56

S

1953. Commemorating 1st. Anniversary of the Death of Marshal Choibalsan
Printed in Moscow. Photogravure, prforated,12ie

29. 15 m. blue Choibnlsan in national costume. 1
30. 15 m. green Choibalsan'and agricultural worker. 5
31. 20 m. green Ls No. 29 5
32. 20 m. sepia As No. 30 1
33. 20 m. Ultramarino Chcibclsan and factory worker 1
34. 30 m. sepia Ghoibnlsr-n and factory worker 1
35. .50 m. orange brown Choibiasan and young pioneer 1
36. 1 t. carmino red Choibalsan and young pioneer 1
37. 1 t. purple brown Choibalsan in uniform 1
38. 2 t. red Choibalsan in uniform 1
39. 3 t. purple brown Busts of ChoibIlsan and Sukhe Bator 1
40. 5 t. rod Busts of Choibelsan and Sukho Bator 1

1954. Definitives. Lithographed, perforated 12k.

40-. 10 m. carmine rod Arms of the Republic 5
40b. 20 n. carmine rod Arms of the Republic 5
41. 30.n. carmine red Arms cf the Republic 5
41a. 40 m. carmine rod Arms of the Republic 5
42. 60 m. carmine red Arms of the Republic 5

1956. Definitives. Photogravure, perforated 12.

43. 20 m. brown Arms of those Republic 1
44. 30 m. olive brown Arms of the Republic 1
45. 40 m. blue .Arms of the Ropublic 1
46. 60 m. deep blue eroon Arms of the Ropublic 1
47. 1 t. carmine rod rms of the Republic 1

Postal stationery: a 30m. brown and 50 m. light blue are known
lithographed on pictorial onvolopos.

1956. Pictorial dofinitives dated u1955. Photogravure ( eocopt Nos. 52
to 55 which are photo-litho), porforated 12._

48. 30 m. omorald Sukho Bator and Choibalsan 1
49. 30 m. blue Lako Khobsogol 1
49a 30 m. rod Lonints Statue Ulan Bator 1
50. 40 m. bright purple Sukho Bator (Q) and dog 1
51. 50 m. orange Choibalsan University 1
52. 60"m. yormillion, orange, blue & sepia. Flags of Communist bloc 1
53. 1 t. vermillion, orange, blue &.brown rod. Arms & Flag of Republic 1
54. 1 t. red, blue, groon & yellow. Train linking Ulan Dater & Moscow I
55. 2 t. vermillion, orange, blue & green. Flags of Mongolia & USSR 1
56. 2t. blue. lenin 2
Q question mark
# 56 Page 27

p

1956. Cormenmorating 35th AJnniversary of Independence. Inscribed
" XXXV ". Typographed, perforated 9.

57. 30 m. brown Hunter and an eagle 5
57a 30 m, grey blue Arms of the Republic 5
58. 60 m. green Wrestlers 5
59. 60 m, orange Children 5

1958. Definitives. Lithographed. perforated 9.

60. -20 m, red Arms & flag 3
61. 50 m. brown on rose Wrestlers as on No. 58,.except 3
XXXV removed.

1958. Commemorating 13th Congress on Mongol s Peoples Revolutionary
Party. Lithographed, perforated 9.

62. 30 m. claret & salmon Xlll" in ornamental frame 3

1958. Commemorating Ath. Congress of International Woments Federationj
held at Vienna. Lithographed, perforated 9.

63. 60 m. bluo Dove and globo 3

cancellations Scarcity Rating On loose stamps On covers

Ulan Bator normal normal
Non Ulan Bator
a incomplete add 25% add 100%.
b reasonably complete Add 100% Add 200%

No premium on colored cancellations.

000000000000000000000000000ooooo
M 0 N G O L I A. SHORT BIB LI OGRA PH Y

Readers are urged to acquire the revised reprint of the MONGOLIA
BULLETIN .(11 pages and 2 plates of illustrations). .Price $1.00 or 5/-
Can be obtained from James Negus, 339 Prince Regent Lane, London, E 16.
England.

It contains -

1. The Chinese Postal Services in Mongolia 1909-21. By G. S. Russell.
2. A preliminary note on Mongolian Cancellations 1924-56. By J. Negus.
3. Nongolia 1924-27. By A. Cronin.
4. A Mongolia Bibliography. By J. Negus.

We also recommend the Aere Philatelist Annals January 1959. Volume
VI. No. 3 containing "Mongolia. Its Air Mail History" by J.. Negus.
Page 28 # 56

CZECHOSLOVAKIA MONGOLIAN RCHLLOGICAL EXPEDITION
by G. S. Russell

The following brief information has recently come to hand concerning
this Expedition to the Karakorum area of Mongolia, once the capital city
of the mighty Mongol Emperor, Genghis Khan (1162-1227). Karakorum lies on
the Orkhon river, near the modern Erdeni Dzu in North Khangai district of
central Mongolia, some 200 miles WSW of UTlnbator. The city was established
for the Emperor in the year 1220, and ruins of it wore discovered in 1889
by the Russian explorer, R. M. Yadrintsev.

Last year's expedition spent the period from July to September
excavating spots likely to yield archeological treasure trove ", with
what success is not yet known. It is hoped that reports will be published
later in Prague or Ulanbator. At thomoment, no information is available
as to the sponsors and personnel of the Expedition. Covers have been
sighted dispatched by members of the Expedition to U. S. A. from hitherto
unknown post offices at

KHUZHIRT AR LK HANG I and UBUR-KHANGAI,

bearing Expedition handstamps ( in Czech and Cyrillic ) and various postage
stamps of types issued during the period 1932 58. The abovemontioned
postmarks are of the usual size, with Mongolian Peoplos Republic ( M H P )
at the top and the town name at the bottom in Cyrillic characters, and date
across the center. Expedition covers are also known posted from Ulanbator
and probably from other towns not known to the writer of those notes.
Information as to this would be welcome.
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o 0
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o RUSSIL & STATES & O FFIC. ES. o
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o Stamplos covers, postal stationery, stamp rarities and regular issues, o
o proofs, ossays, varieties, cancellations, covers. Inquiries invited, o
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# 56 Page 29

S

NOTES ON THE RUSSIAN COINS
by Nicholas A. Kormilev

In th- second half of the IX century the Russians, who until then had
lived as twelve independent tribes, began to form an organized state.
Living between the European West and the Asiatic East, they, from the very
beginning of their history, had very intensive trade relations, not only
with their neighbors, but also.with the far off countries. Two main trade
routes, one from Scandinavia to Byzantium and the other from the Western
Europe to Persia and India, crossed at Kiev, the capital of Southern Russia.
Thus soon Kiev became an important trade center. In the IX and X century
the trade was made chiefly by an exchange of wares, or by using the skins
of the wild beasts as a substitute for money. The furs of sables, martens,
squirrels, foxes and hares were mostly used, and a rather complicated system
of their value was elaborated. This system changed in various places and in
different times. Besides skins, in i smaller amount, gold and silver coins
were used which came from the foreign states, mostly .from Byzantium, and
Lrabic states in the Middle East. .A little later, Russians started to use,
as a bigger unit, silver grivna ", an ingot of about a pound weight, which
were, or were not, marked by the dukes (Figs. 1 3). These grivnas some-
times were cut into smaller pieces named "rubles". At the end of the Xth
century, Vladimir, the Grand Duke of Kiev, after a victorious war against
the Byzantine Empire, baptized himself and all of his people. Christianity
Brought a culture and progress to the Russians. The same Grand Duke
Vladimir struck the first Russian coins in gold and silver (Figure 4).
These coins, made probably by Byzantine masters, or at least by their
pupils, show a byzantine influence in their pattern. On the face we see a
picture of Grand Duke on the throne, and on the reverse side a church
banner or sometimes an image of Christ. The inscription was "Vladimir on
the throne, and this is his silver", or gold ", respectively. His son,
Yaroslav the Wise, also struck the coins of similar pattern. The gold and
silver coins of Vladimir, or his de'scendents, hardly may be named a coin in
modern sense, because they served more as a sign of decoration, given by
the Grand Duke to the doserving people.

Kiev of XIth century was, for its time, a big and a flourishing city,
with a population of 40,000. .( Paris at the same time had only 30,000 ).
The merchants of most of the then known world eould be seen in Kiev;
Scandinavian vikings, Byzantine merchants, Germans, Khosars, Persians, etc.
Grand Duke Yaroslav was married to a French princess. Russia never had an
elaborate feudal system such as was found in Western Europe. Ill of her
citizens, including the peasants, were free. Though theoretically all
Russia belonged to the ducal family as a whole, the power of the dukes was
very often limited by the pooplets assemblies, called veche ", and cases
were -ot rare, when some principality, or city, refused to accept a duke,
whO they did not like. The inheritance did not pass from father to the
ol ast son, but all of the property was divided among all sons. Besides,
it was a custom, that the next brother had a priority of succession before
the sons, as a consequence, all the dukes were continuously moving from one
principality to another, which was considered better or richer. This order
was not very stable, and very often the dukes improved the movement by
force. The civil wars were flourishing everywhere, and were exploited by

Page 30 #56

*the neighbors, particularly nomads, living in South Eastern steppes:
Khozary, Pechengi and later Polovtsi. In the XII century began the decline
of Kiev. Worn out by the continuous invasions by the nomads, the people
started to move to North East, to the forest zone of Vladimir oriKliatma,
where they were more protected from the invasions. In the middle of XIIIth
century came a disaster: from the steppes of Asia came new people, the
Mongols, who burned, plunderedp assassinated and devastated all within their
reach. One flourishing state of Middle Asia fell after another, and in 1224
they appeared in South Eastern Europe, defeating the Polovtsi. The latter
asked Russians for help, and throd of Russian dukes moved into the steppes.
There near the Sea of Azov was the first encounter. Russians were almost
*All massacred, and although they were defeated the Mongols turned back and
for 13 years nobody heard of them. In 1237 they returned again, this time
to wipe out all of Russian cities and to slay three quarters of the popula-
* tion, and to transform the whole country into a desert. Only two cities in
the far North West were spared, namely Novgorod and Pskov. The Mongols or
Tartars, as they wore also known, did not remain in Russia, whose climate
was too severe for them, but withdrew to the South Eastern steppes, where
they founded the state of the Golden Horde u. *From thdro they ruled the
Russians, by sending from time to time tax collectors. The .dukos which
remained after the massacre, had to obtain from the Khan a permission to
rule their principalities. When the Russians rocuperatod a little from the
disaster, they started to rebuild their cities, rehabilitate their lives
and rebuild their trade. The Mongols struck their'own coins, and naturally
those found their way into Russia to be used by their people.. (Figuro 5).
Later, in XIV and XV century, some of the dukes started to strike their own
coins. These had Russian inscription on one side and. .rabic on'the other.
Novgorod and Pskov, spared by the Mongols, had to fight for their lives with
Swedes and Germans, who inXIIIth century conquered Lettonian and Finnish
tribes, and founded a Livonian Order of Knights, with a capital in Riga.
Notwithstanding this fighting, Pskov and-particularly Novgorod, soon develop-
ed into tich commercial states, ruled by the peoples assemblies, and defend-
ed by elected and contracted dukese wbiih could be dismissed at any tine.
Atthe beginning of XIVth century, a new center was found in subjugated"
Russia, namely Moscow. The dukes of Moscow were the first to abandon the
custom of moving into the better principality. They remained in their small
Moscow principality, strengthening it and organizing its affairs. They also
introduced the succession from the father to the oldest son. The results of
such a policy were seen very soon In 1380, the Grand Duke Dimitry ( at
that time Moscow acquired the leadership of the Russians, and the duke of
Moscow was the Grand Duke ), made the first grand scale attempt to shako off
the Mongolian yoke. On the fields of Kulckovo 'in Southorn Russia, Grand
buke Dimitry defeated 240,000 army of Khan Mamay. The battle was costly also
to the Russians, for they suffered casualties: of more than 50% of their army.
When a now Khan, with a new army asked Dimitry. to submit, he agreed. About
that time Moscow started to strike their own coins, followed by Novgorod in
1420 an. Pskov in 1424. Tver and Riazan followed later. The shape and the
weight of the coins, which were called D E N G A were not very similar,
and the pattern was not fixed. (Figure 6). As the time went on, the wight
of Moscow denga was decreased more and more, so that by the time the end of
XVth century was reached M 0 S C 0 VK A" weighed only 2/3 of.the N 0 V--
G 0 R 0 D K A ", as they vcro' called. In general, the weight 6f the bigger

# 56 Page 31

unit, grivna", and the smaller unit n denga ", was steadily reducing.
At the time of the Mongolian invasion ( 1224-1240 ), the weight- of a silver
grivna was about a pound. Later, the grivna weighed only pound, and
t ruble ", -- and 178 of a pound. The weight of denga was a little less
than 1 gram at the end of XIV century, and about a of a for "novgorodka",
and 3/8 of a gram for 0 moskovka a hundred years later. The relation
with the foreign money changed also very much, so a ducat in Moscow was
equal to half a ruble or so called poltina "; later equal.to a ruble, and
at the beginning of XVIIIth century to two rubles. Thaler, in Russian
"n Yefimok ".in the middle of XVIIth century was equal to w poltina ", i. e.
50 kopek. If it was marked, then 64 kopeks, and later 1 ruble. At the
beginning of the XVIIIth century thaler was equal to 1 ruble, later more.

The growth, of Moscow continued through the XVth century, which by
conquest or annexation took over one Russian principality after another,
which were not conquered by the Lithuanians. The Grand. uke Ivan III shook
off the Mongol yoke in.1480, and a little later conquered Novgorod and Tver.
His son, Vassily III, annexed the last principality of Riazan. His grand-
sgn, Ivan IV the Terrible, began a counter offensive against the Tartars,
and conquered two kingdoms, in which disintegrated the uGolden Horde":
Kazan and Astrakhan, in the middle and lower Volga respectively. Ivan the
Terrible ( Terrible is a very'poor translation of a Russian word "grozny",
meaning stern), accepted the title of Czar, Russian for emperor ., and
started td reconquer the ancient Russian territories, fallen after the
Mpngolian invasion into the hands of Lithuanians, Germans and Swedes.

Lithuanians, the pagan people, who lived in North West of Central
Russia, escaped the Mongolian invasions. After the fall of Russia, a succes-
sion of a few enterprising Lithuanian dukes, managed to conquer most of the
western and southern Russian principalities, so that a Russian population
formed two thirds of the entire population of the Lithuanian state. Russians
on a higher cultural levol than the Lithuanians, and of Christian faith, had
a big influence in the new state, so that soon the court language itself
became Russian. 'The two people lived together without much trouble, and
probably could have formed a West Russian .state. At the end of XIV century
the Lithuanian-*Grand Duke Jagello was offered the Polish crown- and the
hand of the Polish queen Yadwiga. The only condition was that :he should
accept for himself and for his people, the Roman Catholic faith, and defend
the now united kingdom from the Germans, who created a lot of trouble for
the Poles. With Polish Roman Catholic priests came the persecution of the
Russians, and.of their faith. For the first 150 years the lithuanian-
Russian state managed to keep a limited autonomy, and the persecutions were
not very heavy. In 1569 in Lublin a contract was signed, by which Lithuania
lost all of her autonomy, and the persecution of the Greek-Orthodox Russians
started with full force. The Russian nobility submitted and accepted the
Roman-Catholic:faith, and wore very soon completely polonized. On the other
hand the common people answered with bloody revolts, which ended in the
middle of XVIIth century with the reunification of Little Russia or Ukraina,
as she started to call herself at that time, with Moscow,

In 1598 Theodor, the son of Ivan the Terrible died, and with his death
ended the reign of Rurik Dynasty, which ruled Russia for more than 700 years.

Page 32 #56

As a new Czar Boris Godunov, the brother of the last Czarina was elected.
Seven years later he died in the midst of an insurrection, and Russia fell
into 7 years of misery and disintegration. The Moscow throne was occupied
by Dimitry the False (Impostor), Vassily Shuisky, and the Polish Crown
Prince Vladislav. Moscow fell into the hands of Poles, and anarchy was
complete. In 1612 a liberation movement was started under the guidance of
Prince Pozharsky and Minin, which eventually sucsedod in liberating Moscow,
and in 1613 electing a new young Czar Michael of Romanov Dynasty.

During all that time in the Lithuanian-Russian state Lithuanian coins
struck by their grand dukes were in circulation ( Figure 7 ), followed later
by Polish coins. Moscow proceeded with striking of coins ( dengas ) of
two sizes:

Large Showed the mounted figure of Czar, who was armed with a
lance (Kopio in Russian, from which the word "kopeika"
originated). (Figure 8 ).
Smallor-Showed Czar armed with a sword, and which continued to be
called denga ".

Besides dongas, in the XVIIth century a little larger coins were struck
and wore known as .altyn ". Altyn is equal to 3 kopeiks or 6 dengas. The
coinage was very primitive, and was made in two ways

a The silver was melted, and with a small round spoon the necessary
amount of silver was poured into the lower part of the matrix,
which was struck with the upper part.
b A wire was made of silver, and after being cut into small pieces,
flattened with a honmor, and then struck.

The now dynasty found the treasury empty, and the whole country burned
and devastated. The forests were full of robbers, the trade was reduced to
a minimum, and the plague decimated what was left of the people. Slowly
and.painfully the country recuperated all through the XVII century. The
second Czar of the new dynasty, Alexis, had to cope with the internal revolt
of Stenka Rasin, who burned and plundered along the Volga. The treasury was
empty, and the government had to find some way to replenish it. At first
they started to mark the foreign thrlors, and give them a value of 64
kopeks, while the unmarked vcluo was only 50 kopeks. Later they started
to coin poltinas ( half a ruble ) and rubles out of copper instead of normal
silver. At first the people accepted the now copper coins willingly enough,
but as the number of the copper coins increased, the silver coins started to
disappear, and the value of copper dropped. Mutinies began. Then the govern-
ment ordered all of the copper coins redeemed for silver, but when they were
returned the treasury paid only one silver ruble for 20 copper rubles. Some
foreign thalers were rostruck with Russian pattern, and wore circulated on
the par with two un-restruck. Some thalers were cut into quarters and each
quarter was restruck with a Russian pattern, forming a polupoltinnik or
quarter of a ruble ( Figure 9 ). Now these restruck.rubles and quarters
are extremely rare. During the reign of Alexis the coinage in Novgorod and
Pskov was stopped, leaving only Moscow where the coins were still struck.

# 56 Page 33

During the reign of Theodor, the oldest son of Alexis, and during the regency
of Sophia, his daughter, some gold dukats wero struck, still more as a
decoration than the coins, and the small silver coins of kopeikas and dengas,
and in a much smaller quantity of the altyns. At the very beginning of the
XVIIIth century, the great reformer, Peter the Great, the youngest son of
Alexis, instituted a monetary reform, ,bMught order into this 'important
branch of national life, thus beginning the second period in the history
of Russian'coins.

EX PLANATI O NS 0OF D R A'W I N G S

Figure n Grivna of Kiev ( silver ).
"Figure 2. Grivna of .Novgorod ( silver) .
"Figure 3. Ruble of Novgorod ( silver ).
"Figure 4. A silver coin of Vladimir the Saint, the end of X century.
Figure 5. A silver coin of Khan Uzbek of 722 ( 1322 A. D. ).
Figure 6. A silver coin of Novgorod, XV century..
FiRuro 7. 1A silver coin of Lithuania, XIV century.
Figure 8. A silver "kopeika" of Ivan the, Terrible, 2nd. half of XVI cent.
Figure 9. A silver "polupoltinnik" -,rouble of. Czar iexis, 2nd. half
of XVIIth century.

to be continued
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Page 34 .: # 56
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J-2 B-6 J-3 C-I E-I

6 8 9 A I
F-3 H-2 J-8 A-8 D-8

Fig. 5 Fig. 6

A F OTN OTE ON S IE N0 G 0R SK
by Fred W. Spoers

A reference in the excellent article on Zemstvos by Mr. C. C. Handford
in the Journal of the British Society of Russian Philately, No. 24 to the
stamps issued in the city of Smienogorsk in Tomsk government or province
excited my interest. Wrote Mr. Handford "An issue from this town, supposed
to have been in use from 1917-1920, is listed by Chuchin as belonging per-
haps to the Kerensky or Kolchak period. Whatever the truth of these con-
jectures, the Zemstvo system did not exist in Asiatic Russia prior to the
Revolution and therefore these stamps of Smienogorsk cannot be classed
with true Zomstvo issues in the normal sense "B

Mr. Handford goes on to point out that only one unused specimen has
been secured and that he has seen no used copy. This comment also interest-
ed me because I had been led earlier to believe that the Smienogorsk stamp
(Schmidt lists two and Chuchin three, each with a minor variety) were
" dead ", in that the only known copies reportedly had been lost in fire
caused by the bombing of Berlin in World War II.

Specifically, however, it was the exclusion by Mr. Handford of Smiono-
gorsk from what he termed his standard list u of Zemstvos that intrigued
me. Others he excluded, quite understandably, were Wenden, 'fFtezh and the
St. Petersburg, Moscow and Tiflis Town Posts.

It appeared to me that one way to shed a bit of light on the rather
obscure circumstances surrounding the Smienogorsk stamps would be to inquire
of Alexander Kerensky for his recollections of the matter. Mr. Kerensky is
now engaged in historical research at the Hoover War Library at Stanford
University. A letter of inquiry received a prompt answer and for its pos-
sible interest to members of the Society I an quoting it in full:

"I have your letter of October 26, in which you raise the question of
the two issues of stamps issued by the city of Smienogorsk in Tomsk and wish
to know whether they were issued by the Czarist Government or the Provision-
al Government. In the heat of the civil war many cities and blasts used to
issue stamps at their own responsibility. Such stamps are merely of interest
to collectors as curios, but they were not issued by any government.
Sincerely yours, ALEXANDER KEFENSKY. "

.Athough I cannot calmly accept the dismissal of any Smienogorsk
specimen as being merelyly of interest as a curio ", it does appear that Mr.
Handfords -classification of that city's stamps as being apart from Zemstvos
as such is soundly grounded.

EDITORIAL COMMENTS

Although the editors do not have any data on the Smienogorsk issue, the
staff feels that the letter from Mr. Keronsky does not add anything of impor-
tanee to the question.

In Siberia and Asiatic Russia as well Zemstvo did not exist prior to
the revolution. Zemstvo stamps of Smienogorsk could have been created in
Tomsk Province after 1917, and if this was so, and the efforts were made to

# 56 Page 35

establish postal services, the Kerensky Government may have been unaware of
the fact, especially if this has occurred after the fall of the government.

Information should be sought among the local officials and former
administrativB officials of Admiral Kolchak, also in memoirs and articles
devoted to epoch of Siberia. Editors point in any case, to Priamur in
Eastern Siberia, in 1921-22 where Zemstvo existed and the stamps of this
region carry the overprint of PR I A M U R S K I Z E M S K I K RA I"
'or Priamur Zemstvo Region ". It is quite possible that Zemstvo did
Sexist in Smienogorsk.

Incidentally, the name should be Zmeinogorsk, derived from two Russian
words a Zmei or snake and Gorsk from the word." Gora meaning
mountain.
00000000000000000000000

STAMPS OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE USED ABROAD
PART FOUR
by S. D. Tchilinghirian and W. S. E. Stephen
24, High Streets Aberlour, Banffshire Scotland $4.50 or /

The fourth book of the excellent series on "Abroads" by our members
Messrs. Tchilinghirian & Stephen covers Uryankhai, Mongolia, China Proper &
the Lyaotung Leasehold. It is profusely illustrated with maps photographs &
various types of postmarks described in the text. Geographical notes, post-
al history & historical notes provide fascinating reading and represent a
tremendous amount of research, some of which is new & previously not publish-
ed.

The date of the opening of the offices at Shanghai, Chefoo & Hankow
given as 1899 by Prigara & other authorities has been discarded for a date
substantiated by documentation There is also a caption on the Port Arthur
& Daliy during the Soviet Occupation which will be most interesting for the
collectors in this field. It is all 'new material to this reviewer. Speaking
of this area, we note that the authors do not locate AITSINTSY or Ang Tsin -
Tse on their map. It is listed on page 384 as a rare postmark. This post
inside of leasehold defied all the maps in our library also. It is possible
that it may be under another name.

As in the previous books of the series, the authors present a formi-
dable array of material from foremost collectors, specialists in the fields,
and an excellent bibliography much of which is difficult to obtain. It is
most unfair to single out any section of the "Abroads" for praise, as all are
top notch. Mongolia is one of the choise sections & it contains much that is
new. The Volonteer Fleet & R.V.A.P. are most welcome parts, as many queries
generally come from collectors about these seldom discussed topics.

We urgently advise our readers to purchase this volume, the past ones
and the coming part V ( which should be ordered now ) for the series is
limited in the size of edition and will be in a short time unavailable

Page 36 # 56

BRSSIAN POST IN THE FIRST HALF OF XIXTH CENTURY
by Von Keppen
Translated from German by A. Rosselevitch
Our editor acquired an interesting old brochure, 1840 edition, probably
a report or a statistical study) in German, titled About the Postal Com-
munications in Russia written by Von Keppen, and based on official data.
At the request of the editor I made various extracts from the text which
will be of interest to those who collect pre stamp letters of Russia. The
substance of the brochure deals with the administrative set up of the post,
the staff and the lobor of the organization. It is necessary to call the
attention of the readers to:-

1. All data concerns only the European and Asiatic Russia, without
Poland and Finland.

2. Post is described in its pre reform period, prior to the develop-
ment of the railroads, before the appearance of the stamped envel-
opes and stamps, thus the post of the horse relays, postal stations,
inspectors and yamschiks, that post which was described by the
Russian classics and which long ago was relegated to the ancient
history.

In 1840, postally Russia was divided into 11 postal regions or
dokrus, besides which there were two PochtamTs ( General Post Offices),
one in St. Petersburg and one in Mpscow, and these two postal establishments
were separate administrative units. The function of the post covered not
only the carrying of the correspondence but likewise of money, travellers,
either private or official. To the okrugs and capital post offices were
subjected 3,087 postal stations, listed in the following manner:

St. Petersburg Post Office 47 postal stations of which only 9
accepted mail.
Moscow Post Office 39 postal stations, non of which accepted letters.

In the following listings. the numeral in parenthesis. after the
provincial town and the province means the number of postal stations
which accept and send letters.

1st. Postal Okrug

Novgorod. ( 1 and 1 station accepting and sending letters,
money and valuables).
Pskov ( 9 )
Estland Gubernia ( 11 )
Lifland (34)
Kurland ( 1) only, in entire dkrug of 177 postal stations.

2nd. Postal Ckrug

Tula -(3) Vladimir 3) In all 192
Riazan -(5) Kaluga 2) Postal
Yaroslav Tver 2) Stations.

# 56 Page 37

3rd.-Postal Okrug

N. Novgorod (2) Penza All in all 291
Kostroma (1) Simbirsk .postal stations.
Kazan Saratov (3)

4th. Postal Okrug

Voronezh Orel (4) All in all 226
Kursk (3) Tambov 2) postal stations.
Kharkov (1 and 1 for letters, money & valuables)

5th Postal Okrug

Vilna (4) Podolia Gubernia (4 and 1 for letters, money &
Grodno (3) valuables).
Minsk (6 and 1 for letters, money ( valuables)
Volinsk Gub. (4)
Bielostok.(2 for letters, money & valuables)
All in all 279 postal stations.

6th. Postal Ckrug

Chernigov (5) Poltava (3) All in all 284 postal
Vitebsk (6) Kiev (1) stations.
Smolensk
Mogilev (6 and 1 for letters, money & valuables)

7th. Postal nOkrug

Kherson Gub. (1) Bessarabia (1)
Ekaterinoslav (7)
Tavriz Gub. (5) All in all 222 postal stations.

8th. Postal Ckrug

Predcaucasus (9) bon Military Oblast (1 and 1 for letters,
Astrakhan valuables & money)
Transcaucasia All in all 189 postal stations.
9th. Postal Ckrug

GLonetz (2)
Archangelsk ( 2 and 2 for letters, money and valuables)
Vologda (3) All in all 213 postal stations

10th. Postal Ckrug

Perm (6) Orenburg (9 and 4 for letters, money and valuables)
Viatka (5)

llth. Postal Okrug

Tobolsk (7) Yeniseisk (1) All in all 597 Postal stations.
Tomsk (1) Irkutsk & Yakutsk (1)

Page 38 # 56

Thus in a total 'number of 3,087 postal stations, only 14 accepted and
forwarded letters, money and valuables. 199 dealt with letters only, and
2,874 postal stations occupied themselves with carrying passengers, and did
not function postally at all. In this number are likewise 7 which were uti-
lizing northern reindeer, 45 used dogs instead of horses, as the latter
could not endure the cold climate of those regions, or the peculiarities of
the roads and routes.

Besides postal stations, there were likewise the following postal
establishments, to which these postal stations were subordinated, in each
okrug or gubernia: 2 post offices ( pochtampts) in both capitals, 54 guber-
nia or province and oblast post offices ( one for gubernia, except for
Kherson which had 2 ) 573 district post offices, 9 postal branches or otdel-
enias ( 2 in Bessarabia Gubernia, and 2 in Predcaucasia, and 4 in Irkutsk
Gubernia. Not counting those which were in various parts of both capitals,
in Kiev, and in N. Novgorod being under control of their respective kontoras
or offices), 6 in -the border postal offices or kontoras (Brest Litovsk in
Grodno Gubernia, Kovno and Taurogen in Vilna Gubernia, Radzivilov in Volinsk
Gubernia, Odessa in Kherson and Skuliani in Bessarabia Gubernia,. Besides
these there were Russian Border P.O. in Constantinople, Yassy, Bucharest and
Shurshe.

In all of these postal establishments there was a relatively small per-
sonnel, officials numbered 6124, counting officials and 2447 postmen, and
gubernia officers ( officers of lowest rank ) watchmen, guards and privates.
Into the same figure one finds included 1299 watchers of postal stations
( smotriteli ) having the rank of 14th class, lowest of all, whilb they
remained in the service. Those figures show that only a part of postal
stations had employees of official rank, for which one had to take examin-
ations, and be literate. The rest of the stations were run by watchers or
smotriteli as volunteers or by illiterates not having qualifications for a
rank or title.

Besides the above there were 14,166 drivers ( yamschiks ) and 5 horses
for each of them, or approximately 42,500 horses for all stations. The
reindeer and dogs which were. used in the far North, belonged to private own-
ers who worked as volunteers. 'Postal department or Vedomstvo, also owned
and operated two churches with clergy and a choir, 2 schools for orphans and
two hospitals, both in the capitals, with a combined personal of 55 to 60
people. We can add that the maintenance of the Postal Department in 1840
cost the government 1,690,018 rubles and 88 kop. silver whcih constituted
51% of the general postal income. In the period between the years 1838-40,
the annual gross income of the, post was on the average 3,300,000 silver
rubles. These figures merely covered the postal and the money operations
and did not. include the carrying, of the trollors, no -the expenses of the
postal stations which did not carry out postal operations.

It is interesting to note how the post operated and what was sent via
the post. During 1839 through the 54 gubernia and oblast post offices
14,788,260 government documents, packets and parcels 'and 6,496,291 private
letters and parcel-. were sent. From the above figures we can see that the
official government correspondence was more than double the private mail,
which included the commercial correspondence.

# 56 Page 39

This is explained by the fact that in those days private mail was sent
generally to far off places. As for the mailwithin the district, and
even the province or gubernia, it was either sent by own servant, a friend,
neighbor, or an acquaintance or the message waited until a personal contact
was made by the people concerned. Little was written, and little was known
of what happened outside of the borders of ones district; the sending of
a letter was a great occasion, and far too many were illiterate. Post was
used only in case of extreme necessity.

During the same time, through 6 border post offices, in the same year
went 366,501 official letters and parcels, and 791,646 private letters;
through 4 foreign post offices 3,848 official or government and 22,534
private letters, besides this was going in both directions, i.e. from Russia
abroad and in reverse direction. These numbers give another relationship
between the government and private correspondence, especially in foreign
post offices; through them and through border, points, went commercial cor-
respondence in great quantity with foreign firms, and private mail of
Russian travellers, the largest amount going via Odessa 701,424 postal
missives in both directions in 1839.

Order of December 6, 1839 established the following rates for letters
weighing half an ounce or one "lot", and parcels of 1 lb. weight -

Distance Rate
to 300 versts 5 kop. silver 5 kop. in silver was equal
300 800 versts 10 kop. silver to 20 kop. in paper money up to
800 -1100 versta 15 kop. silver December 6, 19, and 17J kop.
1100 -1800 versts 20 kop. silver paper money afterwards.
1800 over 25 kop. silver 1 verst is equal to 3500 feet

In 'comparison with foreign rates, those of Russia were considerably
lower,

Forwarding 6f money was made by cash, i.e. it carried the same money
which-was entrusted to the post. The cost of forwarding this money included
insurance -

For a distance up to 500 versts the rate was r% of the sum sent.
For a distance of 500 verst and over the rate was 1% of the sum sent.

For orphanages of Empress Marie and for certain other charitable .estab-
lishments the foe was %, and for Commercial Bank transactions, i.e.
packets only it was-_ Howevr with the introduction, shortly afterwards,
of bank transfers for money, the. total sum of money transmitted by the post
decreased considerably.

In St. Petersburg, receipt of letters was carried daily from 8 in the
morning to 2 in the afternoon; and twice a week after the Bourse, also after
6 pm to 8pm, but only for foreign mail. Besides the Pochtamt or Main P. 0.

lage 40 # 56

there were open four postal branches or otdelenias, in wnich however only
letters were accepted. In Moscow, 5 postal branches were open daily until
noon, and this produced great inconvenience as it took many at least an hour
to get to them; at the main p.o. letters were accepted after 12 but with
added payment. In other towns letters had to be. brought at a certain time,
if they were brought at a different hour, their acceptance depended on post-
al clerks who made exceptions to the rule by accepting bribes. All this was
poorly organized, as many other things during that pre-reform era.

Town post existed only in St, Pbtersburg. In the city, in various small
shops were 120 mail boxes, for which the owners of shops received 10% of
rates from the Postal Department. Postmen (pochtallony or pismonostzi -
literally letter carriers ) collected those letters three times a dcy:
7 am, 11 am and 4pm. These letters addressed only to persons living in the
capital wore delivered at once to them and this cost 5 kopok in silver.

In certain districts or yezds a trial free receipt of local mail was
established and this mail was hold for demand but not at the nearest
postal station to the designated person, but in the district p. o. where'
it was not always easy to roach. Later, for such letters an uniform rate
of 3 kopeik in silver was set.

As it has already been mentioned, besides town post offices, letters
wore accepted only at 213 postal stations, out of which only 14 received
money and valuables, At that time as in Lifland Gubernia, there wore 31
postal stations accepting mail, and in the little Estland Gubornia 11
stations while for the rest of hugo Iussia only 168 points of receipt, and
in 12 gubernias there were not a sin;-le one postal station accepting letters.
We have to take. into consideration that in the number of these 12 gubornias
there were districts almost uninhabited, and with rrxe settlements separated
by hundreds of versts.

As it has been known from the literature of the past century, carrying
of passengers was by horse relays ( perekladnie ) i.e. a wagon was pulled
by tiaco horses (troika)., The driver ( yamschik :deposited travellers at
the next station along the roto where the horses were changed. Often the
passengers had to wait for sometime until another troika was provided. This
caused delays and travel often took weeks. Thus,all of those who had the
means rode in their own carriages, with own driver and servants. Post horses
and the driver after dropping off the passengers returned to their own
station, after accepting travellers going the other way, i. e. to the drivers
original station. .This was known as 8 travelling on return ". Passengers
rode with special documents called Podorozhnie or "for the road" and
these documents had to be presented on demand for record with each change
of horses.

Bedides carrying passengers in various directions the postal troikas
travelled in Russia carrying corrospondencd and money and even to the present
day one remembers preserved special roads called postal tracts n, wide and
lined on both sides by trees, reminding us of the end of XVIII and beginning
of XIX centuries. From St. Petersburg post went daily to Moscow arriving on
the third day, to Peterhof, Orcnminbrum, and by sea to Kronshtadt.

# 56 Page 41

From St. Petersburg to Warsaw and back, twice a week. To Riga, Mitava and
to the Prussian border 3 times a week. To Tiflis, Minsk twice a week.
From St. Petersburg by sea to Revel, Pernov, Lubek post began to be sent
from approximately 1830 and by this route went all mail to England and
France. On the average, in 1831 letter from St. Petersburg to Paris took
11 days to London 10 days, which we must admit wap rather fast for that
period

Besides the regular post, there existed a fast post or "'Speshnaya
Pochta 1 for which there were directives to travel at the rate of 12 versts
per hour, besides at stations this post received horses first. It was in
existence between Moscow and Nijni Novgorod during the fair, from Kiev to
Rigas Jitomir, Odessa and Warsaw, from St. Petersburg to Tiflis ( 6 to 7
days ), crenburg ( 6 days ), Warsaw ( 6 days ) and Vilna ( 3 days ).

During that time, which Von Kappen describes in his brochure, zemstvo
post began for postal service inside districts, but the author does not give
details. However there is mention of organization of postal communication
between Transcaucasia and Abkhasia which after the conclusion of Caucasian
wars entered the Empire, and in those same years was still far from a peace-
ful region. Post went from Kutais, for a distance of 302- versts, under
armed guard of 4 cossacks and 4 Abkhasians and all who lived there were res-
ponsible for the safety of the convoy and the post.
From-November 1838 railroad began to function between St. Petersburg,
Tsarskoe Selo and Pavlovsk. Post was sent by this route 3 times a day and
cost one third (1/3) of the rate prior to establishment of the Rail Road,
when it travelled by horse post, once a day, and only during the summer,
when the Imperial Court and attendants settled there in their summer
residences. 1 large quantity of mail was carried by this road. In 1ovember
and December of 1838 885 letters, during entire 1839 7,724 letters, 1840
9,797 letters.

Besides letters and money, post carried periodicals, newspapers and
journals. In St. Petersburg at that time there wore about 30 different
publications: Northern Bee, Son of Fatherland, Fatherland Notes, Library,
etc. Their circulation was 2,000 to 2,5001. A large number of thooe
.publications went to various parts of Russia by post, but there was no
special rate. Such rate was established a little later, with development
of railroads, meanwhile they were sent a paid for like letters depending on
weight and distance,

Upon receipt of mail at the place 6f destination, letters received a
postmark with date and with time of receipt. This was done so that letters
were not delayed by postmen, and so that people would see whether mail was
delivered speedily. In St. Petersburg where letter carriers were divided
into 20 postal okrugs, during the summer letters were delivered twice daily
and they received a postmark n morning or "utrom or'1 evening or
vecherom ". During other time of the year, post was delivered only once
per day and letters did not receive the postmark of the time of the day.

As to the postmarks of Imlprial Russian Post of that time, although
Van Keppon does not dwell on them, however depending on his data and figures,
we can form certain deductions independently, of course under condition that

Page 42 # 56

in each postal establishment receiving and forwarding mail there was own
canceller or "schtempel", which seems reasonable.

Thus, the number of postal killers or postmarks in Russia, excluding
Poland and Finland in 1840 must have been about 857, i.e. 2.capital Post
Offices, 6 border, 54 Gubernia and oblast, 573 district and 213 postal
stations. This number is basic but to it we should add 4 branches in
St. Petersburg and 5 in Moscow, also 4 foreign post' offices. Thus 870
various cancellations. There is no doubt that many of these are extremely
rare, and that many were extremely rare even earlier when there were no
ware no revolutions, no destruction of valuable archives.
oooooooooooooooooooo

PHILATELIC NOTES

Our editor receives queries from time to time on various phases of
Russian philately. Some of the interesting questions are turned over to
the Expertization Committee for comments.

SU E R Y In 1954 I acquired a packet of covers and stamps in sheets.
At the time they did not arouse any special interest and they were relegated
to the "Archives". Recently going over some old covers I discovered a back
portion of a cover, completely covered with.stamps of 1917 ( type 1909-23),
imperforate on one side, the stamps wbre badly damaged and pulled away from
the paper of the envelope. After I removed them from the paper I noted with
surprise that the stamps were divided from each other by little holes. I
tried to find out from our specialists of local issues about these stamps,
H however I did not receive any definite answer. Only one, a very elderly
and respected philatelist voiced the possibility of existence of such a
local issue.

Upon analysis of the sheet one finds what seems to be a hand perforation
on stamps of 1917. The stamps are cancelled -

ILINSK II P 0 G OST M OS C. G. 10 -2-1923

and there is an arrival postmark of MOSCOW, 14 2 23 8 2, both with
a double ring.

My supposition is as follows: It seems that in Ilinskii Pogost there
was someone who wished to create varieties; 1ost likely he 'was attached to
the post office and perforations were.made according to his initiative.
Please let me know if these stamps were actually a postal issue for postal
needs, and inform me of the background of these stamps.

EDITORIAL' COMENT We forwarded the query to Hon. Member A. M. Rosselevitch,
Chairman of the Expertization Committe and this is his reply.

Imperforate stamps of 1917 are frequently kouind withpunctures of var-
ious types and with perforations gouging 7 to 10 approximately and present
wide and poorly broken through holes which do not coincide at the corners.

# 56 Page 43

The perforations and punctures do not belong to the official issue, and are
of private initiative of the postal employees, serving the purpose of easing
the problem of separating stamps, one from another. This was done generally
by a hand method, more seldom by a machine, in either case there was no
count, or listing, not any order from higher ups, as this operation did not
alter the postal value of the stamps. Perforations of this srL were made
at certain post offices on an unknown number of sheets. The same thing
happened in other lands: France 1853-60, 1870, 'Estonia, the first issues
met with unofficial punctures, including those of sewing machines or perfs.

Besides the instances of such unofficial perforation there are many
punctures and perforations that are forged, which are found both on mint and
cancelled stamps. It is impossible to establish any classification, and to
separate the forgeries and fantasies from unofficial ones made locally by
postal employees. Some sort of a guarantee may be secured by having such
stamps on entire covers, and in such a way they are interesting philatelic
documents. In the rest of the cases extreme speciali2ationand great care
must be employed,

Review of # 55

An outstanding feature of the Journal is the excellentt balance of the
articles published. These can be se'arated into serious research, in phila-
tely, numismatics, and paper money (. the last two in the Russian edition -
Ed. ) and informative findings in these fields, very ddar to collectors
Russian issues, and those of her territories. Research of A. M, Rosselevitch
in the sphere of General Wrangel overprints in Crimea and Constantinople: in
our country data regarding this is almost none existent and is relatively
unknown to our collectors. We at ties hear doubtful comments about the
genuiness of these stamps, but the majority consider them extremely valuable
and genuine. We have no classification of genuine and speculative stamps of
this kind, the number of such stamps is limited, and I, a very active phila-
telist have seen them no more than two or three times during the past few
years, and then in single stamps.

As to the article by Dr. C. de Stackelberg pertaining to the Courier
-Post of Liady, I should say that we do not deal with the occupation period
stamps of 1941-44. Besides majority of our collectors would consider them
belonging to Germany and not Russia such as Pskov, Latvia, Odessa, Luga,
Ukraine, etc.. Nevertheless this is valuable material, established by
documentation, clearing up a field nearly unknown to Russian philately.

The research of A. Cronin and W. Stephen on the stamps of Touva is
extremely interesting, however it is too soon to evaluate it. We are very
concerned with this field, and in the near future, we shall most likely
publish research in this sphere. Stamps of Touva were exhibited in Moscow
at two exhibitions: International Exhibition 1957 and Exhibition Oentenary
of 1st, Russian Stamp in January February 1958 ( Exhibitor S. Blekman ).

The information given by J. V. Stuart regarding specimens is most
interesting. Our collectors have many such stamps and the data shall be very
useful. The article by J. Posell on the PostnmDak of the Russian brigades

Page 44 .56

in France 1916-17 and French surgical, automobile unit in Russia held little
interest to us. Our collectors seldom collect postmarks, especially those
that are not of commemorative or jubilee nature. True, serious collectors
consider it. their duty to have in their collections interesting postmarks of
the Imperial era, especially of the border areas.

The research of Dr. Stackelberg in the reengraving of the 10 ruble stamp
of 1915-23 held-great appeal. I feel that our collectors can add much of
value to this field as detailed studies of such type are in favor among us.
The same applies to the article of A. Gronin regarding reengraving of 35 kop.
stamp of 1909-23.

I was very interested in the article by E. Marcovitch about the fantas-
tic stamps of Russia. Up to now we do not have clear data on this point,
especially II 1, 2, 6; IV 2; V 1-5: VI 2,3; VII 2,4; VIII 1, 3
and 5, IX 3.

Other articles appealed as well but the space does not permit, further
comments. t

ooooooooooooooooo

CENTENARY JUBILEE EXHIBITIONS HONORING THE FIRST RUSSIAN POSTAGE STIMP HELD
IN MOSCOW AND LENIRADD

discussionss of the Jubilee Exhibition began during the summer of 1957,
during preparations for the International Philatelic Exhibition for the VI
International Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow. I must stress that
the summer 1957 turned out to.be an important milestone in the history of
Soviet Philately. In May, after a twenty year interruption, was created the
Moscow City Philatelic Association, later renamed into Moscow Association of
Collectors. The.society united collectors of stamps, artistic postcards,
coins and paper moqy and etiauettes or labels of match boxes. The leading
role was taken from the beginning by the collectors of postage stamps. The
success of the society, especially its philatelic section was established at
the International Exhibition at the Festival. Great interest, shown.by the
inhabitants of Moscow and guests of the Festival, in the postage stamp show,
equalled thct of the photography section, one of the most popular exhibitions c
at the Festival and this strengthened the foundation of the new organization.
Following the Festival, the society grew rapidly and at the present date the
membership consists of more than 4,000 collectors.

In the autumn it was evident that due to shortness of time left, decisions
had to be reached re-arding the Jubilee exhibition. The matter was debated
for a long period of time in the Ministry of Communications and in the society
itself. In the beginning it was planned to organize the exhibition jointly
by the Ministry and by the society, however for some nnkhown reason this was
declined by the Ministry which decided to organize independently a large
exhibition of the National Collection without inclusion of private collect-
ions. This exhibition was set for the middle of 1958 in Leningrad. This
refusal forced the organization in Moscow to create a smaller jubilee exhib-
ition in Moscow, utilizing the material held there by collectors.

# 56 Pago 45

Question arose as to when the show should be scheduled. Divergent
view developed, The Ministry set the official view that the jubilee should
be conducted in the 100th year, i.e. in 1958 and in this several of the lead-
ing members concurred. Finally the date was set for January 1958. The
date of the Leningrad Exhibition was set considerably later.

The Moscow Exhibition was organized jointly by the philatelic society,
Moscow Municipality and the Moscow Post Office. 30,000 rubles were spent
on the exhibition and this sum included cost of the awards. The Moscow
Post Office offered its building for .the show. The subject matter to be
shown was to be composed of the collections of the. members of the society.

A chronological order was adopted for the exhibition; showing the stamps
of Russia, its Offices Abroad, stamps of USSR, RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, Trans-
caucasian SSR, and'Far Eastern Republic, also the entire of the Empire.

It was decided that for political reasons stamps of the White Armies
not be shown, nor of the National Governments. There were some thematic
collections, which from the philatelic point of view did not present much
interest. All in all, there were 64 exhibitions at the show, The exhibit-
ion lasted from January 25 until February 3.

Most interesting items shown were:

1. Collection of Samuel Bleckman A Stamps of RSFSR. 5 stands. It included
all stamps of RSFSR with many varieties, and specimens of unissued
stamps.

2. Collection of Eurene Vernik.M Stamps of the Polish Kingdom 1860 and
Grand Duchy of Finland 1856-1917. 1 stamps were shown including
letters of 60ts of the last century, sent from there. Among these was
a letter from Viborg.

3. Collection of Vladimir Lisenko Stamps of Polish Kingdom 1860 and
Russian Post in Turkey and Finland. Most interesting part consisted of
stamps of various post offices.

4. Collection of Sergei Parkhomovich Local issues of Kiev and Kharkov
1918-1921, especially on money orders, with rare provisionals.

5. Collection of Constantine Ezjov Charity Letters of Empress Marie.
This complete collection of forgotten philatelic rarities was shown
for the first time.

All of these collections won awards. The success of the show was quite
evident. All .those who exhibited received souvenirs.

As stated in Nos. 54 and 55 two jubilee postmarks were prepared, one of
which, black, for all of the days of the show was prepared from a design by
a member of the society, Eugene Rautsky. The exhibition was visited by more
than 8,000 people. This was a large attendance considering the inconvenience
of the entrance to the exhibition. 120 of the visitors recorded their
reactions to the show in a special ledger for the occasion.

Page 46 # 56

S

Eight months later the Jubilee Exhibition opened in Leningrad, showing
the National collection adapted for the 1OCth anniversary of the 1st Russian
Postage stamp. It was organized by the Ministry of Communications in ccn-
juction with A. C. Popov Museum of Communications, only a part of the Nation-
al Collection was shown. The entire collection being one of the greatest in
the world. However at the show, where the various stamps issued by Russia
were presented, different periods of the history of the Russian Post were
not equally represented. The best period shown was that of the Imperial
Russia. It.was contained in three huge rooms on the second floor of the
Academy of Art Building. Singles, blocks and sheets.as well as on letters
with interesting cancellations. MiSny items displayed carried notes and
comments by the famous Russian philatelist P. SChapoy, who bequeathed his
amazing collection to the government. The first issues and the standard
issues to 1917 were excellently displayed. We noted the imperforates of
the standard issues, 3 r. 50 k. of 1889 with the horizontal upper part, and
other varieties.

I may point out that the Polish philatelists who visited the exhibit-
ion stated that among the rare postmarks of Poland shown, there were some
which were not in the collections in Poland. The collection of the Kingdom
of Poland, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Office in China and Levant how-
ever seemed rather modest as compared with the fabulous collection of the
stamps of the Imperial Russia. indifference' to the Zemstvo issues kept me
from exameninr these exhibitions closely and I am unable to comment even
briefly upon this part of the show.

The stamps of the Soviet period, among which one may find much that is
interesting, were presented rather feebly. There were no varieties, and
even the major catalogue varieties werenot fully included. Thus there was
no Konsulski Poltinnik of the series 5 year plan in 4 years n, Zeppel-
in imporforates, and many'others.

During the exhibition, there were issued number of collectors items.
Two days prior to the opening of the show, along with the perforated series
of the Jubilee stamps, were issued three imperforates of this series. These
three are the r rest of all the imporforates issued in 1958. There wore
also 4 stamped envelopes with the. cachet duplicating 4 stamps of the series.
Stamps on envelopes were of one color, while the cachet was of two colors.
Paper of the envelopes was of blue color with two..types of watermark -

a -Wavy lines. b Crossed lines.

The envelopes vary in shade from very palo to dark. The most rare is
the pale blue with vividly printed stamp.

A special exhibition catalogue was issued, and a little later, a beauti-
fully published brochure devoted to the jubilee. Guests at the opening of
the show received special jubilee tags. The special postmark of the exhib-
ition described in # 55 was also used at many large postal establishments of
the country. Besides it, a special postmark with the rider, also described
in # 55 belonged only to the Post Office branch at the exhibition. This
second postmarked, differed in color from the first red one, by being black.

# 56 Page 47

Post Office workers, according to orders received, did not cancel stamps
with it, thus it is a rarity if it partially cancels. a stamp.

For the closing of the exhibition, there was also issued a special
postmark with the view of the Admiralty Tower. It was in blue color.
In the Post Office attached to the show, in the early days of the
exhibition and at the closing, one could buy interesting stamps of.the last
issues.

The exhibition -in Leningrad was visited by many collectors from various
towns of our nation.
ooooooooooooo
RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS MAD ARTICLES IN OUR FIELD
Billig Philatelic Handbook, Vol. 27 (1959) Price $6.00

Contains German War Stamps ,WI 1914/18 with German Post in Russia.

400 Lat Poczty Polskies
400 page, beautifully illustrated book, issued by the Polish Ministry of
Posts to celebrate 400 yrs. of postal communications in Poland. Contains
mint stamps, souvenir sheets, examplesof postmarks, valuable photos and
drawings illustrating postal history.

1858-1958 100 years of Russian Postage Stamp 100 pages 13 roubles.
This book, edited by I.:G. Papunako is illustrated and contains mint
sheets of Jubilee. It was published by Goznak. r
Polish Soocial Postmark Catalorgu Part III. By J. C. Crimlisk and J.
.Kwiatkowski. 16 pages. Price 50 cents.

Austro-Hungarian Military Post 1914-1918. By K. Traumer. i1 p. Price 50c.

Aero Philatelist Annals Oct. 1958. Russia the Airfleet Stamps. By John
Niklin. Price $1.00.

Aero Philatelist Annals Jan. 1959. Aerophilately of Mongolia. By James
Ne gus.
The Holy Land Philatelist Dec. 1958 Jan. 1959, and continued up to date.
The Russian Post in Palestine.
The London Philatelist Dec. 1958.
The Local Post of the. German 10th. Army (Aug Dec 1918) by A. Cronin.

The Bulletin of the British Society of Russian Philately. No. 1. Fed, 1959.

The Philatelic Journal of Great Britain. Jan Mar -1958. Oct Dec -
1958. Russian Essays. By Robson Lowe.

Page 48 # 56

S

ZEMSTWO STAMPS OMITTED BY CHUCHIIN
by N. Matishev
(Continued from #5. P. 52)

55. PODoLSK
9a 5k. yellow green.
56. PCOTAVA
21a Overprinted "3- on-3k. (No. 15)
32a Ik/6k, same, circles at the top, but not in the corners,
but side by side in the upper left corner,
36b Ik/6k, red overprint-inverted. 97 Gray-lilac overprint
36c Ik/6k' black overprint-inverted. "60k" on No. 16.
53b 3k/2k, black overprint-inverted. 97a- Violet overprint "6Ck"
58b 3k/5k, black overprint-inverted. on No. 16.
60b -3k/6k, black overprint-inverted. '97b- Red overprint "60Ck on
"62b -3k C/k, black overprint-inverted. No. 16.
89a 1k., same, without private ovpt. 97c- Inverted overprint of
96 -Red overprint "20C on.No.'18. No. 97.
96a Violet overprint n20( on No. 18.

57. PSKOV
6a 5k. Tete- boche. Stamps overprinted 3 k on-10 k.
34a Ik.' Imperforated.
35a 3k. Imperforated.
49a 3k. Imperforated. 3 k. on 10 k. is found with postmark of one
date and circle and six lines.
58. RJEV
S9b 2k. black onyellowish paper. 9d Same as 9b, except couche.

59. ROSTOV ON DON
4b 2k. couche.
60. SAPOZHCK ,
13a 10k, dark geen and yellow.
61. SOLIKAMSK
3a 2k. violet, imperforate.
13c k .light violet on thin 14f 2 kop. blue. Little strokes
paper, imperforato. throughout. .Imperforate. Red
17a 4k. black on dark rose color does not show through,
paper, 'imperforate.
19e 5k. violet permeating through
color, imperforate.

62. SCRCKI
S- 3k. on thin paper. 9b 3k. perforated, with color permeating.

63. STARCOIELSK
lOb -3k. light violet. 15b 3k. blue green on laid paper.
12c 3k. imperforate. 19c 3k. imperforate.

# 56 Page 49

I

64. STARAYA RUSSA
la 5k. green on white paper. Ic 5k. green on yellowish
lb 5k. green on violet paper, paper.

65. TVER
7a 2k. imperforate. 10b 2k. red brown, imperforate.

66. TETUSHI
Sla 2k. dark brown. 2a 3k. dark green. 3a 5k. blue.

67. TIKHVIN
"17a 5k. black on gray violet paper. 20a' with the color permea-
19a -With the color permeating through. ting through.
30b 3k. blue green, yellow and gold.

68. TULA -
Id 5k. blue and bronze. le 5k. black and gold.
69. JSTUZ IA
20b 3k. black on rose violet paper.

70. USTSYSOLSK
17a -'imperforate.. 29. Temporary stamp-overprinted "5" on No. 27.
"21a imperforat6. 30..- Temporary stamp-overprinted "IlO1 on No. 28.

71. KHAIKOV
9d imperforate. '10c 51 imperforate.

72. KHVALYNSK
2d 2k. red violet, imperforate. 3b With the color permeating
"through*
73. KHERSON
2a imperforate ( 10 kop.) 4b 10k. with inverted center.
2b 2a with inverted center. 4c 10k. red.& blue, imperforate.
3a 10k. with inverted center. 4d 4b imperforate.
3b 10k. impe.rforate .. 5d 10k. red & black, perforated,
36- 3b with inverted center. with inverted center.
4a 10k. with the color 6b 1k". imperforate.
permeating through.

74. CHEMBARY
2a With the color permeating through.
4a Black, blue, yellow green and yellow*
4b Black, blue,.blue green and yellow.

75. CHERDYN
13a 3k. dark blue. 33d 2k. With small 02", perf.
31a 2k. rose, clean perforations. 34 1919 10k. Cherdyn Soviet
31b 2k. rose, rough perforations. Post.

76. CHERN
8a 3k. blue green.
14a 3k. blue violet.

Page 50 # 56

77. SHADRINSK
3a 5k. gray lilac on vertically laid. paper,
26c 2k. red and blue on thick paper*
27b 3k. red, blue and green, with the color permeating through.

78. SHATSK
3b 5k. black. on yellowish paper. 15a black on rose violet paper,
5b 3k. black on yellowish paper. imperforate 3 kop.
6b 3k. on grayish paper. 19f 3k. black on blue green
paper, with large perforate
-79. IASST___
la 2k. red with punched initials.
3b 5k. tete-besche.
3c 5k. light blue with punched initials.

47. NLINSK' (This listing is to follow 46. NOVCRZHEV). See #54, lage 51,
.C 2k. black on blue green paper.
14a 2k. red on ordinary paper.
17b Ik. imporforate.
17c -3k. imperforate, tete-besche.
18b 3k. imperforate.
18c 3k. imperforate, tete-beche.
20b k. black on green paper, imperforate.
20c Ik. perforated.-with the color permeating through.
20d.- lk, double perforated, tete-boche,
21b -3k. black on red paper, imporforate.
21c 3k. teto-beche.
22b 6k. black on blue paper with the color permeating through.
23b Ik. greon,tote-beche,
24b 3k. red, tote-beche.
28 Overprint "15u on Zt. of 1914-19156
29 Overprint "25" on 2k. of 1914-1915.
30 Overprint "10" on 1k. of 1915.

Undoubtedly many of the stamps listed in this article are listed in
Schmidt.s catalogue. I was unable to check this personally, but hope some
one will do it. I think that some of the varieties listed are not catalogued
"by Schmidt.
000000000000000000000000
oooooooooooooooooooooooo
R.AND LWISD IN FRESNO EXHIBITION. TO .WNEN DIS.YX B3Y F. W. SEERS

Wenden, in a specialized presentation by F. W. Speers, Escondido,
California, including major and minor varieties, proofs and reprints as well
as multiples and covers received the grad award early this month at the
Fresno.Stamp Clubts 9th annual exhibition (Frespex) March 6 to 8 in Fresno,
California. Congratulations Fred, we hope you get many more.

The Editors-

# 56 .. e. 51

S

CATALOGUE OF FISCAL STAMPS OF RUSSIA
AND COUNTIES OF THE RUSSIAN GROUP
BY E. Marcovitch

I have nursed an idea for many years of creating a special catalogue
of postage stamps, entire, revenues, vignettes and labels of Russia, and
the areas included in the make up of the Russian Empire. In nearly all
culturally advanced countries such catalogues have been published, which
include the stamp of the nation,and the territories connected to her in one
way or another. We have such catalogues of France, Germany, England, United
States, etc. In the catalogues of the last two countries we find sections
on fiscal stamps.

A special catalogue of Russia, alas, and of the countries of the
Russian group does not exist, although efforts in the creation of it have
been attempted not so long ago. A well known philatelic firm Romeko "
issued in 1927 a catalogue of postage stamps of Russia ( in French ), which
included the Occupation stamps of World War I, stamps of the White Armies,
Civil War, Post Offices abroad, Ukraine, Caucasian States various regions
and Baltic Countries Finland, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania-and Estonia. The
entire catalogue consisted of 106 pages) it .did not contain entire,
Zomstvos, Railroad and Steamship post of Finland, and there was no mention
of revenues and vignettes.

Another attempt was made in USSR in 1925 to 1928, where under the
direction of Fedor Chuchin a series of catalogues were issued compiled by
Russian collectors. In these series the following were included -

1. Imperial Russia, RSF S R, and US R.
2. Russian Offices in Turkey, Crete, Poland 1860, and Finland
to 1917.
3. Civil War in Rxssia 1917 24.. ..
4. Ukraine
5. Caucasus
6. Zemstvos -

Into these catalogues were included the entire, except those of
Zemstvos. A mention was made of fantastic stamps.

Although these catalogues contain omissions they are well prepared and
still to this day are valuable for their philatelic data, in spite of inter-
vening 30 years. :

During this time, however, a great deal of new material has come .to light,
-many times greater than the data listed in the catalogues. After the appear-
ance of these catalogues, efforts of creating such broadly encompassing
catalogues of Russia ceased, although many special works, oatalogues and
monographs did appear of the individial- parts of the former Russian Empire,
in various languages.

We have to-day many excellent works which can take their place among
the best philatelic monographs in existence. We cannot enumerate them all
but several should be singled out, as most important in our field, namely:

Page 52 # 56

RUSSIA

S. V. Prigara Russian Post in the Empire, Turkey, China and the
Kingdom of Poland. 1941.
S. D. Tchilinrhirian & W. Stephen Stamps of the Russian Empire Used
Abroad. 1958.
J. H. Reynolds Special Catalogue of the Postage Stamps of Russia.
Part I. Imperial Section. -1957.

ZEMST VO POST

C. Schmidt lie Postwertzeichen der Russischen Landschaftsamter.
"1931.

UKRAINE

"Dr. Seichter Sender Katalog Ukraine 1918-1920, 1956 -58.
J. Maksinchuk- Catalogue of.Ukrainian Postage Stamps. Private Issues.
(. 2 parts 1950, 1957 ).
0. W. Roberts Series of books on the Postal Issues of Ukraine.

L R ME N I A

S. D. Tchilin!hirini P. T, Ashford The Postage Stamps of Armenia.

F I'N LA D

SE. L, Hellman Die Eisenbainmr-ken rinlands. 1955.

P O LL ND .

Under the editorship of Lashkevich ("C C R 0 S) PclIkie Zndki
Pocztowe. 1936.

There are many monographs dealing with various branches of Russian
philately. They-are known to all specialists and some have been reviewed
in the Rossica Journal, B. J. R. P. and other publications. Usually the
monographs were issued in limited editions and they were quickly sold out.
Most of them to-day are rarities and unavailable toihe majority of collect-
ors. C. SchmidtB monograph consisted of 50 copies cnly, and few collectors
only get a chance. to see a single copy'.

In view of the rich literature in Russian philately, it is no hardship
to create a detailed catalogue of the stamps and en tires of Russia and
states. All that is needed is a knowledgeable author with a complete
library, and use of several languages, and the needed finances. It is pos-
sible that one day soon such a catalogue will be issued by a philatelic
society, a dealer or a private collector. This catalogue will give a great
stimulus to the Russian philately and a valuable aid to the collectors of
Russian emissions.

There exist however fields ofcollecting which are scarcely explored and
which lack literature and catalogues. These fields are the ones of revenue

# 56 Page 53

stamps and vignettes of Russia and States. Thus the future catalogue of
Russia will lack this material, and it may not even be mentioned.

There are many collectors of these specialties and their number
increases with years. In many lands they join the ranks of fiscal societies W
and those of erinnophilists which often issue their own publications and
catalog of Russian fiscal stamps or vignettes. I developed an idea and
initiative to create a series of such catalogues of revenues and vignettes
of Russia and all the countries of their group. This effort required coo-
peration from specialists in each respective field. I was fortunate in
interesting several fiscalists and erinnophilists in my project and they
aro now compiling catalogs.

I took upon myself the labor of forming a.catalog of Russian fiscal
stamps, and along with P. Rampacher, a catalog of'Russian. vignettes and
foreign ones with Russian motifs.

SSome of these catalogues are already completed in rough drafts and are
circulated among my colleagues, specialists who are checking.-the manuscripts,
adding unknown to he issues, completing series, and correcting errors.

Several collectors have already checked the fiscal catalogue and render-
ed valuable service to me by their efforts, considerably enriching the manu-
script. I must express my thanks to Dr. Salisbury, Jacques Posell, Leone de
Magistris, Dr. GLander, Rimma A. Sklarevski, Colonel Prince and J. A. Norton
for their collaboration,

Compilation of catalogues of other countries of the Russian group was
taken by:-

John A. Norton Revenue b of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Memel,
Poland, Central Lithuania and Danzig.
Dr. H. Glander -Revenues of Finland.
P. Rampacher & E. Marcovitch Russian vignettes, Foreign vignettes
with Russian themes. Vignettes of Latvia and Finland.
M. Guerra -'Vignettes of Spanish Civil'Wat of 1936-39 with Russian
themes.
It is imperative that,we consider beforehand the resources for publish-
ing these cataloguess. They will 'be issued serially in order of their comp-
letion. It is possible that the American Revenue Association will agree to
finance their issuance. We have already in Rossica a small sum collected
for this purpose. ,Thus it is possible with the aid of advance subscription
to realize the objective;. In such instance I shall'take upon myself the
labor of preparing the needed illustrations for the- catalogues of stamps
and vignettes, while J. A. Norton agrees to translate all the manuscripts
into English.
oooboobooooooo

Page 54 5

^ .,* 1 \ 6.

SE N E R L W RA NG E L 'S REFUGEE P O S T:
THE C 0 NSTANTINOPLE SURCHAR GES
by 'I -L.G. Baillie & W.E.C,.Kethro

The issues of General Wrangel in the Crimea and then- in.Constantinople
are discussed by Mr. A. M. Rosseldvich in Rossica No. 55, the first part
being on pages 5-12, and the second on pages 71-76.. We are particularly
interested in the Refugee Post of 1920/21, and would like to record some
additional opinions of our own.

Mr. Rosselovich virtually states that, from evidence in his possession,
the Wrangel Refugee Post stamps have to-be judged in the following light:-

I. that they wero issued, largely at the instigation of Mr.X ",
to obtain revenue rather than to be used on the mail of the
inter-camp mail.
II. that some of the camps, normally recognized, actually received no
stamps, and that none of the rarer stamps was ever used.
III. that, after the stamps were printed, the printing plates ( referred
to as lithographic stones a ) were destroyed, but that Mr. X "
retained portions of them.
IV. that '"' Mr.X was than sent frc iConstantinople to a Western
European capital ( is Paris implied ), where he absconded and
printed considerable quantities of surcharges from these portions
of the original printing plates.
V. that'" Mr. X I then propared pure forgeries.
VI. that'"" Mr. X." also prepared many forged covers.

This attitude is of course a serious reflection on the status of both
the r.oitaantinople- issues and seems to be based primarily- on a large and
extre:nly interesting collection of documents in Mr..Rosselevich's posses-
sion; at least so far as the article in No. 55 is conceried, however, it does
not seem tq be based on any published information on the stamps or the
covers bearing them. We feel that: a' study of these surcharges based on the
stamps ard covers is just as significant as one based on documentation,
particularly in view of the controversial nature of much of the document-
ation which is available on the mnny Xssues connected with the Russian scene
around the end of the World War *I.

in this article it is therefore our purpose to pose some questions, to
discuss conclusions which can be drawn from the stamps and covers in our
collections or which we-have seen, and to query whether the status of the
surcharges can be settled. This will be done by taking in turn the 6 points
mentioned above and offering our own opinions on the problems they present.

I. PURP OSE OF THE S-U R'C H1 iR GED' ISS E'S.

Mr. Rossele.vich may very well be right in deeming both Refugee sur-
charge issues as primarily speculative. This, however, is not as serious a
charge as onS might -at first suppose, as it-has to be examined in the light

# 56 Page 55

of the status of many issues throughout the World which are produced primarily
to enrich the local exchequer and are yet widely or universally collected.

Perhaps our point is made clear-by consideration of British'Colonial
issues over the last few decades. Collectors are woll aware that the vast
majority of.the issues of many .of the Colonies are produced for collectors
and tha "they.were sold to the philatelic trade from London where supplies
are obtained directly'from the printers the stamps never even seeing the
Solony whose name they bear Yet, in spite of this, they are collected
universally and their status is not seriously threatened by this being
public knowledge.

"A further feature of interest is that the need for long sets in these
Golonies is most questionable; sets, however, appear with great regularity up
to the equivalent of $3.00 or so. As .r. Rosselevich himself points out,
the Refugee postal rates ranged from 1, 000 rubles to 20,000 rubles with a
total of only 4 denominations, and these moreover were all for well-defined
-.postal purposes; from this point of view we could" conclude that their status
is in fact far better than that of many of the Colonial issues t

II VALUE S A V.A.I L B L E .T T HE C AMPS.

Mr. Rosselovich states that stamps were distributed to and sold at
the following campsr:-

"Belgrade :.Chatadzha Lemnos
Bernadotte Costantinople Selimie
Buyuk Dere Gallipoli Terepaia
Camp Lann :Khalki ( I and'II ) Tuzla ( 2 and II)

Ie also states that stamps were sent to Kanrober. but that none of them
were sold. Thus by inference he states that no stamps were distributed to
or sold at:-

.Antigona Cattaro Proti
Bizerta rinkipo Scutari,

These 6 camps are normally recognized as: having had Refugee postal ser-
vices, and occur in the standard lists. -

A summary of all the information that was available to us at the time
was published in 1952 in The Stamps of the Russian Refugeets Post by
Ashford and Kethro. Further material and further analysis resulted in
"nSome Further Thoughts published in the British Journal of Ruissian Philately
(the Journal 'of "-B .S.R.P. "); part 1 was in No.. 16 (December, ,1954) and
Part 2 in No. 17. (April, 1955) In the B.J.R.P. articles we describe the
postmarks of the -camps, allocate the 8 types to their respective camps, and
assess their relative rarities.

We would be most-interested in Mr. Rosselevich's comments on all the
various points we discuss in these publications; in the present context we
would raise in particular the two following queries:-

Page 56 # 56

a. Why is it that, although the 6 camps (Antigona / Scutari) have in
general the: rarest cancellations, they do not have types of cancel-
laticns which differ from those of the other 12 ( Belgrade / Tuzla ).
] b. Why is it that if the covers from the 6 camps are all forged, there
Share no covers ( forged or .otherwise ) purporting to emanate from
Kanrober, particularly since Mr. X would ( on Mr. Rosselevich's
analysis ) have known that Kanrober did at least receive stamps
whereas these 6 did not.

We appreciate that Mr. Rosselevich has had difficulty in condencing
a large volume of documents into a short space, and that not all the data
are available to us, but wo'-would like now to look further into the question
of the sales of stamps at the various camps.

Mr. Rosselevich defines those sales as:-

CAMP SALES IN TURKISH SAES IN RUSSL :
CIBENCY PAER CaREENCY

384 liras ;presumably the balance
Gonstantinople (( ia. equivalent to of the 66,805 stamps
3,842,500 Rubles ) sold here.
0 6
Belgrade sales not. known sales not known

All other camps of the 67 lira 90 plastro. to value of tens of
twelve ( i.e. equivaaent to millions of Rubles
67,900 Rubles )

He implies that the sales for valueless paper rubles are not of great
interest, and that the sales for Turki_-h r'r..ency were primarily to
collectors, stamp dealers and speeu "-: The latter we .agree, as be-
ing entirely as expected. The forme, '. '-l to be the justifying evidence
for normal.purchase at the camps ( who'- .- Rubles would be the normal
currency ) and therefore for being ju :;., ort of purchase to be expected
for stamps being bought for use in the Liar-camp post.

The use of the rare stamps on inter.-camp mail we believe not to be im-
possible. Even if such values were only sold specially to collectors and
.others, we believe that collectors then will have been like collectors now
their reaction to new or unusual stamps is to put them on covers addressed
to themselves and their friends. Certainly this reduces the status of such
covers, even when they are otherwise sound ( see VI below ), but phila-
telic covers or semi-philatolic covers are not to be completely despised.

Bearing in mind the difficult conditions with which the Wrangel Govern-
ment must have had to contend, we find it hard to believe that the Wrangel
Governments instructions could always be enforced in detail. There is
plenty of literature available on life in the camps as so many British person-
nel were involved in relief work there; from this literature it is obvious
that, however gallant the Governmentts efforts, many of the Government's

# 56 Page 57

directives were not always effective. We therefore do not find it hard to
believe that stamps could have reached the 6 camps ( Antigona / Scutari )
and that a form of postal organization was set up to deal with mail for
other camps, even if there is no documentary proof for this having been done
at these places. It is certainly possible that the documentation available
is incomplete and that therefore it is not possible to conclude from it that
no stamps reached any of these 6 camps; as Mr. Rosselevich points out, the
records of sales are incomplete, and we deduce from this that there is no
ability to conclude from the existing documentation that none of the rarer
stamps were ever used in the inter-camp post.

III DESTRUCT ION OF THE PRINT ING P LATEST.

We now enter a field of speculation, doubt and controversy. As Mr.
Rosselevich again points out, documentation is profuse but not selfconsist-
ent, and there is difficulty in drawing conclusions. We are very cautious
in accepting conclusions from contemporary documents in the Russian
field around this time, because we are equally aware of the dangers of being
misled by fraudulent productions.

Mr. Rosselovich concludes that:-

(a)-" after preparation of overprints, lithographic stones were destroyed
in presence of the members of Control Commission, and two documents
were prepared about this", and
(b)-" parts of these lithographic stones were then carried by Mr,X "
when he left on April 10, 1921 for n one of the West European
Capitals ".

This conclusion we find most surprising. Destruction of printing plates
(whether or not these were lithographic stones) presumably implies complete
defacement, and we are of the opinion that nothing else would have satisfied
the control Commission to whom such operations would be commonplace. We find
it difficult to believe that usable portions could have escaped damage or
that such weighty pieces could have been taken through a whole series of
Customs examinations.( unless they were in a diplomatic bag of a recognized
government ) without being impounded, Another aspect of this is that the
chances of Mr. X being able to get portions sufficiently large to contain
enough subjects for him to be equipped to make up 5 x 5 panes with the appro-
priate subtypes must be very small, this is perhaps tied up with the fact
( based on our observations ) that forgeries or the Paris Forgeries are
nearly ollways in singles and not in blocks. Reverting again to the incon-
"sistency of the documentation, we have seen a document stating that the
printing plates were destroyed to the satisfaction of the Control Commis-
sion.

It is no doubt a reflection of the fantastic events of the time that it
can be suggested that the Wrangel Government was willing to send n Mr. X i
frcm Constantinople to Western Europe as their accredited representative, to
take with him a large stock of both stamps bearing the Wrangel surcharges
and stamps to which the surchargeshad not been applied ( convertible, as
"I Mr. X himself must have had to explain, into worthwhile currency).

Page 58 56

It is perhaps not inconceivable -that Mr. X would not bother to return to
Constantinople after attempting to interest the stamp trade in the Wrangel
surcharges, but to have expected him to return after being provided with a
small gold mine implies quite extraordinary credubility on the part of
the Wrangel Government. This is of course reinforced by the thought that
the authorities in Constantinople need only have sent an agent to establish
contact and to initiate direct negotiations between dealers in Western Europe
and the source of supplies which could have been established in Constant-
inople; such a simple procedure woul! have been reasonably likely to have
reached the Wrangel exchequer as well as th-t a Mr. X would not have been
provided with an almost irresistable temptation.

In the Ashford-Kethro book already referred to there is a discussion
on the method of printing actually used for the Wrangel surcharges.

The basic problem as we see it is:-

(a)- The original cliche;for the surcharge itself.seems to have been
made 'o by typography.
(b)-The use of individual subjects which could be disassembled and,
then resembled for further printings as seems to have occurred
for 1,000 R. ( Small ), 10,000 R. ( large ) and the Harmer "
type of the 10, 000 R. ( Ornamental ) is quite inconsistent with
lithography.
(c)- The change of state of the 5,000 R. ( Small ) and, if it is not
a question of two distinct printing plates, the 20,00.R. ( Orna-
mental ) is perhaps more consistent with a less accurate printing
method then lithography.
(d)- The surcharges show, no bite and therefore cannot have been
typographed,
(o)- It seems unlikely that lithographic stones could hav been pre-
pared in the time available.
(f)- It also seems unlikely that the amount of printing required would
have justified the use of such an expensive method as lithography.

To reconcile these features of the surcharges one tends to support one
of the following theories.

S1)- Typography:- incompatible with (d)
(2)- Lithography::- incompatible with (b) and inconsistent with
(c), (e) and (f).,
(3)- Zinco-plates:- incompatible with (b) and inconsistent with the
lack of heavy bars in the margins.
(4)- A TRPNSFER METHOD:.-compatible with all the above feature sand a
type of printing "cn the cheap" we all believe to have bedn in
vogue at the time. The pencil lines in some corners of all sheets
are also consistent with a .fairly crude method of this sort.

From this analysis we feel that a transfer method is most likely to
have been used, and we be most interested in Mr. Rosselevich's comments on
this problem. Perhaps his documentation can cast some further light, but
even if it refers only to lithography we would emphasise our doubts that
such a method could have been employed.

# 56 Page 59

IV. THE RE PRINTS BY "MTR. X"1 THE "PIRIS REPRINTS" OR "PARIS
FORGERIES".

In considering what are usually called the "Paris Reprints" it seems
that we are referring to the Reprints by Mr. X which are mentioned
by Mr. Rosselevich. If we prefer to call them forgeries rather than
"n reprints this is only because we feel that the term reprint implies
acceptance of their status as being produced from all or part of the original
plates whereas the term forgery 0 does not necessarily involve adopting
this theory.

The "Paris forgeries" are undoubtedly the most difficult problem to be
faced by the collector of the surcharges of the Wrangel Refugee Post; they
are very close to what one believes to be the genuine, stamps and they can-
not be faulted by-any one simple test. However, if one starts with the
principle that the subtype marks described in the Ashford-Kethro book and
later, extended in our B.J R.P. articles, already mentioned, must be present
on every collectable copy, one will then have rejected all the Paris
Forgeries ( along, no doubt, with many copies which are in fact'perfectly
genuine ). This method we have been recommending for some years; in B.J.R.
P. No. 17 we also draw attention to the fact that many of the 1! Paris
Forgeries bear a foreign backstamp of oval format, and further mention
that since many undoubtedly genuine stamps also bear this baokstamp it can-
not be used as more than an indication of danger.

Mr. Rosselevich gives a most important rule for considering Wrangel
surcharges, namely that one should whenever possible work from full sheets
or large part-sheets when attempting to assess copies. This we thoroughly
endorse, and all our analyses have been along the lines of working off the
surcharged stamps themselves in 'the largest pieces available to us; as we
have studied most of the surcharges :in quantity in full sheets, and have
therefore established the subtyping technique (,and.information on settings )
from, in the most part, full sheets, we feel our recommended method for
.dealing with the Paris forgery situation is reasonably well founded.

V. FORGE R IES OTHER T H '.N THE "PARIS F.OR -
GE R I E S".

That many forgeries of the Wrangel Refugee Post stamps exist is unfor-
tunately very true. Whether or not they were made by a Mr. X ", however,
they can all be identified without much trouble by comparison with blocks,
etc., which can be defined as genuine from the information already published.
We thoroughly endorse the opinion that there are more forgeries than genuine
stamps, but at the same time we feel that it is quite true to say that the
collector is in no serious danger if he observes the various tests which have
been described.

We would mention here that the so-called f P Y' C K I H n error is a
forgery not an error, and that more than one suclr forgery exists. The one
surcharge which does still give difficulty in expertization is the 3.,000 R.
in black on the 2k. (perf. & imp6rf.); until some blocks of this surcharge
on this,value can be examinedwe feel that most copies must be regarded as

Page 60 # 56

suspect, although we are convinced that some copies that we have seen are
quito genuine.

VI. F OR GE D C 0VER S.

In relegating most covers to the forgery collection, 1tr. Rosswlevich
is no doubt perfectly correct. We have seen large numbers of covers which
wore never nearer the Wrangol inter-camp system than the door of the forger's
don. These forged covers are, in our experience, largely from one source in
that they are nearly always addressed in violet ink by the same hand, and
that the cancellations ( usually Belgrade or Constantinople ) are not correct
in detail; they still seem to exist in bundles and periodically a group of
them will still turn up on the market: -There are other types of n unaccept-
able covers, some of which are quite dangerous forgeries indeed and some
of which are perhaps n philatelic in that an .absurd postal rate is the
major defect; some we saw once caused us considerable amusement in that the
cancellations were forgeries of an Italian air mail strike

However, leaving such fabrications aside, there is loft a small quanti-
ty of covers addressed in all manner of handwriting and ink on all manners
of envelope, often written in Russian but frequently in French with only
" Russian Post in Russian, all of which are correctly franked. Further,
they all fit. into a sensible pattern of transit times, and these we have
analysed in B.J.RP. no. 17. If we take such covers as forgOries we have
to make one of the following assumptions:-

(a)-That they come from one source; if so, how do we explain the
variation in handwriting. By implication: a large syndicate within
the Wrangel Refugee Government in Constantinople.
S(b)-That they come from many sources; if so, how do we explain the con-
sistency of, transit times, postal rates and modes of address.

It is this paradoxical situation which leads us to. conclude that this
type of cover is. genuine. Perhaps we are in error here, but we would be
pleased to know of further tests that we could apply. There is no doubt
that, of the total quantity of n covers in exLstence, 6nly a small- porcent-
age is genuine.

The use of French lnmguago is of interest. We can,' of course, only post-
ulato here, and if Mr. Rosselevich's documents.give a load we would be grate-
ful for his information. The sort of argument one can build up is as follows.
Ist. French was still the diplomatic language in 1920 / 21, 2nd. French
would certainly be as useful as Russian, if not ( as seems very probable )
much more useful, in Turkey in 1920 /21, 3r;1 many of the refugeos would be
versatile in French, Lth the manufacture at very short notice of adjust-
able date stamps in Russian would be difficult although the manufacture of a
limited number of fixed frames in Russian would:be less difficult, 5th. -
adjustable date stamps in French would presumably be available and from
the earlier points not difficult to use for the Post.

# 56 Page 61
S

SUMMARY 0F OUR VIEWS

It is not a simple matter to put our views into a few short words, but
the following is an attempt to do so.

(a)-We agree that the surcharges were doubtless issued with a view to
gathering revenue from collectors via dealers as well as to prow
viding adhesives for use in franking the inter-campmail..
(b)-We find it most difficult t believe that Mr. X was sent beyond
the control of the Wrangel Government. in Constantinople with an
enormous stock of surcharged stamps (lot alone with usable portions
of the printing plates albeit unofficially, one presumes ) in the
naive hope that he would send back the proceeds, particularly as
*such an abnormal arrangement was anyway quite unnecessxay.
(c)-we agree that the Wrangel surcharges ( and their covers) have been
most extensively forged, and that the duds are in majority.
(d)-We agree that the genuine surcharges and covers do exist we
have examined some thousands in the course of separating the sheep
from the goats, and have published what we believe to be a readable
exportization technique.
(e)-We are sceptical of the usefulness of drawing very positive con-
clusions from documentary sources alone; this attitude we base
partly on the number of forged documents which exist ( as the lack
of consistency supports ) and partly on the uncertainty of the
Wrangel Governmentts orders being executed in detail.

The unique collection of documents in Mr. Rosselevichts possession is a
collection of great importance to all collectors of these fascinating sur-
charges and our thanks are due to Mr. Rosselevich for having in such a
brief space presented to us his analysis of them.

In writing our comments we have been very much aware of the difficult-
ies of the subject. Mr. X is now dead, and cannot reply himself;
memory after some 40 years is bound to be none too good for those who were
present when the surcharges were used at the camps. That there should be
differing views on the complex affairs of the time is perhaps not surprising,
and we hope that our article has provided some further data and some further
opinions to assist members in assessing this situation.

EDITORIAL NOTE for the Editor to improve on'

As with Mr. Rosselevichts article in No. 55, the Editor of Rossica
disclaimsany responsibility for any and all statements in the above
article.

SPage 62"' # 56

C AT LOGUE OF R'USS IAN VIGNETTES
P II 2 N T S I E S
by E. Marcovitch
( Continued from 55 Page 45 )

II ISS UE S OF THE WHITE AR M -Y

2. Denikin "Yedinaya Rossia"Counterfoit Issue.

1919. Vertical rectangular stamps 213x24iam. in size. Imperforate.
Yellowish cracked gun. L series of 8 stamps, similar to Ruble
values of Denikin issue, with an eight leaf petal at the sides
instead of numerals. Colors are different than in the original
issue. There are two added values of 25 and 50 rubles.

1. 1 ruble green, center & figures lilac-. (Figure 16)
2. 2 rubles red, center & figures dark'brown.
3. 3 rubles lilac, center & figures red orange.
4. 5 rubles blue, center & figures orange.
5. 7 rubles olive green, center & figures blue.
6. 10 rubles dark brown, center & figures light green.
7. 25 rubles light violet, center & figures light green.
8. 50 rubles orange, center & figures gray.

There is a rumcr that the above series are trial stamps in
unapproved colors, and that they wore printed by the order of the
government, in the design similar to the originals in different colors.
The rumor proved to be false.

"3. North Army ( Gencral !.iller ).

1919. Vertical rectangular stamps issued perforated and imperforate.
Issued.in 1919 supposedly by General Miller. Design showing double
headed eagle of the Provisional Government. Inscription NCRTH IRMY.

Perforated Figure 16a

1. 5-kop. orange
2. 10 kop. green
3. 25 kop. lilac brown
4. 50 kop. rod
5. 1 rub. rod brown
6. 3- rub. gray
7. 5 rub. red

Imerf orato Figure 16a

la to 7a Values and colors sane as Nos-. 1 to 7.

The above stamps were supposedly used in Archangolsk, Onoga and
Vologda, but until now I have.not seen and letters franked with these stamps.
The general opinion is that thiisissuo is phantastic.

# 56 Page 63

Editorial Comments:-We have uncancelled, imperforate sets of the afore-
mentioned issue in colors slightly different than the ones listed.
They were originally purchased in Paris, France in panes'of 10.
They have the same smooth white gum as Nos. la to 7a, and slightly
blurred design. Our Nos. la to 7a show part of round purple cancel- J
nation, which can be reconstructed to read Onega Vokzal 8. 6. 1919".

This set is still illustrated in Scott's catalogue, with a note
which reads A set of seven stamps of this design was prepared in 1920,
but never issued".

4. Army of the West ( with double headed eagle ).

1919. Vertical rectangular stamps 18-x23inm. in size, issued Perforated 11--
or Imperforato. Issued supposedly in 1919 by the Western Army of
General Bermondt-Avalov. Design ,shows Russian Coat of Arms; double
headed eagle with a crown. Inscription Russian Post ". Chuchin s
catalogue states that they were printed in Berlin, Germany.

Perforated 11l- Figure 17 Imperforate

1. 5 kop. dark brown la
2. 10 kop. dark blue 2a
3. 15 kop. red orange 3a
4. 20 kop. dark violet 4a
5. 30 kop. olive yellow 5a
6. 50 kop. blue green 6a
7. 60 kop. olive green 7a
8. 75 kop. dark green 8a

Editorial Comments:-Our specialized collection of this issue is divided
into 5 distinct groups, showing variations in gum, paper, etc. We have
blocks of 4 cancelled as follows (large, double lined circular cancellation,
with a strip for date, breaking both of the circles):-At top "Mitava"
(Russian), at bottom '`Pocht. Tol. Kont." (Russian) and in the center
"14. Nov. 1919" (English). There are many variations in shade and it also
appears that these phantasies wore widely counterfeited.

These stamps are illustrated in Scott's catalogue and the note reads
Eight typographod stamps of this design were prepared in 1919, but never
placed in use. They exist both perforated and I4perforate ". They are
listed under Latvia.

4. Army of the ,l-gt (overprints)

15 .and 20 kop. of the above series overprinted "Unity and Freedoms,
and 15 kop. overprinted same as above and revalued to 50 kop ".

Imperforate. Figure 17a. Overprint either in black or red.

9. 15 kop. red orange, No. 3a overprinted "Unity and Freedom" in black.
10. 20 kop. dark violet, No. 4a overprinted as No. 9 in red.
11. 50 kop. red orange, No. 9 with added overprint "50' in black.
Page 64 # 56

PHANTAS IE S
S'y LE Jarcovu'ch

16. 16D, 17. 17c0

1g. I8m.. K 2o0.

r 2. 2.6.

*--2.--.
zq 2S^.2

Stamps of the previous series overprinted with Maltese Cross and
two crossed swords. Listed in collection of Baron Scharfenberg.

12. 5 kop. dark brown
13. 30 kop. olive yellow
14. 50 kop. blue groen.

Trial Printings

In collection of E. Marcovitch are found trial printings on yellowish
rough papor.

a. 15 kop. horizontal pair, imperforate.
b. 20 kop. horizontal pair, imperforate.

Double print, where one stamp covers half of the othei.

c. 15 kop. horizontal pair, itperforate.
d. 20 kop. horizontal pair, imperforate.

triple overprint

The counterfeits of the phantasies 1 to 8 and la to $a aro very
poorly executed.

5. Armv'of the West ( in memory of froein of Russia ).

A series of 3 stamps of ori.cinal designs supposedly issued by the
Wosb Army. F. Chuchin in his catalogue states that they were. printed
in Berlin, Germany. Vertical rectangular stamps issued imperforate.
Iazirliption reads "In memory of freeing of Russia". 70 and 80 kop.
a.' listed in collection of Baron Scharfenberg.

Imrpo f orate Figure 18

1. 50 kop. orange. Size 22x28mm.
2. 70 kop. (neither the color nor the.illustration is known)
3. 80 kop. (neither the color nor the illustration is known)

Overprinted with six pointed star, undocipherable monogram and a
new value of "1 r." (collection of E. Marcovitch).

la. 1 rub. on 50 kop. orange No. 1

6. Army of the West ( Postaobiet Ob. Ost. overprints on stamps of
Germany.

1919. Two series of stamps of "Postgebiet Ob. Ost." type overprint,
overprinted with phantastic handstamp "3J.." in a circle or 3. A.
and a new value" in a rectangle. 03. AL." is abbreviation of
Zapadnaya Amya or Wester Army.

# 56 Page 65

"5 3. A. n overprint in a circle.

1. 10 pf. red 3. 50 pf. lilac & black
2. 20 pf. blue 4. 75 pf. black green

"w 3. A. and a new value overprint in a rectangle.

5. 15 pf. on 21 pf. grey olive 8. 40 pf. on 7- pf. orange
6. 25 pf. on 2 pf. grey 9. 75 pf. on 35 pf. orange brown
7. 25 pf. on 7i pf. orange

The origin of the above phantasies described in the catalogue of the
collection'of Barron Scharfenberg and mentioned in Chuchints catalogue
is unknown.

III- WHITE RUSSIA

1. Asobny Astrad (Formerly listed in Scottts under White Russia).

A series of stamps allegedly issued by General Bulakh-Balakhovich in
White Russia. The subject illustrated on stamps is the natives in
national costumes. The inscription in Cyrrilic reads Asobny Atrad
B. N. R. ". The stamps are vertical format 26x33- mm. in size.

Perforated ll- Figure 19 Imperforate

1. 5 kop. green la. 5 kop. green
2. 10 kop. red 2a. 10 kop. red
3. 15 kop. violet 3a. 15 kop. violet
4. 50 kop. dark blue 4a. 50 kop. dark blue
5. 1 rub. browm 5a. 1 rub. brown

These stamps are found with a number of phantastic- cancellations, on
of which is Palevaya Kantora Belarusk. Atrada".

2. Belaruss -Pochta ( White Russia Post )

1921. Stamps of unknown origin inscribed in Cyrrilic Belarus Pochta or
"n White Russia Post ", existing imperforate and perforated 11- in
vertical and horizontal rectangular formation sizes 21x31 mm. and
31x21 mm. It is known that they were sold in 1921 in Kovno.

Perforated 11 Figure Imperf orate

1. 2 rub. dark brown Fig. 20 la
2. 3 rub. blue & red Fig. 22 2a
.3. 5 rub. dark blue red & orange Fig. 21 3a

Trial printing No. 3a on rough paper. Collection of E. Marcovitch.

Page 66 # 56

S

IV UKRAINA

1. Polish Eagle overprint on original stamps Ukraina,

1924. Ukrainian stamps, Scott Nos. 62. to 66 overprinted with rew values
and a Polish Eagle in black, violet and red. The origin of this
issue is unknown. Figure 27.

2 =r. & Eagle in black. 10 gr.-_ Eagle in violet. 15 .r. & Eagle in red

1. on 10 shagiv 6. on 10 shagiv 11.. o 10 shagiv
2. on 20 shagiv 7. on 20 shagiv 12. on-20 shagiv
3. on 30 shagiv 8. on 30 shagiv '13. on 30 shagiv
4. on 40 shagiv 9. on 40 shagiv 14. an 40 shagiv
5. on 50 shagiv 10. on 50 shagiv 15. on 50 shagiv

3. Overprint South Russia.

1920. Black diagonal overprint South Russia in Cyrrilic characters on
Ukrainian shagiv stamps. The origin of this issue is unknown. Fig. 18

1. 10 shagiv. 2. 20 shagiv. 2. 30 shagiv. 4. 50 shagiv.

3. Ukraine overprint on Romanov stamps.

Ukraine overprint in French on the stamps of Romanov series.
It was probably prepared in'rqncch.

4. Overprinted for Ukrainian Levant.

1919. The origin of the Ukrainian Levant series is clouded. They are listed
in a number of catalogues with notation Although these stamps were
prepared by thcRU.ician Society for Trade & Navigation they were never
pit in use%. Our opinion is that these series belongs in the catalogue
c' p fantasies rather than. in a Postage Stamp Catclogue, since they were
nvir used for postage. The overprints.are on the P. 0. P. i T. stamps
of Russian Lovant of 1900 1910 land are found in new values, as well
as without revaluation.

Overprinted P. 0. P. i T. in blue, original vvlue unchanged,

1. on 4 pa. (black)A k. Scott 28 6. on 20 pa./5 k. Scott 200
2. on 4 pa. (blue)/ 1 k. Seott 27 7. on 2 pi./20 k. Scott 34
3. on 10 pa. (red)/2*k. Scott'31 8. on 5 pi./50 k. Scott 35
4. on 10 pa. (carm.)/Zk. 9. on 7 pi./70 k. Scott- 36
5. on 20 p../4 k. Scott 32 10. on 10 pi./ 1 r. Scott 37

7a. No. 7 with P. 0. P. i T. inverted.
8a. No. 8 with P. 0. P. i T. inverted.

# 56 Page 67

Overprinted P. O. P. i T. in black and revalued in black.
NEW VALUES
ORIGINAL, pi. 1 pi. i i.1 2 2 pi. 3 pi. 5 pi.
VALUE NUMBERS
On 4 pa. (black)/lk. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
On 4 pa. (blue )lk 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
On 10 pa.(rod)/2k. 25 26 27 28. 29 30 31
On 10 pa. (car.)/2k. 32 33 34 35 36 37 .38
On 20 pa ./ k. 39 40 41 42 43 44 45
On,20 p/5 k.' 46 47 48 49 50 51 52
On 2 pi./20k. 53 54 55
NEW VALUES
ORIGINAL 10 pi. 20 pi. 30 pi. 50 pi. 100 pi.
VALUE E NUM BE R-S
On 5 pi./50 k. 56 "
On 7 pi./70 k. 57
On 10 pi./1 r. 58 59
On 35 pi./3 r. 50 k. 60
On 70 pi./7 r. 61

Errors. "1" of fraction "-t missing an 1 and 2I pi. values. Nos. "a".

1 pi. value Nos. 13a, 20a, 27a, 34a and 41a.
2 pi. value Nos. 15a, 22a, 36a, and 53a.

Errors Inverted overprints. Nos. "bu

2 pi, on 4 pa. (black)/1 k. -'No.. 14b
5 p.,on 4 pa. (black)/1 k. No. 17b .
Other errors- Editorial Note Editors took liberty in assigning
sub letters a, b, c, etc. to each variety
Pair, one without overrrinf Nos. "c". No. 15c
P. 0. P. i T. missing, only new value Nos."d" No. 15d
P. 0. P. i T. in blue Nos. "e" No. 56e
pi. underscored Nos. '"f Nos. 56f and 57f.
In word 'pi' is inverted Nos. "g No. 56g (P. 0. P. i T. in black),
"No. 56ga (P. 0. P. i T. in blue), and No. 57g.
In numeral "10". the numeral "0' is large Nos.. h" No. 57h
In numeral "20", the numeral "nO is small Nos. "i" No. 581
Numeral "30" is reversed to read "03" Nos."j" No. 59.

1919. 20 pa. on 4kop. carmine (Jubilee Stamp), Scott No. 42 overprinted in
new values. Following values are known to exists-

7 pi., 10 pi., 15.pi., 20 p 20 pi,25 pi. and 30 pie

It is known that all of the abovo series are private fabrications of
two employees of P. 0. P. i-T. in Odessa, who bought large numbers of the
remainders of previous issues and prepared overprints for sale abroad.
Some of these stamps exist cancelled ,Constantinople P. 0. P. i T." in
the corners of the stamps.

Page 68 # 56

V-CAUCASUS

1. ALzrbairn (Russian stamps overprintd Occupation Azerbaijan )

1917, Soriea of 17 stamps with a diagonal overprint on Russian stamps of
1909A/ reading n OCCUPATION AZIRBAYEDJAN ", allegedly issued in 1917
by English officers of the English occupation forces in Caucasus.
Actually these overprints are phantasies and speculative. A counterfeit
cancellation reading Bak 10 Oct 1917 in English is known to exist.
According to Chuchin's catalogue counterfeits of these phantasies are
also known to exist.

Oscar Riep, the author of the catalogue, describing the Collection
of Baron Scharfenberg, speaks of three different typos of this over-
print.

1. Paris Print the letters are wider than in other prints.
2. Italian Print slanting letter "Y ".
3. Constantinople Print the letters are narrow. Y straight.
4. Second Italian Print found more often than the others.

Perforated Perforated Perforated Imn rforate

1. on 2k. 6. on 10 k. 11. on 35 k. 14. on 1 k.
2. on 3 k. 7. on 10/7 k. 12. on 50 k. 15. on 2 k.
3. on 4k. 8. on 15 k. 13. on 70 k. 16. on 3 k.
4. on 5 k. 9. on 20 k. 17. on 5 k.
5. on 7 k. 10. on 25 k.

These stamps are still listed in some of the catalogues.

2. Azerbaijan (Original designs)

1923. A series of 6 various designs of unknown origin. They first appeared
in 1923 and according in Gibbons they were printed in Italy. The stamps
are of rectangular format 31jx25Am. in size, issued perforated 11-
and imperforate and inscribed in French Republique diAzerbaidjan ".

Perforated 11- Imperforate

1. 500 r. wine red (white boarded old man) la
2. 1,000 r. dark green (bridge in mountains)
3. 2,500 r. bright green (bear in a tree) 3a
4. 5,000 r. orange (shepherd -with a herd of sheep) 4a
5. 10,000 r. dark blue(winter scene) 5a
6. 25,000 r. olive brown (oil derriks) 6a

3. Batum

Blacktwo line phantastic overprint on Russian stamps of 1909/17. The
overprint reads 1st, line- "Batum Ob." (Russian). 2nd. line-
"Rub. 10 Rub." (Russian). There is a nine millimeter spacing betweon
the lines. (Collection of J. Posell), Vert. or Horiz. overprint.

1. 10 r. on 1 k. perf. vert.) 4. 10 r. on 3 k. imp. (horiz.)
2. 10 r. on 3 parf. vertt.) 5. 10 r. on 1 k. imp. (horiz.)
3. 10 r. on 7 k. porf. vertt.)
to be continued

# 56 Page 69

RUSSIAN POST OFFICES IN CARPATHO-aUKRINE IN 1951
(According to U.P.U. listing of World's P.O.)
by A. Cronin

The country is now officially known as ZAKARPATSKAYA CBLAST UKRAIN-
SKOI SSR or Transcarpathia province of .Vrainian SSR. SEVLYUSH has since
had its name changed to VI'OGILDOV, possibly because of the numerous
vineyards there,

Apsha Gat Palad Velika Turya Rometa
Ardov Cherny Gorinchovo Palanok Tyachevo
Porechino
Batovo Iltsitsya Petrovo Vari
Began' Velikaya Izki Poroshkovo Veretski Nizhni
Belki Polyana Vilkhvitsy
Beregi Kamyanitsa Polyana Kobiletska Vilok
Beregovo Khomets Volosyanka
Berezny Maly Khust Rakhov Volove
Berezny Veliky Kivyazhd Rakhovets Velky Volovets
Bistra Turya Komyaty VeliEyo Rokosovo Vyshkovo Na' Tise
Bichkov Voliky Kopanya Velika Rosvigovo'
Bogdan orolevo Yasonya
Bogdanovka Kosino Serodne.
Brid Kostrino Sevlyish Zagattya
Bushtino Kushnitsa Shalanrk Zaluzhzlhn
Kvasy Shorn Znornava
Chinadevd Siltse
Chop Lipcha Sinevir
Chomrogolovaya Luchki Sokirnitsa
Solotvinski Kop.
LDov^' Maghola Stavne
Dragovo Maidan Strabichovo
Dubove MDkachevo Svalyava
Dubrinich Muzhyovo
Dyakovo Toreblya
Noresnitsa Teresva
Fanchi-ovo Novoselsk Ternovo
Frideshovo Trebushani
000000000000000000000
LYDIA CALLIANl EXHIBITION WINNER

We are proud to announce that our new member Lydia Callahan has won
MGAiTD AWlRD at the Woments International Annual Exhibition. She is also
the proud winner of First Place in the Women's Philatelic Society annual
Exhibition. We are delighted to see that our member belong to other societ-
ies and keep interest in exhibiting. Miss Callahan is also Co-Chairman of
the Topex 159. Miss Callahan rite in her letter to Mr. Lavrbv I was so
proud, I could not talk. Being a new member- of Rossica Society, it makes
-me feel good. "
The Editors
Page 70 # 56

S

RUSSIAN POST OFFICES IN CARPATHO-aUKRINE IN 1951
(According to U.P.U. listing of World's P.O.)
by A. Cronin

The country is now officially known as ZAKARPATSKAYA CBLAST UKRAIN-
SKOI SSR or Transcarpathia province of .Vrainian SSR. SEVLYUSH has since
had its name changed to VI'OGILDOV, possibly because of the numerous
vineyards there,

Apsha Gat Palad Velika Turya Rometa
Ardov Cherny Gorinchovo Palanok Tyachevo
Porechino
Batovo Iltsitsya Petrovo Vari
Began' Velikaya Izki Poroshkovo Veretski Nizhni
Belki Polyana Vilkhvitsy
Beregi Kamyanitsa Polyana Kobiletska Vilok
Beregovo Khomets Volosyanka
Berezny Maly Khust Rakhov Volove
Berezny Veliky Kivyazhd Rakhovets Velky Volovets
Bistra Turya Komyaty VeliEyo Rokosovo Vyshkovo Na' Tise
Bichkov Voliky Kopanya Velika Rosvigovo'
Bogdan orolevo Yasonya
Bogdanovka Kosino Serodne.
Brid Kostrino Sevlyish Zagattya
Bushtino Kushnitsa Shalanrk Zaluzhzlhn
Kvasy Shorn Znornava
Chinadevd Siltse
Chop Lipcha Sinevir
Chomrogolovaya Luchki Sokirnitsa
Solotvinski Kop.
LDov^' Maghola Stavne
Dragovo Maidan Strabichovo
Dubove MDkachevo Svalyava
Dubrinich Muzhyovo
Dyakovo Toreblya
Noresnitsa Teresva
Fanchi-ovo Novoselsk Ternovo
Frideshovo Trebushani
000000000000000000000
LYDIA CALLIANl EXHIBITION WINNER

We are proud to announce that our new member Lydia Callahan has won
MGAiTD AWlRD at the Woments International Annual Exhibition. She is also
the proud winner of First Place in the Women's Philatelic Society annual
Exhibition. We are delighted to see that our member belong to other societ-
ies and keep interest in exhibiting. Miss Callahan is also Co-Chairman of
the Topex 159. Miss Callahan rite in her letter to Mr. Lavrbv I was so
proud, I could not talk. Being a new member- of Rossica Society, it makes
-me feel good. "
The Editors
Page 70 # 56

S

REPLY TO IESSRS. BAILUIE AND KETHRO
by A. Rossolevitch

I road with interest the points stressed and questions raised by Messrs.
w Baillie and Kothro, based on my article in #55 Rossica Journal. It is grati-
fying that actually the authors agree with most of my deductions; as to the
sphere of disagreement, the authors allow a number of errors and create a
condition which did not exist in 1920-21 and later, in Western Europe. This
is the major error out of which arose other and- collectively they formed
many illusions and faulty conclusions. I an very surprised that the majority
of foreign research mon did not chock their opinions and reasoning with those
who lived in the refugee campo, former Russian military men and civilians who
fled from Crimea. There are many of them in the large cities of Europo and
America, their memories are not faulty because of the passage of time, as the
authors suggest at the end of their article.

First of allit is imnpr&A to stress some most important facts:

ist. Neither General Wrangel'himself, nor the High Command nor the
Refugee Government had any dealings with the actions of Mr. X and did not know
of his plans and intentions. On their shoulders roasted more complicated pro-
blems of saving human lives and the honor of the Russian name, and the quest-
ion of organizing the post and -overprinting stamps was of minor concern to
them.

2nd. *- The problem was purposely complicated by Mr. X, and he actually
created documents, lists-and receipts with incorrect figures and data. I
have those documents and they always contain favorable data on material that
had passed through his hands.

3rd. It is important to stress that all data and numbers which until
now were given to the stamp firms and collectors, and which were utilized by
the authors in their book and articles, originated only from Mr. I, or from
those who received his data, as he appears to be the only authority, whose
official standing and duties no one could challenge,

However among the documents we find data which is unfavorable to 1ir. X.
They do not sustain but refute that which was believed until then, and those
we can study only nowl There are also documents of others who know pr. X,
tried to do business with him, and who wore suspicious of his actions.

Lack of space does nbt permit covering entire question in detail. How-
ever, if the editor of Rossica will allow me, I shall answer important quest-
ions in the next issue of the journal. At present I shall dwell on the major
problems; the main objective is to warn collectors and dealers who wore vic-
timized in the field of covers and cards bearing stamps, a most tempting and
difficult spheres. otters with postmarks of the Russian Refugee Post pro-
sent a grandiose mystification which successfully duped the majority of
serious collectors and dealers. Nearly no one asked a question, "How could
hundreds of such covers could appear, when even one should have been a rarity".

#56 rtge 71
7-

Actually about 100,000 soldiers and civilian refugees were in the camps,
after losing all of their, possessions relatives, funds and not being able to
alter their plight, except for a small percentage who were lucky to take with
them foreign money. Inter camp letters could have been written only by few,
and those had to be fortunate enough to learn of the existence of their friends
or relatives in other camps. We must add that the stamps of the Russian Post
could serve only for intercamp mail, and only by couriers of this post. For
mail abroad and to the towns of Turkey Turkish stamps had to be used, as
Turkey and foreign posts did not recognize overprinted Russian stamps. Thus,
how could so many covers have been found in one mants possession We can't
imagine that each recipient of letters on the island of IEMNCS, Khalkip GAL-
Lipoli and in other places, immediately returned his envelope or card to Mr.
XI People who received their mail, did not always preserve envelopes. (could
they have possibly done so under their terrible circumstances.) and possibly
only after many years, finding such envelopes in their possession, sold them
to dealers in Western Europe, learning of their rarity.

Thus at present time, only a few dozens of genuine covers could have been
found in collections or on the market and this would have been perfectly normal
Ishall now turn to the questions which the authors had asked, dealing with them
in their order.

I. Purpose of Issuance of Overprints.
One can't compare them with stamps of British Colonies which are not spe-
culative issues. Colonials were issued for existing colonies and when we found
them on covers we knew that they were actually sent from the colonies. No one
busied himself with forgery of such letters, except in case of rarities. Co-
lonials are issued in numbers exceeding need and excess is sold to the dealers
and collectors in the metropolis, such as stamps of Belgian Congo are sold not
only in the colony but in the main P. 0. in Brussells, French Colonials in
Paris, etc. however all values of stamps without exceptions can be bought in
the colonies. This is not a speculation; we wonvt forget that in all lands
series of stamps are often issued which cantt be bought at the post office but
have to be ordered, and that afterwards one can use them for correspondence.

As for the stamps with overprints of the Post of the Russian Army, their
purpose was already stated in the notes and memoranda of Mr. XI parts of which
were given in #55 of our journal. I shall not repeat them, but we can see
from them that the fundamental and main reason was sale abroad, while their
postal use was merely organized to justify their existence and solidifying
their price on the market. Regardless of the reason of their existence, they
can be collected provided one can distinguish genuine from forgeries.

II. Stamps of the Russian Post in the Camps.

Answer to this question is given in one of the most important of docum-
ents: List of the turn over of stamps to the branches of the Russian Post,
during the time of their existence Document was formed on May 31, 1921, in
Constantinople, i.e. during the closing and liquidation of the entire organi-
zation of the Russian Post; it is signed by deputy chief of Russian Post A.
Bessel, and bookkeeper A. Vlasov. I have o copy of thissnotarized by A.
"Vlasov, with his own hand signature. I shall point at once that:

Page 72 #56

1. tist was composed in Constantinople long after Mr. X had deported.
2. It was not brought to Western Europe by Mr.. X, but sent to him, while
the original was retained in the archives of the Russian Post, if
not destroyed.

Is this document genuie or a phantasy fabricated for Mr. 1X r by th him
I can amswr this atogoriaally that if it aasn't genuine, it. would have been
, favorable to Mr. X, ie. it would hav contained all the deprtnts of P. O.1
carellers which we findoan covers, ( 15 plus 6 rare ann possibly others )
But this list is not favorable to all that was done- by Mr. X, it contains no
mention of 6 postal branches with rare cancellations.- It is clear that in
Western Europe on could say all that is profitable but in official papers
om had to write only that which existed. Thus this copy of the list, sent to
Mr. X no on evor saw during the lifetime of Mr. -X.
I. shall give you the detailed, accurate figures of this list. Far econo-
my of space' I am forced to make several iondensations and indicate only the
following: name of the postal branch, name of the 'stamps quantity sent, qua-
ntity sold, sum of money in Turkish lird and in rubles. <
1. C ONSTANTINOPLE

I issue 1,000 r. Sent 28,406 Sold 23,489 RePoived-3,842
5,000 r. 34,737 23,186 lira 49 piastres and
10,000 r. 11,516 11,466 2,320,000 rubles.
20,000 r. 6,064 4,769
SII issue 1,000 r 10,740 2,879
5,000 r. 1,980 416
2. BELGRADE

I issue 1,000 r. Sent 8,000
5,000 r 9,920
10,000 r. 835 Noto -Liquiidation of Belgrade branch
20,000 r. 500 is not complete.
II issue 10,000 r. 5,830
20,000 r. 2,260 ... -

3. GALLIPOL -

I issue 1,000 r. Sent 1,100 Sold 25
5,000 r. 1,550 575
10,000 r, 0 .. 110 Made 9 lira 10. piastres
20,000 r. Not sent. and 6,990,000 rubles.
,I issue 10,000 r 80 80
20,000 r. 155 155 .

4. LEMNOS 0 8
I issue 1,000 r. Sent 200 Sold 70 Made 1,350,000 rubles.
5,000 r. 500 156
10,000 r. 100 50
20,000 r. and stamps of the II issue were not sent.

#56 Pio 73

5. KHALKI I

I issue 1,8 r. Sent 1,900 Sold 1,600
5,000 r. 510 337
10,000 r. 170 170 Made 6 lira 76 pic.
20,000 r. Not sent. and 4,519,000 rubles.
II issue 10,000 r. 25 7
20,000 r. 25 7

6. K HAL K I II

I issue 1,000 r. Sent None Sold
5,000 r, 400 64
10,000 r. 50 30 Made 4 lira 15 pi.
20,000 r. 100 35 andl,085,000 rubles.
II issue 10,000 r. 380 16
20,000 r. 300 1

7. BER N D 0T TE

I. issue 1,000 r. Sent 1,000 Sold 800 Made 35 lira 80 pia.
5,000 r. 1,200 341 and 345,000 rubles.
10,000 r. o1 110
20,000 r. Not sent.
II issue 10,000 r. 50 16
20,000 r. 60 ,8
8. T U Z. L A

S1 issue 1,000 r. e 500 S61d 500
5,000 r. 1,200 924
10,000 r. 100 100 Made 2 lira 15 pia.
20,000 r. Not sent, and 8,005,000 rubles.
II issue 10,000 r. 150 150.
20,000 r. 3 30.

9. TUZL A II.

I issue 1,000 r. Sent 500 Sold 22
5,000 r. 2,200 217
10,000 r. 100 88 -Made 2 lira 7 pia.
20,000 r. Not sent. and 2,200,000 rubles.
II issue 10,000 r. 100 22
20,000 r. 45 10
10. C H ATALD J A

I issue 1000 r. Not sent. Sold
5,000 r. Sent 193 1 Made 17 piastres
10,000 r. 96 22 and 207,500 rubles.
20,000 r. Not sent
II issue 10,000 r. Sent 250 fone sold.
20,000 r. Not sent.

Page 74 #56

11. K ANR OBER

sI issue 1,000 r, Sent 1,000 Sold None
S 5,000 r. 1,300. None
S10,000 r. 30. None
I isaue None sent.

as 1,000 r. Sent 300. o 177
5,000 r. 1,200. 183. Made 3 liras and
10,000 r. 100 80 1,592,000 rubles.
20,000 r. None sent
II issue Not sent' None sent

': 1^ SE L- I M NN X

.-.. I isue, 1,000 r. Set .500 Sold 391
S 5,000 r. 1,200- 426 Made 1 lira 80 pia.
"10,000 r. .60 60 2,941,00 rubles.
20,000 r. 'Not sent -
II issue 10,000 r. 110 None sold
20,000 r. Not sent
14. B T U- K DE RE

I ii-su 1,000 r. Sent None ''
5,000 r. .1,000 10 Made I lira 10 pia.
10,000 r." 50 18 :-and 200,000 rubles.
20,000 r. 100 .2
aoiss. Not sent

15. TE R EP I A

Sisg 1,e 0 o r Sent None Sold
5 000 r. 500 4 Made 80 pia. and
10,000 r. 50 2 60,000 rubles.
20,000 r. 50 -
II issues Not sent

.Total quextity sold is not given; it iust be remembered that at that time
10C00O ruble was equal Ar0 Tukish piastres. Several deductions, of the facts
in the list Te re given in #55, and. they will iot be repeated.

.The mystery of, ejxst.ing covers with the cancellations of camps and
branches of the Russian Post, not indicated in this list, is solved easily
( we speak of B I Z E R T E,I I CIP 0, AN T I G 0 NE, PR 0 T I,
S C UT AR I, KAM AR R O -and possibly others, namely AR N 0 and also
camp K A N R 0 B E R ). At first it'was planned to create postal branches
everywhere and cancollers were ordered accordingly, possibly 21 or 22 or
perhaps more. Having received them, Mr. X began to prepare in Constantinople
a large number of covers and post cards with these stamps cancelled by can-
cellers of all postal branches, also with the cancellers of arrival or tran-
sit via Constantinople. Addresses were written either by Mr. X or some other

#56 26gm 75

people, aiding him in forming a supply, needed for advertising these stamps
in Western Europe. Addresses of friends and acquaintances were utilized and
those who received letters from abroad. Dates were varied, but using same
selection of numerals and letters, thus we find them with same distinguishing
characteristics coming from various postal branches.

rOny after this, the stamps were sent to camps, and postal communications
were established between them. Because of the conditions existing at that
time this could not be done quickly and at the same time; supplies were sent
via Russians, via courier senior lieutenant Flatonov who already perished on
February 26, 1921. On March 4 a protest was sent by the. Turkish government
and further extension of the postal organization was stopped, and at the end
of May it was stopped altogether everywhere. Thus it..is clear that Mr. X
fabricated covers not realizing that some of the cancellers employed were not
goirig to be used at all. This however did not interfere with his exploitation
Cf these covers in Western Europe.

To illustrate my point I shall describe several covers and one post card
in my possession. It is definitely known to me that they were purchaed from
Mr. X at different times, and I purchased them from others. Among them, there
is a cover with three stamps of II issue 10,000 r. on 3 k. imperf, with 3
various tridents of Odessa and Ekaterinoslav, the stamps were cancelled by 2
cancellers -" Russian Post Principo 10 Apr. 1921 ". The address is writ-
ten with characteristic handwriting of Mr. X, and it is addressed to Mr. V. F.
Subbotin in Constantinople ( I know him at one time and the address is
correct ), with an arrival postmark 12 Apr. 1921 ".

However on April 10th. Mr. X loft Constantinople for Western Europe, and
wo have various data on that point in many documents and lists in my posses-
sion. Wo loan frm hem that he loft not by sea but by. land via Belgrade .
It is quite clear that Mr. X could not have been on the island of P R I N C-
I P 0 and leave for Constantinople all in one same day.. Finally. We can not
doubt the fact that the canceller of Principo was in the hands of Mr X
and not on that island.

Likowise, a post card of pro-revolutionary period with a stamp attached,
I issue 1,000 r. on 5 k., cancelled I Russian Post Khalki 2 Jan. 1921 "
and a postmark of arrival in Constantinople 3 Jan. 1921 ". Address and
text written by wife of Mr. X, carries her signature, although it is known
that Mr. X ( and most likely his wife also ) lived in Constantinople and not
on the island of Khalki. However this is not of interest but the overprint
on the stamp which is forged, and therefore belonging to the fabrication of
Mr. X when already in Europe. As for the postmark of Constantinople, it is
the same as on the letters described in the previous paragraph. This post-
mark, having on the right side a defect of bulging, date 1921 made by
same numerals with the same characteristics, as on the letter from Principo.
Finally, cover with the postmarks of Belgrade, Constantinople and Buiuk Dore
and with a stamp; again with a foPgod overprint of II issue We wont dwell
oh several pieces. of covers with stamps having forged overprints and cancel-
led with cancellers of Camp Lann ( Zeiton-Burnu ), Bizorte, Gallipoli and
others, on which again I find numerals entirely the same as on several cancel-
lers described above. There is, finally, one more fact, arousing suspicion;

Page 76 # 56

exactly accurate dates of sending and arrival. Post covers always a period
of 1 2 days, sometimes 3 days. Not one letter was late, and held, although
the post was carried by the Russian couriers whose trips could have depended
on various conditions, and its working with mathematical precision is absolute-
ly inadxissiblo It would Zo desirable for those who have such covers to os-
tablish'tables with the following data for every letter: place and date of
sending, date of transit via Constantinople, if it exists, place and dato of
arrival. I am sure such a table will give an absolutely impossible result,
namely that one and same courier travelled simultaneously to Khalki, Ismnos,
and Chataldja and this is absurd without interruptions and accidental delays.

Thus I must conclude, taking in consideration all data and information
received from people who wished to learn the truth, that the -story was as
follows:

1. Cancellors of all postal branches (21 22 or more ) were used for
fabrication of a large number of covers PR I 0 R to sending of stamps
to the camps.

2. The same cancollors were in the hands of Mr. X after the arrival to
Western Europe, As to the period of time iup to the departure of Mr.
X, three deductions are possible: either the cancellers were always
in Constantinoplro 'aid when courier brought letters from some camp,
the stamps wo:e cancelled by corresponding canceller; or they were
sent to the ca;..?b and at the end.of May collected, returned to Mr.
X in Etu'opor; .r when the courier travelled, for example to LTmnos, he
was giver. th. chancellor of Lemnos, on arrival he cancelled stamps on
the lettl givon to hims and afterwards returned the cancellers to
Constant noia-Lo. The answer can be given if several major collectors
would agroo to create a tablo of d.ta, described earlier, for compar-
ison and study of forms of letters and nuiI6als for date so as to
find identical ones.

III Destruction of lithographic stones.

I am very surprised about the commit from Messrs. Bailie and Kothro.
Stones were broken in presence of Control Commission. This fact is rofistored
by its members and thus its aim was accomplished, Commission did not demand
that the stones be powdered, and it did not see to it that they were cast into
the sea or carted away by garbage colloctcrs. Nothing prevented Mr, X from
acquiring same after Commissioners departure. This is not impossible It is
strange however that it was not necessary to break up stones, so as to guar-
antee the end of their use they were usually washed and the design washed
off by a certain preparation. This was not done evidently because it was
contrary to the plans of Mr. X.

As to the carrying of a bag with stones across the border and customs,
this is entirely possible. I went in 1924 from Bolgium to Brussells across
three borders and no one examined my belongings. Besides a bag with stones
is not narcotics, explosives or forbidden objects. Finally Mr. X travelled
as an official, commandod by his goverrent and had papers to state so.
Doubt and surprise by the authors is not understandable

S# 56 IPge r7

Also it is not understandable to me why they thought it was risky to
send Mr. X to Western Europe and to entrust to him valuables. First of all,
Mr. X was a high official of trust. No one knew of his personal plans; how
he busied himself in Western Europe no one could have forseon. I never sta-
ted that Mr. X broke his trust and that he did not send to the treasury money
procured by these stamps which wore entrusted to him for sale. In this I
have no right, no cause, no suspicion on thoeontrary, I am sure that he ful-
filled his obligations.

More so I am surprised by the words of the authors about the method of
preparation of overprints. The method was lithography, much cheaper and
faster and more assessiblo. This is clearly stated' in the contract between
Essaian and the official of the Russian Army Government ( PP1 and 2 ) the
original of which is in my hands with all of its accompanying papers. What
stones could have been broken if the overprints were done by the aid of metal-
lic cliches or cylinders And besides, it is enough to observe carefully
genuine overprints to see characteristic evidence of lithography.

To the contrary, forgeries are met with typographic overprints ( loss
often ) with hand ( still more seldom ) print and with lithographic ( most
often, although of various origin ). This point does not entertain a doubt
and the doubts of Messrs. Baillie and Kethro and their deductions surprise me.

IV and V points of their article.

I shall reply to them in the next issue of the journal, also other points
developed from them.,

VI. Falsification of Covers.

The fabrication of covers after arrival of Mr. X to Western Europe is 0
based on evidence of witnesses and memories of those who had an occasion to
observe Mr. Xts activities in Europe. The story is as follows: Having many
acquaintances and contacts, Mr. X asked many people, who were at one time in
Constantinople or in camps, to remember and write on old envelopes their
address in Turkey, name and some such phrases as on demand ", Russian
Post ", and etc., etc. For this purpose ha used sometimes postcards with
views of Constantinople, in his possession, or those owned by friends. Having
such addressed envelopes, Mr. X later added stamps, placed cancellations
which were necessary.

People ignorant of philately and means of defrauding collectors saw
nothing dangerous or suspicious in such requests. Mr. X however thus acqui-
red various handwriting on covers of all sorts, format, and the addresses
were real and not fancied. I know that one prominent collector in Europe,
having many such stamps on covers turned to one Russian military organiza-
tion which confirmed that the names, families, which were on his covers
actually existed, were members of organization at one time lived in Constant-
inople or in one of the camps.

For such fabrications Mr. X used also genuine overprints as well as
forged. There was of course no syndicate and the government in Constantino-
ple had no inkling of such fabrications. As to the correct data of passage
through the post, I must note that they are too accurate and this renders
them of suspicious character.

Pago 78 # 56

Finally use of French language for indication of months; in this Messrs.
Baillie and Kethro make entirely faulty guesses. Russian Post functioned
only among the Russians, with the help of only Russians who were officials
and couriers. Never, not one letter fell in hands of Turks, or foreign mail
carriers, and postal officials. Thus the fact that the French Language was
the diplomatic language, and other deductions of such ilk, have no bearing.
S If more cancellers were needed, they could have been so ordered all in Russian
language instead, ready sets of rubber numerals and Latin letters wore ordered.
Where was this done In Constantinople, Western Europe, or in both places

I can not answer thisat tho present time. I add once more that study of '
the forms of these letters and numerals, comparison of these on various post-
marks of various camps can be m6st'useful and can solve many problems, gonui-
neness or forgery of covers with stamps.

I shall end this, but other points (such as errors, inverted overprints,
the methods of detection of forgeries, use of rare overprints on letters,
etc.) shall be covered in the next issue. I do not have any intention to
subject to criticism books and articles of the distinguished authors, Messrs.
Baillie and Kethro, but must state that many were confused and victimized if
not on all, then on many points. Personally I myself also became suspicious
but a few years'ago, that thore was such a situation and up until then con-
sidored that every letter with these stamps was genuine and a rarity. But
all.that glitters..is not gold, according to a wise Russian proverbt

I conclusion I. suggest to Messrs. Baillio and.Kethro to send me their
covers with rare. ".postmarks also with rare overprints. I shall try to
study them and to prove their genuinoss or'othorwise. Editorial board
guarantees their safety and they shall be returned quickly.
oooooooooooooooooo

SIXTH ALL WCRLt FESTIVAL OF YOFTH AND STUDENTS MOSCQW 1957
by Kurt Adldr

The sixth all world youth and student festival took place in Moscow
from JTly 29 to August 11, 1957 inilusivo. The Soviet postal authorities
issued a series of pbstage stamps, designed by the artist Zavialov, sommemor-
ating this dvsnt. The denominationSd are:

Soott # 1936 10k. Young people of different races with a flag.
1937 20 k*. Sculptor working on a statue of mother and an infant.
.1938 25 k. Same as 10 k.
1939 40 .k Folk dancers.
1913.. 40 k. PIaco dovo-with the festival emblem, value right
1914 60 k. Same as #1913, except value on left. side.
1940 1 r. Festival emblem in flag over fireworks erupting
over Moscow University.

This set was issued at different times; the latest stamp being the 20 k.
The sot, with the exception of the 25 k. was also issued imporforate in
limited quantities. According to Mr..Nogus and Dr. Voaden ( BJRP !o. 24 ),
the quantity of imporforates was 15,000 for each stamp, with exception of 10
k. for which the quantity issued was:lowor. We can confirm that heo 10 k.

# 56 r'ag79

value is thought to be considerably rarer in Soviet philatelic circles. In
Constrast to many other imperforates, this set has not been exported whole-
sale to American dealers. It is, therefore, of considerable rarity here.
Negus and Voaden think that the imperforates should be considered as a se-
parato printing, since the paper is slightly tougher and the shades are dif-
forent. I think the same plates were used. The shades are somewhat lighter
and duller. This means that the imperforates were either struck before the
perforated stamps, as in many Soviet issues, or after a majority of the
perforated printing had been issued and the ink had become lighter. The
paper may be slightly different, but not enough to warrant a different class-
ification as a separate printing.

The only variety known to me at this time appears on the 25 k. value.
It is a blob in the form of a bottle or a bomb, touching the loft log of the
youth carrying the flag. It is not certain whether this is a constant variety.

ST ATI 0 N E R Y

A number of envelopes and post cards were issued, commemorating the 6th.
Youth Festival. The following envelopes are known'to me:

1. Envelopes with a large festival emblem in color, order number L-28577,
dated 10-1-57.
2.- 40 k. stamped envelope with Pushkin statue in Moscow at the left and a
small colored festival emblem in the upper left corner. Order No. Sh-
04673, dated 7-6-57.
3. 40 k. stamped envelope with small colored festival emblem on left among
a flock of doves flying in the blue skies. Order No. Sh-04700, dated
12-6-1957.
4. Envelope with 4 folk-dancing couples and a small blue festival emblem
in the upper left corner. No order number.
5. Envelope with masked figures and folk dancers on both sides. No festival
emblem, but a legend reading Festival Moscow 1957 in the upper left
corner. Order No. L-35593, dated 20-12-56.
6. Envelope, picturing in color the philatelic exhibition hall ( Lenin
Library in Moscow ) and a two line text, reading Opening Day of
Exhibition 29 July 1957 ". Colored festival emblem in the upper
left corner. Order No. Sh-04812, dated 6-7-57.
7. Envelope with a printed cachet in black, in the top loft hand corner,
showing the Festival emblem arising flowerlike in front of the building,
8. Envelope with floral design decorations on the frontand back, in red,
green, blue and brown colors. On the back is the reproduction of the
Festival device of, a flaming torch and the flag of USSR, in black.
9. 40 k. stamped envelope with the statue of Yuri Dolgoruki on the left.
Festival emblem is in the upper left corner. Order No. Sh-04674, dated
7-6-57.

Note-Negus and Voaden described envelopes 7 and 8; citing Stolborg
Sammlor Express, No. 19/1957.

Below is the list of postcards known to me and others:
1. Picture postcard with a small olive festival emblem in the upper left
hand corner. The picture side shows colorful flower with a festival
inscription in midst of flags of all nations. Order No. Sh-14553-56,
Page 80 # 5
Page 80 # 56

Postmarks
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Centenary y Postmarks ?

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15,a* A. I I ftft vI ow e
Centenary IPostmarks of
100 Years of Russian Postage Stamps

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\ fttOM nlMHEPoB

APY~2b'
't4P4 Korr

Postmarks
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P:' .Ai

DPF 09 TtiWf YOUNG
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=i, ~c~Tc~ Q-S~*

2. According to Nogus and Voadot an illustrated postcard has on its front
a large dove, holding aloft the Festival emblem, consisting of a continu-
ous string of small flags of all nations, ll in proper colors, which
surrounds the dove to form a rough figure e. The words For peace and
friendship. Moscow 1957. Festival' appear in Russian in strategic parts
of the design. The reverse of the card shows a small Festival emblem in
black at the top left, and there are the usual details of its printing
history, often found on Soviet Stationery. From this data it may be
gathered that 300,000 of these cards were printed in Leningrad in 1956;
the selling price was 20 kop. each.

Note-According to Stolberg, 16 official envelopes and 25 different post-
cards were issued to commemorate Festival and Philatelic Exhibition.

Social Cancellations and Cachots.

There are 8 different special cancellations known. We describe them below.

1. Typ 1 is a circular, double circle postmark, 34 and 25*nm. in diameter.
Betwoon the two circles there is the official designation. of the festival
"u VI All World Festival of Youth and Students, Moscow I. In the inside
appear the letters CCCP ( Russian for USSR ), a Soviet star, a dove of
peace, a date in the tablet and two numerals situated at the left and
right of the date. I have a cover with black postmark dated 29-7-57. The
two flanking numerals are 0 and u 1 ". The outer circle is interrupt-
ed in many places on the bottom and gives the appearance of a dotted
circle. The same postmark is also known in rod, green and violet. The
meaning of the flanking numerals is not clear.
2. A single circle cancellation, 36nm. in daimoter, in black or rod. The
festival emblem is at the center bottom of the circle, USSR and the
Soviet star is at the top and the date tablet just below it. The inscrip-
tion reads All World Festival of Youth and Students. Moscow 1957 ".
( Posoll, Typo 6 ). It is also found in red, black and blue.
3. A single circle cancellation 39nmn. in diameter. The festival emblem and
the inscription as in 2 in Qenter. USSR and Soviet star at the top.
Lower half of the circle bears the inscription Girls' Holiday or ( Girls'
Festival ) "* The date tablet is in midst of the festival emblem ( Posoll
Type 3 ). This postmark has boon seen in red, blue and black.
4. Double circle postmark, similar to Type 1 in black or red. Festival ins-
cription is between two circles. USSR and Soviet star at the top. No
festival emblem. The date tablet is in the center, toppd by an inscript-
ion reading Kostyor Druzhby ( Campfire of Friendship ) ". Undor the
date tablet is a reproduction of throe-pronged flame. No flanking numer-
ala. Recorded by J. Posell in rod ( Posoll Typo 7 ). I have this type
in purple-violet.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooo0

INTERNATIONAL PHILATELIC EXHIBITION MOSCOW 1957
by Kurt Adlor
At the time of the 6th Youth Festival, an international philatelic
exhibition was held at the Lenin Library in Moscow. It opened on July 29,
1957. A special stamp of 40 kop. denomination was issued to commemorate the
exhibition ( Scott #1979 ). The stamp is in turquoise-blue and shows the
Lenin Library in Moscow and has the festival emblem in the upper left corner.

# 56 Pago 81

The inscription reads International Exhibition, Moscow 1957 ".

A much smaller quantity of the above stamps was printed imperforate, and s
since it was not exported wholesale it is scarce in United States.

This stamp was also issued in a miniature sheet form of 80 kop. deno-
mination, with two 40 kop. stamps in blue on a pale green background with
design of leaves. The festival emblems appears in the center in blue. The
inscription roads 'International Philatelic Exhibition Moscow 1957" in two
bands at the top and bottom of-the m4niaturo sheet, with the letterinf in
blue

VARI E TIES

So far the only variety known to me appears on the miniature sheet. The
regular sheet has, the first word.of the inscription spelled International "
or IEHDYNARODNAYA ", Vt f the Russian .lettora" and" ZH' separated
with a normal spacing.

.a.. Vrie.ty--the letters E and i".ZE connected;'

STATI O NERY
"See envolope No. 6 in the previous article

0 A N C E L L A T I 0 NS

Four 'types. of qancellations are known.

SI'.Tgypo 1 '-"First Day cancellation in 'black. -.a :square, unframed. The
* -... inscription reads "" Moscow 29 July' 1957, Fir.st Eay of International Philatelic
Exhibition 6th,. All World estival' oi Youth. and Sthdents ". Design shows
Kremlin towex with 'a'tar ., flanked byilettori '? USSR "'.. (Voadon Type 4).
S2.Single circle cancQllatioh in btack'roed. or blue similar tp Girls IToliday "
( see cancellation 3 i the .previous articlee, except the inscription reads
International Philatelic Exhibition P.". .( Voader Type 2 ).T
"3 .Rectangular, cancellation 47xc29"mm. in black or rod,'.inscribed 6th All World
Festival of iouth.and Studonts, 2. VIII 1957. Globp with sealed envelope
in center and,-letters I" SSSR "I'ab'ove. This cancellation, ovidently was in use
for two' dhya only, and must be considroed scarce. ( See BJRP #"$ ).
4.Dovo Of Poace with festival: emblem ( see the illustration page ). The inscript-
ion. roads 6th I-All WorldFeostival of Youth and' Studonts Moscow 28 July
1957 ". 'This was a. speciall get togdthdr cancellation on theV eve of the
offic'al'opoing.... Yery rare and ap5earis in black and red.

SAlthough,two years have passed sinoe, the 6th Youth Fe.stival, additional
n'ateoial dnd information will undoubtedly appear. Re-adors-are invited to send
in addenda.

A pamphlet with short ,description of Soviet Postage stamps shown at the
Shilatelic Exhibition was issued during that time. The author is I.I. Daikhes.
A special letter ndte paper was. issued with, tPe Festival device at the top of
the page, in different colors.

Page 82 # 56

:.: >- .' *

MOSCOW VIEWS ISSUE
by Kurt Adler
A set of four stamps with views of Moscow was issued in time for the 6th
0Youth Festival. Although it does not actually commemorate the festival in
topical collections it would fall under the heading of city views, and- bars
the inscription VI. Festival, Moscowi 1957 ". The four values are:

Scott #1975 4n k. View of Kremlin Scott #1977 1 r. Moscow University
1976 40 k.-Dynamo Stadium 1978 -1 r. Bolshoi Theatro

"The 1 r. stamp'picturing Bolshoi Theatre exists imperforate without gum.
It was first thought to be a regular variety but Negus and Voaden quote-a..
reliable correspondent as reporting that this item was issued without
official authorization.

Scott #1909, 40 k. bears the inscription All, Soviet Festival of Soviet
fouth ". This stamp was.also issued in 1957 but does not fall under the
category of the All World Festival of Youth and Studnts.. postal history.
Soooooo ooooooooo ooo oooooo

100TH. ANNIVERSARY OF THE RUSSIAN POSTAMg STAMPS
C Addenda to the article i 'Rossica Journal No. 55. Page 56 )
Sby Kut Adlor

"It is now possible to give information about tho threo imporforate stamps
stamps of this sot. .Thoeyare: .

S1 k. Mail ridor .goniets ) : .
40 k..Jet plane,;troika in the background. .
40 k. The portrait of Lenin on 1947 stamp.

These imperforato stamps are noA.availabl Vin Unitod Sates and are
therefore not as scarce as the may be in the Soviet Union. They also exist
cancelled with a special cancellations, which are scarce No major varieties
or horrors are knbwn to me so far. -,

S J U"VE N IR S H.EE T S

Two beautiful souvenir sheets wor issued. Each souvenir shoots consists
of five different multicolored imperforate stamps, in shades almost matching
the shades of the original perforated stamps.. Each 'sheet. boars tho inscrip-
tion Hundred Years of Russian Postage Stamp, 1$58-1958. History of Post ".

The first multicolored sheet-has:

10 k. scribe 25 k. Ordyn-Nashchokin 40 k. troika
10 k. goniots 25 k. post chaiso

The second sheet with dominating colors of pink. and purple has,*

40 k. Lenin on stamp 60 k. rmilrodd mnil car 1 r. transport
60 k. Podbyelsky 1 r. air mdil service

POSTAL STATION 0N .Y .R

In contradiction to my assumption that there would be envelopes issued for

# 56 Page 83

each stamp in the set, only four different envelopes have come to light.
They exist as stamped envelopes, as well as envelopes without imprinted
stamps. These envelopes are all in blue grey and bear a colorful imprinted
cachet of the particular stamp design on the left. Below that is the anniver-
sary date 1858-1958 in red, on the background of foliage design. The
stamped envelopes are:

Value & Color Subject Color of Cachet
40 k. red goniets dark brown, olive brown & red
40 k. blue violet troika black, dk. violet; ol. br. & rec
40 k. pale red jet plane on troika backgr. red, olive br.'& dark brown.
1 r. chocolate transport light br., brown & chocolate
Anniversary date in chocolate

Many articles appeared in Soviet Journals celebrating the 100th. Anniver-
sary of the first Russian stamp. In the Journal Knizhniy Torgovets ( The
Bookseller ), in No 1 for 1959, the author E. Sashenkov regrets that the
anniversary issue of stamps was, actually commemorating the postal history and
not the history of the 1st. postage stamp. He misqes.the reproduction on any
of the anniversary stamps of the first Russian postage stamp ( Scott #1 ).
As I already stated in Rossica #55, the only place whore a very crude replica
of the stamp can be seen is on one of the special cancellations used in
January 1958. Philatelic exhibitions were held all over the country in 1958,
special cancellations and cachets on postal stationary were used at all ex-
hibitions. It is of course impossible to list and know all exhibitions, but
I shall try to compile a list of those known to me, and I also hope that our
readers will furnish me with additional data on exhibitions and the descrip-
tion of the postmarks not listed by me. The -most important exhibitions were
held in Moscow and Leningrad.

Moscow. January 25 .1958 to February 3. 1958.
The special cancellation and the first day postmark was in black or red
and was illustrated in Rossica #54 ( Page 15 ). There is also a cachet in form
of a blue imprint added to an envelope ,showing the main post office in Moscow
( Order No. Sh-10851, dated 23-11-57 ). The imprint reads." Philatelic Ex-
hibition One Hundred Years from the First Russian Postage Stamp. 25 I.-3.II.
1958 ". It is said that only 3,000 of such imprints were mede. The Moscow
Exhibition anticipated the issue of the anniversary stamps and envelopes.

Tashkent. December 21. 1957
It may be interesting to dwell here for a moment on a special cancel-
lation from Tashkent, dated 21-12-57 from the collection of John Barry* This
cancellation antedates the centenary a full month ( see illustration ). It is
likely that Russia No. 1 was likewise delivered to key cities before the auth-
orized date of usage of Janvary 1, 1858. Some cities jumped the gun and used
No. 1 as soon as they received it. TSshkent may have the first cancellation,
and this would explain the date of Decmbor 12, 1957.

Leningrad. August- 8 1958 to September 10, 1958.
The actual anniversary exhibition took place in Leningrad at the Fine
Arts Museum from 19-8-1958 to 10-9-1958. The catalogue of this exhibition
shows that there were 137 frames alone of Imperial Russian -stamps, covering
the period to 1875-1880 issues. The number of frames of Soviet stamps was
not disclosed. It must, however, have been very large since the exhibitions
had all stamps complete. Zemstvo stamps were housed in 101 frames. Valuable

Page 84 #56

objects of Russian postal history, such as letters from 17rh and 18th century
and horso-drawn relay mail from the 18th and 19th century were also shown.
The anniversary date wa parked by a special cancellation which was the same
for many cities of SR (.see page' 54 of Rossica Journal No. 55 ). Besides
the special postmark for the actual place where the exhibit was held
( Vystarka ), distinguished from the others by the addition of the word
" Yubileinaya ", which by mistake- did not appear on our tracing in Rossica
-Journal No. 55. I have this postmark with the names of the following cities:

Moscow Kiev Baku Lvov Cheliabinsk
Undoubtedly others among them Vilna and Riga oxist. In addition to the first
day cachet (page 54, Rossica Journal. No. 55 ), there is a closing day cachet
in blue, bearing the date 10-9-58' ( see illustration ).

A fino 99'page brochure was issued in Russia in 1958. It was printed by
GOZNAK 1958 and editod by Y. G. Papianko. It is well illustrated, carries a
fim article. on Russia No. 1 by Feodorov. This brochure includes documentary
ovidencei -data. from archives and all details of production as well as postal
history of Russia up to the date of issuASce' of-No. 1..
S. 00000000oooooooooo oooooo

PL^ TLI; C EXHIBITIONS IN RUSSIA. DURING. 1958
by Kurt Adior

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first Russian postage stamp
many cities of USS besidcea Moscow and L1ningrad staged their own philatolic
exhibitions. While their special stationary ach postmarks do not expressly
remember the 100th anniversary the purpose of these exhibitions is clear.
It is to stimulate the interest ir philately throughout the country. Among
these cities ares

1. R1 w whore the exhibition took place from April 20.to Jun 29, 1958. A
special envelope with the Piorner Palaco ( th6 former President s Castle )
in blue was issued, as well as a special postmark with silhouette of Riga
and the legend ": Ist Philatelic Exhibition of the Latvian S. S. R -. in
.ttvian and Russian. This postmark was in black, except on the opening
day April 20 when it was in red.- o the closing day of 29-6-58 the
above postmark was green and additional words closing day" were added.
Additional cachets used during the. time of exhibition in Riga were:

May. Labor Day May 9, Victory Day
May 5, Press Day Jun 1, Childrent Day
May 7, Radio'Day Jum 24, Ligo Holiday ( a special, ancient
Latvian Holiday ).

2. ilnius ( Vilm' Y Special postmark with a tower. My first date is
27 -7 58.

3. Paneo ( Ponevosh ). Special onvolopo with a legend Ist Exhibition of
postage stamps 12. to 20. Jan. 1958 ".

4. Kguns (Kovno). Special envolopo and postmark both showing a high tower
and an inscription 2nd Philatelic Exhibition 1958 My dates start
with 16-12-58.

# 56 Pago 85

5. KaI A special postmark. 6. Kharko .

7. Vladivostok

8. Cheliabink. Special envelope and a special postmark ( see illustration )
were created bearing the inscription The Day of the Young Collector 5-10-
10-58 ".

The City of Moscow Philatelic Society organized special meetings of dif-
ferent organizations and commemorated these meetings by special stationery,
postmarks and cachets. One of these meetings meetings took place at the
Tbploelectroproject "* on 24-6-58. ( special oval cachet in red ). Another
meeting was dedicated to the young collector and took place in the Pioneer
House on 20-12-58, and was commemorated by a large circular postmark reading
"n Remembering the 100th anniversary "' ( see illustration ) and a rectangular
cachet in black.

Baku had a second philatelic exhibition, not directly connected with the
anniversary celebration in October 1958, My date reads 29-10-58.

I am sure this list is not complete by far. Here is hope that new
material will now pour in.

Editorial comments; The postmarks and cachets described in recent issues of
Rossica journals remind us of the time in American philately, a number of
years ago, when a number of cachots and postmarks appeared on envelopes in
tremendous quantities. Boat races, athletic events of all kinds, etc., etc.
were commemorated. Of course these were prepared by private individuals and
only one in a hundred was approved by the United States Post Office.
all of these cachets official, approved by the Soviet government.
ooooooooooooooooooo

SPUTNIK STAMPS OF USSR

The first stamp to commemorate the First Russian Sputnik was a hurried
job. Unprepared for the occasion, the postal authorities overprinted the
existing 40 k. Tsiolkovsky commemorative of 1957 with the words "' 4. 10. 57
BerVii iv nfir isskustv, sputnik zemli or Worldts first artificial
sat-lite ". The Tsiolkovsky stamp was chosen because by the Soviets he is:
looked upon as the scientific father of space travel. n Stamp Fortnightly "'
18/1/58 states that only 15,000 copies were issued. Shortly afterward two
special stamps wore issued, both of the 40 k. denomination showing the Ist
sputnik circling the globe. Date and the inscription is the same as on the
overprinted stamp, with the addition of the word "' Sovilt ". The new inscript-
ion reads World' first artificial Soviet satellite ". The colors of the stamps
are grey blue and vivid blue.

The oveprinted .stamp mentioned above was sold by the Soviets at a premium
over the face value.,q and the majority of them was exported so that the stamp
soon became scarce inside the Soviet Unions

Due to unexpected launching of the first sputnik no special cancellation
was prepared. Covers with first day cancellations do however exist.
Rige 86 # 56

On November 3, 1957, the Second. Russian Sputnik was launched and the event was
comnemorated by four stamps of 20, 40, 6Q k. ai& 1 r. value The stamps
picture an allegorical female figure standing barefooted on the globo and
stretching out her hand to the stars, while 'the sputnik is rushing up into
the night sky .In the background, ono of the Kremlin towers can be seen.
The inscription roads a Second Soviot satellite of the earth. 3-11-57 ".

Lgain, no special first day cancolatioi i known and the stamps wore
issued at different times. An official onvvlopq exists, reproducing at the
left the same picture as one -the stamp, in multicolor, with an inscription
below reading "' to the stars ", the Lating meaning of which is a wbll known
expression Ad Aatra "

.The first special cancellation known to me was applied 'in Moscow'an
March 21, 1958, and it cocmemorates the 2000th time that the sputnik circled
the globe, .This double circle postmark is known in red and black ( see ill-
ustration ) shows the s putnik circling the globe. 'It bears the date, and the-
inaription reads 2000 revolutions around the world. Moscow. M. G. G.
to the stars ". M. G. G. is the Russian abbreviation for International Geo-
physical Year. The Order Number is No. Sh 11435, dated- 30-XII-1957.

The third and:the largest sputnik was launched on May 15, 1958, and a
special 40 k. stamp was isaued in green, blue and red, showing the sputnik in
flight. The stamp is so tenant or adjoining with a tablet having the follow-
ing explanatory inscription "' On May 15, 1958, in connection with the program
of the International Geophysical Yoar, the launching of the third artificial
antelite of the earth, weighing 1327 kilograms, .to a height of 1880 kilometers.
was effected in the Soviet Union ". Stamps may have this tablet adjoining
them on the right or on the loft. Likewise, two stanps may have the tablet
botwoen them or the stamp may be. found with tablets on each side. The red
color of the stamp may be so light that it approaches.a rose color.

The official onvolops bearing .an enlarged reproduction in color of the
design oh the stamp described above is order 1157, bears an imprinted 40 k.
standard type stamp and shows the sputnik in flight around the globe with a
star at the site of Moscow. This picture" is framed with laurels. The inscr-
iption in ribbon reads May 15, 1958, third Soviet satellite of the earth "

Two special cancellations, plus cachets and envelopes were issued at
successive times to commemorate the number of circling around the globe by
the third sputnik. The, varieties known to me aro:

1. A special envelope in Russian and Lithuanian, emanating from Vilnius
(Vilna) showing the sputnik in flight ( in blue ), boar a cabhet inscribed
in red 27. VII. 58. 1000 revolutions. Philatelic Exhibition of the
Republic ". The same cover also bears a blue cachet with a very similar
drawing and the addition of the town name of Vilnius ".

2. To celebrate the 3000th revolution, a special envelope was issued ( no
order No. ) showing the sputnik in flight around the globe with the ins-
cription Hail to Soviet Science. 3000 revolutions around the globe.
15. V. 19. Zll. 1958 ".

3. I have a special purple cachet, ccmmemarating the 2000 circling ( see
illustration ), emanating from Cheliabinsk. The inscription roads "' 2000
revolutions around the earth. 3rd sputnik 8-10-1958. *USS. chellabinwa "

#56 Pago 87

4. A special Moscow cancellation is known ( see illustration ), containing
again the abbreviations M.G.G. for the International Geophusical Tear.

5. Kaunas ( Kovno ) used a cachet in blue, similar to the above of Vilnius
to celebrate the 3000th circling.

Undoubtedly, many more of these special cancellations and cachets exist.
I am asking our philatelic friends all over the globe to communicate with me,
for addenda to this article.

6. Another stamp in the topical field of sputniks was issued during the 21st
Soviet Communist Party Congress. It shows the latest sputnik, named
"0 Mechta ( dream in Russia and-" lunik ( meaning something like
moan traveller ) in USA. The multicolored stamp is of 1 ruble and shows
the other 3 sputniks in flight above the Kremlin. A special cancellation
was applied in Moscow ( see illustration ). It reads First artificial
planet into the solar system. Moscow ", (different post offices ) and
3 dates The 3 dates are 2-1-59 ( launching date ), 4-1-59 ( passing
the moon ) and 8-1-59 ( going into the orbit around the sun ). No
special envelopes are known to me at this time.
7. On April 13, 1959, two 40 k. stamps were issued to mark the successful
launching of the Soviet Cosmic Rocket on January 1, 1959. The stamps
were designed by Zavialov show:

a. The rocket trajectory as it approached the moon, pizrk, "The Soviet
6bsmic Rocket .
b. The' rocket ts route around the earth during the first three days after
launching, blue, "; The scheme of Soviet cosmic rockets route, drawn
against the earth* surface ".
oooooooooooooo0

ZEM STV0 PR ICES
"by A. Prins. Jr.
On March 18 and 19, 1940, well known collection of Zemstvo of Agathon
Faberge was sold by Harmers of Bond Street. On October 2, 1957 a similar auct:
Auction was held by Robson Lowe Ltd. of Stibbo collection. The latter con-
tained many items that originated in the Faberge collection.* Below is the
list of a few, definitely identifiable stamps, with the prices they realized
in 1940 and in 1957.

Schmidt Catalogue Number Farmerls March Robson Lowe's Oct, Chuchin's
and valuations in R Is. 1940 realizations 1957 realizations Numbers

Aleksandria Compl. Sheet
Nos. 4 & 5, R and RR L 35. L. 24 4 & 5
Verkhne Dneprovsk Strip
of 3 of No. 6. R O10 8 7b
Kassimov No. 1. RBRR U1 8/10 1
.lazo No. 6. RRRR 6 21 6a
Malo Ahr4a2aelak
No. 1. RER 7/10 21
Morshan No. 17 RRRR. 7 14 lg
ag No. 1 RRRR 24 36 1

Page 88 # 56

	Front Cover
	Index
	Officers of the society
	Honorary members
	Representatives of the society
	Editorial
	The Anniversary of Rossica by President...
	The Pskov town post issues 1941-1942...
	Russia 1909-19 issue with chalk...
	Research on modern Mongolia by...
	Mongolia. Short bibliography
	Czechoslovakia-Mongolian archeological...
	Notes on the Russian coins by N....
	A footnote on Smienogorsk by F....
	Stamps of the Russian Empire used...
	Russian post in the first half...
	Philatelic notes
	Centenary Jubilee Exhibition honoring...
	Recently published books in our...
	Zemstvo stamps omitted in Chuchin...
	Frespex award to F. W. Speers
	Catalogue of fiscal stamps of Russia...
	General Wrangel's refugee post:...
	Catalogue of Russian vignettes...
	Russian post offices in Carpatho-Ukraine...
	Lydia Callahan Exhibition...
	Reply to Messrs. Baillie and Kethro...
	Sixth all world festival of youth...
	International Philatelic Exhibition...
	100th Anniversary of the Russian...
	Philatelic exhibitions in Russia...
	Sputnik stamps of USSR
	Zemstvo prices by A. Prins,...
	Illustrated envelopes of the organization...
	Issues, printings and plate characteristics...
	Book review of Ukraine by Dr. Seichter,...
	Life in the society
	Tannou Touva, a general survey...
	From Rossica expertization...
	Editorial notes on one rubie arms...

MILLISECOND	CLASS.METHOD	MESSAGE
0	sobekcm_page_globals.constructor
0	sobekcm_page_globals.constructor	Application State validated or built
0	sobekcm_database.verify_item_lookup_object
0	sobekcm_page_globals.constructor	Navigation Object created from URI query string
0	sobekcm_database.verify_item_lookup_object
0	sobekcm_page_globals.display_item	Retrieving item or group information
0	sobekcm_page_globals.get_entire_collection_hierarchy	Retrieving hierarchy information
0	sobekcm_assistant.get_entire_collection_hierarchy
0	cached_data_manager.retrieve_item_aggregation
0	cached_data_manager.retrieve_item_aggregation	Found item aggregation on local cache
0	item_aggregation_builder.get_item_aggregation	Found 'all' item aggregation in cache
0	system.web.ui.page.page_load (ufdc.page_load)
0	sobekcm_page_globals.constructor.on_page_load
0	html_echo_mainwriter.add_style_references	Adding style references to HTML
0	html_echo_mainwriter.add_text_to_page	Reading the text from the file and echoing back to the output stream
111	html_echo_mainwriter.add_text_to_page	Finished reading and writing the file