Journal of the Rossica Society of Russian Philately

ROSSICA

No. 116 April 1991

The Journal of the

Rossica Society of Russian Philately

ISSN 0035-8363

THE JOURNAL OF THE
ROSSICA SOCIETY OF RUSSIAN PHILATELY

Journal No. 116 for April 1991

Editor : Gary A. Combs
Editorial Board: Norman Epstein, Leon Finik, George Shaw, David M. Skipton,
Denys Voaden, Howard Weinert
Bulletin Editor: Paul Spiwak

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Article Page

Life of the Society Dr. Gordon Torrey 4
Editorial Gary Combs 5
Treasurer's Report Gary Combs 5
Secretary's Report George Shaw 6
Souren David Serebrakian Obituary 7
Steam Mail between Stettin and St. Petersburg translated by David Skipton 8
Odessa Postal and Telegraph Services 1808-1869 lan W. Roberts 11
The First Stage in the Development of Our Union translated by Dale Walker 12
Russian Deltiology Part II Alexandra Feodorovna 19
Dr. William R. Nickle
Wrangel Army Stamps Y. Souren 23
The Siberian List-Letters of Late 1917 to 1919 Horst Taitl, translated 24
by Dr. Peter Michalove
Circular Vokzal Postmarks Rev. L, L, Tann 28
The Brest-Kholm Line Dave Skipton 29
The Allied Intervention in North Russia Joe Taylor 31
Postmark Reading in Belorussian and Ukrainian Dr. Peter Michalove 46
Overprints of Stamp No. 2666 translated by Scott Allen 49
Postcard from the "669 Days of Infamy" 51
Dr. Peter Michalove and George Werbizky
Soviet Meter-Mail Markings The Main Types translated by Gary Combs 52
Count Alexander Grabbe Len Plotkin 54
Customs Censorship in the 1960s George Werbizsky 55
Scott 1991 Standard Postage Postage Stamp Catalogue George Shaw 56
"Khronika" translated by David Skipton 11,46,49,54
Reviews of Literature 57
New Members 60
Adlets 60
Advertisements 62

U .... ..... U ... ....... ... E. U E N. M U. 1..................

In the Back Room

We have a limited number of back issues of the journal for sale, both in English and Russian
language editions. Russian editions available are numbers 44-69; English editions available are
numbers 66-115. Unfortunately, there are many holes, and of some issues have less than 5 in stock.
Prices listed for back issues are in US dollars.

Single issue:

Member 7.50 Non-Member 10.00

Single issues currently available are:
44-45, 48, 54-59, 61-75, 78-85, 88-89, 92-93, 110-112, 115.

Double issue:

Member 15.00 Non-Member 20.00

Double issues currently available are:
46-47, 76-77, 86-87, 90-91, 94-95, 96-97, 98-99, 100-101, 102-103, 104-105, 106-107, 108-109,
113-114.

Back issues may be obtained from:

Gary A. Combs
8241 Chalet Court
Millersville, MD 21108

Payment must be made in $US. Payment by check is acceptable only if the check is made
payable in US dollars drawn on an American bank. Make checks payable to ROSSICA and
include them with your order. If normal book-rate (surface-rate for outside US) delivery is not
desired, please indicate so, and include the added cost in your payment.

*

HONORED MEMBER
Joseph Chudoba

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY

President: Dr. Gordon Torrey, 5118 Duvall Drive, Bethesda, MD 20816
Acting Vice President and
Secretary: George Shaw, 7596-J Lakeside Village Drive, Falls Church, VA 22042
Acting Treasurer:
Gary A. Combs, 8241 Chalet Ct. Millersville, MD 21108
Librarian: David Skipton, 50 D Ridge Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770
Auditor: Leon Finik, P.O. Box 521, Rego Park, NY 11374

Board of Directors:

Dr. Raymond Ceresa, Fairview Cottage, Quarry Lane, Gorsley, Ross-on-Wye,
Hereford BA9 7SJ, Great Britain

Lester Glass, 5461 Village Green, Los Angeles, CA 90016

Alex Sadovnikov, P.O. Box 612, San Carlos, CA 94070

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SOCIETY

Washington-Baltimore Chapter: Dr. Gordon Torrey
Northern California Chapter: Michael Gutter
Midwest Chapter: James Mazepa
Great Britain: Dr. Raymond Ceresa

All rights reserved. No part of this journal may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any
means without permission in writing from the journal editor. The views in this journal expressed
by the authors are their own and the editor disclaims all responsibility.

The membership dues are $18.00 annually if paid before 1 January and $20.00 if paid thereafter.
The postmark is the determining factor. Application forms are available upon request from the
President, Secretary, Treasurer, or Librarian. Membership lists will be sent annually. Payment
must be made in $US. Payment by check is acceptable only if the check is made payable in US
dollars drawn on an American bank. Please make all checks payable to:

ROSSICA SOCIETY OF RUSSIAN PHILATELY

c/o Gary A. Combs, 8241 Chalet Ct.,
Millersville, MD 21108 USA.

Copyright 1991
The Rossica Society

Life of the Society

this work. The camera that Norman used has
been made available to our editor for his Journal
work. From now on items to be expertized
by Dr. Gordon Torrey should be sent to me at the address printed in the
front of the Journal.
As mentioned earlier in the bulletin, the Soci-
ety has attained non-profit status. The first per-
son to take advantage of this has been Norman
There have been some changes within the Epstein. Norman contributed a large amount of
Rossica Society since our last Journal (No. 115) Russian related auction catalogs, books, and
was published last October. reference material. I urge interested members to
Journal #113/114 was the first journal pro- do likewise. Duplicate items can be sold by
duced by Gary Combs and Dave Skipton. It has Rossica for the benefit of the Society. Money
drawn a lot of praise from the philatelic commu- contributions are very welcome, too. Gifts of
nity. I decided to enter it into the competition at material will be valued at current market prices,
SESCAL and, as I suspected, it won an award. which can be used for income tax deductions.
Journal #115 and this journal continue to be Our annual meeting will be held at CHICA-
outstanding. We have a journal to be proud of. GOPEX '91 (November 1-3), where we plan to
Please support the journal and the efforts of the meet with other Slavic philatelic groups in the
editor, Gary Combs. first Pan-Slavic philatelic gathering held in the
Our treasurer and oldest officer in length of U.S. Members wishing to exhibit can write to
service (since 1964), Norman Epstein, has been CHICAGOPEX '91, P.O. Box A-3953, Chicago,
seriously ill for the past several months and has II160690. It will be held at the O'Hare Exhibition
spent considerable time in the hospital. While Center near the airport.
recuperating, he has relinquished his duties as "Stampshow '91," the American Philatelic
treasurer and Chairman of the Expertization Society's 105th annual convention willbeheldin
Committee. I have appointed Gary Combs as Philadelphia 22-25 August and we plan to ar-
acting treasurer during the interim, in addition to range an informal Rossica "get together." Stamp-
his duties as editor of the journal. He lives about show will be held at the Philadelphia Civic Center.
30 miles away and he and I can coordinate the While speaking of the APS, I wish to point out
position. The treasurer's records have been trans- that the February 1991 "American Philatelist"
ferred to Gary's house (he and his son went to cover is titled "Russian Issue" and includes five
New York and picked them up) and they will articles on Russian philately.
remain there until Norman is well enough to The Society continues a healthy growth and the
resume his duties or decides that he cannot carry APS February issue should give Russian philat-
on. If the latter occurs, then Gary becomes the ely and Rossica a great boost.
incumbent in the upcoming elections. As I write this, I am preparing to fly to the West
I have assumed the chairmanship of the Exper- Coast to judge at Filatelic Fiesta in San Jose,
tization Committee for the foreseeable future. California. Our member, Mike Renfro, is in
Fortunately, I have a suitable camera for the charge of exhibits. I am looking forward to
photo certificates and I will be calling upon visiting with Rossica members at the exhibition.
various members for their expert assistance in

Rossica Journal Number 116, 4
April 1991

Editorial Treasurer's Report

It seems as though issue #1 15 just left and I find The following is a breakdown of the Society's
myself preparing to mail #116. I must be having financial status as of the end of calendar year
fun! 1990:
Your editor (me) committed a terrible blunder
in a review of the Ukrainian Philatelist. I must Starting Balance 12/31/89 $16,750.85
now eat "humble pie." Val Zabijaka, president of
the UPNS, pointed out my error. I erroneously
stated ".. .millennium of Christianity in Russia. Income
. ." The correct way to phrase this is ... Dues $7,529.00
millennium of Christianity in Rus.. There is a Sale of journals 1,593.00
definite difference between "Rus" and "Russia." Ads 924.70
Imost humbly apologize to all members of Rossica Expertizations 85.00
and the UPNS. Donations to Library 126.90
Thanks to the plethora of articles to publish, Returned postage 70.10
#113-114 won an award at its first showing. We Sale of books 2,094.50
entered the journal in SESCAL 90. It garnered a TOTAL INCOME $12,423.20
vermeil award. Clearly, the quality of the mate-
rial presented was a major factor. Expenses
Both #113-114 and #115 have drawn praise not Journal:
only from members, but from individuals around Printing $3,068.02
the world who are not members. Perhaps the Postage 1,013.98
authors have had people mention to them that Supplies 579.68
their article was seen in the journal and that it was Bulletin:
good. Your name could be there as an author as Printing and supplies 65.00
well. Postage 220.17
I need material on all aspects of Russian philat- Computer system:
ely for upcoming journals. So, put pen to paper Parts and repairs 5,779.38
and submit an article on your favorite aspect of Supplies 198.06
our hobby. Library:
Last, but not least, I have been asked to remind Supplies 273.15
all members that the annual dues for the society Postage 345.83
are $18 IE and ONLY IF they are paid on or General:
before December 31 of the year preceding the Printing and stationery 682.04
membership year. If you wait until 1 January or Postage 368.84
later in the membership year, the annual dues are Supplies 114.86
$20, NOT $18. The date is determined from the Refunds 34.00
postmark. Invoices are not sent out. However, a Entry Fee for Show 14.00
pre-addressed envelope is enclosed in the Octo- Print Reverse Sort 73.23
ber journal. IRS Application 300.00
TOTAL EXPENSES $13,130.24

Bank balance as of 31 December 1990:
$16,638.27

Rossica Journal Number 116, 5
April 1991

Editorial Treasurer's Report

It seems as though issue #1 15 just left and I find The following is a breakdown of the Society's
myself preparing to mail #116. I must be having financial status as of the end of calendar year
fun! 1990:
Your editor (me) committed a terrible blunder
in a review of the Ukrainian Philatelist. I must Starting Balance 12/31/89 $16,750.85
now eat "humble pie." Val Zabijaka, president of
the UPNS, pointed out my error. I erroneously
stated ".. .millennium of Christianity in Russia. Income
. ." The correct way to phrase this is ... Dues $7,529.00
millennium of Christianity in Rus.. There is a Sale of journals 1,593.00
definite difference between "Rus" and "Russia." Ads 924.70
Imost humbly apologize to all members of Rossica Expertizations 85.00
and the UPNS. Donations to Library 126.90
Thanks to the plethora of articles to publish, Returned postage 70.10
#113-114 won an award at its first showing. We Sale of books 2,094.50
entered the journal in SESCAL 90. It garnered a TOTAL INCOME $12,423.20
vermeil award. Clearly, the quality of the mate-
rial presented was a major factor. Expenses
Both #113-114 and #115 have drawn praise not Journal:
only from members, but from individuals around Printing $3,068.02
the world who are not members. Perhaps the Postage 1,013.98
authors have had people mention to them that Supplies 579.68
their article was seen in the journal and that it was Bulletin:
good. Your name could be there as an author as Printing and supplies 65.00
well. Postage 220.17
I need material on all aspects of Russian philat- Computer system:
ely for upcoming journals. So, put pen to paper Parts and repairs 5,779.38
and submit an article on your favorite aspect of Supplies 198.06
our hobby. Library:
Last, but not least, I have been asked to remind Supplies 273.15
all members that the annual dues for the society Postage 345.83
are $18 IE and ONLY IF they are paid on or General:
before December 31 of the year preceding the Printing and stationery 682.04
membership year. If you wait until 1 January or Postage 368.84
later in the membership year, the annual dues are Supplies 114.86
$20, NOT $18. The date is determined from the Refunds 34.00
postmark. Invoices are not sent out. However, a Entry Fee for Show 14.00
pre-addressed envelope is enclosed in the Octo- Print Reverse Sort 73.23
ber journal. IRS Application 300.00
TOTAL EXPENSES $13,130.24

Bank balance as of 31 December 1990:
$16,638.27

Rossica Journal Number 116, 5
April 1991

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING, SEPTEMBER 2, 1990
SECRETARY'S REPORT

A Board of Directors meeting of the Rossica material sent for expertization will be reviewed
Society of Russian Philately was held at the Hunt by more than one individual.
Valley Marriott on September 2, 1990. This 4. The Honored Member status will not be con-
session occurred in advance of the annual meet- ferred on additional members. Rather, there will
ing held in conjunction with BALPEX that after- be instead a Roll of Distinguished Philatelists to
noon. recognize long and distinguished service to the
society. Gordon Torrey agreed to determine how
BRll Call of Officers: other philatelic specialty societies address this
matter.
"* President Gordon Torrey present 5. In conjunction with Rossica's participation in
"* Vice President and Secretary the Pan-Slavic stamp show in Chicago during
George Shaw present November 1991, the advisability of making
"* Treasurer Norman Epstein present souvenirs available was discussed. George Shaw
"* Librarian and Co-Editor will investigate the cost and availability of vari-
Dave Skipton present ous cachets, cancels and labels.
"* Co-Editor Gary Combs present 6. The advisability of splitting the library into
"* Audit Chairman Leon Finik present two areas to keep it manageable was discussed.
"* Board of Directors No decision was reached.
Raymond Ceresa excused 7. If Soviet citizens desire to become members of
Lester Glass excused Rossica, it was agreed that they need to be spon-
Alex Sadovnikov excused scored by a citizen of the United States. It will be
the responsibility of such an individual to ensure
Also in attendance was Denys Voaden. that the Rossica Journal was sent and received.
8. The desirability of forming study groups to
Reports: focus on specific aspects of Russian philately
A Treasurer's report was not availablewas discussed. Although such an idea was thought
A Treasurer's report was not available.
to be good, to date there have been no volunteers
Subjects: to staff such projects.
9. Several possible monographs were discussed.
1. It was agreed to revise the membership appli- The detailed history of the Rossica Society by
cation to update information on dues and the Dave Skipton is targeted for completion by the
journals. In addition, there will be a section on November 1991 Pan-Slavic show. Gary Combs
collectors' interests so that the Society can begin is working on a study of Moscow cancels and
to assemble data on the relative popularity of George Shaw has started a compendium of list-
different aspects of Russian philately. Similarly, ings and prices for Soviet stamps.
the brief history of the society will be updated. 10. Various amendments to the Constitution were
George Shaw agreed to do this. discussed. No action was decided upon at this
2. It was agreed to maintain the price to members time.
for back issues of the Rossica Journal at $7.50 for
single issues and $15.00 for double issues. Respectfully Submitted,
3. The expertization service will continue, in- George Shaw
eluding the one free expertization included in the Acting Secretary
annual membership fee. However, in the future,

Rossica Journal Number 116, 6
April 1991

SOUREN DAVID SEREBRAKIAN 1900-1991
Mr. Souren David Serebrakian died imagination and is expressed in such
December 31, 1990, in Horton Memorial way that you never forget his advice,"
Hospital in Middletown, New York. Mr. stated the member.
Serebrakian was 90 years young. Serebrakian was a grand gentleman i
Mr. Serebrakian has been a member of all aspects of his life and beyond reproac
Rossica since the early days. His mem- in his business dealings. He was an arden
bership number, 273, is one of the lowest, fan of collecting genuine items and had
Senior members of the society have al- hearty disdain for forgeries and those wh
ways spoken highly of Souren and chided created them. If he sold what he believe
the younger members for not listening to was a genuine item, and it was found to
his advice. bogus, he would most gra
Mr. Serebrakian began col- ciously refund the price for th
electing as a very young man .item that proved to be false.
at the age of eight. In addi- His standards were impeccable
tion to Rossica, Mr. Sere- and, obviously, money was no
brakian was a member of the -. his primary motive. The world
American Air Mail Society, will miss these values in to
the Collectors Club of New day's world of the "fast buck."
York, the American Stamp Mr. Serebrakian did not spe
Dealers Association, and the cialize in providing the entirer
Rotary and Lions clubs on world" to collectors. Instead
stamps. he went after those items tha
Souren Serebrakian was a he believed would be wor
unique collector and dealer. collecting in years to come
He was from the "old school" of dealing He thoroughly enjoyed finding a special
that meant he wasn't satisfied until the ized collection that contained items nor
customer was. Yet, he specialized in only mally ignored by the "fast buck" dealers
a few areas. Souren had the foresight to He somehow knew thathe was making th
purchase issues of Armenia and South correct decisions and that those collector
Russia while he was young and still a thatbelievedinhimwouldprofit. Accord
citizen of the Soviet Union. He had a ing to senior society members, those that
"sixth sense" about what would be col- did not listen would eventually pay a
lector's items in the future, much as 2-3 times more for the sam
One senior member of the society told items. There are very few, if any, dealer
me about visiting the Serebrakian house- today that can hold a philosophical candl
hold on several occasions. "Spending an to Souren.
evening with Souren is a most pleasur- Souren Serebrakian will be missed by al
able experience that cannot be easily philatelists who appreciate quality. Ros
forgotten. Instead, you look forward to sica wishes to express our deepest sympa
the next time. His insight captures the this to the family.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 7
April 1991

Convention between Prussia and Russia Respecting the Steam Mail Packet
between Stettin and St. Petersburg, signed at St. Petersburg,
19 June (1 July) 1843.
(From "Consolidated Treaty Series," pp. 162-168.)

translated by David Skipton

His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of All the ficulties for navigation of such large steam-
Russias and King of Poland, and His Majesty the ships, then both governments shall see to it
King of Prussia, wishing to facilitate mutual that in both channels small steamships will
postal and commercial ties between their states maintain the links between the aforemen-
by means of steamships on the sea, have ap- tioned places.
pointed these individuals for that purpose:
By His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of All the ARTICLE IV.
RussiasandKingofPoland, FedorPryanishnikov, The postal steamships and their engines
His Privy Councillor, Director of the Postal must be built at the best English factories,
Department and St. Petersburg Postal Director, the choice of which shall be left to each of
Cavalier of the Order of St. Anne (First Rank), the Contracting Parties, and construction [of
etc., and the vessels] must be as complete as possible.
By His Majesty the King of Prussia, During construction, all consideration must
Heinrich Smuckert, His Privy Ober-Post- be given to everything which will afford
Councillor, Cavalier of the Iron Cross (First safety and sailing speed. For the passengers,
Rank) and Orders of the Golden Eagle (Third there must be comfortable cabins and berths
Rank with Bow), etc., who, on the basis of on the steamships, and sufficient spaces for
the instructions given to them, have resolved goods and coal.
the following articles: However, each of the High Contracting
Governments shall be allowed to construct
ARTICLE I. its own postal steamship in such a way that,
That there shall be established on the ifnecessary, thevesselcanbeconvertedinto
basis of complete reciprocity aregularpostal an armed steamship-frigate.
connection by steamers between St. Peters- Each side separately shall take upon itself
burg (Kronstadt) and Stettin (Swinemunde), the expenses of building and maintaining its
fortransportation ofpassengers, letters, cash, own steamship, as well as payment of the
parcels, goods and items easily carried aboard men required to crew it.
steamers. If repairs to the engines of one Power's
steamship become necessary while that
ARTICLE II. vessel visits the port of the other, and the
To that end, each government of both crew itself can make those repairs, then it
High Contracting Powers shall acquire and may effect them at a State workshop near the
maintain one steamship each, of no less than harbor, and use its own instruments. How-
250 horsepower. ever, if such repairs require outside assis-
tance, then the local postal authorities will,
ARTICLE IlI. at the request of the steamship captain, pro-
If possible, the steamships must sail to St. vide such help to the best of their ability, pay
Petersburg and Stettin. If the channels be- the expense, and charge it to the postal au-
tween Kronstadt and St. Petersburg, and thorities of the State to which the steamship
between Swinemunde and Stettin pose dif- belongs.
Rossica Journal Number 116, 8
April 1991

ARTICLE V. one per week, the two Postal Administra-
This postal connection by sea shall begin tions shall coordinate both the frequency of
in 1847, when the Gulf of Finland opens to departures and the number of additions to
navigation, the steamship fleet, based on the terms of
If the High Contracting Governments this Convention.
should find a way to open this connection
before that time, it shall be left up to both ARTICLE X.
Postal Administrations to arrangeit between No special fees shall be levied for trans-
themselves, porting letters on these postal steamships,
whether they be sent by Russian or Prussian
ARTICLE VI. post offices. Determination and collection
Postal steamships may be dispatched each of port fees for such correspondence shall be
year as soon as the Kronstadt Roadstead is made on the basis of the Postal Convention
completely free of ice, and will cease to sail concluded 21 May (2 June) of this year.
when it is closed to navigation. Payment for transportation of passen-
The two Postal Administrations shall gers, as well as luggage and other items,
agree upon the beginning and end dates of shall be determined by mutual agreement of
their dispatches, and each year they must the two Postal Administrations. [The High
give ample notice of the dates to the public. Contracting Parties] shall constantly ensure
that this establishment [of postal communi-
ARTICLE VII. cations], undertaken for the common good,
Once each week, a steamship shall leave will operate not at a profit, but solely to
St. Petersburg for Stettin at established dates cover expenses.
and times, as shall a steamship from Stettin
to St. Petersburg, so long as this arrangement ARTICLE XI.
is considered sufficient to satisfy public Upon each [vessel's] departure, the en-
demand. The two Postal Administrations tire collection of monies received for trans-
shall settle on which days and times are best portation of passengers and goods, except-
for the sailings. ing letters, shall be calculated by the Postal
Administration of that port from which the
ARTICLE VIII. postal steamship departed; it shall not mat-
While construction of the postal steam- ter whether the vessel belongs to the Russian
ships is being completed, it is presumed that or Prussian government.
two vessels will be sufficient to maintain a Each year at the end of the navigation
once-weekly schedule between the above- season, all income collected by the two
mentioned ports. Contracting Parties shall be pooled, and the
However, should experience prove that it entire sum divided into two equal portions
is necessary to have a steamship in reserve, for the Postal Administrations of both Con-
then it shall be obtained at the expense of tracting Powers.
both Contracting Powers. Arranging any Closing accounts and settlement shall be
future agreement to this effect shall be left done between the St. Petersburg and Tilsit
up to the two Postal Administrations. Main Post Offices.

ARTICLE IX. ARTICLE XII.
If demand for this service increases to the Postal steamships of both High Con-
point where it is considered necessary to tracting Powers shall sail under the flag of
establish regular departures of more than their country, and shall be completely ex-

Rossica Journal Number 116, 9
April 1991

empt from harbor fees. Ratified at Peterhof on 19 August 1843.
Their cargoes shall be subject to the
Customs laws of both states.

ARTICLE XIII.
This convention shall remain in effect
until the end of 1856. .
If one or the other Side does not wish to ,
extend this Convention beyond the afore- '"w .
mentioned period, it must [declare that in-
tent] two years before the period's expira-
tion. At the end of this period, the Con- '
vention shall be extended [automatically]
for three-year periods until such time as ",
there is a declaration of intent to abrogate the
Convention two years later.

ARTICLE XIV
Ratification of this Convention shall be
forthcoming from both sides in the course of Figure 1. "Via Luebeckp. 'Nikolai'," St. Peters-
eight weeks. burg to London, 16/28 August 1847. The "Vla-
dimir" was a Russian ship, the "Nicolai I'" Prus-
In witness whereof, etc.: sian.
[Signed at] St. Petersburg, 19 June (1 July) 1843.
(signature) Fedor Pryanishnikov
(signature) Heinrich Smuckert

Figure 2. The writer obviously was aware of the routes travelled by the steamships. The first
part of the letter in the cover shown in fig.1 indicates the route and ship involved.

Figure 3. "Via Stettin p. Wladimir"' on a commercial letter from St. Petersburg to London,
26 July17 August 1847. m
^r f;;i *T'^^^e^ ^r^TW~ i?

Rossica Journal Number 116, 10
April 1991

Odessa Postal and Telegraph Services 1808-1869

by Ian W. Roberts

Odessa was used extensively for the dispatch telegraph office was opened May 26, 1855.
andreceipt of mail and money from the timeof its Table 1 contains statistics that give some indi-
foundation at the end of the 18th century. The cation of the increase in traffic.
Year Pt Oe O y By 1869, the number of telegrams received and
Year Post Office Ordinary Insured/
Income Letters Money sent had increased almost tenfold with a corre-
1808 88,237 rubles 37,374 50,863
1848 96,700 rubles Telegrams
Money Received Money Year transmitted Revenue
(Russia and abroad) Dispatched 1859 34,727 1860 89,071 rubles 46 1/2 kop.
1869 292,752 1869 150,527 rubles 39 kop.
1808 N/A 7,055,000 rubles
1848 20,097,000 rubles 18,692,000 rubles Table 2. Telegraph statistics

Letters spending increase in revenue. Table 2 lists
Received comparative figures for the years 1859 and 1869.
Ordinary Foreign Money Throughout this period, the main post office
1858 357,171 85,736 33,136 employed only one postmaster, one assistant and
1868 198,588 172,983 59,221
1869 217,767 158,627 102,360 two dispatchers!
Letters
Dispatched Data used in this article came from the book by
1858 291,765 93,563 45,168 A. A. Skalkovsky entitled "The Russian Steam-
1868 338,992 102,676 28,918 ship and Trading Company, 1857/1869," pub-
1869 408,391 82,302 4,369 lished in Odessa in 1870. M
Table 1. Postal statistics

----------------------------- ------------ ----------------. -
From "Khronika" in "Zhizn' i Tekhnika Smolensk, domestic correspondence is now
Svyazi" No. 6, June 1924, p. 162. flown between Moscow and Smolensk. This
SDevelopment of the airmail route Moscow- includes postcards, letters and any kind of
Smolensk-K6nigsberg wrapper mail.
Airmail from Germany addressed to any point I
The international Moscow-Smolensk- in the USSR is being received, as well as transit I
I K6nigsberg air route, on which mail transport mail to China and Persia.
Began last May 1st, is operating regularly and The airpost reduces delivery time consider-
Isuccessfully. Currently, all post-and-telegraph ably, and is meeting it with greater and greater I
Offices [in the USSR] are accepting international success. Whereas before the mail went out only I
Letters and postcards addressed to every Euro- 3 times a week, now it is sent on planes daily I
pean and American country, and in Moscow, (except Sundays).
Leningrad, Khar'kov and Nizhnii Novgorod Establishment of continuous airmail flights
any kind of wrappermail is also accepted. In the on the Moscow-K6nigsberg-Amsterdam-Lon-
near future, several offices will begin taking don line is also forthcoming. Correspondence
I international packages for this air route up to 5 sent from Moscow to Holland will arrive in 32
I kilograms. hours, and in Great Britain, 36 hours (instead of
SSince planes on the way to K6nigsberg land at the current 5 days).

Rossica Journal Number 116, 11
April 1991

The First Stage in the Development of Our Union
(In celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Communications Workers' Union)

Translated from "Zhizn' i Tekhnika Svyazi" #11, Nov. 1925, pp. 15-27.
by Dale Walker

Sn this essay we shall attempt to highlight Generally, the duration of a post-and-telegraph
the primary roadmarks along which the post- worker's day was entirely dependent upon the
and-telegraph workers' movement proceeded, quantity of incoming correspondence, and this
leading to the formation of the union. But before would often result in extending the workday to
we do that, let us review the general working con- 12, 14, or sometimes even 16 hours.
ditionsin the Post-and-Telegraph before the birth With the implementation of the 8-hour work-
of the union. day at the telegraph office, the telegraph operator
Ever since the Postal Department and the Tele- was compelled to work either a straight 24-hour
graph merged to become the Main Post-and- shift or two 12-hour shifts in a72-hourperiod. Of
Telegraph Administration in 1884, the burdens course, these conditions quickly led to worker
of post-and-telegraph work increased at an accel- fatigue and exhaustion. Moreover, during peri-
erated tempo. In one 20-year period, from 1885 ods of heavy telegraph traffic and demands on the
to 1904, mail volume grew by 352.5%, and the staff, even these norms were circumvented by
number of telegraph dispatches by 191.1%. In means of the so-called "penal duty"-punishment
the same 20-year period, the gross receipts of the under the guise of deviation from established
Administration grew from 25,249,285 to service regulations by those on duty. And, if we
66,876,076 rubles. Profit increase in relation to take into consideration the presence of another
the overall sum of expenditures for this period category of duty, the so-called "supplementary"
can be expressed in even more dramatic terms, imposition of up to 12 additional hours per
increasing from 4.6% in 1885 to 65% in 1904. person during periods of especially intensive
If we now turn to the growth in numbers of work then the myth of the 8-hour workday
post-and-telegraph workers, we see that in no becomes glaringly obvious. Could this strenu-
way did it correspond to the increase in post-and- ous labor, of such disproportionate severity and
telegraph transactions or, what is more, to the meagerpay, continueunderthesecircumstances?
growth of profits from the efforts of the post-and- The constant effort by the tsarist government to
telegraph institutions. The post-and-telegraph keep postal and telegraph expenses to a mini-
workforce consisted of 27,521 people in 1885, mum and thereby extract maximum gain for the
and reached 50,781 in 1904; that is, it increased state treasury not only affected the condition of
by some 84.6% while mail volume, as we have the post-and-telegraph personnel, it also affected
seen, expanded by 352.5% and telegraph dis- the equipment in post-and-telegraph offices.
patches by 191.1% during that same period. Generally, the worst buildings were cramped, ill-
All of these factors taken together merely bear suited for operations, and decrepit. The absence
witness to the vast amount of unrecompensed ofventilation, the stuffiness, dust and filth served
labor borne by the post-and-telegraph worker, as an ideal breeding ground for tuberculosis,
and are indicative of how close his working which ultimately became the "occupational dis-
conditions were to the economic term "sweat- ease" of postal workers. Instances of entirepost-
shop system." and-telegraph offices coming down with con-
In fact, his working day was not subject to any sumption are well documented (the Sengilei [Post
standard, although there was a law that estab- Office] in 1901).
lished specific hours for postal operations. Moral oppression always accompanies mate-

Rossica Journal Number 116, 12
April 1991

rial oppression, and in this respect, post-and- movement. They set themselves the task of
telegraph workers were no exception. In the revolutionizing the post-telegraph-and-telephone
bureaucratic barracks regime reigning in the masses through propaganda, distribution ofproc-
Administration, they were reduced almost to lamations, and illegal literature. However, it
"un-persons." They worked at the unquestioned must be clarified here that these circles were very
whim of their immediate and higher superiors, few in number, short-lived, and their sphere of
and, having been brought up in eternal fear of influence was certainly of limited scope. In
"penal duty," reassignment topost-and-telegraph general, the masses remained far removed from
establishments in godforsaken places (an easy the revolutionary fervor. This fermentation
change in their place of exile or incarceration), among the masses was nurtured in the culture of
and the threat of expulsion without explanation exhausting labor and crushing material condi-
under provisions of the infamous "Point 3" of the tions, [nevertheless] the movement first sought
Civil Service Regulations' Article 788, [it is no to approach the problem legally by means of
surprise] they proved incapable of helping them- requests and agreements with the authorities,
selves, of mustering up the initiative to form an ratherthan turn it into revolutionary action. The
organization [of their own], or of protecting their primary significance of the clandestine circles
class rights. lay in [their success with] sharpening the dissat-
To the number of unfavorable conditions for isfactionofthemassesand [makingthemrealize]
promotion of revolutionary activism one also that cooperating with and dealing legally with the
must add heterogeneity and dispersal of the authorities was utterly futile. One of the circles
50,000-strong army ofpost-and-telegraph work- was organized by the Moscow postman V.E.
ers across the vast expanses of the former Rus- Murav'ev in 1902.
sian empire. These factors were two of the most It threw itself headlong into revolutionary
serious obstacles preventing the post-and-tele- propaganda activities up to 1905, and succeeded
graph workers from uniting in defense of their in strengthening ties with the revolutionary par-
shared professional requirements. ties-the SDs (social democrats) and SRs (social
The moment of awakening from their political revolutionaries). It also established communica-
lethargy for the post-telegraph-and-telephone tions with several labor organizations such as the
workers coincided with the first rumblings of the tramway yards and the railroad workers, and,
revolutionary storm of 1905. with the aim of uniting postal employees at the
It is true that the post-and-telegraph workers largest post-and-telegraph offices, it arranged for
had legal organizations as far back as the end of an exchange of notices and proclamations be-
the 1870s. These took the form of benefit funds tween the Caucasus (Tiflis), Tomsk, and a num-
(savings-and-loans, funeral assistance) and con- ber of [offices in] other Siberian cities.
sumers' societies,which toacertain extentpoints An illegal meeting of Moscow GPO workers
outthepresenceofself-help activities in thepost- was organized by the Murav'ev circle and held
and-telegraph environment, but these organiza- by candlelight in a barn beyond Burtyki Gates on
tions were tightly controlled within the narrow thewintryeveningof 10/22February(sic). There,
confines of "law" and "order"; they could hardly two proposals were put before those assembled:
be construed as the embryo of the general profes- 1) "to announce a strike," and 2) "to present a
sional movement that emerged among the post- petition to the authorities." The second, being
telegraph-and-telephone workers in the first more moderate, gained precedence, and this
Russian revolution. "respectful entreaty" to the authorities was thereby
One must look upon those small, clandestine formulated. As [merely] a call for the resolution
circles that emerged at the very beginning of the of pressing needs, it could hardly be called a
1900s in the larger post-and-telegraph offices revolutionary document.
(Moscow, Khar'kov, Irkutsk) as the seeds of this

Rossica Journal Number 116, 13
April 1991

A majority of post-and-telegraph offices fol- compassed the territory from Chelyabinsk to
lowed Moscow's lead, especially since the 18 Vladivostok, and would have coordinated ac-
February ukaz to the Ruling Senate, which en- tivities with an analogous organization in Euro-
joined the Council of Ministers to "examine and pean Russia. The Union's program consisted
discuss questions reaching us from private in- entirely of economic demands, and to realize
dividuals and establishments concerning im- their goals they proposed to strike against the
provement of public services and utilities, and Siberian post-and-telegraph institutions. The
promotion of the public welfare," appeared to strike didn't materialize, and the scheme re-
give government workers some legal rights un- mained unfulfilled.
der the guise of attesting to their"pressing needs." Transforming the idea of a union into reality
As one might expect, the post-and-telegraph fell to the lot of a clandestine group of three in-
office petition resulted solely in investigations dividuals working in Moscow at the end of the
and repression against those individuals who summer, 1905 two old members of the Mu-
signed them, as the documents were devoid of rav'ev circle, Akimov and Povkh, and a mailcar
any political content and included only the desire official of the 11 th [Railroad] Mail Transporta-
for relative improvementin working conditions tion Section, K.V. Parfenenko.
and pay/benefits. The presentation of the This group took the name "Organizational Bu-
"Moscow Memorandum" on February 11th re- reau of the Post-and-Telegraph Union," and from
suited in a deterioration of the workers' condi- its very inception it was occupied with resolving
tions, not an improvement. The writers of the problems associated with the formation of the
Irkutsk petition were transferred to other offices Union. Moreover, it established the basis for the
in the district, the chief of the Ekaterinburg Post railroad workers' regulations, whichin lateryears
Office received a severe reprimand, and so on. underwent only minor changes.
The failure of the petition naturally caused The next stage in the activity of this Bureau,
disappointment and exasperation in the masses, which soon after that had renamed itself the
Now the agitation by the revolutionary parties "Provisional Central Bureau," centered on estab-
began to fall on fertile soil, as they skillfully lishing relations with the provincial offices to
hammered away at their main theme: "It is sense- propagandize and disseminate the idea of a Un-
less and futile to bring ourrequests and entreaties ion among them, and taking direct action along
to the authorities; we need not request, but rather these lines in the various Moscow post-tele-
demand; we need not petition, but rather win for graph-and-telephone offices.
ourselves the right to better our conditions." Up to October, the bureau worked in strictest
(Proclamation of the Moscow Committee of the secrecy, and only with the dramatic rise of the
Russian Social-Democrat Workers Party.) revolutionary movement at the beginning of
All legal means had been exhausted. Only one October did its members begin to speak out
thing remained to organize for the struggle, openly.
And so the scatteredpost-telegraph-and-telephone In mid-October, elections were held for a new
workers, through their own experiences, under- (permanent) Bureau, consisting of six people.
stood the necessity of organizing an empire-wide Two were former members of the old clandestine
union, which they saw as the only means to bureau, Parfenenko and Akimov. This so-called
struggle successfully and defend their common "Central Bureau" henceforth would become the
professional interests, obvious leading organ of the Union's combined
The honor of the first attemptat formation of a forces. The process of "gathering force" was in
Post-and-Telegraph Union (in June 1905) be- strict relation to the weakening of the police
longed to the Siberian workers. As conceived by regime because of the confusion created in the
its organizers, the "Union of United Postal and government by the "Great OctoberDisturbance."
Telegraph Officials in Siberia" was to have en-

Rossica Journal Number 116, 14
April 1991

The post-and-telegraph masses were politi- provincial branches was incomplete by the start
cally apathetic before October and strove for of the general post-and-telegraph strike in No-
nothing more than reforms in post-and-telegraph vember. One reason for this was a paucity of
working conditions. But in October, disillu- experience in organizational work among local
sioned with the lack of results in their petitions employees, and another was the Central Bu-
and [surrounded by] the tense revolutionary reau's occasional lack of attention toward organ-
atmosphere, they were easily drawn into a gen- izing in the local offices. At the beginning of
eral political movement marked by large-scale November it was distracted by the struggle to
strikes, preserve the Union against the government, and
Communications workers in Moscow answered therefore it was limited to issuing only very
the callof the Octoberpolitical strike, by the way, general directives to the provinces.
with a partial strike against the GPO and a two- From the very first moments of the Union's
day strike against the Central Telegraph. Many effort to build an organizational structure, central
cities saw similar actions Samara, Vil'na, and local government authorities apparently failed
Rybinsk, Tomsk, Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk, and oth- to take seriously the ferment among post-and-
ers. telegraph workers; not only did they offer no
It is true that the strike movement in post-and- opposition, but in some instances actually sanc-
telegraph offices progressed with little overall tioned general meetings held to form the Union.
coordination and actually achieved little more Attempts at opposition during this period, such
success in material terms than had the early pe- as those by the district chief against the Orel
titions and "memoranda," [even though] the office, were exceptions to the rule. This afforded
movement was bolstered everywhere by demands the Central Bureau the opportunity to appear in
for improvement in the standard of living. But the press on October 30th with legal grounds for
from an organizational standpoint it had enormous legitimizing the Union. But the government's
significance, destroying the belief in the possibil- inactivity (approaching total confusion) didn't
ity of reforms from above and promoting the only last long. Minister [of Internal Affairs] Durovo
expedient means unification of forces and sent a circular by telegraph on October 31st,
formation of a single, powerful, professional banning the Union, and Chief of the Main Post-
organization. and-Telegraph Administration Sevast'yanov
The Union that was born as a small Moscow followed up with a similar order soon after that.
organization managed to encompass the entire Both circulars provoked indignation and protests
Russian post-and-telegraph in just a few days. In from both the Central Bureau and the provincial
most cases, local branches of the Union or-! organizations. Up to this time, local post-and-
ganized immediately after receiving the Central telegraph administrations had tolerated the for-
Bureau's first communications, mation of Union associations, but with the re-
In general, the incorporation of the provinces ceipt of the two circulars, they switched to open
into the All-Russian Union proceeded without force and repression against the new Union.
the slightest friction, and offices such as the one From that time on, events forced the Central
in Vladimir, where organizers were forced to Bureau to concentrate on its struggle with the
resort to threats or citing the Manifest of October government to survive; much less emphasis was
12th in an effort to induce local workers to join placed on purely organizational matters. In
the Union, were isolated cases. addition, it was compelled to dedicate no small
It was an entirely different matter from the amount of time and energy to preparations for the
standpoint of purely organizational work. For- upcoming All-Russian Congress.
mation of local cells according to the charter draft A boycott followed the telegraph protests
frequently lagged well behind the first general against overzealous agents of the government
meetings, thanks to which the organization of (e.g., the chief of the Vitebsk PTO, and the chiefs

Rossica Journal Number 116, 15
April 1991

of the Turkestan and Vladikavkaz Districts). It On its part, the central government, in the form
was the only available counter-measure against of the Minister of Internal Affairs, prepared its
the intensifying repression and reactionary ten- decisive blow. Having received information on
dencies. The provincial branches of the Union, November 2nd concerning the All-Russian
by the way, came to support the boycott of the Congress of Post-and-Telegraph Workers, the
"opposition forces," often without the authoriza- Minister secretly gathered information about
tion or notification of the Central Bureau. individuals in the Central Bureau and those chosen
The situation grew more strained, and it be- to attend the Congress.
came increasingly clear that the protests and As a result of reports on the activity of the
boycotts were no longer enough. Against the Central Bureau that the Ministry received, in-
growing reaction a more resolute form of struggle eluding formation of the Union and preparations
was required, one that could only come about by for the Congress in Moscow, Main Post-and-
a post-and-telegraph strike conducted on a na- Telegraph Administration Chief Sevast'yanov
tional scale. issued a directive on the eve of the Congress. It
Up to the beginning of November there had ordered dismissal of the Union "organizers" under
been many attempts by individuals from the Article 788 of the Civil Service Regulations, as
Post-and-Telegraph Administration to fragment well as those who had sent telegrams "offensive
and divide the post-telegraph-and-telephone to higher officials and provocative in their tone."
Union, but they all proved unsuccessful. For The first ones subjected to this administrative
example, there was an effort by Belotelov, Chief punishment, according to the government's list,
of the Municipal Telephone Trunk-Call Office, were members of the Central Bureau: K.V. Par-
to form an independent post-and-telegraph union fenenko, Dvuzhil'nyi, and Akimov, president of
"based on a constitutional monarchy," and an- the Union's Moscow branch. Also included
other by Danilov, Kazan' District Chief, to were P.M. Miller (a new member of the Central
"organize with the intent of destroying the Un- Bureau), Nesler (plenipotentiary of the Moscow
ion," and smashing the independent local bu- GPO's circle of women officials), andRussianov
reaus under "Moscow's influence" by tending to (a post-and-telegraph worker from Kiev).
the material needs of the communications work- At the insistence of the Central Bureau, an
ers. emergency meeting of those attending the Con-
Meanwhile, in accordance with a Central Bu- gress convened that same day. By a majority of
reau directive, elections for delegates to the votes, they approved a mandate demanding that
Congress commenced on November 5th, Eighty President of the Councils of Ministers Witte
delegates arrived for the opening of the Con- abrogate Sevast'yanov's directive. In the event
gress, and this number eventually grew to 109. their demand was rejected, or if they received an
The quota of representation anticipated by the unsatisfactory response within a 12-hour limit,
Central Bureau, with 50% of the elected del- they decided to call an all-Russian post-and-
egates coming from the "lower ranks", i.e., the telegraph strike. The issue of whether this body
postal carriers and delivery personnel was not of delegates indeed had the power to announce a
achieved. Indeed the very manner in which the strike was not open to debate.
elections themselves were conducted gave the A proposal to postpone the announcement of
process a somewhat chaotic character, what with the strike until November 20th until the day the
an atmosphere of continual commotion, the start Congress' complaints were forwarded [to the
of [police] repressions, and every sort of obstacle authorities] was voted down by the majority,
imaginable. In the end, only 17.5% (rather than despite weighty arguments for the need to accu-
50%) of the "lower ranks" was represented at the mulate material support for those who would go
congress, so that the predominant influence on strike.
remained with the so-called "officials."

Rossica Journal Number 116, 16
April 1991

At 6 a.m. on November 15th, the day the ernment's vicious attacks. In such circumstances
Congress opened, a telegram had already been the Congress was unable to satisfy all the re-
composed. Signed by Smolensk delegate and quests raining down on it, but the very fact that it
Congress plenipotentiary Rode-Chervinsky, and had survived for three weeks, from November
addressed to Witte, it read: 15th through December 6th, was proof of a
sufficiently high level of political and profes-
"Your Highness! sional consciousness. That consciousness had
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Durnovo, been achieved by the post-and-telegraph masses
has chosen to reject those freedoms granted to in the short time from its conception to the first
us on October 17th. Citing Article 788 dis- clandestine circles [up to the strike], in an atmos-
missal from our posts without recourse to peti- phere of conflict and under a constant barrage of
tion he provokes the liberation movement blows from military and police authorities. And
in our Ministry. Inasmuch as the Minister has it is precisely in this that we find [the Congress']
chosen the path of illegality, the All-Russian historical meaning and significance. Its efforts in
CongressofPost-and-TelegraphWorkerDele- an organizational sense did not lead to concrete,
gates refuses to recognize the dismissal of our clearly tangible results because of the All-Rus-
comrades, and ignores the measure that it re- sian Post-and-Telegraph Strike's defeat, but this
ceivedin that regard. Stating only the facts, we only indicated that the struggle had just begun,
appeal to society at large, the unions, the prole- that it was by no means finished.
tariat and the peasants. If we are not informed Under what conditions did the Congress have
by His Highness within 12 hours that relations to work? Opened as if it were a legal organiza-
will improve, then we will relinquish all re- tion, it discovered that it had been "banned," and
sponsibility and uphold our right to a universal from its first steps the Congress was forced to
strike." operate illegally. From its very beginning, it
And, at 6 p.m. on November 15th, when no survived conflict with the police and then sys-
reply to the telegram had been received, the tematic persecution, reeling from two crushing
message went out on the Hughes telegraph to all blows to its organizational unit. The staff of first
post-and-telegraph offices from Moscow to Si- one bureau and then a second were arrested, in
beria, Turkestan, and the Caucasus: "stop work." rapid succession. Nonetheless, it managed to
The All-Russian Post-and-Telegraph Strike had formulate and summarize all the conditions and
begun, and its end would be dependent upon the demands of its economic program, a program
tractability of the Witte-Durnovo administra- toward which the post-and-telegraph masses were
tion. moving. The movement was based on many
Thus, the first All-Russian Post-and Telegraph years of experience, and it found expression in
Congress had to take upon itself the role of the countless petitions of the pre-Congress pe-
central strike committee for the expansive net- riod.
work ofpost-and-telegraph establishments around Meanwhile, even the telegraph equipment,
the country, and it had to pay more attention to the which had served the Central Bureau so well in
course of the strike than to the actual formation of establishing ties with the provinces, was no longer
the union. It had convened for the lofty mission able to provide substantial assistance to the
of creating an organized professional structure, Congress in the execution of its primary task -
and perhaps, because of the strike, it had contra- leadership of the strike as it had fallen into the
dieted its own ideals, hands of the enemy government forces shortly
Two very different problems had to be resolved after the strike was announced. Needless to say,
in conditions unbelievably difficult and com- this was a grave blow to the All-Russian Post-
plex: completing the organization of the Union, and-Telegraph Strike.
and directing the strike while repulsing the gov-

Rossica Journal Number 116, 17
April 1991

As it had played the leading role in organizing their movement against the GPO, which would
the Union and served as the site of the Congress have been protected by a completely insuffi-
and the Central Bureau, Moscow naturally be- cient force, or perhaps not at'all ..."
came the center of the struggle during the strike.
To a great extent, the success of the entire move- We must note here that with the loss of the
ment depended on the success of the strike in telegraph equipment immediately after the an-
Moscow, so that is where the attention of the nouncement of the strike by the Congress, the
entire Union was centered. But the main blows post-and-telegraph strike movement in the rest of
of the government rained down on Moscow too, Russia rapidly drew apart from Moscow's influ-
and a special individual was appointed to lead the ence. Being insufficiently organized, it scattered
battle against the Moscow strike Inspector in all sorts of separate, independent directions.
Stetkevich. Left to its own devices, the strike movement
As far as the degree of participation by the took on different hues, depending on local condi-
communications workers in the Moscow strike tions. In smaller offices, with few personnel and
was concerned, the latest strike could be con- a lack of information or direction from Moscow,
sidered its most effective. The GPO and all 24 it either failed to catch fire or quickly died out
branches had lost all signs of life by the evening under the pressure of local authorities. As in
of November 16th. A small group of 30-40 Moscow, the movement gave off bright flashes
people worked at the Telegraph Office as "strike- for a while in the provincial offices, but it was
breakers," and it goes without saying that they unable to exert any influence on the course of the
had a ruinous effect on the Union's efforts, already-doomed skirmish.
The first days of December must be considered The strike in Siberia was crushed together with
the most agonizing for the entire strike move- the workers' movement by punitive expeditions
ment. Due to the disheartening effect of the led by Generals Rennenkampf and Meller-
strikebreakers continuing to work, the arrests of Zakomel'skii. Before that happened, however, a
Central Bureau members, repressive mass dis- few victories were won. For instance, the de-
missals of the strikers, material shortages and a struction of the Angarsk telegraph antenna mast
belief that the strike was doomed, the masses led to the complete isolation of Irkutsk, and all
faltered and began to give up. A small group, postal and telegraph services to Chita, Blagove-
attempting to hold out in spite of it all, became the shchensk and Vladivostok were for a short time
next victim of"Point 3," Article 788. The end of held in the "hands of the people"...
the Moscow strike coincided with the beginning
of the Decemberworkers' uprising. A letterfrom
Stetkevich to Sevast'yanov is especially interest- [Ed. note: This translation is Dale Walker's first
ing in this regard: appearance in the Rossica Journal, and we wel-
come him to our corps of translators. The article
"Most Honorable Mikhail Petrovich! covers a little-known part of postal history, the
It is most fortunate that the Post-and-Tele- 1905 Post-and-Telegraph Strike. Readers will
graph Strike ended before the onset of the have no trouble discerning the bias of the Soviet
general strike in Moscow. Had the Union's writer, but we hope the article will be of use for
board members not been caught by the begin- anyone who collects "strike mail." Finding covers
ning of December, and their strike been pro- delayed by the strike (and the railroad strike
longed for several more days, then most cer- which followed it) is difficult, but not impos-
tainly our idiots would have joined forces with sible. Check your November-December 1905
the strike committee and would have directed covers; you may have a sleeper!]

Rossica Journal Number 116, 18
April 1991

Russian Deltiology (Part II)

Alexandra Feodorovna

by Dr. William R. Nickle

[Ed. note: In this article, Dr. Nickle continues book "The File on the Tsar." While Nicholas,
with postcards depicting royality. In addition, Aleksei and some of their servants certainly died
National Geographic decided to do an article on in and around Ekaterinburg, Alexandra and her
his collection. It should be published this year.] daughters may have survived for a few months
longer.
The second most popular monarch for Rus- The postcards shown here, depicting the
sian postcards was Alexandra Feodorovna. She Tsarina, were produced in England, Russia,
was the beautiful Princess Alex of Hesse-Dorm- Germany, and France. No doubt postcards can be
stadt and the granddaughter of England's Queen found from other countries. Figures 2-3 show
Victoria. Nicholas II relied on Alexandra who Alexandra in the classic pose of the beautiful
loved politics, and often showed more determi- monarch. Figure 2 was made by the Rotary
nation than her husband. The Tsarina was un- Photographic Co., Ltd. of London, one of the
popular with the masses, being of Germanic Royal photographers. Figure 3 was produced by
origin, haughty and devout, but what they espe- the Russian people. Figure 4 is a postcard pro-
cially held against her was her involvement with duced by W. & D. Downey of London, England,
the scoundrel monk Rasputin. Ostensibly ahealer, showing period finery. An apparent French
he earned the gratitude of Alexandra and of her postcard is shown in fig. 5. Figures 6-7 also were
husband for saving the life of their only son, produced by the Rotary Photographic Co. The
Aleksei. Aleksei suffered from an inherited Russian-produced postcard shown in fig. 8 de-
ailment of his mother's House of Hesse, hemo- picts the Tsarina in her Royal dress. The "Ger-
philia (in which the blood fails to clot, and a man Kaiserin von Russland Aleksandra" is seen
minor cut could prove fatal). Rasputin seemed to in fig. 9. Figure 10 was made by the British Rapid
have some "magical" power to stop the bleeding Photo Co. A Boissonnes-Eggler photo produced
whenever Aleksei had a crisis, but his debauch- by Beagles Postcards Co. of London, England
ery, maneuvering and back-stage intriguing presents a more mature looking Tsarina. The last
earned him the sobriquet "Dark Power of Rus- postcard was produced in France from a photo-
sia," and the hatred of Russia's intelligentsia and graph by Levitsky at Peterhof, taken on August
upper classes. Figure 1 shows a charcoal/pencil 16, 1901.
drawing of Rasputin with his "Dark Power" Royalty postcards usually command prices
(Temnyq sily) title made sometime after 1914. of $20-30, although postcards of imperial family
Certainly this was an unofficial production! relatives (GrandDukesandDuchesses, etc.) may
Unfortunately, it was not postally used, thus sell for even more.
depriving us of any further information about its
history. Rasputin postcards are extremely rare.
Alexandra borefourdaughters before Aleksei.
Together with her husband and children, she was
made a prisoner, and in July 1918 the whole
family was put to death in Ekaterinburg, now
called Sverdlovsk. That, at least, has been the
widely accepted version. Serious doubts have
been cast on it by Sommers and Mangold in their

Rossica Journal Number 116, 19
April 1991

Figure 1. Rasputin. Figure 2. Postcard produced by the Rotary
Photographic Co., Ltd.
.. .. ....--... ...i..-
VI... 1 OV T -

H- .N! i' ._ .

Figure 3. Russian postcard. Figure 4. Postcard produced by W.&D.he Rotary

Downey.
Rossica Journal Number 116, 20

April 1991
S. _.......... _

.-...... .

Figure 3. Ru-ian postcard. Figure 4. Postcard produced by W.&D.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 20

_--. -
___

Figure 5. Probable French postcard. Figure 6. Postcard produced by the Rotary
Photographic Co., Ltd.

.. Ih _j -qI _

Figure 7. Postcard produced by the Rotary Figure 8. Russian postcard depicting the Tsar-
Photographic Co., Ltd. ina in her royal dress.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 21
April 1991

Figure 9. German Kaiserin von Russland Figure 10. Postcard produced by the British
Aleksandra. Rapid Photo Company.
--.. __s-- ___ -

S-... --T. -.- -. CZARINA OF RUOIA. "-"

Figure 11. Boissonnes-Eggler postcard. Figure 12. Postcard made from photograph byritish
Levitsky at Peterhofmpany.
-:~~~~~- -- ..dl+i ,ld

Rossica Journal Number 116, 22
April 1991
-1 0 llm-.1.. ' [i
w7 ,- .
-- + --:- -:- :-:- -P' "-- .. A r "'''" : i " "
'7 4 60' ---'' - '" .-: "" --'-: ,": !"
T. .. . -. .. ."-.--:, [": ,'3 : Jll

.- +_ _: _:-,',','. - L = . ... :. -<-.L : E-:V..:";: -':.-.,S- l .,,i Y*
S__ .M.GZA -M OF_ R SB-.." l '. : .. ,,'l :.'z

Fiur 1 ., '-,'so-nr-"" ',, potcrd Fiur 12:_ ._. .: .. Potcr ._.efr- photgrap by,',.:'?
--- --- .... --- .. __a t P eterho..-.: ..--,_

--sic Jo r a Numbe 116, 22-- :--'- _.: ... :_.i,+_
Api ._9_9_

Wrangel Army Stamps

by Y. Souren

[Reprinted from the August 1921 issue of Scott's Monthly Journal]

I have noted in the July issue of Scott's other country. Of course, at the beginning, ev-
Monthly Journal your note about the Wrangel eryone in the army and among the refugees was
army stamps. The writer was in Constantinople glad to be out of the Bolshevik danger, but as
when the Wrangel army arrived there from the soon as they had rested, they began to worry
Crimea. As it was a forced evacuation, not only about their relatives and friends. I have to add
the regular military men came to Constantinople, that everyone of these millionaires found himself
but the families of the soldiers and officers; also in a very critical financialposition, as their money
many civilians who had been connected with the became worthless, and no one would accept it. I
Wrangel temporary government in the Crimea personally bought some three million Wrangel
and others who thought they might be placed in rubles for nine Turkish pounds, which equalled,
the category of "bourgeoisie," and molested by at the time of purchasing, $6.10 U.S. money. So
the Bolsheviks who had wrested the Crimea from you can see by this fact that all these millionaires
Wrangel. Generally speaking, all of these people could not spare any money for research or com-
were multi-millionaires or billionaires, but their munication with their relatives.
money was nothing more than printed scraps of At this time, Wrangel's Council of Ministers
paper. Wrangel thought to establish a govern- decided that they would help as much as they
ment in the land of Russia's former enemy, so he were able, and concluded to establish connec-
established even their own Senate, or Parliament, tions between the different camps, and to keep a
if you prefer to call it so; also a council of special staff of couriers, whose duty it was to
ministers, etc., etc. In brief, it was a government carry letters for the refugees (military or civil)
within a government. To all the world it was from camp to camp. Immediately afterward,
known by the name of"Wrangel's army." When they established post offices in the different
this army reached Constantinople, that city was camps, with postmasters, under whom were a
not prepared to receive so many guests nearly few clerks and letter carriers or couriers.
145,000 men, women, and children. Conse- The Postmaster General had the entire lot of
quently, the Allied High Commission kept them stamps which the government had brought from
on the ships from three to twenty days. As fast as the Crimea surcharged with new values of 1, 5,
they could procure places and food, people were 10 and 20-thousand rubles. These were dis-
landed from the ships and sent to the prepared tribute between the different Wrangel army
places, so that by the end of some fifteen days camps in Turkey, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece.
more than 100,000 were placed in camps near The rule was that any person who had been
Constantinople or in the city. The remainder evacuated with Wrangel from South Russia, had
were forwarded to Serbia (about 20,000), to the right to send letters from any camp to another
Bulgaria (about 8,000), to the Black Sea Coast camp, and that the payment of postage would be
(about 5,000), to Lemnos, Gallipoli, and finally accepted in Wrangel money. In order to make
to Brazil (about 10,000). At the time of locating certain of this, the person who wished to send a
the refugees, much wrong was done by the au- letter must, at the request of the Postmaster,
thorities, mainly in separating families; sending, present identification papers, proving that he had
for instance, the men to the Constantinople camp, been evacuated with the Wrangel army. Any
the wives to Serbia, and their children to some other person wishing to send letters to the camps

Rossica Journal Number 116, 23
April 1991

must pay the price of the stamp in Turkish cur- This conversation ended without result. A few
rency 1 piastre per 1,000 rubles. Immediately days later I noticed that the prices of Russian
many dealers and collectors hastened to the stamps were rising in the Constantinople dealers'
Russian post offices to secure stamps for their stores. I concluded that someone had accepted
collections or for sale. Sometimes there were so Mr. Seredinsky's proposition and was purchas-
many "philatelists" in line that regular fights ing, in order to sell to the government at a
occurred between the collectors anxious to se- profitable advance. But, by this time, the French
cure stamps. refusal was in the hands of Wrangel, so they
About this time the French government is said could no longer use the surcharge "Post of Rus-
to have informed General Wrangel that he was no sian Army" and decided to use the surcharge
longer recognized as the head of "New and United "Russian Post."
Russia." As you know, it is a fact, that the only Stamps with this surcharge were unofficial and
government which recognized Wrangel as the were issued by a government which was no
lawful head and successor to old Russia was longer a government for anyone. The dealers, as
France. In a short time, nearly all the issue with well as the collectors, were no longer in line in the
the surcharge "Post of Russian Army" was sold. rain to get stamps. So one day Iwas invited tobuy
The French did not want to recognize the author- some stamps for America by the post office clerk
ity nor the army of General Wrangel. Therefore, of the principal Russian post office in Con-
that government was no longer permitted to keep stantinople. This proposition I respectfully de-
official post offices. Seeing the good profit that dined. I learned later that Mr. Seredinsky went
might be made by selling to dealers and other to Europe, in order to place the new issue as a rare
people, the head of the Russian army, who, by the one, and a certain Russian dealer from the Cri-
way, is himself a collector (his name is Sered- mea, a Mr. Book, told me, two months later, that
insky), a few days before the French Govern- Mr. Seredinsky was successful in placing a good
ment's declaration, became very anxious to put part of these stamps in Paris, at some ten percent
some other set of stamps on the market. For that over face value.
reason, he sought to find some dealer who could From this I think you will see and agree with me
furnish him with Russian stamps for surcharging. that the stamps of the first issue, those with the
I am basing my statement on the following con- surcharge "Post of Russian Army," were lawful
versation between myself and Mr. Seredinsky in postage stamps issued by a recognized govern-
his house. ment. It is true, also, that they needed so many
different surcharge stamps because the govern-
Seredinsky: "Mr. Souren, have you any stock of ment stock contained so many varieties of Rus-
Russian stamps? If you have, make me a propo- sian stamps, each in small quantity.
sition and the government will consider buying But the second issue cannot be considered as
them for the purpose of surcharging and you can "stamps" in a strictly philatelic way, because it
make a very good profit. If you wish, you may was not issued by a recognized government, and
propose that we give you a certain percentage of the only purpose of it was the clever idea of Mr.
the surcharged stamps free." Seredinsky to speculate in the stamps.
There were in all 90 different stamps sur-
Y. Souren: "No, but I can do another thing; that charged"POSTOFRUSSIANARMY,"of which
is to print and deliver to you an entirely new set 88 were straight, and two were varieties.
of stamps at the cost price, provided I can receive
from 5 to 10 percent of the stamps free."

Rossica Journal Number 116, 24
April 1991

The Siberian List-Letters of Late 1917 to 1919

Transcaspian region, occupying Askhabad and
other cities in Turkmenistan. On 16 November
by Horst Taitl 1918, English and French warships appeared in
the Black Sea followed by troop transport ships.
French and Greeks occupied Sevastopol', Baku,
(translated from the Ger- Batum, and other cities in Transcaucasia. White
man by Peter Michalove) Russian armies marched under Admiral Kolchak
7 and Generals Wrangel, Yudenich, Deniken and
others against the Red Guards. The Civil War
completely isolated Siberia and Turkestan. This
On 14 November 1917, the German Army was the situation in the years 1917 to 1919.
High Command declared its readiness to nego- Many of the prisoners of war and their families
tiate a cease-fire with the Bolsheviks. The ne- in Germany, Austria, Hungary and Turkey had
gotiations lasted for 10 days in Brest-Litovsk, had no signs of life from each other for more than
beginning on 22 November 1917. Finland de- a year. The only means of communications many
dared its independence on the 23rd, and on 2 POWs had with their homeland were the Red
December the cease fire was extended to 1 Jan- Cross delegations that travelled tirelessly from
uary 1918. During the negotiations in Brest- camp to camp in distant Siberia. Mail over the
Litovsk, Germany asked Russia to cede Poland, Transsiberian Railway could not pass through
Lithuania, Latvia, and Belorussia, and to disarm the front separating the Red and White forces.
the Czech Legion of 80,000 men. The Soviet Someone in one on the Red Cross delegations
government of the Bolsheviks refused the Ger- conceived the idea of carrying large school note-
man demands. In February military operations books between the camps and giving each pris-
were resumed between Russia and the Central oner three to five lines to write a note and an
powers. The Germans marched towards Petro- address.
grad, Moscow and Kiev, while the Austrians set Thus, a single notebook of 40 pages could
a force of 70,000 men in motion in Russian confirm the well-being of 300 to 400 soldiers.
Poland. On 3 March 1918, the Bolshevik gov- And a single Red Cross delegate could carry 20
ernment was forced to accept the German con- to 30 such notebooks on a ship back to Europe
editions of the treaty of Brest-Litovsk. from Vladivostok. This would represent mes-
This led to the landing on 9 March of British sages from about 10,000 soldiers, distributed
troops in Murmansk, followed soon by the through Red Cross centers in Copenhagen, Stock-
Americans and French. Arkhangel'sk was taken holm and Geneva. The messages were fre-
by the Allies on 8 February.[Ed. Note: Dates do quently cut into strips in the Red Cross centers,
not agree with article by J. Taylor in this issue.] then affixed to postcards and forwarded to the
On 5 April, Japanese marine infantry landed in families of the soldiers.
Vladivostok in east Siberia. These were fol- But we should not imagine hundreds of dele-
lowed by English, Canadian, and French troops, gates carrying these lines from soldiers; there
10,000 Americans under Major General Graves were, unfortunately, only six to eight of them.
occupied east Siberia, and even Italy landed a This is the source of the "list-letters" of the
small contingent of troops. In late May came the Danish Red Cross, sent from Copenhagen to the
uprising of the Czech Legion along the Volga and Danish embassy in Vienna. From there, they
the Transsiberian Railway. were sent through the civilian mail to the waiting
English troops from Persia pushed into the families of the soldiers.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 25
April 1991

Other "list-letters" were provided to the Ger- This then is the story of the so-called "list-let-
man, Austro-Hungarian, and Turkish authori- ters" that, unfortunately, are seldom found any
ties, who forwarded the messages to the families more, and that are among the rarities of a POW
on specially printed formular cards. card collection of the First World War.

!KOLS/ -- USS I., 'k

I ^H.^Yy +..,7. -': ,c.+

Listenbrief aus
Nikolsk- Ussvrisk
Jni 9 g

Figure 1. Strips cut from book and attached to Danish Red Cross response cards. Both strips are
from Franz Ziegler and addressed to Vienna. The cards were prepared from the books and
were sent "Post-Free" to Vienna for delivery. The strips were glued to the card and the
overlapping part was folded onto the back side.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 26
April 1991

Mtpemen. ]fm* xdrt.
R+pose. Franc de port

CROIX ROUGE DANOISE
C x R e C Kp AGENCE DES rRISONIMRS DE OUIERl.
Croix Rouge ATO Kparcil Npm
Copenhague M-R
Danemaik. Aa1.. OraTran napTroI*.
'ATCKIcB RPACEIH RPECTI.
HoUENrArtHb.
AAUL

Figure 2. Reverse side of cards illustrated in fig. 1.

Figure 3. Front and back of correspondence sent to Ludmilla Ziegler informing her of the corre-
spondence fom her relative.

Wkes. L Barsegu I Pi mez. 2.
''-U~ If ?-|rKl 2 1 i hEnBuid eu r Ii .eUg.Zr. ----- -----

""*.. _, .;--.. ..--......

*---- -----------

Figure 3. Front and back ofintaid in Vienna indicating correspondence sent to Ludmilla Ziegler infoming her of the "List.corre-

spondenceRossica Jouralfrom her relative.Number 116, 27

WAril 1991L
Asses die Usia de Lieeu ^^U^A 6/f f/

Figure 4. Register maintained in Vienna indicating correspondence from the "List."

Rossica Journal Number 116, 27
April 1991

Circular Vokzal Postmarks

by Rev. L. L. Tann

In Rossica 108/109 of 1986, pp. 149-150, both at top and bottom. Mr. Shalimoff's fig. 3
our member and colleague George Shalimoff shows only a partial strike 'Vorozhb....' and we
comments on my earlier observations on the have no means of knowing if the word following
circular vokzal markings. Perhaps I could now it is vokzal, or a normal town-type with the
add some notes and observations, gubernia designation. His fig. 4 is only specula-
I enclose herewith some circular vokzal mark- tion and conjecture. The name Khar'kov radiates
ings: around the whole upper section, and though there
S- is a dotted network there, with the lower section
SIsof the postmark off the stamp, we have no means
S'of knowing if the word vokzal was there. One
might add that if it was, it would be an aberrant
C type of Khar'kov Vokzal marking, in a category
S of its own a third type of Khar'kov Vokzal
postmark. There are, of course, postmarks that
Tula Vokzal (diameter 28- mm), are aberrant from the normal types. I believe
.... these came about because the normal type was
lost or damaged, and a new one, or temporary
one, was hastily made locally to "fill in" until the
clerk found the proper one again, or a new one
X, was issued. This is why the deviant or aberrant
types of postmarks are so interesting.
Konotop Vokzal (diameter 28- mm) I illustrate here two further items. The first
.appears on an un-franked cover addressed to the
Red Cross in Geneva. It
was sent from Grishino, and
,... ^-. v bears a very fine Grishino-
.- : T/3.10 Vokzal 17/3/16. Grishino
S"' is on the "link-railway sys-
tem" from Malaya
and Poltava Vokzal (diameter 24- mm). -Mikhailovka (which is on
the Ekaterinoslav-Berdyansk line) and the rail-
Comparing these to the earlier illustrations of way network around Yuzovka, midway between
the Khar'kov and Vil'na circular vokzal post- Slavyansk and Mariupol'.
marks, it is clear that in all cases (including the In the recent very fine publication "Russian
Kalish and Khar'kov ones illustrated by our Postmarks An Introduction and Guide" by
friend George Shalimoff (his figs. 1 and 2)) the Kiryushkin and Robinson, on page 59, Anatolii
name and designation 'vokzal' radiates around Kiryushkin (confirmed to me in correspondence)
the upper section of the circle, starting at the 8 or asserts that post offices using circular vokzal
9 o'clock position and going around to the 3 or 4 markings were ordinary post offices that were
o'clock position. In the case of the Khar'kov situated near or even by a railway station, and
marking there are two types: there is a dotted were NOT operated by the Railway Post Depart-
network between the inner circle and date bars ment, but by the ordinary Imperial Postal service.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 28
April 1991

The designation "vokzal" indicated their loca- postmarks were located near or even in the town
tion vis-a-vis other offices in the town -i.e., the railway station, collectors must decide if they
post office next door to/across the road from/100 wish to include them in railway postmarks or to
yards from/ the railway station. Actually, Ana- consider them ordinary town postmarks. That is
tolii conceded that this ordinary office could for the individual to decide. When I asked
even have been located in the station plaza or Anatolii why then, that important towns like
precinct, but was not run by the Railway Postal Khar'kov and Vil'na didn't have standard oval
Department. To illustrate his point, he uses two railway station cancellations, he replied that it
Orsha postmarks, both with the designation was likely the town had enough post offices, and
"Orsha Vokzal." The oval one was the standard with one within a few yards of the station, or even
railway station postmark used at the office in the within its precincts, a separate one operated by
station run by the Railway Postal Department, the Railway Postal Department was unnecessary
while the other was a town post office located and probably uneconomical.
next door/nearby to the station. Neither of us are We must thank Anatolii for clarifying a point
sure at which office the red oval postage due that has mystified Russian collectors for a long
marking (doplatit') was applied, as all doplatit' time, but it still leaves it to us to decide whether
markings were oval. I venture to suggest it was to consider the circular vokzal marks as 'semi-
applied at the real railway station office but that railway postmarks' or not.
may be wishful thinking! With thanks to our friends George Shalimoff,
A -: Kiryushkin and Robinson. -

The Brest-Kholm Line

S; J by D avid Skipton

Circular ORSHA marking with red DO- A short track running south from Brest to
PLATIT marking. Kholm in Poland was completed in 1903. Al-
though oval railroad cancellers first appeared in
IKAPTO" I that year', this particular line used a temporary
P X' i obliterator for a time, reading "P.V. (pochtovyi
"& : lvagon)/Brest Kholm." The date had to be entered
j-7 S. by hand. (Fig.1)

Standard oval marking used by the Railway (
Postal Department at ORSHA. #4
"Xb X@
Considering this idea vis-a-vis the Grishino
vokzal marking, the Grishino Vokzal office was Figure 1. Tracing of cancel.
- according to the 1915 postal guide list (with
thanks to Gary Combs for the info) about 3/4 The postcard shown in fig. 2 bears a nice strike
verst from the actual Grishino station. Thus its of this extremely rare canceller, together with an
location gave it its name to distinguish it from the octagonal datestamp of "Postal Branchof Mailcar
Grishino town office (PTO) in Grishino itself. No. 6," dated 3 and 31 Augut 1903, respec-
Since these post offices the ones with circular tively. It reached Riga on 1 September.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 29
April 1991

oly4 liI*1.*I
'F.' '" r- i"' i'T '' 'i

IIli 'I I I

What puzzles however is the apparent s- insists on August 1903, it's obvious mail was

"#118 of the Main Post-and-Telegraph Admin- order appeared. The instructions, therefore, seem-
.- ;. .. *',; fiI ,'.'^
': ^ : "7':.L

Figure 2. Cover with Brest-Kholm strike.

What puzzles, however, is the apparent dis- insists on August 1903, it's obvious mail was
crepancy between this 1903 cover and Order carried on that track at least 4 months before the
#118 of the Main Post-and-Telegraph Admin- order appeared. The instructions, therefore, seem
istration, dated 12 February 1904. concerned more with the assignment of 277 and
"On the establishment of mail transportation 278 to the line than with the first day correspon-
along the Brest-Kholm line of the Privislinskie dence was carried over it.
RRs. Anotherpossible explanation for the temporary
"Mail transportation on the Brest-Kholm RR canceller is that mail might have moved along
line has been instituted, [with the mail] accompa- just part of the line, before the tracks were com-
nied by travelling officials and postillions. The pleted. In any event, the citations given by
following numbers have been assigned to mailcars Luchnik3 and Kiryushkin & Robinson4 for a 1904
running on this route: 277 (Brest-Kholm) and opening must be understood as applying to the
278 (Kholm-Brest). "277-278" line designation only. "Brest-Kholm"
"The following stations are located along this predated it by a minimum of 4 months and 13
line: Bendary, Stradech, Dubitsa, Domachevo, days.
Vlodava, Sobidor, Ugrusk and Ruda (Opalin).
"I hereby notify all establishments within the Footnotes:
Post-and-Telegraph Administration of this, and 1. 1903 Circular from the Chief Directorate
that mail transportation on this line is within the of Posts and Telegraphs: 'On the Change of
purview of the III [RR] Department Chief. Type of Cancellations and Seals', in BJRP
Signed: Acting Chief of the Main Ad- #61, Dec. 1984, pp. 27-28, 30 & 37.
ministration, Sevast'yanov 2. PTZh (official edition), St. Petersburg,
Countersigned: Section Chief 1904, p. 125.
Lisovskii."2 3. Luchnik, N., "Russia's Railroad Mails,"
(trans. by R. Trbovich), Rossica #92,
The order doesn't come right out and say exactly 1978, p. 40.
WHEN mail transportation between Brest and 4. Kiryushkin, A. & P.E. Robinson, "Russian
Kholm began, but the date of issue for a circular Postmarks. An Introduction and Guide,"
or order of this nature normally means the time 1989, p. 67.
something started or stopped. Since the cover m

Rossica Journal Number 116, 30
April 1991

The Allied Intervention in North Russia

regarding the postal set up, if there was one,
for the British troops working in the Base
details at Archangel and Murmansk prior to
by Joseph Taylor the establishment of the PB post office."'

The following article will attempt to shed some
light on this early period of the intervention. It is
W while researching for my exhibits and this the result of research and examination of 160
article, I encountered only a few sources on the covers in various collections. Rather than pres-
beginning of the postal history of Allied Forces in ent the information in narrative form, I thought it
North Russia. The two major articles I consulted would be more useful to collectors if it were
were C. D. Brenner's (published in 1951 and given as a chronological outline. This will afford
based on 65 covers) and that by Adrian Hopkins others in the field an easy device against which to
on the Army T.P.O. (published in BJRP #36, check their own material. After the chronologi-
March 1965). The latter provided excellent in- cal outline, several other subjects will be dis-
formation, but acknowledged an important gap cussed: censormarks, postmarks, Travelling Post
in our knowledge of the field: Office (TPO) cancels and other subjects pertain-
"Incidentally, itappearsthatnothingisknown ing to the postal history of the North Russian
Intervention field.
Petchnmo
20aoe IVSSA CHRONOLOGY:

1914 to 1919 Relief organizations are in-
volved in Russia from the
beginning of World War I.
XAmNf These included the Red Cross
(fig. 1) and the YMCA (fig.2).

W T A RICAN RED CROSS MISSION
TO RUSSIA
.I 'rom Ray.-Lond R.obine
poA/ PnU lP .ne, i .cut. Col. Coa.I.ndinf5.

l /si x.taio Figurel. Raymond Robins was a self-appointed
Ca" J "\ representative of the U.S. State Department who
Se"" had almost daily talks with Lenin and Trotsky to
3 !r (-' / persuade them to stay in the war. Robins arrived
t. in Moscow in the summer of 1917. He left in May
1918. There are two chapters on Raymond
Sg Robins in "The Decision to Intervene" by George
F. Kennan, one of the two volumes published by
Atheneum, N.Y., 1967. These books are good for
Chart 1. Map of the A.E.F. region in Northern
a diplomatic history of that time.
Russia.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 31
April 1991

From Pcrley A. ,oster,Amer,SegY.M.C.A/.,
Archangel, Russia.

Figure 2. Return address is Perley A. Foster, American Secretary, YMCA, Archangel, Russia. He
was dispatched to Archangel on August24,1918 (per YMCA archives), probablyfrom England, and
posted this letter while on board ship.

POSTAL CARD '7..M 2

-- -. -. 0f
Sn-.-/.. (. 0

I

Figure 3. Rubber handstamp "On Active Service" apparently applied only to YMCA correspon-1919.
dence.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 32
April 1991
'^- ^i^^- f!\. *'*'' ^ *.i-S=h
..-^jt.-a-c~~~t^... t~ / \i .7-;T.j n
^"- ts~ >'L(-^ T
rri ^^ ^^
&&> ^J~c /, /'. >^^ ^^^.*'

Aprie< 199 1^ ^

1918 June 11 150 U.S. sailors from the
U.S.S. Olympia are the first
February 24 13 foreign embassies, includ- U.S. troops to land in North
ing the U.S., British, Chinese, Russia, at Murmansk.
Italian and French, leave Pet-
rograd as the Germans ad- June 23 600 British infantrymen land
vance on the capital. at Murmansk.

Early March Fearing the fall of Murmansk July 11 The 339th Infantry Regiment,
to German and White Finnish destined to be the main U.S.
forces, the Murmansk Soviet force in North Russia, leaves
telegraphs Trotsky, askingfor its muster ground at Camp
permission to receive Allied Custer (Battle Creek, Michi-
help. Trotsky replies, ". gan) (fig. 6) for its embarka-
You must accept any and all tion point at Camp Mills, New
assistance from the Allied York. 90% of the 339th
missions and use every means Infantry were from Wis-
to obstruct the advance of the i consin and Michigan.'
plunderers."2

March 6 130 British Marines land at <" Figure 6. Cancel used by the
Murmansk.3 3 330th at Battle Creek.

April 150 British Marines land at July 26 The foreign embassies reach
Murmansk. Archangel via Vologda and
Finland.
May 370 British Marines land at
Murmansk. July 26 871 French troops of the 21st
Colonial Infantry Battalion
May 24 U.S.S. Olympia, the first U.S. arrive in Murmansk.
warship in North Russian
waters during WWI, arrives July 31 1,500 assorted Allied troops
at Murmansk. (See chart 3 for leave Murmansk for Arch-
other ships.) It carried Major angel.
General Poole, Commander
in Chief of the Allied Forces August 3 The 1,500 Allied troops ar-
North Russia, and his staff. rive at Archangel.

WAR .On, eL August 4 U.S. 339th Infantry arrives
A,., AND NAY Liverpool, procedes to Cow-
SYouN. Ma N. cm TIN- A.OOAO- M shot Cam p, Surrey5 for refit
and training for North Russia.
-z.. --. o Also uses Bisley Camp, Wok-
--7.. i-]d -ci.' -_ ing, England as a rest camp.

Figure 5. USS Olympia. August 9 U.S. 339th Infantry is de-
tached from its division to
form as the "Murmansk Ex-
pedition."'

Rossica Journal Number 116, 33
April 1991

August 18 1,254 Italian troops arrive in codenamee Syren fig. 10) at
Murmansk. Murmansk.9 500 U.S. infan-

August 27 U.S. 339th embarks from trymenland at Archangel.
Newcastle-on-Tyne for Arch- October 15 Sedentary APO PB 2 (code-
angel.7 name Elope fig. 11) of the
R.E.P.S. begins operations at
September 4 4,500U.S. infantrymen of the: Archangel.10 (See chart 2 for a
1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions, listing of APOs.)
339th Infantry Regiment; 1st Early
Battalion, 310th Engineers November FPOs at Bakharitsa, Oberz-
Regiment; 337th Field Hos- erskaya and Soroka open.
pital; and the 339th Ambu-
lance Company disembark at November 25 Forty more Postal Section
Archangel. men arrive at Archangel and
Early Murmansk to reinforce the
September General Maynard, Comman- APOs and FPOs. Five addi-
der-in-Chief Allied Forces tional FPO cancellations ap-
Murmansk, reports to the War pear soon thereafter.
Department that 15,000 men Early
have been assembled. They December PB 88 cancel assigned to
include 7,400 British, 1,000 Kem'.
French, 1,350 Italians, 1,200
Serbs, and more than 4,000 1919
Russian, Karelians and Finns.
(Canadians were included in January 2 General Ironside, Comman-
the British totals.) der-in-Chief Allied Forces
Archangel, reports to the War
September 12 The "Murmansk Expedition" Department on troop strength
is redesignated the "Ameri- at Archangel: 6,300 British,
can North Russian Expedi- 5,200 U.S., 1,600 French and
tionary Forces."' (fig.7) 2,700 Russians.

September 28 Royal Engineers Postal Sec- March 17 720 U.S. Army Transporta-
tion (R.E.P.S.) arrives in tion Corps soldiers of the
Murmansk. U.S. and British 167th (Operations) and 168th
forces mail before the arrival (Maintenance) Companies
of the R.E.P.S. can be identi- leave Hull, England. (fig. 12)
fled by: censor marks (fig. 8);
content (fig. 9); London arri- Late March-
val cancels, and ship cancels. Early April The Transportation Corps ar-
(See the separate sections on rives at Murmansk. They are
censormarks, ship cancels and assigned to keep the railroad
postmarks for further infor- open and to maintain lines of
nation.) communication for the Allied
troops withdrawing from
September 30 First recorded use of seden- Archangel, which is icebound.
tary APO PB l's canceller

Rossica Journal Number 116, 34
April 1991

uii ;, -,,,' *. -..-. ......'.W

Archur.el, Pu .sia.
"erlcm nerth R" 2xioditiolery Ferce..
via lew York.-- ",

I

Figure 7. PicturepostcardofSolovetskiiMonas- Figure 8. Censored in manuscript by the U.S.
tery used by a soldier assigned to the 339th and the British oval marking.
Infantry.

IO'ilTOIBAT TiAl'T(r)'TKA. s.idir. -
cA IlE P'STA I.JI y)il l l"'
Door Mr. it Mr BLakr. Active 0 t
I a- tua r *aoveo froe the Seic Ji .. ""
elv sllsod world; Arehuan,
iKuost. I would rather be back ". --.
on Park pl.e. of course. I '. I,\
Our barrackL ore vary fino Mr. ake r,
and I am perfectly holthy. L : <. .<
It ge veryy co.ld up her, park Place.
they ar A. lw ... 40 be.low .
but we wll survive. The B*l- Kajliase, Michign.
*e*vTke arC our prLcttpel **urce -. _- -
of trouble t mew. fRegards to I;_:A:
my fr*inds tihet eabut.
e o IIFigure 10.w

FigureFigure 9.
Figure 9.

., .-w-h--.-1-ur- -f I noqOBA&r^,., ........

I A* C t I. -(,.. f..,,=..\ I 0''A^ ;9 I
aS,4 -W oer L. <% ^ B

Rossica Journal Number 116, 35
April 1991

April 9 "American North Russian Ex-
peditionary Forces" are re-
named "American Expedi-
tionary Force, North Rus-
sia.""

May U.S. units start arriving in """-
Archangel to return via Brest 6'
and France to the U.S.12

May 21 Medvezh'ya Gora falls to Al-
lied Forces. PB 88 (from
Kem') is reassigned to Med-
vezh'ya Gora. Figure 13. Censored in manuscript by a 1st. Lt.

Late May- of the 1st Battalion, 310 Engineers.
Early June Additional British infantry,
designated as the Russian
Relief Force, arrive at Arch- September 25 All Allied units stationed
angel as replacements, so that south of Murmansk begin
the original troops could re- withdrawing.
turn home. The force con-
tains 8,000 men divided into September 27 All remaining British units
two brigades, one under evacuate Archangel in a con-
Brigadier G.W. St. George voy of 45 ships.16
Grogan (PB 13) and the other
under Brigadier L.W. de V. October 13 Allied forces evacuate Mur-
Sadleir-Jackson (PB 14). mansk, ending the interven-
tion.
Early June Kem' receives PB 15 can-
celler to replace PB 88. Earliest & Latest
Type Number Location Dates Recorded
June 27 Last U.S. troops (elements of APO PB 1 Murmansk 30. 9.18 27.9.19
the Ist Battalion, 3thEngi- APO PB 2 Archangel 15.10.18-24.9.19
the st Battalion, 310th EFPO PB 11 Soroka 5.11.18 12.7.19
neers) leave Archangel.13 (fig. FPO PB 12 Onega 3. 4.19 9.7.19
13) FPO PB 13 Troitsa 1. 7.19-16.8.19
FPO PB 14 Troitsa/ 4. 7.19-31.8.19
Yakovlevskoe
Late August FPO PB 15 Kem' 8. 6.19- 25.9.19
Early September British units no longer need- FPO PB 22 Kandalaksha 19.12.18 7.4.19
ed return to England. FPO PB 33 Pechenga 7.12.18 2.7.19
FPO PB 44 Bakharitsa 1.11.18 23.9.19
FPO PB 55 Beresnik 16.12.18- 7.8.19
September 9 GHQ North Russia closes.'5 FPO PB 66 Oberzerskaya 24.11.18- 4.9.19
FPO PB 77 Emetskoe 19. 6.19-18.8.19
September 12 The Italian troops depart FPO PB 88 Kem' 4.12.18 23.9.19
September 12 The Italian troops depart Medvezh'ya Gora
North Russia. FPO PB 99 Kola 9.12.18 16.5.19
Army TPO #1 3. 7.19 -15.8.19
September 23 All British Units withdraw to Chart 2. North Russian Expeditionary Force
Archangel. Period of Usage of P.B. Cancels.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 36
April 1991

Year Ship Arrival/Departure Dates
1918 USS Olympia Arrived Murmansk May 24, Archangel Oct. 27, Murmansk November 11;
Departed Murmansk November 13 (first U.S. ship in Russian waters)

Aniwa* Arrived Archangel October 12;
Departed Archangel November 18

West Gambo* Arrived Archangel October 12;
Departed Archangel November 1

1919 USS Yankton Arrived Murmansk February 8, Alexandrovsk March 15, Murmansk April 5;
Departed Murmansk July 9

USS Galveston Arrived Murmansk April 8;
Departed Murmansk April 13

USS Chester Arrived Murmansk April 8;
Departed Murmansk April 13

USS Des Moines Arrived Murmansk May 13, Archangel May 22;
Departed Archangel September 14 (last U.S. ship in Russian waters)

USS Sacremento Arrived Murmansk May 22, Archangel June 5;
Departed Murmansk; July 13

Eagle Boat No. 1 Arrived Murmansk May 25;
Departed Murmansk about July 31

Eagle Boat No. 2 Arrived Murmansk May 25;*
Departed Murmansk about July 31

Eagle Boat No. 3 Arrived Murmansk May 25;
Departed Murmansk about July 31

Sub-Chaser No. 95 Arrived Archangel about June 18;
Departed Archangel July 9

Sub-Chaser No. 256 Arrived Archangel about June 18;
Departed Archangel July 9

Sub-Chaser No. 354 Arrived Archangel about June 18;
Departed Archangel July 9

The Aniwa and the West Gambo were cargo vessels manned by U.S. Navy crews.
C.D. Brenner has the Aniwa listed as Anuva.
From information supplied by Mr. Barry Zerby at the Department of Naval Records
at the National Archives, the deck log of the Eagle II shows that it anchored at Kola
on May 22, 1919.

Information for this chart was extracted from a work by Dr. Henry P. Beers. (See footnote 21.)

Chart 3. Ships arriving/departing the ports of Murmansk and Archangel.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 37
April 1991

Censormarks arrival in Archangel, mail was handled
by the Base Commanding Officer. (fig.
In the forerunner period (up to 27 Sept. 1918), 19)
I have only seen covers from the U.S. and British 1
troops, but that does not mean that other Allied ..
forces mail could not exist. Censormarks are the
primary means of identifying covers without .
contents from this period. The British censored "
most of the Allied Forces' mail in North Russia / ;
(i.e., U.S., Canadian, and their own), but did not 0 / : ;(
examine mail of the French and Italian troops t
unless it went through the British military postal '
system. Except for ship mail, U.S. mail was
generally censored twice, once by the British and
once by the American unit's officer. Evidence of
the latter instance is usually seen as a manuscript Figure 19.
censor mark (fig. 14), or "Examined by L num-
ber" (fig.15), or the "Stars-and-Eagle" censor Type 2 Oval PE/C/# probably meant "Postal
mark when the Transportation Corps arrived (fig. Examined/Censored" (fig. 20).
16). This censor mark was probably given to that
unit when it was in England or France.

S \. Figure 20.

i -"L atZ2 Type 3 Circular"Passed by Censor." This type
was used extensively in France in 1914,
Figure 14. Figure 15. but an "R" indicating Russia wasadded
for this expedition (fig. 21).

S.,6 Figure 21.
Figure 16. These were censor marks issued to in-
dividual British officers, so wherever
The British used three types of censor marks: they moved, there too moved the cen-
sor marks. For this reason, it is not
Type 1 Oval with x and number (fig. 17). The always correct to attribute them to
oval censor mark X20 (fig. 18) be- specific locations. In the Robert Siegel
longed to Major J. Haig-Smith," who catalog of the Edith Faulstich sale
was the assistant director of the Army (#440), for instance, the description of
Postal Services, Archangel. Before his lot #912 states that the purple oval X20
S- was the censor mark of Kola, whereas
)in fact it was the personal handstamp of
Major Haig-Smith. Furthermore, in
Figure 17. Figure 18. BJRP #65, p.7, the confusion is evident

Rossica Journal Number 116, 38
April 1991

in the following: "... it is difficult to
explain how the same Censor's mark -
can appearon both PB 1 Murmansk and t l
PB 2 Archangel covers. And yet this is -n 1
the case for 70 R and 81 R." Only by VES & LINDLEY, 'r
remembering thatthe censormarks went LiA o- Bii -,
with officers, and not locations, can t Stret.
sense be made of them. It would be nice HUDDERSFILD.
if British collectors could tell us which ggLn
officer at what location used these
censor marks during the period before Figure 25. Archangel to England dated 15 Sept.
the arrival of the R.E.P.S. 1919 and backstamped London 13 Oct. 1919.

The military also censored civilian mail. This Postmarks and NO Postmarks
operation was maintained by the Allied Intelli-
gence Censorship Division (see figs. 22-23.), When confronted with a cover lacking a circu-
which was comprised of a joint command of lar datestamp, it must be kept in mind that such a
British officers, one American and one French- cover could well have been posted in Archangel
man, plus staff. They censored internal Russian after the first use ofPB 1 and before the first use
mail (fig. 24), Russian correspondence to foreign of PB 2 (30 Sept.-15 Oct. 1918). In a second
destinations (fig. 25), the press and telegrams." "category" of mail, censored covers from be-
tween the first use ofPB 2 and the beginning of
Tf K' the FPOs is possible if they were not posted at
Archangel or Murmansk. The arrival of the U.S.
T IK E LLLIUGNENCE ^- forces on 5 September 1918 at Archangel is one
G. No rthern i way to date covers from this period. Also, covers
Russfa Exp. Force ,
Ru lSCEx sc,. may bear London arrival cancels. If they do, the
pAssd Jy Ceater. 6
k J arrival cancels saw use in three periods:

S: 1. Before the arrival of the R.E.P.S. in the
Figures 22-23. Censor marks used by the Murmansk area (fig. 26).
AJ.CD. ---

I 2 -.o. '. .,, -

,. .-- -

Figure 24. Kozhskaya to Archangel. 1918. Writer says it will go to Murmansk by
trawler.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 39
April 1991

2. Before the arrival of the R.E.P.S. in the miles north to the port of Murmansk, which,
Archangel area (fig. 27). because of the Gulf Stream, was ice-free all year.
The journey from Archangel to Soroka covered
ino ro,.IB0sTi3 TtS_.:" 300 miles by open sleigh in five to six days. The
S A J81 rest of the trip to Murmansk was by train that ran
.s "" only once per week due to poor track condition.
SIn late 1918 mail was exceedingly slow, because
S / 4. *-L- I" only military ships were used for military mail,
: v. ..s. i. and only naval ships and men-o'-war brought
r-,y -' naval mail. Average time for correspondence
S/ .. from Archangel to the various fronts were:2

Penega Front 2 days
Figure 27. Onega Front 2 days
3 Onega River Detachment 3 days
3. Before field post cancels began (fig. 28). Oega r t t day
Vologda Front 1 day
Seletskoe Front 3 days
Dvina Front 5 days
f -" -Miij. .Vaga Front 5 days

n ,; eh^ ma ..,, Slavo-British Regiments

S.:, '. ,oA.- Several regiments, commanded by the British,
Were made up of local anti-bolsheviks. Near the
end of the intervention in North Russia, one of
._.....__- .-. .._ these regiments mutinied and killed four British
Figure 28. and fourRussian officers. I have a cover cancelled
on 4 August 1919 with PB 88 (Medvezh'ya Gora
Army Travelling Post Office Cancels Bear Hill), where the writer says that for the last
two months he has been a temporary major for
In late October 1918 a Russian railroad mailcar one of these regiments.
in good condition was found at Kem'. On 4
November 1918 it started its weekly runs, de- Allied Forces Mail Other Than U.S.
parting Sundays from Murmansk to Soroka and or British
returning Saturdays. Later, a second TPO began
its runs, leaving Murmansk on Wednesdays, but Canadian forces: There were about 600 Cana-
its cancel has not been found anywhere but in the dians who served in North Russia. A good
proof inspection books at the GPO. In figs. 29- article to read on these forces is by Mr.
30 the return address is of the Transportation Richardson in BNA Topics, Jan.-Feb. 1983.
Corps (T.C.) that arrived in Murmansk in early
April, 1919. See fig. 31 for an official cover. To French forces: As of2 January 1919 there were
my knowledge, this is the first time that all three 731 French in Murmansk and 1606 in Arch-
recorded covers have been shown together." angel. Of the three covers with which I am
Winter Mail From Archangel familiar, two have diplomatic cancels ap-
plied in Paris (fig. 32); one of these two also
Archangel was iced in about seven months out bears a cachet of the 21st Colonial Battalion,
of the year, so its wintertime mail was sent 650 which lost half its complement at Verdun,

Rossica Journal Number 116, 40
April 1991

* A. nrn$ A.

I, A.
(' ^ J V 1

01. i. .. ,

Figure 29. Figure 30.

On his Majesty's Serric.

,,- *. .

Figure 31. Figure 32.
(?(* '' ij}) .I ** A -S

Figure 33. Figure 34.
l^^, R.ESERCITO i1TAL "N 6

Figure 33. Figure 34.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 41
April 1991

and a Paris transit mark dated 21 May 1919. For ship cancels, C. D. Brenner mentioned only
(The cover was forwarded to Wisconsin.) covers from USS Olympia and US S Des Moines.
The third cover was cancelled on 11 June Subsequently, covers from other ships have been
1919 at PB 2, censored by the British, and recorded. One is from USS Yankton, posted en
addressed to Paris. route to Murmansk (fig. 37), and another from
the US S Eagle II, written at Kola on 26 May 1919
Italian forces: The Italians used a cachet that and postmarked 28 May (fig. 38).21
read "Command of the Expeditionary Force
in North Russia" (figs. 33-34). ..6.^^t^_ : -

Miscellaneous Cancels, Postal Mark-
ings and Mail

There are two types of usage normally ob- / 5- t >7 c a . .
served on registered mail.

* Type 1 has the APO or FPO CANCEL applied .
to the registration label (fig. 35, back-stamped
in London, 3 June 1919). Figure 37.
Figure 37.
REGISTERED LETTER,. j -

h -
I ""j 'rLU P1A1 f^

Figure 35. _

* Type 2 was a HANDSTAMP indicating the Figure 38.
specific APO, applied to the registration label
(fig. 36). HQ 339th Official Adjutant Office (fig. 39, a

I-_ EGISTERED tETl'r r "category 1" of the no-postmark period) and
i' British hospital ship markings (figs. 40-41). For
S-'* ''-. incoming mail, see figs. 42-43.

-.,, ,.-....-" .\ ^ a39'-h **'**'. .
O it Figure 39.
",..--,-,-_,_. ... ..

Figure 36. `NY

Rossica Journal Number 116, 42
April 1991

41 -

Figure 40. Figure 41.

... L "rS17
Direetorate of Military latelligeace.

TRANSIT. ANDi DETAINED.@KR1PVMAIA.
"by u..... ..J !4.....h .. ".....:. -V L It -..

"J".M T.-. 'r. Igt J. mY
FetreSe A. o. a a.Figue

B.... .. .

ht. *9 A.tter M2.LI9.
OOKMENT.

Caeplelet of wall bas11 hel4 up to IJ.ests mA prme..
witer eve'sa amellsk- IOU U*. ova peS0.
"* repbItom e mate. of MVbigne iSk.in g AS
I-eteller a.0 the b et of ."W he pele

ls. 11el m. e r Sa et letters s er :m the '
bove. ?ustoLe war I $Usak 4s arUer 16e98 1 aiem. "theI
letters aswr go iLrogh the ?pere thes e to tiUS
e tr le**id mal In Fem" "er wOUpo. "wti s
16.k bed @, year letter" but I inew et aft awl, sig u
te Fi. T e are from Fi

"10597 (unnumbered), Military Intelli-
".4.15.* ". .. Figures 42-43. These are from File#

apartment General and Special Staffs.
Record Group 165, National Archives,
Or*s.. Washington, D.C. I want to thank John

df.... .I Hardiesforfinding this item.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 43
April 1991
to *ri t tk~ ru t. .^- ,, ,,_ .,

Letterheads and Envelope Corner - .- .
Cards TMY "
S A-CHANG "''
Before the arrival of the printed YMCA en- I NORfm lc -,.
velopes, most of the "comer cards" were hand- ,D
stamped. The following list is not necessarily
complete. .

Wih..'-' .. .* .* -, -

1-C A. "--- I" With. Allied ..Fpeditiomry. i

Type Y1 Rubberhandstamp. This cove

.

also illustrates category 2 of ''
the no-postmark period. .-._. ., .. -..
i y Type Y4 Rubber handstamp of the Al-
.. lied YMCA.
1A--.L ,- ________.___-,.,______.___________,____.___...... ....

'\"~, "*."c
NORTH RUSSL&, A* 10

Type Y2 Rubberhandstamp of the Army-
YMCA North Russia and a,
printed YMCA emblem.

YMCA, Allied Forces North
Russia.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 44
April 1991
April 1991

~3.
". A ON ACTIVE SERVICE
I" ,. "',- -__...
/ -t .4 .Le W....
F A: AL kN Itlm R"."1.1"EX-rW10NAnttf0Ate3

Type Y10 Letterhead similar to Y9.

Type Y6 Imprint of the YMCA emblem. ( .
-e W. !- ....-- -
s j' ."" .'." "' *, Wm .cni :

Qu.-. 'I Is

"Type KC1 Imprint of the Knights of Co-
,... : L _lumbus.

North bAerica.
Type Y7 Same as Y6, but with "Witho N 0
the Colors" added.

'Wa*kt~c Color' -

^^ ^. f. j ., ,../ I

point for a larger study on the A.E.F. North
.Russia. Based as it is on only 160 covers, the
definitive article is yet to come. My thanks to Al
hORTH' RU'SIRN Kugel, Gordon Torrey and others for allowing
CEXPEDITIONARY me to examine their North Russian holdings, to
SOR CES. Dave Skipton for the help on this article, and to
all the others whom I have bothered on the phone.
Type Y9 Imprint of Allied YMCA. The list is endless. ..

Rossica Journal Number 116, 45
April 1991

Footnotes: Postmark Reading in Belorussian and
Ukrainian
1. British Journal ofRussian Philately (BJRP)
#36, March 1965, p. 8. .......
2. Dobson, Chris and John Miller, "The Day
They Almost Bombed Moscow -The Al-
lied War inRussia 1918-1920," Atheneum, by Peter Michalove
1986, p. 41.
3. Ibid.
4. Center of Military History, U.S. Army, ,
"Order of Battle of The United States W hat the !@#$%)(*
Land Forces in the World War," vol. 2, language is this cancel
I language is this cancel
facsimile reprint from U.S. GPO, pp. in, anyway? This ques-
373377. tion has anguished many
5. Ibid. Russian philatelists who have examined Soviet
6. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 382. cancels, especially from the 1920s and '30s,
7. Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 373-377. when datestamps commonly gave placenames in
8. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 382. both Russian and the local language.
9. BJRP #36, pp. 6, 17. With the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland
10. Ibid. in 1939, bilingual cancels in Russian and Ukrain-
11. "Order of Battle ..," vol. 1, p. 382. ian became even more common. The Russian
12. Ibid., p. 383. was usually on the left and the Ukrainian on the
13. Ibid. right, but Ivo Steyn points out that this pattern
14. Dobson, p. 219. was not always followed, so it can be difficult to
15. Ibid. tell which version of the name is in which lan-
16. Ibid.
17. BJRP #36, p. 10. guage.
17. BJRP#36,p. 10. Since the Slavic languages, and especially the
18. Kessler, Mel, "Covers of Interest to Rus- East Slavic languages, are so closely related, I
sian and U.S. Collectors," Rossica,#61, hope to give some quick and easy hints in this
p.15. article to help the bewildered postmark reader
19. BJRP #36, pp. 6, 13, 15-18. distinguish the Slavic languages often encoun-
20. Ibid, p. 21. tered in Russian philately. This guide should
21. Dr. Beers, Henry P.,"U.S. Naval Forces in facilitate finding cognates between them as well.
Northern Russia (Archangel and Mur-
mansk), 1918-1919," Nov. 1943. (One of The Slavic Languages
a series in the "Administrative Reference
Service Reports," Navy Department.)l First, it may help to give a brief overview of the
-- ---------languages in the Slavic family. The Slavic lan-
From "Khronika" in "Zhizn' i Tekhnika guages are aclosely-relatedIndo-European group,
Svyazi" No. 4, April 1924, p. 136. all descended from a common language (often
called common Slavic), which began to break
Steamer runs from Odessa to Hamburg apart into regional dialects about the fifth or sixth
centuries A.D. As a result of this diffusion, the
After a 10-year hiatus, the Volunteer Fleet modern Slavic languages are now usually classi-
will soon open the Odessa-Hamburg line, with fled into three groups: South Slavic (consisting
stops at all ports in the Mediterranean. of Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian and
-------- e --- ---n Slovene), West Slavic (consisting of Czech,

Rossica Journal Number 116, 46
April 1991

Slovak, Polish and Sorbian. Sorbian is fre- pronounced. The best-known alternation is that
quently called Wendish or Lusatian, and is often o becomes a in the syllable immediately before
treated as two languages, Upper and Lower Sor- stress. Thus the Belorussian aco6Hw arpaa stamp
bian), and East Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian and issue is pronounced like the Russian oco6mur
Belorussian). Thus, Old Church Slavonic, the OTpsa, but spelled more phonetically. Note that
language put into writing in the ninth century by the p (r) is always hard in Belorussian, so the a in
Saints Cyril and Methodius, and which became the Russian oTpna becomes a in Belorussian. In
the first literary language of the Slavs, wasnotthe another example of spelled akan'e, the town
parent language of the modern Slavic languages. known to Russians as 3KenyaoK (Zheludok) is
Although it must have been very close to Com- 3KXanyaoK to Belorussians.
mon Slavic, it has a number of distinct South Differences in the alphabet are also helpful
Slavic features. guides to the postmark reader. The Belorussian
Obviously, the languages most pertinent to alphabet is characterized by the letter Y, pro-
Russian philately are those of the East Slavic nounced like the English u or w. This replaces a
group. Records of written East Slavic date from Russian B or .n at the end of a syllable. For
the 11th century, and Ukrainian begins to emerge example, the city of Mogilev is MormneB in
as a separate language in the 12th to 13th centu- Russian and Moriney in Belorussian. This name
ries. Belorussian takes on an independent life also illustrates akan'e and the Belorussian hard p
from about the 15th century. Thus, the earliest (r).
East Slavic writings, commonly called Old Rus- Belorussian has the letter i, which is the exact
sian, are just as much the ancestors of modern equivalent of the Russian H. (There is no Be-
Ukrainian and Belorussian. But the name Old lorussian letter H.) Thus, the city of Pinsk (lrfHHc
Russian is well established, even if it infuriates in Russian) is HiHCK in Belorussian. And Bara-
the Belorussians and especially the Ukrainians. novichi (BapaHOBHTm in Russian) is BapaHaBiqu
For the following hints on recognizing Be- in Belorussian. This example presents some
lorussian and Ukrainian in postal markings, I will other useful didactic features as well. Did you
assume the reader is already familiar with the noticethe spelled akan'e again? Anddon'tworry
Russian version of the Cyrillic alphabet. that q is followed by H in Russian, but u in
Belorussian. The casual postmark reader won't
Belorussian notice that, and it takes more detail to explain
than it's worth here.
Let's look at Belorussian first, as it is the closer Although Belorussian doesn't have a letter H, it
to Russian; the two languages are usually mutu- does have an f, which, like the same letter in
ally comprehensible (except by extreme nation- Russian, is used for the second half of diph-
alists of either party, who would never admit that thongs. Thus Bobruisk is Bo6pyircK in Russian
those upstart foreigners speak anything like our and ia6pyiicK in Belorussian. (You did notice
true East Slavic speech. In fact, Russian has been the akan'e again here? Very good.)
greatly influenced by Old Church Slavonic, a One of the most characteristic features of Be-
South Slavic language, while Belorussian shows lorussian is that soft palatalizedd) t and d become
a heavy West Slavic influence from Polish). ts and dz. For instance, Vitebsk is BrHe6cK in
For postmark readers familiar with Russian, Russian but Biue6cK in Belorussian. And the
the most striking feature of Belorussian is the Russians speak of a town called MononeCTo
akan'e, or vowel reduction. In Russian, the (Molodechno), but its Belorussian name is
vowels a, e and o, when unstressed, receive Ma.nal3eqHo.
"reduced," less distinct pronunciation. This Belorussian lacks the letter ul (writing mq in-
happens in Belorussian too, but in that language, stead). Thus, Shchuchin (UIy9k HH in Russian) is
the change in vowel quality is spelled as well as lUqyqan in Belorussian. (And extra points for

Rossica Journal Number 116, 47
April 1991

noticing the u this time.) lable (a syllable ending in a consonant). Ex-
Belorussian also lacks the hard sign (b), but that amples of this phenomenon are everywhere:
letter is pretty rare in Russian, too, by the Soviet Russian has .JbBOB, KHeB and XapbKOB, and
period when philatelists start dealing with writ- Ukrainian has JIbBia, KniB and XapbKiB.
ten Belorussian. Ukrainian does have a letter H, but it is pro-
Belorussian doesn't have a long-standing nor- nounced similar to the Russian u. (Ukrainian
mativetraditionof spellinglikeRussianorUkrain- doesn't have a letter u.) Thus with Ukrainian H
ian, so you may find postmarks that don't follow corresponding to Russian u, Drogobych
the rules above. Oh well, even the capital of the (Aporo6uq in Russian) is Aporo6m in Ukrain-
Republic, which is now spelled MiHCK, was spelled ian, and Volynsk (BonJHoc in Russian) is
MeHcK in Belorussian on most postmarks of the BOJMHHChK in Ukrainian. (You get bonus points
1920s and '30s. for noticing the soft sign in the Ukrainian here.)
With Ukrainian H corresponding to the Russian
Ukrainian H, )KHTOMHP (Zhitomir) is spelled the same in
both languages.
On a continuum of the East Slavic languages, The Ukrainian H is also used in the ending -Tr
Ukrainian is the furthest from Russian. Ukrain- for infinitives, where Russian has -Tn. Thus, the
ian and Belorussian are certainly mutually com- Russian aonunaTrmT (to pay the balance, i.e.,
prehensible, with Ukrainian and Russian less so. postage due) is AornnaTmr in Ukrainian, and you
Ukrainian has been especially influenced by can find Ukrainian postage due cachets with the
Polish, and the Western Ukrainian dialects in word.
particular show many Polish features. Ukrainian has the letter i, which corresponds
Like Belorussian, Ukrainian has a letter i, exactly to the Russian and Belorussian f. The
pronounced like the Russian H. But the Ukrain- city of Stryi is CTpuf in Russian and CTpHfi in
ian letter has an entirely different function. Ukrainian.
Collectors familiar with Imperial Russian can-
cels will recall the letter t called a "mi," which Summary of Correspondence
has been spelled e in Russian since 1918. The t
was a Common Slavic vowel which has been lost Belorussian
in all the modern Slavic languages. In common
Slavic times, it was probably pronounced like the 1. Spelled akan'e or vowel reduction. Russian
a in the English word "pack." In Russian, it ICenoAoK, Belorussian 3CaioaoK.
eventually came to be pronounced "ye," like the 2. Letter forRussian j ora at end of a syllable.
letter e, and after the Soviet spelling reform, both Russian MorHneB, Belorussian Morine'.
s and an original e were spelled e. In Ukrainian, 3. Letter i for Russian H. Russian HHInCK,
the t came to be pronounced i, and is spelled with Belorussian HiHcK.
thatletter. Thus, the Ukrainian city ofDnepropet- 4. U, 3s for Russian soft palatalizedd) T, A.
rovsk (Anenrpo-neTpOBCK in Russian) is Russian Brre6cK, MonojeHmo, Belorussian
AHinponeTpoBcbK in Ukrainian. Don't worry Biue6cK, Masia3eno.
about the soft sign (b) sandwiched in between the 5. No letter w. Russian IUlymH, Belorussian
c and k. That's another detail that's too much LUqyun.
trouble to explain here. But since many Slavic
placenames end in -ck, the presence of the soft Ukrainian
sign there is a good tip-off that you're dealing
with Ukrainian. 1. Letter i for Russian e from a s. Russian
The letter i has another use in Ukrainian. It AHenponeTpoBcK, Ukrainian
corresponds to a Russian e or o in a closed syl- AHinponeTpoBCK.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 48
April 1991

2. Letter i forRussiane or o in closed syllables. Overprints of Stamp No. 2666
Russian KCeB, Ukrainian KniB.
"3. No letter u. Letter H for Russian H or u. by A. Andreev
Russian Aporo6uq, Ukrainian aIporo6Hn. (translated by Scott Allen)
KCHToump in both languages.
4. Letter Y for Russian H. Russian CTpu,
Ukrainian CTpHY.

And finally, to any Slavists out there, a dis-
claimer in advance. This article makes no pre-
tense of giving a detailed, or even a superficial
summary of the sound systems of the East Slavic 'Ko. K-
languages. And it makes several generalizations
that are usually, but not always true, without Stamp No. 2666 (Scott No. 2573)
going into the exceptions. The only purpose here
is to help the reader distinguish the languages The article "Several Overprint Varieties"
involved most of the time! which appeared in "Filateliya SSSR" No. 7,
1984, discussed USSR stamp varieties, which,
[Ed. Note: Peter also offers a correction to the up to that point, had not been included in cata-
spelling of Lvov in his article in issue #113/114. logs. In addition to those stamps in the article, it
The correct spelling is as listed in this article.] is possible to add the overprint varieties of stamp
i No. 2666. These issues, commemorating the vic-
tories of the Soviet hockey team in the World and
S- -- ---------- ------ European Championships of 1963 and 1969, are
From "Khronika" in "Zhizn' i Tekhnika listed as Nos. 2835 and 3766 in the catalog.
Svyazi" No. 7, July 1924, p. 144. COrrrCK A seven-line typographic over-
MblI o--w -n print was placed on stamp No. 2666
Mobile posts in the Lower Volga District I CMM in 1963 following the victory in
MHpL
n ERpou Stockholm. Its text reads: "Soviet
The total number of mobile posts Cror a hockey players-World and Euro-
I (EPEBIHCHHE nOtTU) presently operating I pean Champions. Stokgol'm.
Iin 5 districts [within the Lower Volga District] I 1963."
Stands at 11 circular and 4 direct routes, con-
necting 178 locations (with a population of
380,000). Broken down by district: Kuznetsk
has 3 circular routes connecting 6 locations,
Balashov 2 circular (24 locations), Vol'sk 4
circular (39 locations), Saratov 1 circular (221
locations), and Pokrovsk 1 circular (12 loca- I
Stions) and 4 direct (45 locations).
Usually, people who are well-educated and INo. 2835 (Scott No. 2732) with 1963 overprint.
Love postal work are chosen as travelling mail-
men. Willingly ornot, in this situation they are Six years later, the Soviet team again won the
the direct links between city and village. highest hockey titles World and European
- - - Champions. The Soviet Postal Administration
marked this success with yet another overprint
placed on stamp No. 2835 in addition to the

Rossica Journal Number 116, 49
April 1991

already-present overprint marking the 1963 So- The black overprint, present on both issues, has
viet sport victory, several varieties which have not been listed in
Thus, on the newly issued stamp (No. 3766), two catalogs. These are shifts in the placement of
overprints are present: the above-mentioned lines relative to one another (characteristic of
1963 black overprint and the typographically produced texts) and the length of
CTrnIroa .l 169 new, red, typographic over- the seventh, final line.
print "Stokgol'm. 1969." After inspecting the examples in my col-
The overprint is a single line placed vertically election, I have arranged examples into a table
along the right edge, reading from bottom to top. according to the type of overprint variant, and
h......... ave provisionally designated them as Type I,
Type II, and Type III.

I [Ed. Note: Mr. Allen corrects a flaw in the
original chart. In the original chart, the Type I
and Type II examples are reversed.]

No. 3766 (Scott No. 3612) with 1963 and 1969
overprints.

Type I Type II Type III

EBponb EBpon EBpoDb
OKrojih )Ktoi1i cKroijb
96 r. 9.I 963I r.

Overprint
Features Type I Type II Type III
The number "3" in Situated under the Between the same as Type II
the date "1963" "1" (g) in the word "r" & "0" in
"CTOKr'OJIbM" "Stokgol'm"
The letter "" in Aligns with the left Between the Aligns with the
"1963 r." (vertical vertical stroke of letters "O" & center of "I" in
stroke of the letter) "H" in "EBPOHIl" "P" in "EBPOIhl" "EBPOIbI"
Vertical stroke of the Shifted to the right in Aligns with same as Type II
letter "" in relation to the vertical vertical stroke
"CTOKrOIJIM" stroke of the "H" in of "P" in
"EBPOHi" "EBPOHn"

Distance between the 1.4mm 1mm 1.6mm
"3" and the "r." in
"1963 r."
Length of the 7th 6mm 5.6mm 6.2mm
line (1963 r.)
Composite chart of overprint features

Rossica Journal Number 116, 50
April 1991

Postcard from the "669 Days of Infamy"

by Dr. Peter A. Michalove and George G. Werbizky

Ivo Steyn stated in Rossica No. 115 ("Soviet POW. The message, written in Ukrainian, is
Censorship: Some Additional Notes") "I would from his wife. The postcard apparently arrived as
certainly agree with Mr. Shmuely" (Rossica No. verified by the Stalag stamp.Partial translation of
112, "Soviet Censorship and Other Markings") the front of the card is as follows:
that censor markings from the "669 Days of UpDer left-hand corner
Infamy" (Molotov-Ribbentrop pact between Violet oval mark reading:
Soviet Union and Nazi Germany) are very scarce." Stalag VIII B
Prior to 1939, many ethnic Ukrainians lived in Gepriift (verified)
Poland, and in particular in Eastern Poland. The No.9/
Soviets used this excuse when invading the Upper right-hand corner
Eastern part of Poland. Cancelled 18-10-40, Ostrozec, Rovenskaya ob-
When soldiers were captured, or surrendered, last' (Ostrozec is located not far from Lutsk in
they completed a "capture card" that was for- Volynskaya oblast', Western Ukraine)
warded to the International Red Cross. This card, The postcard is addressed to:
and subsequent ones indicating the POWs' ad- Germany
dress, state of health, etc., would give POWs' Nikolai Demechuk
relatives an address to which correspondence P.O.W. No. 2589
should be addressed. Ed Wolski gives some Stalag VIII B
background on the International Red Cross in his From:
article "Expanded Range of WWII POW Mail," Soviet Russia
Polonus Bulletin. Nov-Dec, 1989. Vera Demechuk
Although the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany Village Verhivki
did not regularly allow the exchange of POW Post ? (not legible)
correspondence after the German invasion of Oblast' Volyn.
1941, there was no hindrance in 1940. In addi- Other notations/markings observed:
tion, during this period, there are no explicit In the upper left-hand corer, in red pencil what
indications of Soviet censorship of mail. looks like an "x" followed by "E" in blue pencil
This short article describes a postcard from that and a straight line. In the lower left-hand corer,
period. Itdoesn't "22a" crossedout
carry a Soviet and "LG"in the
censor's mark, ;. PTO KA lower right-hand
but rather a Ger- c corner, both in
man one. It was .'.y .e4 blue pencil. On
cancelled on 18- : ,... the top, under the
10-1940, whichis. L 0 _; inscription, in
in the middle of -; :";r --- black pencil
the "Days of In- "Umschulung
famy." The post- ,.. Hamburg List 1"
card is addressed 'E"r I 8 ;cEbErATE ror aA I Retraining
to aPolish soldier Hamburg List 1.
captured by the B
Germans in 1939 .- -. .
and held as a ---. ..

Rossica Journal Number 116, 51
April 1991

Soviet Meter-Mail Markings A Review of the Main Types

by L. Il'ichev
(Translated from Filateliva SSSR, August 1986 by Gary A. Combs)

[Translator: Meter-mail is often overlooked as a *
viable subject to collect and study. I felt this ar- ,nl1icnoc0sn 7
IE-IHIC010 {CT W 14 U ""' *] K K
tide would provide some general information on AurnAM AR CCCf n -l rA
the subject to our members.]

n 1924, the Soviet Union introduced mc., , no,.A
n 1 0061.rmirci.i-i ( (
meter-mail devices indicating the amount of post- ."NsOMn ,NA, 10"
age paid. At first they were hand-operated de- .
vices. Machine cancellers used for this function
were introduced in 1927.1,'6 u rci, 00 s
oHFlPl bi .IEI N 0 04 N
In the spring of 1933, the NKPiT [People's ,.0mraEa CCCI,.
Commisariat of Posts and Telegraph] issued cir- ,..-"r""*n d g-
cular No. NGP/172, entitled "On the abolish-
ment of cash payments for mail sent to out-of- y MOC a 11,
town locations by the general public and official lelP Co 1O
packets." The circular stated that effective April "P WamuIur"
1, 1933, all postal correspondence would once
CC Cp
again require the affixing of adhesive postage Mi N l001
stamps with no calculations in cash.'3 However, lI
the meter-mail markings of the City Official Postcc'
(Gorodskaya Sluzhebnaya Pochta GSP) and its
meter machines continued in operation. Pay-
ment was based on non-cash [credit?] accounts cS
according to contracts with the NKPiT.' T1 2466(77To.;nU, t Hr
Norwaywasthe firstcountrytointroduce meter- coal rc C C ?SH oi, 6 f ,rO
mail devices when, in 1903, Karl Ukherman -
successfully demonstrated a meter-mail machine c
of his own making.5 Following the example of to7 8 03 r(olMOCUn1 004,
011 rOpt0ll 1B tSEP. IIt
Norway, Great Britain introduced meter-mail O3l'.ot103TCinXIR no.TA
CCCf
machines in 1922; Germany and Switzerland in
1923; France in 1924. However, A. Nagi is of the
opinion that the first device for meter-mail ap- 117810 r.MocnM.rl-7 1004
peared in Wiirtemberg, Germany, 1895. !l0-0'.8 412
r i -MCTNT91 K"OINEtXHK \ "
In the post-war period, many organizations in cnoam M s .iMKM)
the Soviet Union acquired them (as a rule, com- Z s
munications centers orpostal branch offices which 1 04P^T-a3
served a given organization. Payment for use of *l f-----"-41 n TJI
40WIA WOIMPr3 13 inO4TA
these machines was calculated by a meter. In the 4, AI a"" "M.Ta 68 c
beginning, the impression of these meter-mail 0 c
devices was made using red ink. Today it is more
often done in black ink. An important feature of ME a060
these machines is that they can be used on postal hn-r mn a

Rossica Journal Number 116, 52
April 1991

correspondence of virtually any shape or size.7 postal address of the sending organization. In the
As a general rule, the design of the meter-mail upper part the one-up log number of the item is
impressions consists of three parts: the figure of often displayed. Designs with the postal address
the postmark; the postal date stamp of the stan- first, followed by the name of the sending organi-
dard type; and between them, the name of the dis- zation also exist. In addition, one can find de-
patching organization and its postal address, signs in the form of an octagon used to indicate
The first meter-mail design consisted of a the postage paid, but with different text arrange-
"changeable" mark to indicate the amount of ment. In the upper part there is only the star with
franking. Inside this impression: the abbrevia- the hammer and sickle; the word "KOn" is lo-
tion "CCCP" [USSR] or "fIIOTA CCCP" cated in the lower part; the words "f-lOTA CCCP"
(POCHTA SSSR USSR Postage) appear in the are placed vertically on the sides.
upper part; in the middle, three numbers are used One also sees meter-mail cancels where the left
to indicate the amount of postage in kopecks. and right sides are together, and the name of the
The amount of postage depended on the postal sending organization is on the left side after the
tariff in use at the time and the weight of the item date stamp. This particular design, as a general
to be mailed. Instances are known when the rule, occurs on the meters of devices belonging to
amount was "000"; it meant that the postal corre- the Soviet export organizations.
spondence was sent "Postage Due" and the re- It should be pointed out that various minor
cipient of the correspondence paid all applicable differences in the design and printed text of the
fees. As a general rule, the address and name of meter-mail cancels can be seen. They exist in the
the organization did not appear on the early sizes and style of the numbers and text, place-
designs. Around 1929, the name of the organiza- ment of the postal address, and the name of the
tion began to appear. Sometimes only the postal organization. (Occasionally, the name of the
address was present, but usually the two ele- town and the number of the postal establishment
ments appeared together. This design remained are placed vertically in relation to the name of the
in use until the end of the 1960s. sending organization.)
In the post-war period, the design of the meter- On some designs currently in use, either in the
mail markings changed appearance somewhat. name of the sending organization or in the date
The ornamental frame disappeared and square stamp, one encounters the abbreviation "rCII -
octagonal ones set vertically were introduced. ropoAacan cnyxe6Haa no'ra" [GSP]. This
On the right part of the design, the mark used to organization is covered in detail by G. Nagol'nov
indicate the amount franked was either an octa- in "Filateliva SSSR," No. 2, 1985.
gon or square, and stood in place of a postage Lately, these meter-mail machines have been
stamp. In the upper part was the abbreviation used by organizations not only to handle postal
"CCCP" with the 5-point star with hammer and correspondence without postage stamps, but also
sickle in the middle. In the lower part, the words to cancel picture envelopes with indices. In
"IIOTA CCCP" were located. The word "nIOTA" addition, they have been used to make up defi-
was placed either in a semi-circle or horizontally, ciencies in postage on under-franked letters or
and in the center were the numbers denoting the postcards. (This was caused by the internal post-
amount of postage in kopecks. age rate change of February 2, 1983.) The author
On the left side of some impressions beginning knows of several stampedpicture envelopes where
in the 1980s, the postal cancellation of the stan- the indicia have been cancelled with meter
dard type appears with the date of dispatch indi- devices from Moscow and Kemerovo organiza-
cated. The design was turned 90 degrees with the tions. A special-order postcard from the editorial
numbers of the date situated vertically instead of staff of the newspaper "TRUD" with a 3-kopeck
horizontally. indicium was sent on February 23, 1983, with a
In the center of the design is the name and meter-mail cancel in the amount of one kopeck.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 53
April 1991

(That made it agree with the new rate established Count Alexander Grabbe
for postcards mailed within the Soviet Union at
the time.) Other examples using standard issue by Len Plotkin
postal stationery envelopes contain only the right
part of the meter-mail design with the amount of In a recent issue of the ROSSICA Journal
"001k.." Both these items were posted in Mag- (#113/114) a question was raised as to the iden-
nitogorsk and Barnaul. This usage is interesting. tity of the addressee of a rather precarious cover
In conclusion, it should be pointed out that the from Bangkok, Siam to St. Petersburg. The cover
rapid increase in meter-mail volume and the was mailed in June of 1912 and was addressed to
variety of meter-mail markings makes them an "Count Michael Grabbe, General in the Entou-
interesting subject for collecting and study, rage of His Majesty the Emperor of Russia,
thereby enhancing research, thematic and chrono- Commandant of the mixed Cossack Regiment of
logical collections, the Guard." While there was no 'Michael' Grabbe
in the service of the Tsar, there was a certain
References: Count Alexander Grabbe in very close contact
1. Bulletin of the NKPiT, 1933. with Nicholas II, and it is most likely that it was
2. Pyatetskii. "Soviet Franking Cancellers." he for whom the letter was intended. General
Sovetskii Kollektsioner, 1928, No. 2(84), p. Count Alexander Grabbe was born in 1864 in the
10. Caucasus mountains. His father, the commander
3. Rudnikov, Yu. "City Official Mail. In Place of a military force, had been sent there to quell
of Postage Stamps. Franking cancellers." warring mountain tribes. The Count's whole
Filateliya USSR, 1975, No. 7, pp. 22-23; career came to be influenced by this unlikely
1976, No. 5; No. 8, pp. 21-22. place of birth, for the Viceroy of the Caucasus at
4. Yakobs, V. A. "Postal cancellations in the the time was the patriarch of the Romanov fam-
philatelic collection. Library of the Young ily, Grand Duke Michael, the son of Tsar Nicho-
Philatelist." Issue 14. Moscow. Radio and las I. Thus, through his father's contacts, Count
Communications, 1983, pp. 71-76. Grabbe later came to know the Grand Duke and
5. Gross, V. and K. Gryzhevskii. "A Journey his sons. Alexander Grabbe attended the prestig-
into the World of Stamps." Translated from ious Corps des Pages military academy located in
the Polish. M.,Progress, 1977, pp. 134-135. the Vorontzov Palace in St. Petersburg. At the
6. Hagi, A. "Franking Cancellers." Sovetskii Corps des Pages it was customary to select out-
Kollektsioner, 1929, Nos. 7-9 (95-97), pp. standing students to serve, in their final year, as
47-57. pages to the Imperial family on state occasions;
7. Stadnitskii, G. "Letters franked without Count Grabbe was among those chosen for this
stamps." Filateliya USSR, 1965, No. 10, pp. honor. Placed in the service of Grand Duke
26-27. m Michael, Alexander was invited to join the
Romanov family on its 1890 trip around the
FFrom "Khronika in "Zhizn' i Tekhnika world. It was on this trip, while in Ceylon, that
Svyazi" No. 5, May 1924, p. 157. 1 Count Grabbe first met Nicholas II, then Tsare-
Ivich. One of the more exotic destinations of this
STheft of registered and insured correspon- journey was Bangkok, Siam where the entire
I dence mailed at the Moscow GPO entourage was the guest of King Chulalongkorn.
In 1913, there were 8 instances [of theft], in Quite likely the Count made some acquaintances
1914 26,1917 36,1918 49,1919 83,1920 here in Bangkok from whom he was later to re-
91,1922 261 and 1923 -7. In 1922, one theft ceive correspondence. Upon returning from the
occurred for every 15,437 items, and in 1923, trip, the Count further advanced his military
he rate fell to one per 527,065 items _j career by joining his grandfather's Cossack regi-

Rossica Journal Number 116, 54
April 1991

ment. Soon after that, he married a lady-in- Customs Censorship in the 1960s
waiting to the Empress, the daughter of a cabinet
minister of Tsar Alexander III. Having been a by G e
faithful aide-de-camp to Grand Duke Michael by George erbzsk
until the Grand Duke's death in 1911, Count Although not generally thought of as cen-
Grabbe was promoted to Fliegel Adjutant to the sorship in the traditional meaning, postal cus-
Tsar with the rank of colonel. During the follow- toms' agents have opened, inspected and de-
ing years he accompanied the Imperial family to trained mail in every country of the world. Thus,
the Crimea and cruised with them in Finnish the Soviets are no different.
waters on the Tsar's yacht. In 1914 he was The letter shown here is an example of Cus-
promoted to major general and appointed com- toms opening a letter from Canada to Vilnius,
mander of the Konvoy regiment an elite guard Lithuania. It is similar to two letters (figs. 47 &
unit created in the early nineteenth century to 48) shown by Mr. Shmuely in his article "Soviet
guard the Tsar. In this capacity, Count Grabbe Censorship andOtherMarkings"inRossica#1 12.
remained to serve the Tsar until the abdication on It differs in that it has the following markings:
March 15, 1917. Following the Bolshevik revo- "Retour Interdit" (Return, Forbidden; a rectan-
lution Count Grabbe made a dramatic escape on gular stamp "Vilnius Customs" with handwritten
a British minelayer to Copenhagen, Denmark. notation "It is forbidden to mail postage stamps
He remained there with his family until 1923, at 10-2-66."- text and notation are in Russian; arec-
which time they emigrated to the United States tangular stamp, in French, signed by the Inspec-
where Count Grabbe lived out the remaining tor of Customs and a postal employee. I think the
days of his life. French notation probably refers to the fact that
Information for this article came from a book the letter was opened and resealed with a light
titled "The Private World of the Last Tsar," by brown paper slip and cancelled 10-2-66, Vilnius.
Paul and Beatrice Grabbe published in 1984 by Another letter (not shown here) has a small pre-
Little, Brown & Co., Boston. printed label in French reading "Retour interdit
timbres-poste" (return, forbidden, postage
stamps) affixed to it. The letter was roughly
opened and crudely resealed without indication
that it was done. The letter was posted in Canada
and sent to
S----. .----- -- -- Khar'kov, Ukraine,
-, -- March 14, 1966.
tourr I hope this short
ri ^ 3 article will generate
D____ ___D___ additional work on
--: 5 R MAIL various postal and
--,_a _. .1 official censor
I markings. Iamvery
A AIR MAIL much interested in
S 'hearing from other
b--'b, f I i. ,, members who have
SL similar holdings.
ur -Perhaps future is-
S. r il .... sues will carry fol-
low-up articles.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 55
April 1991

Scott 1991 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue.
Scott Publishing Co., Sidney, OH.

by George Shaw

The new Scott catalogues contain over 600 1936/40,1979)hadthemostsignificantdeclines,
price changes from the 1990 edition for the down 25-33%.
Russian area. Although the press release and The post-1960 period only had increases. Large
subsequent review in Linn's Stamp News on increases occurred for the mint 1961 aluminum
October 22, 1990 stated that there are more price foil space stamps (Scott 2533-2534) and several
decreases than increases, a detailed examination ofthe souvenir sheets with control numbers (Scott
of the changes reveals that about 70% of the 4245, 4251, etc.). Stamps with Lithuanian con-
alterations went up. nections increased and the mint Samantha Smith
In the Czarist period, only Scott 1 used in- memorial (Scott 5415) went up 150%.
creased, from $300.00 to $350.00. Among major The Olympic semi-postals were mixed the
varieties, Scott 3 used, Scott 4 used as well as souvenir sheets were up while the high value city
Scott 39-40 mint and used decreased. Many of stamps (Scott B121-36) were down. The airmails
the imperforate pairs and other varieties between were heavily down, representing about half of all
Scott 26 and 50 decreased, often 25-40%. decreases for Russian philately. These declines
Among the pre-1940 Soviet issues, about 80% are spread fairly uniformly across the listings.
of the price changes were up. These included, the Big ticket varieties such as the 1924 inverts
used 1924-25 unwatermarked 15 kop. worker (Scott C7b-C9a), the 1930 Zeppelin imperfs (Scott
(Scott 287), the 1927 overprints (Scott 349-358), C12b-C 13b) and the small "f" variety of the 1935
the 1927-28 definitive (Scott 382-400) and about San Francisco overprint (Scott C68b) were all
ten of the commemorative sets of the 1930s. The down 30-40%.
largest decreases were for the 1934 Fedorov The changes in the Offices in Turkish Empire
imperfs, down from $165.00 each to $100.00 in and the Russian States were relatively minor.
both mint and used condition.
The 1941-60 period witnessed nearly 200 in-
creases but only 23 decreases. Most of the in-
creases were focused in mint sets of 1948-1954.
Among the decreases, the 1957 imperfs (Scott

Mint Used Total
Period Increases Decreases Increases Decreases Increases Decreases Total
Czarist
SMajor varieties 0 2 1 4 1 6 7
SMinor varieties 0 13 0 10 0 23 23
1921-30 29 0 12 0 41 0 41
1931-40 24 15 19 4 43 19 62
1941-50 91 0 30 6 121 6 127
1951-60 73 13 2 4 75 17 92
1961-70 65 0 7 0 72 0 72
1971-80 23 0 9 0 32 0 32
1981+ 15 0 0 0 15 0 15
Semi-postals 10 16 4 0 14 16 30
Airmails 9 37 0 54 9 91 100
Special delivery 0 0 0 3 0 3 3
Offices/Turkey 7 1 0 1 7 2 9
Armenia 1 1 0 1 1 2 3
Siberia 0 0 1 0 1 0 1
TOTAL 347 100 85 85 432 185 617
Changes for Mint and Used stamps by period.

Rossica Journal Number 116, 56
April 1991

Reviews of Literature bid of 6,500 rubles.
In summary, an unassuming catalog of tremen-
"Auktsion 1, 30 Aprelya 1990," "Standart- dous significance. We hope to see more.
Kollektsiya," Leningrad. (Our thanks to Horst Taitl for the donation.)

Dave Skipton
"AVKUIHOH ...... ... ....o...
1 "SIBERIA Postmarks and Postal History",
" by P. E. Robinson, England, 1990. 184 pages
jm, with illustrations.

SIBERIA
"POSTMARKS AND POSTAL HISTORY
S__. OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE PERIOD

An auction catalog is not something that nor-
mally appears in a literature review section, but fii
this one seems a worthy exception. A modest 38-
page production with decent black-and-white
photos and a whopping 118 lots, it poses no threat
to the catalogs of Khler or Feldman. Lot #67, an
PE. ROBINSON
SPb telegraph stamp, carried the highest starting .
bid 8,750 rubles, while a few of the lowest lots
began at 30 rubles. What is remarkable about this Collectors interested in Siberia will find this
catalog is its venue. The astounding events in handbook/catalog indispensable. The book is
Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union over the divided into 6 chapters and 3 appendices. Mr.
past two years have made possible another re- Robinson covers the history of Siberia, the postal
markable, albeit relatively insignificant, event: a history and postage rates. He has extensive
Western-style Soviet auction of philatelic mate- sections dedicated to the post offices with maps
rial, autographs, documents and medallicc" art, showing their locations. The main part of this
conducted by a non-government entity for pri- work deals with the cancellations used in Siberia.
vate buyers. It is simply "massive!" Mr. Robinson finishes up
With only 500 of these catalogs printed, and at his epic work with a transliteration system guide,
a costof 12rubles apiece, not many Soviets could a section on the use of the Julian and Gregorian
have found or afforded it. And only Soviet adult calendars, and a valuation guide.
collectors had the right to participate; foreign This is the second edition of the book and it has
collectors were allowed in IF the auctioneer been greatly expanded from the first. I highly
agreed, and "acquisition of material at auction is recommend this book to the serious collector of
not sufficient basisforunrestricted exportthereof Siberia as well as cancellation collectors. The
from the USSR." examples are crisp, clear and have been organ-
There were some rare imperial censormarks ized in a very logical manner.
and a few nice picture postcards sold, but in Overall, an extremely well done book that will
general the Russian material wasn't out of the be the standard reference for years to come.
ordinary. An Albanian #11 (Michel) from 1913 Gary Combs
topped the list of non-Russian items with a start * * * *

Rossica Journal Number 116,
April 1991 57

"RUSSIAN POSTAL CENSORSHIP 1914- QM } I K The Post Rider, No. 27, Nov. 1990.
1918", by Antoine Speeckaert, Koninklijke The Canadian Society of Russian Philately, Box
Postzegelvereniging van het land van Waas St. 5722 Station 'A', Toronto, ONM5W 1P2, Can-
Niklaas, Belgium, 1990. (Second edition. ada.
Softbound, 327 pages. Available from the author
at J.B. Nowelei, 24A, B-1800 Vilvoorde, Bel-
gium for 1100 Belgian francs (surface mail).

SCat In "Three Days Early," Rev. L. L. Tann pres-
A. ents a cover showing a pre-release usage of the
S1913 Romanov stamps dated 30 December 1912
Tony Speeckaert's first (Flemish) edition along with a plausible explanation.
appeared in 1986, an extremely important contri- Alex Artuchov continues his excellent series
bution to a heretofore-murky collecting field, on the "Postage Stamps Issued by the Zemstvos."
Not a few of the WWI censormarks which were He illustrates plate positions and constant varie-
listed in "Postal Censorship in Imperial Russia" ties. The next installment will be in issue #28.
(1989) came from Tony's first compendium, and A short article by an unknown author follows
now his updated second edition provides an even titled "The Forgery and Bogus Corner."
more impressive array of markings. Many new Andrew Cronin discusses London 90 in "Re-
finds have been recorded, almost 600 of them, port on Stamp World London 90".
and best of all, the explanatory text is in German Diana Johnson follows with "Report on New
and English. Reproductions of the censormarks Zealand 1990." She does a nice job in her brief
are excellently done; each one is shown in full explanations of the award winning exhibits.
size, assigned an identification number, censor- Georg D. Mehrtens presents an extensive look
mark type, color, translation or transliteration of at the Bulgarian post in his article "Documents
the text, and a relative scarcity on a 1-5 scale, 5 Relating to the Russian Posts in Bulgaria." Many
being the rarest. A placename index, bibliogra- illustrations. An extensive list is provided in the
phy and seven maps round out the book. section "List of Field Post Postmarks of the
If you already have the first edition, or"Postal Administration of Military Posts of the Opera-
Censorship in Imperial Russia," or both, you still tional Army in Bulgaria (1877-1879)."
need "Mark II" with its 1400+ entries. "Russian Andrew Cronin's "Repolonizacja" covers the
Postal Censorship 1914-1918" is simply the lat- subject of lands taken from Poland in 1939. The
est and best word on the subject yet, and our hats article is well written and worth reading for those
off and resounding BRAVO to Tony Speeckaert interested in that area of collecting.
for this tour-de-force! Vygintas Bubnys's article "The Lithuanian
Dave Skipton Republican Posts" discusses special markings
introduced in 1990 for the post.

Rossica Journal Number 116,
April 1991 58

"The Life and TimesofAndreiAleksandrovich with an article by Ruud van Wijnen on railway
Zhadanov," by Ya. Afangulskii, provides insight mail in Latvia since 1945, illustrating a large
into the life of this famous figure and his role in number of cancel types. HlOrTOBblfI BArOH
dealing with intellectuals in the Soviet Union. cancels in the recent period are not well known,
AllanL. Steinhartpresentsaninterestingcover and a study of post-1945 railway markings in the
in "A North Korean Cover to Germany." Soviet Union as a whole would be a promising
The article "Still More About Moldavia" il- area for research without a great deal of cost.
lustrates several covers worth noting. A. C. de Bruin quotes original sources to
Andrew Cronin continues the subject of pre- provide additional information about the 1919
UPU mail in "Pre-UPU Mail from Denmark and Grodno issue. This piece is a follow-up to an
Hamburg." article in the previous issue translated from The
Dr. V. Mallegni's article "Documents From Postrider. Also continued from the last number
the Latvian Soviet Republic in 1919" is a follow- is the study on the Latvia-Africa airmail issue by
up to an article by J. Poulie in issue #26. Several the well-known Latvian philatelist, Nikolajs
nice parcel cards illustrate his points. Jakimovs.
This issue concludes with the standard sec- M. Zuijdwegt translates a detailed article by
tions: Philatelic Shorts, Review of Literature and B. Marquart on the plating of the Latvian 5, 10
The Collectors' Corer. and 15 kapeikas issue of 1919 (Michel nos. 3-5).
A. C. de Bruin presents a study of German naval
Gary A. Combs cancels used in the Baltic from 1920-1940, and
**** ....* .....** ..** ** then shows a series of illustrations and descrip-
tions of covers from the French naval expedition
"Het Baltische Gebied" No. 16, July 1990. to the Baltic during the Crimean war, taken from
Journal of the society of the same name. Chair- a French sale catalog. The covers shown are
person: S.Reurich,Loplein 8,6834 CVAmheim, remarkable, as are the prices. The French text
The Netherlands. Annual dues as of January here provides a nice relief from wading through
1991 are f 20,-. Individual numbers of thejournal Dutch in the balance of the issue. Also by de
are f 7,50. Bruin is an article on the transition from German
occupation (Postgebiet Ob. Ost.) franking in
SEstonia to the use of independent Estonian is-
sues, showing some outstanding usages of the
e |Vezenberg/Rakvere provisional overprint. S.
Reurich concludes with recent stamps, cancels
Sl and postal stationary from Lithuania. This is a
varied issue, with a great deal of interest to the
', Russian collector.
8
C Peter A. Michalove
e

This Dutch-language journal is devoted to the
philately of the Baltic. This 48-page issue begins

Rossica Journal Number 116,
April 1991 59

New Members

We have added 13 new members to our rolls. 1405 Valentin G.Belkin
The new members are heartily welcomed and, if P.O. Box 67
one of them happens to be your neighbor or a Leningrad 190000
friend, personally welcome them to our favorite USSR
hobby. 1406 Paul G. Eckman
The new members are: 620 N. Hoover Street
Los Angeles,CA 90024
1396 Ingemar Lidholm USA
27333 Tamelilla 1407 Igor Shukoff
S. GRANSGATN 8 2 State St. Suite 500
Sweden Rochester, NY 14614
1397 Frederick M.Sausville USA
832 Loadstone Ct. 1408 Wayne Holder
Rohnert Park,CA 94928 3686 20th St.
USA San Francisco, CA 94110
1398 Christopher Freeze USA
721 Fox Ridge Drive
Brentwood,TN 37027 Two members have been re-instated. Please
USA update your records as follows:
1399 Len Plotkin
4007 Oil Creek Drive 1182 John T. Haydon
Indianapolis,IN 46268-1755 P. 0. Box 3
USA Salem, MA 01870
1400 Victor Wasilov USA
117 Lake D'este 1209 Margaret M. Hudspith
Slidell,LA 70461 Rt. 1, Box 69
USA Hardy, AR 72542
1401 Gregory J. Strowig USA
3653 South 60th Street
Milwaukee,WI 53220 We seem to have lost two members. When
USA issue #115 was mailed, two were returned for
1402 William G. Lembares either incorrect address or "moved, no forward-
8546 S. Kenneth Avenue ing address." If any member knows the follow-
Chicago,IL 60652 ing two individuals, please ask them to write me
USA (Gary Combs). The two members are:
1403 Ron A. Zelonka Peter Barrett
Oakville George M. Magura
1274 Monks Passage
Ontario,L6M IR4 Thanks in advance...Gary.
Canada
1404 Alan T. Blunt
Osbaston Monmouth
Riber House 13 Auden Close
Gwent NP5 3NW
United Kingdom

Rossica Journal Number 116,
April 1991 60

Member-to-Member Adlets Expertization

Rossica cannot assume any liability for trans- One of the privileges of membership in Rossica
actionsresulting from memberresponses to adlets is one free expertization per membership year.
nor get involved with mediating disputes. Policy on these free expertizations is as follows:
Members are cautioned to be fair in offering and Only one free expertization per mem-
in responding. Any material considered to be of bership year.
value by the sender sent through the mails should The privilege must be used during the
be insured or registered for your own protection. membership year. It cannot be accu-
The regulations and prices are as follows: mulated. The service was begun in the
1978 membership year, andprior mem-
"* Rossica adlets will have no limit per bership in the Society has no bearing.
se, however, members are requested to The item must be submitted on an offi-
use good judgment, cial expertization form available from
"* The price will be US $2 for adlets up to Gary Combs or Gordon Torrey.
25 words, and US 10 cents per word Return postage must be included.
thereafter. Only one item per expertization form.
"* Each adlet must include the name and
address of the member placing the ad. Anyone wishing to avail himself of this service
"* No general buy or sell ads will be ac- merely has to write the Treasurer, Gary Combs,
cepted as adlets. The journal makes or the Chairman of the Expertization Committee,
other provisions for strictly commer- Gordon Torrey, enclosing a legal size (4 1/4 x 9
cial advertisements. 1/2") stamped envelope foranexpertizationform.
"* Adlet service is available to Rossica When submitting material for free expertization,
members only. the owner must provide return postage for his
"* All adlets will be accompanied by a material. Items submitted will be expertized by
check for the correct amount made out Rossica members specializing in the various
to Rossica Society. aspects of Russian philately.
"* All adlets and checks will be mailed to
Gary A. Combs
8241 Chalet Court
Millersville, MD 21108
USA Dealer-Member Ads

The Editorial Board of the Rossica Journal
Wanted: Moscow cancellations. On cover, loose invites advertisements from our dealer-members
stamps or CSQ. Send xerox, photo or item with as well as non-members who conduct the occa-
requested price. Gary Combs, 8241 Chalet Ct., sional auction or mail-sale with a strong offering
Millersville, MD 21108. of Russian and related-areas material. The Jour-
nal appears twice a year, and reaches ap-
proximately 400 members worldwide in April
and October. Deadlines for submission of ads are
February 15 for the April issue, and August 15 for
the October issue. We strongly prefer commit-
ments for ads in three consecutive issues to aid us
in planning. However, one-time ads for upcom-

Rossica Journal Number 116,
April 1991 61

ing auctions or mail-sales can be accommodated. The Russian Post in the Empire, Turkey, China
and the Post in The Kingdom of Poland by
Rates: 1/4 page $35 per issue (for 3 S.V. Prigara. English Translation.
issues)
1/2 page $65 per issue (for 3 l
issues)

1 page $100 per issue (for 3 issues)

For one-time ads: $52.50, $97.50 and $150, AU.Iht nT it nr
respectively. 3I lmrt fllMa
AIrwnuAt CnruowmP 2
For outside back cover ads (full page only) scr-? sM
$150, first come first serve (based on postmark no
date). cc _W,

If you should desire to place an ad in the ,'"
Rossica Journal, please notify the editor as soon
as possible, together with the text of your ad, the It is the standard upon which many studies and
rate and number of issues, and a check in $US conclusions have been established. Written in
made payable to the "Rossica Society" drawn on 1941, the book is considered by many to be the
an American bank. authoritative guide for Russian postal history.
Any serious collector of Russian postal history
Thank You! must have this book on his shelf. The translation
can be purchased from the society President,
Gary A. Combs Treasurer, Librarian or journal editor at the fol-
8241 Chalet Ct. lowing rates:
Millersville, MD 21108 Non-Rossica member $40 postpaid
USA Rossica members: $35 postpaid
Dealer rate: $24 per copy for orders of 5 or
more.
FOR SALE
The Russian Posts in the XIX Century
In addition to back issues of the journal, the by K.V. Bazilevich
society has other items for sale. All items listed The original work, published in 1927 in
can be purchased from any officer of the society Moscow, is today almost impossible to find. It is
or through the journal editor, one of the most detailed overviews of the impe-
We normally send items at the "book rate" to rial Russian postal system to be found under one
keep costs down. If this method is not satisfac- cover, and contains a wealth of information and
tory, please include sufficient funds to cover the illustrations. The translator has provided many
type of postage desired. All checks must be in illustrations not in the original. If you want to
$US to be drawn on an American bank. This learn about the whys and wherefores of old
NEW policy is a result of increased handling Russia's communications system, this book will
costs charged by the banks and the fluctuating oblige.
monetary market. Intended as a companion to the Prigara transla-
tion, the Bazilevich book will be a handsome
addition to your shelf: 165 pages on semi-gloss

Rossica Journal Number 116,
April 1991 62

paper, casebound, with a purple-and-white dust Imperial Russian Postal Placename List, Re-
jacket. Members may order directly from the verse Sort (1858-1915) compiled by David
Skipton.

SA Have you ever had a partial strike on a loose
stamp or cover, where the first few letters of
the placename are missing? If so, and you
collect imperial Russian cancellations, this
THE USSIAN POSTS IN THE XIX CENTURY working aid is a must for you. It contains
,VKv ..-W.c 18,187 postal placenames gleaned from ten
sources, ranging from the Prigara book to the
official 1916 Postal List. The Reverse Sort is
379 pages long, xerox, printed on one side
only, and unbound. It contains an introduction,
San explanation of how to use the RS, com-
piler's notes, a list of cancellation abbrevia-
tions, format explanation, a list of sources,
President, Treasurer, Librarian or Journal Editor province and oblast' trigraph listings, a cyrillic-
of the society. Prices are as follows: latin alphabet conversion chart, and 361 pages
Non-Rossica member $50 postpaid of cross-referenced placenames. A must for
Rossica members: $45 postpaid the serious cancellation collector. Members
Dealer rate: $30 per copy for orders of 5 or may order directly from the President, Treas-
more. urer, Librarian or Journal Editor of the society.
Prices are as follows:
Non-Rossica member $45 postpaid
Compendium of the Table of Contents for Rossica members: $40 postpaid (Overseas
issues 44 through 116 orders please add $3 for surface mail on all
George Shaw has compiled a list of all articles orders.)
that have appeared in the Rossica Journal since
the 1950s. All proceeds beyond the cost of
reproduction and postage go to the society. This
listing contains approximately 59 pages and cov- Editorl
Editorial Conclusion:
ers all articles (in English) that have appeared.
An excellent index to your library. The cost is US
1990 was an excellent year for our organiza-
$5, which is very reasonable. This list will enable
tion. Many members earned awards at shows.
you to decide what back issues to purchase, if awar
Our journal was among these awards.
your set is not complete. (Many of the issues cane wa
While other hobbies may be waning, or even
be ordered through your editor.) Send check or
e extinct, philately is alive and well. Within this
money order to:
George Shaw large family, there are many smaller circles that
George Shaw
7596-J Lakeside Village cover all aspects of the subject. These areas need
7596-J Lakeside Village Dr.
Falls Church, VA 22042 to be documented for future generations. The
Falls Church, VA 22042
USA best vehicle available is the Rossica journal.
Support it! Submit articles to it!

Rossica Journal Number 116,
April 1991 63

ARMENIA
POSTCARD 3K surcharges, 30 kop. POSTAL COVERS
1 in black $50.00
Postal fee increase to 50 kop. -
POSTCARD with additional 2k, MAIL SALES
3k, 5k, 10k $145.00
Scott very scarce 31, 32, 36
Cancelled ERIVAN
Cancelled "COVERS OF THE WORLD"
Postcard to Georgia Similar scarce
FRANKING cancelled TIFLIS $245.00
We have stamps and covers from March to Postal History Specialties
August 1920. Prices not related to catalog. Military & War Covers
P.O.R. Maritime, Railroad & Air Mail
ON HAND, a very fine selection of: Locals & Cinderella
Russia Armies Postal Stationery
Baltic and Caucasian, etc. etc.
For a SPECIALIST
For illustrated catalog send $1.00 to:
S. SEREBRAKIAN, INC.
P.O. Box 448 THEO. VAN DAM
Monroe, NY 10950 P.O. Box 8809
Anaheim, CA 92812

Comprehensive Stock of Russian Material:
stamps
covers
errors
yearly units
collections
wantlist service
approvals
wholesale

Free price list
Loral
Box 521
Rego Park, NY 11374

Fax (718)271-3070

Rossica Journal Number 116,
April 1991 64

IMPORTANT NEW RELEASE

Cherrystone Stamp Center Inc. is pleased to announce the purchase of a
significant portion of the "Mikulski Collection" consisting of SOVIET RUSSIA,
Wenden, Batum and Siberia. In addition, major collections of Russian proofs and
essays, 1920 local issues, ARMENIA and AZERBAIJAN were acquired from
unrelated sources.
The Mikulski collection of Soviet Union is well known to major collectors
since it has garnered major awards at international exhibitions. The highlights are
too numerous to list, but include the 1918 Chain Breakers unique proofs and
essays, 1923 Philately for the Children in complete sheets (unique again), the
complete reconstruction of Philately for Labor silver surcharge, 1932 Moscow
and Leningrad exhibition issue, including souvenir sheets, regular issue with
both typographed and lithographed rarities, all known imperforate varieties,
covers and first day covers, essays and unissued varieties from 1918-1938. The
collection is by far the best of its kind and has no equal even in the Soviet Union.
(The Mikulski collection of Air Post issues has been acquired by Cherrystone
several years ago and placed in private hands).
The collection of SIBERIA includes all stamps issued by the various
governments, extensive postal history including value letters used by the Japanese
troops, proofs, errors and varieties, many of which have never been offered for
sale anywhere. Similar description applies to the complete collection of BATUM,
where the "unique" rules the day. WENDEN features several exquisite covers, as
well as proofs and essays.
The collection of 1920 provisional locals supplements the Soviet collection
in many respects. First, the 1920 overprints are probably the most interesting in
Soviet philately since they have been created for legitimate postal use during the
turmoil immediately following the Revolution. This collection was formed by the
famous expert W. Pohl and served as basis for the listings currently found in the
Michel catalogue. It received a large Gold in international exhibition and is
considered to be the best collection of this difficult subject in existence.
The specialized collections of ARMENIA and AZERBAIJAN, as well as
important Russian Postal History and Levant are also available.
Cherrystone Stamp Center is among the leaders of Russian Philately for
many years and have provided serious collectors with numerous award winning
collections. Serious inquiries are invited. Cherrystone is also interested in
purchasing major Imperial and Soviet Russia holdings. Public auctions containing
postal history and rare stamps of the world are held every two months.
Catalogues are available for $5.00 each.

CHERRYSTONE STAMP CENTER INC. 119 WEST 57TH STREET,
* NEW YORK, N.Y. 10019 (212)977-7734

RUSSIAN POSTAL HISTORY

What Do You Collect?

I stock Russian Postal History items from the Imperial and
Soviet periods
including:
Airmails, Republics, Space, Zemstvos
Semi- Postals, Inflation, Stations, TPOs,
Intervention and Offices Abroad.

I also stock the Baltic Countries.
Let me know what you are searching for.
Material sent on approval.
I am always searching for material to buy and
offer top dollar.
Please include references or Rossica number.

Member: Rossica Society, Canadian Society of Russian Philately,
British Society of Russian Philately, APS, ASDA and
others.
Webster F. Stickney
7590 Windlawn Way
Parker, CO. 80134

	Front Cover
	Table of Contents
	Honored members, officers, and...
	Life of the society by Dr. Gordon...
	Editorial by Gary Combs
	Treasurer's report by Gary...
	Secretary's Report by George...
	Souren David Serebrakian -...
	Steam mail between Stettin and...
	Odessa postal and telegraph services...
	The first stage in the development...
	Russian deltiology, part II - Alexander...
	Wrangel army stamps by Y....
	The Siberian list-letters of late...
	Circular Vokzal postmarks by Rev....
	The Brest-Kholm line by Dave...
	The Allied intervention in North...
	Postmark reading in Belorussian...
	Overprints of stamp no. 2666, translated...
	Postcard from the "669 Days of...
	Soviet meter-mail markings - the...
	Count Alexander Grabbe by...
	Customs censorship in the 1960s...
	Scott 1991 standard postage stamp...
	Reviews of literature
	New members
	Member to member adlets
	Advertising

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