Journal of the Rossica Society of Russian Philately

THE JOURNAL

of the

ROSSICA SOCIETY

of

RUSSIAN PHILATELY

AWARDS
"WIPA" 1933 BRONZE MEDAL "PRAGA" 1962 SILVER MEDAL
"PRAGA" 1935 BRONZE MEDAL "MELUSINA" 1963 SILVER MEDAL
"OSTRAPA" 1935 SILVER MEDAL 'PHILATEC" 1964 SILVER MEDAL
"ZEFIB" 1937 SILVER MEDAL "WIPA" 1965 -SILVER MEDAL
"BEPHILA" 1957 -SILVER MEDAL "SIPEX" 1966 -SILVER MEDAL
"EFICON" 1958 SILVER MEDAL "PRAGA" 1968 SILVER MEDAL
"TEMEX" 1958 SILVER MEDAL "APS-68" 1968 SILVER MEDAL
"INTERPOSTA" 1959 SILVER MEDAL "EFIMEX" 1968 SILVER CERTIFICATE
"SICILIA" 1959 SILVER MEDAL "SOFIA-69" 1969 SILVER CERTIFICATE
"BARCELONA" 1960 -SILVER MEDAL "BUDAPEST-71" 1971 -SILVER CERTIFICATE
"UNIPEX" 1960 SILVER MEDAL "CHICAGO-APS" 1974 GOLD MEDAL
"POLSKA" 1960 SILVER MEDAL "CAPEX-78" 1978 LARGE SILVER MEDAL

No 92 1978

THE JOURNAL OF THE
ROSSICA SOCIETY OF RUSSIAN PHILATELY

VOLUME 92 1977
EDITORIAL BOARD: Rimma Sklarevski, Gordon Torrey, Norman Epstein, M. E. Wilson
PUBLISHER: Kennedy L. Wilson, 7415 Venice Street, Falls Church, Va. 22043

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Life of the Society, G. Torrey .......................................... 3

1977 Annual Business Meeting Minutes ................................... 4
Obituaries ..................................................... ..... 6

Russian Post Offices Abroad Seal, G. Torrey ............................ 8

The 1961-66 Soviet Definitives, G. V. Shalimoff ........................ 9

Russia's Railroad Mails, N. Luchnik, translated by R. Trbovich ...........18

Ukrainian Revenue Stamps, V. Zabijaka ...................................48
Moscow-Berlin Air Route 1922 Season, R. Taylor ......................... 52

More Information on Russian Pictorial Military-Covers, G. Torrey .........56

Member-to-Member Adlets .................................................58

The Rossica Bookshelf ...................................................59

Imperial Russian Stamps Under Transcaucasia, Part III,

Tiflis Gubernia, by. P. Y. Ashford, reviewed by G. Torrey

History of the POstal Service and Postage Stamps of Tuva

by S. M. Blekhman, reviewed by D. Voaden

*

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY

PRESIDENT: Gordon H. Torrey, 5118 Duvall Drive, Bethesda, Maryland 20016

VICE-PRESIDENT: Constantine de Stackelberg, 1673 Columbia Road, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009

SECRETARY: Kennedy L. Wilson, 7415 Venice Street, Falls Church, Virginia 22043

TREASURER: Norman Epstein, 33 Crooke Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11226

LIBRARIAN: Claude Lysloff, 568 Marlborough Road, Brooklyn, New York 11226

BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Samuel Robbins, 3565 Meier Street, Los Angeles, Cal. 90066
Boris Shishkin, 3523 Edmunds Road, N.W., Washington,DC 20007
Lester Glass, 1553 So. La Cienega Boulevard,
Los Angeles, California 90035

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SOCIETY

G.B. SALISBURY CHAPTER: Norman Epstein, 33 Crooke Ave., Brooklyn, New York 11226

WASHINGTON-BALTIMORE: Boris Shishkin, 3523 Edmunds Road, N.W. D.C. 20007

ARTHUR B. SHIELDS CHAPTER: Samuel Robbins, 3563 Meier Street, L.A., Cal. 90066

GREAT BRITAIN: John Lloyd, "The Retreat," Wester Bergholdt, Colchester
Essex C06 3HE

Anything in this Journal may be reproduced without permission. However, acknow-
ledgement of the source and a copy of the reprinted matter would be appreciated.

The views in this Journal expressed by the authors are their own and the editors
disclaim all responsibility.

The membership dues are $12.00, due January 1st for all members. Application
forms are available upon request from the secretary or treasurer. Membership
lists will be sent annually. Kindly make all checks payable to:

ROSSICA SOCIETY OF RUSSIAN PHILATELY
c/o Norman Epstein
33 Crooke Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11226 USA

We have a number of back issues of the Journal for sale, both in English and
Russian language editions (some). These may be obtained from Mr. Epstein. Mr.
Wilson, or Mr. Lysloff.

2

LIFE OF THE SOCIETY

by Gordon Torrey

Our various chapters have continued their activities throughout the past year.
The New York Gregory Salisbury Chapter meets the last Friday of every month
(summer excepted) at the Collectors Club. That in the Washington-Baltimore
area meets at Boris Shishkin's on Saturday afternoons practically every month,
but with the date being variable. Information about these meetings can be
obtained by writing to Norman Epstein (or phoning him at (212) 284-7175 evenings)
or myself for the Washington Baltimore Chapter, (301) 229-7799.

In the West the Arthur Shields Chapter in Los Angeles meets under the guidance
of Samuel Robbins (213) 391-5452. Special mention must be made of the splendid
efforts made by our San Francisco members who, with the participation of members
from Los Angeles, again put on a program at WESTPEX. It was a great success
and created much interest in Rossica. Congratulations are due George Shalimoff
and Alex Sadovnikov for their effort. Collectors in the San Francisco area
should contact George about meetings of the Rossica group there; his address
is 20 Westgate Drive, San Francisco, California 94127.

Rossica is now beginning with a new service to its members. All paid up members
for 1978 will be entitled to one free Rossica expertization. Anyone wishing to
avail himself of this service merely-has to write our treasurer, and chairman
of the expertization conmitteee, Norman Epstein, at 33 Crooke Avenue, Brooklyn,
S New York 11226, enclosing a legal size (4 1/4 x 9 1/2") stamped envelope for an
expertization form. There is no restriction, except that the user must provide
return postage for his material. Stamps submitted will be expertized by Rossica
members specializing in the various aspects of Russian philately. We expect to
continue this service in the future.

Member Robert Trbovich, of the Library of Congress, has been going over the
Library's holdings in the areas of Russian philately and has come across a num-
ber of very interesting items. Among the first of these was a postal directory
listing all postal routes and post offices in Russia in the year 1875. The list
of post offices and postal stations has been copied. It is available to members
at cost: $3.00 plus 50 cents postage. Over 1750 names are listed and where
their gubernias, provinces, or places are found. Roughly 190 pages of postal
routes have not been reproduced due to the cost involved. It also contains a
map which can be reproduced by special arrangement with the Library at a cost
of $16.00. Enquiries should be directed to me. The guide was published in
St. Petersburg by the Postal Department. For copies write to Gordon Torrey.
In the New York area contact Norman Epstein who has a few copies.

At long last we are beginning to get ahead of the old problem of lack of
publishable manuscripts. This Journal, being Volume 92 for 1977, is almost a
year late. However, we now have in hand almost enough articles and notes to
begin typing Volume 93, the second issue for 1977. Now that we are finally
beginning to get the Journal back under control and up to date on the issues,
let's not slack off--we still need good manuscripts, original articles and
research publications for future issues.

3

The 1978 issues of the Rossica Journal, I believe, will be of particular interest
to all members regardless of their specialty. The first will contain, inter alia,
a translation of an article from the Soviet Collector No. 14, 1976, entitled
"Imperial Postage Stamps of Russia Issued from 1857 to 1879." It is a revised
catalogue of the stamps issued during this period, using Russian and foreign
sources, including the Soviet postal archives. Printing varieties, shades, paper
and perforation varieties and errors will be listed. Of particular importance is
the fact that clear illustrations will show all of these varieties. There is no
doubt that this will be the ultimate catalogue of Imperial period stamps. We
expect to continue the listing for later years in the following Rossica issues.
Cancellations will be treated, as well as covers. Most of the 1978 Rossica
Journals will be devoted to this catalogue. It is my belief that this, alone,
will be worth more than the annual Rossica subscription.

The 1979 issues of the Rossica Journal will commemorate the FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
of our Society. A special effort is being made to obtain a number of definitive
articles reporting original research by our members. Be thinking what you have
that could be of interest to others and written up for these issues. We hope
to generate considerable publicity for the Society in the philatelic press for
this event, and these issues of the Journal should receive wide recognition. Be
thinking about what your contribution will be!

In closing, I wish to remind those members who have not paid that their dues for
1978 are now due and payable. Because of the delay in the Journal we have ex-
tended the usual March 31st deadline.

The Society's Annual Meeting for 1978 will be held at BALPEX over Labor Day
weekend (September 2-3-4). We hope that a good number of members will be exhi-
bitors. For a prospectus and entry form write: BALPEX, 8207 Daren Ct., Baltimore,
Maryland 21208.

LATE ITEM: Word has just been received that the Rossica Journal received a
large silver medal at CAPEX '78. Reportedly it was the only regularly published
specialist society journal so honored!

ROSSICA SOCIETY OF RUSSIAN PHILATELY
1977 ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING
MINUTES
Washington, D.C. 3 December 1977

The Annual Business Meeting of the Rossica Society of Russian Philately was
held on 3 December 1977 at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Boris Shishkin, 3523 Edmunds
Road, N.W., Washington, D.C.

Roll Call of Officers: President: Gordon Torrey present
Vice President Constantine de Stackelberg present
Secretary: Kennedy Wilson present
Treasurer: Norman Epstein excused
Editor: Rimma Sklarevski present
Librarian: Claude Lysloff excused
Board of Directors: Boris Shishkin present
Sam Robbins excused
Members Present: Lester Glass excused

Robert L. Aarons, Walter Borowski, William T.Shinn, Jr.,Robert L. Trbovich,
Denys J. Voaden, Roslyn Winard, David L. Winter, Edward P. Wolski, Valentin
Zabijaka.
4

Reading of Minutes of Previous Meeting:

M/S/C Voaden, Winter: To dispense with the reading of the minutes of the
previous meeting since they appear in Rossica #89.
Treasurer's Report and Librarian's Report:

Due to the inability of the Treasurer and Librarian to attend the meeting
both reports were dispensed with by unanimous consent to a request of the
President.

Election of Officers: Mr. Denys Voaden

Mr. Denys Voaden, Chairman of the Balloting Committee reported the following
officers elected to serve for the next triennium (1 January 1978 through 31
December 1980).
President Gordon Torrey
Vice President Constantine de Stackelberg
Secretary Kennedy L. Wilson
Treasurer Norman Epstein
Librarian Claude Lysloff
Board of Directors
Samuel Robbins
Boris Shishkin
Lester Glass

It was moved and seconded and approved that the Balloting Committee report be
accepted and the above individuals to be declared elected.

Multiple Family Memberships: President Torrey

The President noted that there had been some inquiries regarding membership,
in the Society by more than one family member. After some discussion it was
moved, seconded and approved that the spouse or other family member of a Rossica
member be allowed a 50% reduction in dues, but that only one journal would be
sent to the family address.

Following the business portion of the meeting, Mr. E. Wolski reported on
FLOREX and discussed the exhibits of interest there.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:15 P.M.

Respectfully,
Kennedy L. Wilson
Secretary

NEW MEMBERS

993 Gustav Vleugels,D5000 Koln 1, Alter Market 41/43, West Germany

994 Millard Wesley Allen, 377 N. Lackawanna Ave., West Patterson, N.J. 07424

995 James L. Powell, P.O. Box 712, Ephrata, Washington 98823

996 Myron C. Nolte, 15233 Ventura Blvd. (Suite 712), Sherman Oaks, Cal. 91403

5 (continued page 64)

OBITUARIES

KURT ADLER

Our former President (1968-1972), Kurt Adler, passed away after a long
illness on September 28, 1977. It was Kurt who put new life into Rossica
following the sudden death of President Gregory Salisbury. Without his inspi-
rational leadership, with the help of several New York members at that time,
Rossica surely would have gone into oblivion. He won new prestige for the
Society, and his enthusiasm for Russian philately was transmitted to many
others, both in the United States and abroad.

Born in Bohemia in 1903, Kurt grew up bilingual in German and Czech; he
then acquired several other languages--Russian (of course), French, English,
and Italian. While he was widely known in the world of philately, he was
better known publicly as a musician.
6

After receiving his education in Vienna, he conducted the German Opera
in Prague and went on to become the assistant conductor of the Berlin State
Opera. In 1933 he accepted the post of Chief Conductor of the Kiev State Opera,
then left to assume the position of Chief Conductor of the Stalingrad Philhar-
monic for the years 1936 and 1937. In 1938 he came to the United States as a
pianist. While in Russia he married and he leaves a daughter there. He joined
the Metropolitan Opera in 1945 and remained there until his retirement due to
ill health in 1973. At the Metropolitan he conducted his first opera in 1951,
but was better known as Chorus Master. It was always a thrill to listen to
the Saturday Opera Broadcasts and hear our president's name announced at the
beginning of the program. Unknown to most Rossica members, Kurt published
several books on opera subjects and was working on another at the time of his
death. He is survived by a widow and two children in New Jersey.

While Kurt Adler often spoke on Russian philately, he never exhibited
his collections in the formal sense. He did publish, however. His albums were
"working" ones, much like those of the late Simon Tchilinghirian. Loaded with
annotated material, the pages had a wealth of knowledge on them. The sale of
his collection in August 1974 realized $312,000, a record for Russian material.
Although the Baughman collection contained more material (2238 lots versus 1337
lots for Adler) it brought only $197,000, but that was in 1971. Both illustrated
the strong demand for Russian and Russian related philatelic material. At
today's prices there were incredible bargains.

CHARLES C. HANDFORD

SNot only has the Society lost its Past President, but also another of its
oldest members. Mr. Handford held membership number 161. What year that was
assigned the writer does not know, but he does know that it was many, many
years ago. Living in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, Mr. Handford was a
pioneer in Russian philately in the late 1930s and served as President of the
British Society of Russian Philately for two years following World War II and
then reassumed the post in 1959. He had a remarkable collection of Zemstvos
and Imperial Russia. Both collections were sold by Robeson Lowe in the fall
of 1977. He was a prolific writer on zemstvos and gave encouragement and advice
to collectors in England and abroad, both in his writings and his mnay appear-
ances throughout England displaying and talking about his stamps. So, another
pillar of Russian philately is gone.

E. L. FILBY

Rossica will miss another "old hand," Mr. E. L. Filby, of Kansas City,
Missouri who passed away during the last year. It was not the writer's plea-
sure to know Mr. Filby, but his Rossica number was even lower that that of
Mr. Hanford, being number 138.

JOSEPH MULEVICH

Mr. Mulevich was one of our New York members who moved to Florida only
a short time ago. He passed away suddenly last February 21 at the age of 62
in Port Richey. His main interest was the Baltic region and he was one of
the founders of the Lithuanian Philatelic Society. He was editor of that

7

society's New York branch "Bulletin." Highly regarded for his knowledge of
Baltic philately, he had served on juries at exhibitions in Canada and in
Chicago and New York. His, too, was a low Rossica membership number, being
339.

Aside from his Russian and Latvian Society memberships, Mr. Mulevich was
a member of the American Philatelic Society, the Society of Philatelic Americans,
the American Airmail Society, the Postal History Society, and the Estonian
Philatelic Society.

B. IWANOFF

Word has reached me that Mr. B. Iwanoff of Lausanne, Switzerland, died
some months ago. He, too, was a relatively old member of Rossica, number 469.

Thus, Rossica has lost five "old timers" whose philatelic knowledge will be
missed, probably more than we yet realize. While a new generation of collectors
is taking over, they will be hard pressed to equal in stature those of the
past who laid the groundwork for us.

RUSSIAN POST OFFICES ABROAD SEAL

Although the writer has collected Russian Offices Abroad for many years, it was
not until recently that he had come across the seal illustrated below. Since
its acquisition he has shown it to a number of Rossica members in Washington
and New York, but none remembers ever seeing it before. It is printed in medium
blue on gummed paper and is the exact size of the illustration. Do any of our
members have similar items? Presumably it was used for sealing official
correspondence. Gordon Torrey

8

THE 1961-66 SOVIET DEFINITIVE

by George V. Shalimoff

In addition to commemorative stamps, most countries of the world print massive
quantities of stamps for general use which we commonly call definitive. The
Soviet philatelic literature refers to their definitive as standard issues
and several articles on the 10th Standard Issue have revealed some interesting
debate as well as varieties. This article summarizes this Soviet literature
refss. 1-7).

In January 1961 a reevaluation of the currency in the Soviet Union and the
consequent change in postal rates prompted the need for a new standard issue
of postage stamps. The stamps of all previous issues, both definitive and
commemoratives, were to be phased out by April 30, 1961. Up to this date,
the older stamps could be used alone or as mixed franking with the new issues
but at one tenth their stated value. Thus an old 40 kop. stamp would now
serves as a 4 kop. stamp.

The new series of stamps with values reflecting the new currency valuation
had designs depicting developments in industry, agriculture,achievements in
science and technology, history and culture of the Soviet state. There were
8 different values but differences in color, printing and perforations
brought the total to 13 stamps which were listed in the Soviet catalogues.
We shall see that there are additional types. The stamps are all in a small
format size, 18.5 x 26 mm, printed in a single color. They were called the
10th USSR Standard Issue (Scott #2439-2448).

Later in 1961 three larger size bicolored stamps depicting Lenin were issued
with values 20, 30 and 50 kop. (Scott #2483-85). There were immediately
labeled the llth USSR Standard Issue. Finally in 1964 a 1 ruble value (Scott
#2981) in one color and in large format with the design depicting the Palace
of Congresses in the Kremlin was also released as a Standard Issue.

There were questions why should there be two standard issues, the 10th and
llth, in circulation simultaneously and why did the catalogue compilers
separate the small value small format stamp issue from the larger value
larger format stamps which together satisfied all the new postal rates. How-
ever, by the time of the publication of the 1970 "Catalog of Postage Stamps
of the USSR 1918-1969", the original small definitive were called the 10th
Standard Issue and the larger size larger value stamps were simply called
Standard Issues. The llth Standard Issue originally assigned to the Lenin
stamps was reassigned to the new design definitive released in the period
1966-69. These designations remain the same in the recent Soviet catalogue
published in 1976.

The original 13 small format stamps were designed by V. Zavyalov. All have
a central design enclosed by the orbit of the first Soviet artificial satel-
lite. The words "POCHTA USSR" occur across the top. The value appears within
an elongated eight sided figure at the left bottom with the word "KOP." and
the year "1961" in a trailing banner across the bottom.

9

Below is a listing of the 10th Standard Issue as it appears in current cata-
logues. The catalogue color, type of printing, perforation and date of
release are given below the design description. Scott numbers are given in
parentheses for convenience. Subsequent paragraphs under each value will
give the reported observed varieties for that value.

In this list I have also included an additional type of the 6 kop. and an
additional 12 kop. value (type 3) which are extensively discussed but not
yet included by the Soviet catalogue compilers for some unknown reasons.

10th Standard Issue

1 kop. (Scott #2439A) Worker at wheel holding banner with text "Peace will
defeat war".
Olive-brown; offset; comb perfed 12 x 12 1/2; January 1961.

One Soviet writer states that brown seems to be the most common
shade. The principal shades are dark brown, light brown, yellow
brown, olive, gray olive and olive brown. The olive color ranges
to green. A CTO copy in pure green was reported. Other colors such
as blue and violet were considered to be chemically altered.

A rare variety of this stamp has a period after the word "MF"' in
the top line of the text.

2 kop. (Scott #2440) Combine in field.
Green; offset; comb perfed 12 x 12 1/2; January 1961.

Though the basic color is green, there are shades of dark green
(details of the harvester are obscured), bright green (the grain
elevator and harvester are on a dark green background), gray green
and light green.

I have a green copy on yellowish translucent paper in place of the
usual white paper.

3 kop. (Scott #2441) Spaceship with text "Glory to labor and science".
Blue-violet; offset; comb perfed 12 x 12 1/2; January 1961.

There is an abundance of shades in three groups:
A. Gray-violet ink: dark gray violet and gray violet,
B. Blue-violet ink: dark blue violet, bright blue violet and violet,
C. Violet ink: dark violet and violet.

4 kop. (Scott #2443) National emblem and flag of the USSR.
Bright red; offset; comb perfed 12 x 12 1/2; January 1961

Shade varieties are dark red, bright red, brownish, light red and
rose.

10

4 kop. (Scott #2443A) same design as above 4 kop.
SRed-brown; offset; comb perfed 12 x 12 1/2; December 1965

There are no reported shade varieties for this stamp.

6 kop. (Scott #2444) Moscow Kremlin.
Red; offset; comb perfed 12 x 12 1/2; January 1961.

A brick red shade was reported.

6 kop. (Scott #2445) same design as above 6 kop.
(Type 1) Cherry; offset; comb perfed 12 x 12 1/2; March 1961.
(Type 2) Brownish-cherry; offset; comb perfed 12 x 12 1/2.
See discussion below about the different types.

Shades are dark cherry, red cherry and light cherry.

Examples are found so heavily inked such that the church tower
outline near the Kremlin tower is completely filled in.

10 kop. (Scott #2446) Worker and farm girl, from a sculpture by V. Muxina.
Orange; offset; comb perfed 12 x 12 1/2; March 1961.
Shades found are dark orange, bright orange, yellow orange, yellow
and red-orange.

There is a printing defect found on a postally used copy. In the
word "'UO4" the last leg of the letter "M' is broken such that the
word appears as "DO1VtA".

12 kop. (Scott #2447) Monument to Minin and Pozharsky in Moscow's Red
Square, sculpture by I. Martos.
(Type 1) Lilac-red; deep recess;frame perfed 12 x 11 1/2; June 1961.
A. (Type 2) Comb perfed 12 x 12 1/2; August 1966.
(Type 3) Comb perfed 12 x 12 1/2.
See discussion below about the different types and the date discrepancy.

The shade varieties are dark lilac-red and light lilac-red.

Minor varieties are found concerning the hands on the clock. The
usual position appears to be 10 minutes to 12 o'clock. One variety
appears to be simply 12 o'clock. Other varieties show the minute
hand darker than the hour hand and vice versa.

16 kop. (Scott #2448) Hydroelectric dam and transmission lines.
Ultramarine; offset; comb perfed 12 x 12 1/2; January 1961.

Shades reported are dark blue and light blue.

11

1 kop. (Scott #2439) same design as above 1 kop.
Olive-brown; engraved; frame perfed 12 x 11 1/2; July 1961.

There are no obvious shade varieties for this engraved stamp.

3 kop. (Scott #2442) same design as above 3 kop.
Blue-violet; engraved; frame perfed 12 x 11 1/2; January 1961.

No shade varieties are reported.

The quantities issued for this issue are simply stated as massive. Bad cen-
tering is known for all values with perforations touching the designs.

After several years the listing of the 12 kop. value and its variety "A" was
challenged and long discussions appeared in the literature. Whereas the sub-
heading "A" for the 12 kop. stamp simply indicates a different perforation,
close examination of the stamp reveals that it was made from a different
printing plate with a particularly noticeable difference in the sky back-
ground of the design.

In the first issue of the 12 kop. perfed 12 x 11 1/2, the background consists
of horizontal rows of dots but with no vertical symmetry. This is listed
above as Type 1 (Fig. 1). The second type, perfed 12 x 12 1/2, has a back-

Fig. 1 Fig. 2

ground of dots well defined in horizontal rows and vertical columns. This
is Type 2 (Fig. 2). These symmetrical dots can easily be seen with a magni-
fying glass. So rather than being a simple perforation variety, the "A"
listed stamp was also made from another printing plate. This stamp is found
frequently.

12

But the problem didn't end there. Another 12 kop. stamp perfed 12 x 12 1/2
was identified with still another type of background from that listed as "A".
It more resembled the background of the Type 1 stamp although close examina-
tion shows it to be different too. The dots in the horizontal rows appear
smaller and better defined with every other row somewhat heavier. This is
listed as Type 3 (Fig. 3). This type is found less frequently. The arguments
raised were are these three varieties or are they three separate issues and
shouldn't they be listed separately in the catalogue?

Fig. 3

From the descriptions and figures we see that the two types, 1 and 3, which
have similar backgrounds can easily be distinguished by the difference in
perforation. Type 2 can easily be identified by its uniform dot pattern in
the sky background using a magnifying glass.

The date of issue of the 12 kop. A listed stamp was next questioned. The
catalogue and the early articles indicate this stamp was released in August
1966. However, the newspaper Soviet Culture No. 23 dated February 22, 1966
announced the appearance of a variety of the 12 kop. stamp with perforations
12 x 12 1/2. This is 6 months earlier than the release date given in the cata-
logue. However, there was no mention in that newspaper of a new plate used
for the printing. Nevertheless, the writer designated this printing as the
"A" variety.

But even this February 1966 date is questioned since the writer claims to
have purchased copies of the "A" variety in a Leningrad post office in Decem-
ber 1965. Another writer stated this stamp was sold in Moscow post offices
in November 1965, ten months earlier that the listed release date. The Type
3 stamp was reported on a registered cover dated March 1967.

All in all the releasedates of the two 12 kop. stamps, perfed 12 x 12 1/2
made from different plates is still up in the air. Only the first type,
perfed 12 x 11 1/2, was announced in an official release of the Ministry of
Communication dated June 29, 1961.

13

Another writer attempted to describe another distinguishing detail of the
12 kop. stamps, presumably of the first two types, neglecting the obvious
difference in the perforation size. He maintained that the first type had
a fine continuous frame line surrounding the whole design while the second
type had a frame consisting of fine dots.

In examining numerous copies in my accumulation, I don't feel this frame line
detail is significant. It appears to be always made up of small dots, some
more heavily inked so that they appear as a continuous line. In fact, the
frame around the Type 3 stamp seemed more like a continuous line because the
dots were smaller and closer together.

Still another writer stated that there were additional details on the whole
sheets which distinguished the various printings. The first issue, perfed
12 x 11 1/2, was printed on paper used for engraved stamps such that the
contours of the design and text flow together and are uneven, typical of
engraved printing. There also were marks in the sheet margins typical of
engraved printing as well as dates of perforation such as 14 VI 61 and 17 VI 61.

He claimed that the second and third types (perfed 12 x 12 1/2) were printed
on offset paper such that the design and text are sharply defined, the ink is
dull and without halftones, all which characterize offset printing. Also the
sheet margins contained specifications for offset printing, consisting of
semi-ovals and dots.

This point that this Soviet writer makes that the first type is a photogravure
or deep recess printing and the second and third types were offset printed
was difficult to accept at first. In fact, one would say that none appeared
offset printed but rather that all were photogravure printed. However, I
found in a Soviet philatelic dictionary that there is a printing process
called deep recess offset which differs from ordinary deep recess (photo-
gravure) printing in the degree of etching of the printing plates. In photo-
gravure printing the depth of the etching is variable to produce various
tones. In deep recess offset printing the depth of etching is uniform,
yielding less tonal variation. The difference is subtle and indeed may be
detected by the markings on a full sheet as the Soviet writer indicated. But
on individual stamps it is very difficult to distinguish and not a very useful
feature to help in identification, I believe.

Similarly one writer attempted to show the differences in the three types by
their size and the color of the gum as well as the appearance of the gum.
But the size differences were so small (0.1 mm) to be essentially negligible.
Also examination of my copies showed no consistency with respect to gum color
or its appearance. I consider these points meaningless in light of the more
easily observed perforation and background differences.

From the numerous opinions and observations as given above, one can readily
see the problem in accurately characterizing the 12 kop. stamp.

The next value of this 10th Standard Issue to receive some attention was the
6 kop. value. The red 6 kop. stamp was issued in January 1961. In March 1961
the same value and design was released in a different shade, cherry. Scott

14

calls this shade dark carmine rose. At some later date a second type of the
cherry colored stamp appeared. The color was more brownish and the overall
stamp appeared brighter because the shading lines, especially in the sky
portion, appeared thinner than before. Other lines also appeared crisper
giving the stamp an overall cleaner and brighter appearance.

This second type of the cherry-colored stamp was acknowledged as a later
printing. It was reported that there was no improvement or change in the
design other than the cleaner appearance. This apparently was due to the
different manner which the ink soaked into the paper. The paper was supposed
to be of the same type although it was prepared at a different time. Never-
theless, so-called significant philatelic distinctions in the two printings
were given as shown below.

Type Color Paper Gum Design Width Space Between Stamps

1 Cherry Grayish Yellowish 14.25 mm 4.2 mm

2 Brown-lilac Smooth Transparent 14.15 mm 4.4 mm
White

The most helpful details are the colors and possibly the space between stamps
if one has a pair.

The 20, 30 and 50 kop. Standard Issue stamps depicted various portraits and
the signature of V. I. Ulyanov/Lenin. The stamps were designed by P. Vasilev.
Overall size was approximately 26 x 44 mm.

Below is a listing of these stamps with their descriptions and varieties.

20 kop. (Scott #2483) V. I. Lenin in 1919 (drawing made in 1958 from a
photograph titled "V. I. Lenin Moscow March 2-5, 1919").

Bicolored green, olive-brown; deep recess photogravuree); comb
perfed 12 1/2 x 12; June 1961; 20 million copies issued.

There are no reported varieties.

30 kop. (Scott #2484) V. I. Lenin in 1918 (from a 1948 drawing).
Bicolored gray-blue, olive-brown; deep recess; comb perfed 12 1/2 x
12; June 1961; 7 million copies issued.

There are no reported varieties.

50 kop. (Scott #2485) V. I. Lenin in 1921 (from a 1957 drawing).
Bicolored carmine rose, olive-brown; deep recess; comb perfed 12 1/2
x 12; May 1961.

A. Line perfed 12 1/2.
15

Quantity issued was 5 million (the quantities for each perf type
were not given).

There is a broken letter variety in which the letter "77" in the
word 'ITD has one leg missing such that the word appears as l"r
This variety is found on the line perfed 12 1/2. Presumably it also
occurs on the comb perfed 12 1/2 x 12. (Fig. 4)

Fig. 4

The final standard Issue of this period was the one ruble in large format
from a wood engraving by A. Kalashnikov and printed on white smooth paper
(so-called chalk paper). The impression appears typographed with indentations
on the back side although the Russian description of the printing process is
a photo etching process to produce the printing plates.

1 ruble (Scott #2981) The Palace of Congresses and the Spasski Tower of
the Kremlin. Text in six lines in the upper left corner reads
"Peace, Labor, Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood, and Happiness".
Black-blue; typographed; line perfed 12 1/2; December 1964; 2
million copies issued.

There are no reported varieties.

All these listed stamps, from the 1 kop. to the 1 ruble values, constitute
the definitive issues of the Soviet Union for the period 1961-65. They were
extensively used until a new series was released beginning in October 1966.
But the lists and data given above are probably far from complete. With the
millions of copies printed from numerous printing plates, philatelists who
study these issues carefully will surely find many more collectable varieties.
And it is this that makes the definitive issues so interesting.

16

ZEMSTVO

A RARE OPPORTUNITY

R FOR A SPECIALIST!!
References:
An Award winning collection! Illustra-
1. A. Velikolepov, Philately of USSR," tions on every Album page. A wealth of
page 15, January 1969. information! R. RR, RRR about 15,000
2. A. Kubasov, Philately of USSR, stamps from 68 Districts.
page 6, January 1969.
3. A. Skrilev, Philately of USSR, Each District is available individually,
page 12, May 1969. as Collection on original Album pages.
4. N. Petrov, Philately of USSR,
page 10, October 1970. We are also breaking up every District
5. S. Shcherbakov, Philately of and can offer separately Stamps, Blocks,
USSR, page 8, February 1971. etc.
6. Catalog of Postage Stamps of the '
USSR 1918-1969, Moscow 1970. Please mail us you Want List (number
7. Catalog of Postage Stamps of the after Schmidt catalogue), advising us of
USSR 1918-1974, Moscow 1976. your special interest.

We are interested in buying ZEMSTVO!

S. SEREBRAKIAN, INC.
P.O. Box 448 Monroe, N.Y. 10950

1977 RUSSIA complete year, 110 stamps,
8 sxs sheets plus 1 mini sheet of six
stamps--mint $52.50, used $10.00.
1976--mint $38.00, used $10.00.
1975--mint $30.00, used $8.00.
All complete years back to 1954 both
mint and used. Want lists are also
welcome. I also have hundreds of FDC'c, SUPPORT OUR ADVERTISERS!
POSTCARDS, POSTAL STATIONERY, etc. I
have all 1980 OLYMPIC ISSUES in singles, TELL THEM
blocks of four, plate blocks and mini
sheets mint. I have ALBUMS for the 1980 YOU SAW THEIR AD
OLYMPIC SETS. SEND FOR FREE PRICE LISTS,
(DOUBLE (D) STAMPS. P.O. BOX 1410, ST. IN THE ROSSICA JOURNAL!
CHARLES, MISSOURI 63301, ROSSICA # 988.

ATTENTION: I also have 1978 issues
that have been released thus far this
year. Send $10.00 DEPOSIT now and
receive new issues as they come in.

I also have POLAND, CZECH, HUNGRY,
ROMANIA, FINLAND, BULGARIA, ETC.

17

RUSSIA'S RAILROAD MAILS

by N. Luchnik

Translated by R. Trbovich from Soviet Collector, 1974

Until the present, Soviet philatelic literature has failed to study the
railroad history of Russia and railroad postmarks. The sole source of
value has been the 1924 catalogue of the postage stamps of the Russian
Empire, the RFSR and USSR, though it contains relatively little informa-
tion bearing on early railroad postmarks. Most recently the periodical
Filatelia has published Boianovich's translation on early railroad can-
cellations of the Polish Empire.

Turning to literature published abroad we find many oversights. Tchiling-
hirian and Stephan treat only the international railroad lines in their
study of Russian stamps used abroad; Ashford deals only with Transcaucasian
railroad cancellations, while Wortman limits himself to the Trans-Siberian
Railroad Line. Prigara's "Russkaia pochta v Imperii, v Turtsu, v Kitae,
i v Tsarstve Pol'skom" contains a number of oversights and outright errors,
which, alas, are found also in the work of Kethro and Barry.

Suffice to state that foreign authors have knowledge of only one of the
1913 route schedules of railroad mail cars. Further, although they appa-
rently view all postmarks which bear the words "vokzal (railroad terminal
or station) or "zheleznaia doroga" (railroad line) as railroad cancellations,
this approach quite often does not prove the subordination of a railway
mail section to the "Upravlenie perevozki poch po zheleznym dorogam"
(Railway Mail Administration).

This article attempts to harmonize published information with data amassed
through personal research. The author knows that error is inevitable and
therefore extends beforehand his thanks for all counsel and advice prof,
fered.

As a point of departure then, let us focus on Russia's first railroad line,
namely the Tsarsko-sel'skaia Railroad Line linking St. Petersburg with the
court's summer residence at Tsarkoe-Selo and Pavlovsk, the construction of
which was completed in November 1837, with full operation introduced in
May 1838. Although that line was economically insignificant indeed, never-
theless it did register Russia's opening venture in the railroad field.

Railroads by that time were well on their way toward proving their value
in Western Europe, while Russia with its vast distances still moved mail
and freight by water (rivers) and horse-drawn vehicles. Yet the insistent
demands for railroad construction advanced by progressive thinkers were
to meet with sharp resistance from land owners and exporters, fearing loss
of profit. Opposition also came from reactionary tsarist functionaries.

Almost 15 years were to elapse before economic exigencies broke the impasse.
It was 1851 before the Moscow-St. Petersburg line was completed. Concur-
rently, the strategically vital Warsaw (Venskii Terminsl) and Warsaw-St.
Petersburglines were finished. As of 1860 Russia's railroad lines totaled

18

a mere 1500 versts (2.067 km). The shortage of railway lines proved a real
factor in Russia's defeat in the Crimean War (1853-56). That bitter lesson,
S coupled with rapid capital growth following the 1861 reforms, propelled rail-
road construction forward. Thus, in the 1865-75 period we see an average of
1500 km. of railway line completed annually (See Table 1).

RR CONSTRUCTION RATE IN RUSSIA 1837-1913
(thousand km)

1837- 1861- 1866- 1876- 1893- 1901- 1905-
1860 1865 1875 1892 1900 1904 1913

RR network at
period end 1.5 3.8 19.0 31.2 53.0 59.5 70.5

Annual growth 0.07 0.45 1.52 0.72 2.74 1.62 0.95

Table 1.

(Source: BSE, 2nd ed., vol. 15, page 626)
Emulating Western Europe's financial policies, railway construction in
Russia was funded by private capital, both foreign and domestic. In the
early 1800s only 4% of the railroads belonged to the state and, as will be
shown below, that circumstance was instrumental in the evolution of Russia's
railway mails.

Moscow became the center of a fast-growing network and by 1862 trains were
rolling to Nizhnii Novgorod (now Gor'kii), by 1868 to Kursk and Khar'kov,
and by 1869 to Riazan, Tambov, Voronezh, and Kiev. By 1871 Moscow was
linked with Poland and Western Europe via Smolensk, Minsk, and Brest. By
the early 1870s the Moscow- aroslavl-Vologda railroad line had reached the
upper Volga and other regions further north.

Once the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War clearly revealed the inherent short-
comings of privately owned railway lines, state financed railway construc-
tion recommended, along with state purchase of privately owned lines. Thus,
by the early 1890s we had one-third, and by 1900 two-thirds, of all rail-
roadroad lines in the hands of the state. Railroad construction was to
reach the far corners of the country during the era of industrial growth in
the 1890s. The Sredneaziatskaia (Central Asian) Railroad Line was started
in 1880, and the Transsiberian Railroad Line by 1891.

Russia's railroad lines totaled 70,000 km. by 1913, not including the
trackage in Finland, the Kitaisko-Vostochnaia (Chinese Eastern) Railroad
Line, or local narrow gauge lines. The railway mail routes totaled 56,000
km. Happily all of these elements combined to promote the reliable and
rapid shipment of railroad mail.

19

History and Organization of Russia's Railroad Mail *

From time immemorial the shipment has been the prerogative of the state.
Of course postal carriers were also for transporting passengers. As rail-
roads developed in Western Europe, a natural division of labor evolved be-
tween the railroads and postal authorities. As the number of railway
passengers transported grew, so too did the need to deliver mail free of
charge. Apparently that situation was accepted by all concerned.

When the first railway mail car made its debut on the London-Birmingham line
with on-board sorting of mail and with that, speedier delivery, the novelty
caught on. Here then were mobile mail offices handling ordinary and regis-
tered mail, selling postage stamps, etc.

The Tsarsko-sel'skaia Railroad Line was opened for mail purposes almost
immediately upon its completion. Nicholas I ordered that the State Treasury
reimburse the railway line for the cost of mail services. This precedent
proved to have dire consequences. The state's mail authorities signed an
agreement with The Tsarsko-sel'skaia Railroad Company the terms of which
called for the transport of mails as of 1 November 1838 from St. Petersburg
to Tsarskoe Selo and Pavlovsk, and return, three times per day (with an on-
board postman present on one of the trips). For their services the Company
charged a fee of 600 rubles per annum. Starting in 1847 the frequency of
the runs increased to six times per day in the summer, and four times daily
in the winter. The private owners of that line then requested an additional
80 silver rubles. Even the installation of mail boxes located at railroad
stations had to be paid for by the state.

In 1851 the Nikolaevskaia (now Oktiabr'skaia) Railway Line was opened to
traffic between St. Petersburg and Moscow, and the line's owners demanded
payment for all mail shipments. Indeed, even the cost of manufacture of
the railroad mail cars was to be borne by the state authorities. Every run
made by a railroad mail car netted the railroad line 85 silver rubles, as
well as 85 rubles for transporting postal carriages and an extra 6 rubles
to pay the fare of the on-board postal clerk.

In 1857 the new Pochtovyi ustav (Postal Statute) called for the free trans-
port of mail on all passenger trains. A private stock company, called the
Glavnoe obchestvo rossiiskikh zhelnykh dorog (Main Society of Russian Rail-
road Lines), was required by statute to provide each train with a mail area
that was 10.5 feet long. However, state mail authoritieswere obliged to
pay 30 kopecs per verst (a verst equals 3500 feet) for any special railway
car shipments of mail. It soon became evident that neither the 10.5 foot
area nor the special railroad cars fulfilled actual mail requirements eco-
nomically. This soon necessitated the longer 21 foot railroad car area,
along with an additional fee of 11 1/4 kopecs per verst.

Railway mail shipments were still not playing a substantial role during the
1850s and 1860s though certain innovations did take place as railroad mail
personnel joined the ranks of the regular postal service. Thus, in 1869 we
see the establishment of the UPPZD, i.e., the year signaling the true be-
ginning of railway mails in Russia. A railway mail section (otdelence) was

"* N. I. Sokolov's "Mail Shipments on Russian Railroads" published in 1895,
used as the basic source for this chapter, is recommended for subject treat-
ment and reference to official documents.
20

usually located at a railroad station (primarily at railway terminals on
railroad routes) or in a railway mail car. The railroad sections were
within the purview of nine departments:
1st Department: St. Petersburg, at the Varshavskii
(I-i otdel) vokzal (Warsaw Railway terminal)
2nd Department: St. Petersburg (Nikolaevskii vokzal)
3rd Department: Moscow (Rigazanskii vokzal)
4th Department: Moscow (Kurskii vokzal)
5th Department: Kiev
6th Department: Orel
7th Department: Warsaw
8th Department: Moscow (Smolesnkii vokzal, later
Brestskii)
9th Department: Odessa
Later two more departments were added:
10th Department: Perm
llth Department: Riazhsk

The UPPZD was a fully independent organization, not subordinate to any
territorial mail district (okrug). Therefore, even the 1884 merger of
the postal and telegraph services did not involve UPPZD operations. The
UPPZD's reorganization of 1891 had a purely internal character, resulting
in fewer but larger railway mail departments as follows:
1st Department: St. Petersburg (Nikolaevskii vokzal)
2nd Department: Moscow (Nizhegorodskii vokzal)
3rd Department: Warsaw (Venskii vokzal)
4th Department: Kiev
5th Department: Khar'kov
6th Department: Minsk
7th Department: Perm
8th Department: Baku
Later the headquarters of the 7th Department was transferred to Ekaterinburg,
the 8th to Tiflis.

Parallel to the growth of the railway network and the opening up of new
lines two new departments were added, i.e., the 9th Department, located in
Tambov (later transferred to Vladivostok), and the 10th Department in
Krasnoiarsk. By 1900 two new departments were formed: one with its head-
quarters in Kozlov (now Michurinsk) which was designated as the 9th Depart-
ment, inasmuch as the former 9th Department based in Vladivostok was
redesignated as the llth. A 12th Department, created in Samarkand, was
soon moved to Tashkent, while the 8th Department was transferred from Tiflis
to Vladikavkaz. By and large the number of departments was to remain constant
despite the moves of the 8th back to Tiflis, the 9th to Penza, and the llth
to Kharbin.

With the growth of railroad lines the number of railway mail sections (Fig. 1)
expanded and by 1917 a six-fold increase was experienced. Not only did the
total number of railway mail sections vary, but changes affecting railway
routes took place as well; thus, we find some railway sections closed
down, others opened. For example, as railway route number 69 (Samara -
Orenburg) was extended to Tashkent (which thereby became the terminal station)

21

35B
/
/
A represents the total numbered 'Z , routes of railway cars /

S2I
B -represents the total railway I
mail sections at railway /
stations 150- --

10o--- ---

the railway mail section of Orenburg 5
was closed down and replaced by the
Tashkent section. Take another
example: the extension of railway .1870 180 !o900 19 10/7
route number 165 (Kavkazkaia-Stavro-
pol) to Ekaterinburg (presently
Krasnodar) prompted creation of a
new section there. Fig. 1

The basic routes of railway mail cars were numbered serially and provided
depart and return directions with odd and even numbers respectively; thus,
we find number 1 assigned to the Moscow-St. Petersburg route, while the
St. Petersburg-Moscow run was tagged number 2. With time new routes re-
ceived new numbers, and occasionally old routes were changed. It is worth
noting that some routes have not changed their numbering up to the present
time: e.g., Route No. 1-2 exists today on the Leningrad-Moscow Railway
Line. But Route No. 243, on the other hand, changed five times in a ten
year period. Shortening or extending a route usually caused the changes.
For example, Route No. 265 (Kharbin-Port Arthur) was cut short at Kwang-
chenztsy, which then became a frontier railroad station. Routes were also
split or merged. Sometimes routes found themselves included in territorial
mail districts: e.g., in 1915 Routes 151-152, 157-158, and 287-88 were
subordinated to the Saratov Territorial Mail District, and Route No. 189-
190 to that of Tomsk.

Numbers were not assigned to temporary or local railway mail routes. There-
fore, during construction of the Sredne-aziatskaia Railway Line an unnumbered
temporary railway route was in operation between Chardzhui (presently
Chardzhow) and Samarkand. When, however, the railway line reached to the
terminal station Tashkent, the permanent Chardzhui-Tashkent Railway Line
was given a permanent number (No. 205). Suburban and local railway lines
also were not assigned numbers: e.g., St. Petersburg-Orenienbaum, Moscow-
Ramenskoe, Riga-Tukkum, etc. For the most part these routes were attached
to territorial mail districts and thus stood somewhat apart.

The UPPZD also administered railway mail sections locat1A within the borders
of other countries (the Kitaisko-Vostochnaia lines and part of the Sredne-
Aziatskaia lines). However, some of the sections located on Russia's own

22

territory did not fall within its jurisdiction, i.e., railroad mail sections
of the Polish Empire (until 1870) and the Duchy of Finland. Therefore Finland's
railroad cancellations will not be dealt with in this study.

Russian Railroad Postmarks

The term "zheleznodorozhnye pochtovye shtempelia" (railway postmarks)
encompasses only postmarks of railway sections within the purview of UPPZD.
The postmarks of railway sections located at railway stations yet subordi-
nate to territorial mail districts are not to be considered as railway
postmarks even when we find the word "vokzal" (station) being used therein.

The classification of railway postmarks has two aspects--by designation
and by chronology. By designation we find three groupings: railway station
postmarks, numbered railway route postmarks, and unnumbered railway post-
marks.

Chronologically we have four groupings:
1. Early postmarks for stamping and cancellation
(prior to the creation of UPPZD)
2. Calendar postmarks with a three line date
3. Calendar postmarks with a cross shaped date
4. Calendar postmarks with a one-line date

The last three groups correspond to the three periods of Russian calendar
postmark cancellation. As concerns railway postmarks, as a rule, the intro-
duction of new types normally coincided with successive reorganizations of
the UPPZD system.

Let us consider then the chronological classification, after having re-
moved from our study all postmarks of unnumbered railway cars, inasmuch
as the greater part of these were assigned to the territorial and district
system.

Before we begin to describe railway mail postmarks one must first under-
stand their order of introduction. In 1880 and again in 1903, at the time
when new types of calendar postmarks were made for the cancellation of
official documents, it was ordered specifically that new postmarks be made
and introduced at the rate older ones wore out. This explains the fre-
quent encounter of old-type postmarks with very late dates. Also, it is
entirely possible that some types of postmarks were never put to use by
some postal sections. For example, the early Kostroma Railroad Station
postmark is found on 1913 issue stamps although postmarks of the third type
were already in use by 1903. There is no doubt the Kostroma postmarks of
the second type were never made.

All postmarks belonging to a single section, or to mail sections having
the same name, bore some distinguishing marks. Thus postmarks of the first
or second periods were provided with numerals to serve that purpose, and
in third period postmarks we find the use of letters (although exceptions

23

exist). When an old postmark handstampp and postmark used interchangeably]
became unserviceable, a new one with the same serial number (or letter) was
made; but if lost, then a new one with a new number (or letter) was manu-
factured. This approach resulted in many postmark variations that differed
only in very small details.

Precursors of Railroad Postmarks

Strictly speaking we cannot study railroad postmarks used prior to the
establishment of the UPPZD since we have limited our research to those used
by sections within the UPPZD system. Nevertheless, since they do represent
precursors of regular railroad cancellations, they are of real historical
interest.

A. Pre-stamp cancellations. Prior to the introduction of postage
stamps, letters were cancelled with postmarks indicating the place and time
of arrival (or receipt). We only have knowledge of two such postmarks, i.e.,
those used at the Moscow and St. Petersburg stations of the Nikolaevskaia
Railroad Line. (See Fig. 2)

C.O.B.Cr.T.A MOCCIXEJI.jOP
1 noAS 1 26 MAtH 1855

Fig. 2

Although that railroad line transported mail as early as 1851, postmarks
dated prior to 1855 are not known. Postage stamps cancelled with these
postmarks are known.

B. Dotted cancellations. Simultaneously with the introduction
of postage stamps all postal services were supplied with special "mute"
cancellations that had neither the date nor the name of the mail section.
That information, however, was present on older postmarks which continued
to be applied to covers. Mute cancellations consisted of dots forming geo-
metric shapes and had a numeral located at the center. The type of geometric
form used indicated the kind of postal service involved (guberniia, uezd,
etc.) and the numeral indicated a specific serial designation. These rail-
way cancellations had a six-sided form (see Fig.3)

:..:. : .

Fig. 3

The number "1" was assigned to the railway terminal in St. Petersburg;
number "2" to Moscow. Cancellations using numbers "3" through "9" were
assigned to the railroad mail cars on the St. Petersburg-Warsaw Railway
Line. Cancellations bearing number "10" or "13" are unknown, and there is
no reason to believe that they ever existed.

Experience was to show that the use of two postmarks (one for postmarking
and the other for cancellation) on a single cover was impractical. Therefore

24

Circular No. 123 (11 Feb 1863) of the Glavnoe Upravlenie Pocht ordered
ordered numeral-type handstamps withdrawn from service and recommended that
new circular postmarks be used on postage stamps. The postmark was to be
used sparingly on every letter as follows: impressed once (or several times)
to cancel all postage stamps, and once on a clear area of the cover. That
method of cancellation lasted for a long time and the use of that postmark
lasted right up to the Soviet era.

Here we must try to dispel the widely held misconception of many philatelists
who believe dotted triangular postmarks with truncated corners to be railroad
cancellations (calling them railroad station postmarks). The flaw in that
viewpoint becomes self-evident by merely noting that only a few railroad
lines existed in 1858 (Barskosel'skaia, Petergofskaia, Varshavo-Venskaia, and
Nikolaevskaia) while the postmarks in question were used across the breadth
of Russia. The official name for those postmarks was "stempelia pochtovykh
stantsii" (Post Office Postmarks) and in fact referred to post offices using
horses. It is fully possible that a few such triangular postmarks were used
by railroad stations, but their number must have been insignificant indeed.

C. Circular Cancellations. In April 1860 the new standardized
circular postmarks were introduced. (Fig. 4)
The name of the railway line was placed at the
top of the postmark, and the name of the city, c b
or the railroad car, at the bottom. The num- 5 437*
ber did not indicate the number of the railway ( HOf. A HB. i-
route, as it did on subsequently used postmarks, 1863 1866
but rather the specific numerical designation BcK AT.
of the railroad car. Next to the number rep-
resenting the month we find the railroad sta- iy
tion's serial number (sometimes to its left, or 16
right, and sometimes placed horizontally rather. A.
than upright), which was changed at each sta- 64
tion stop made by the train. BAs

Cancellations of that type were used in stamp-
less covers as well as franked covers which Fig. 4
had been handstamped by dotted cancellations.
After the use of dotted postmarks was discontinued the circular postmarks
became the first postal calendar cancellations.

Calendar Railroad Postmarks of the
First Period (1869-1890)

Until the present time there has not been any serious study of Russian rail-
road cancellations. Therefore it would be senseless to attempt to compile
here lists of all known cancellations (and their variant forms). The result
would be excessively voluminous, and certainly incomplete. It is much more
prudent to decipher the route numbers of railroad cars for various periods,
and provide a list of railway mail sections that should have had postmarks.

Official publications from time to time did publish lists of railroad mail
sections, and subsequent changes and additions were also published (unfor-

25

tunately not in all cases) in the official notices part of the Pochtovo-tele-
grafnyi zhurnal. This circumstance has permitted reconstruction of a fairly
rounded history of railroad mail sections, but has not, by a long shot, pro-
vided proper coverage of section postmarks.

The centralized manufacture of Russia's railroad cancellations is found only
with regard to the "dotted" and to the very earliest calendar postmarks (type
of 1860). Others were usually manufactured on order at local workshops, which
resulted not only in many varieties, but often in deviations from official
specifications. Therefore since we cannot concern ourselves with varieties,
let us restrict our study to the description and identification of basic post-
marks, and of a few variant forms.

The introduction of a numbering system for railway mail cars and the use of
new railroad postmarks took place in 1869. These postmarks were not only used
for cancelling postage stamps and marking covers but also had transit applica-
tions. It appears that they were impressed at each mail sorting operation.
One finds covers from that period bearing a large number of railroad car
markings and documenting the entire voyage traveled by the cover. With time
that practice was discontinued.

The method of recording the date was a basic characteristic of all postmarks
of the first period. It was placed at the center of the postmark in three
lines, with the month designated by letters. The postmark's form was a single-
circle (and, rarely, octagonal).

Railroad Station Postmarks. In contrast to 1860-type calendar
postmarks, the postmarks of the first period have the mail section at the top
rather than the bottom of the circle. The power inscriptions vary. Most S
often we see the name of a railroad line, less often the number of a railway
mail department (e.g. "6-IO OTEJA 24 ..." [ 6th Railroad Department ] )
or, again, simply "CTK.." (railway line station). Early postmark letters
and numbers were serifed (Figure 5). In the late 1870s baton characters were
introduced. (Figure 6) Some 30 mail sections were operating at railroad stations

e \ V, P 11* /9 48) C -
S24 .21 Fig. 6

at the beginning of the first period, and the number had almost tripled at
its end (Table 2). 188693

26
1871 1874 ^W^ \^.^/

CEH O HOT_ r CEH
UCW108710 Lo8S5 .

Fig. 5 Fig. 6

at the beginning of the first period, and the number had almost tripled at
its end (Table 2).

26

LIST OF RAILROAD MAIL SECTIONS AT RAILROAD
STATIONS EXISTING UNTIL 1890

Name Dept. Name Dept.
No. No.

AecaHpos 7 JloaoBaa 4
nexcaHKyp- yrcK 4
BaTyM JVlKOB 6
BaTyM 3
Be-nocTOK 7 MapHyno.,b
BeHlepw 9 5HHCK
BNp3yia 9 M, Ba5
BpecT 8 MocaBa:
"Epect H
Baptuasa: HKo.aeB 2
C.-neTep6yprcKHt 1I Ht4CeropoacKH
BeHCKHi 7 P,33HCKMR 3
Tepecnon.bcKH 7 KypcKI 8
Bep>6o.soB I CMo.1eHCKi 8
BH4IbHO 1 BpeCTCKH
BHre6cK 6 HHilonm HoBropoa
Bo.ioraa 3 H .KonaeB
Bo.no.cK 9 Onecca 6
BopoHei 3 Open 11
Bo3bsa 11 OpeH6ypr 10
roMe.b 7 nepMb
paHHHua 7 ncKOB
rpaeso 5 Paa3HBHInoB
rpH3>i 6 PeBe'b 9
Iia36ypr Cl]B-Bapmu33caa 1 Pern 9
PHro-Op.ioBCKHfi 6 Plra 6
SIOI.i1HcKa 4 FOBaH
EKaTepHH6ypr 10 Pocros 4
E.neu I P6micKx
P5KCH 11
)?KepHHKa 9 C.-neTep6ypr:
BliaHropoA 5 BapuascKHi 1
KaaTaHu 9 HuonaeBcKHt 2
Kiuiema 1 -CaparoB 3
CeBacTonoMb 4
KumHHeB 9 COCHOBHUb 7
Kles 5 CMoneHCK 8
Kose.b 5 CTapaa Pycca 2
K03.o B 3 tb3paHb
Ko.IOUKH 7 TioMeHb 10
Kpe.,eHyr 8 YHreHb 9
KypcK 5 OacTOB 5
116asaapn 3pbKO
3TKaHb I
Ilaprf.lhtbH 6

Table based on official documentation of local post office
lists published in 1877, 1881, 1884, and 1891.

Table 2.

Railroad Mail Car Postmarks. Generally they are similar to postmarks
of the first period. Within a single-circle form we find at the top the
inscription JWEDBg BA4MH No. [Railroad Mail Car No. with a number

27

coincident with the railroad route, a three-line date in the center, and the
serial number of the postmark itself at the bottom. A number positioned hori-
zontally next to the date gives the number of the railway station. The
characters are serified. The very earliest postmarks carried the railroad
route's double numerical designation (denoting use in either direction of
the line).

In the late 70's and early 80's postmarks ik b A p/v
underwent several changes. First, the -4 &
letter style was changed. Further, a5 1 EK
very careful study of the postmarks 18
proves that the number intended to indi-
cate both of the directions of a line
was not consistent. Finally, we no
longer find the station number (Fig. 7). 26
Route No. 97-98 was the highest double *EB
number used on postmarks of the first 1880
period, and any route numbers exceeding
that number were simply given as a
single number, arbitrarily chosen. Fig. 7

LIST OF RAILROAD MAIL SECTIONS OF RAILROAD MAIL CARS
ON NUMBERED RAILROAD ROUTES EXISTING UNTIL 1891

Route # Route Route # Route
I-2 Ca rKT-rleTep6ypr-MocKBa 35-36 Ope.n--aplnubm (1872)
(1872) Open--rpHsi (1884)
3-4 CaHKT-rieTep6ypr-Bep60o.1oBo 37-38 ya-XapKo (1872)
(1872) 37-38 Bipsyaa-XapbKOB (1872)
CanKT-rerep6ypr-Kn6apTU XapbKOB-B1ipayna (1881)
(1881) 39-40 raTq Ha--Ba.THACK;iiA flopT
CaHKT-neTep6ypr-BepK6o.o8ao (1872)
(1884) CaHKT-lerep6ypr-Peseab
5-6 B.abiio-Bapmasa (1872) (1881)
7-8 AqIHa6ypr-Ope.T (1872) 41--42 MocsKa-CM.o1eHcK (1872)
Pnra-Opea (1881) Mocsa--pecT (1831)
Pnra-BHTe6cK (1884) MocKBa--CMO.TeHCK (1884)
Ope.--,IHna6ypr (1891) nOCKBa-I-MHCK (1891)
9-10 tiHa6ypr-Para (1872) 43-44 Ko3.no--CapaTOB (1872)
Ka.aKvHy-PaA3HBH.111mKH 45-46 fH6aBa--3TaHb (1872)
(1881) PoMinb--J116aBa (IS.)
11-!2 MocKBa-HHwuiit-Hoaropo0 MHHcK--.lH6asa (1S4)
(1872) 47-48 .)KepuMKa-Bo.rcm;:c:- (1872)
13-14 MocKBa-BopoHee (1872) 49-50 Onecca-Kuitmes (1872)
15-16 MocKBa-XapbKOB (1872) Pa3ebHa-YHre (1881)
17-18 KypcK-KneB (1872) Oaecca-YHrelu (1891)
19-20 XapbKo--PocTOB-Ha- oHy 51-52 Boponrey-PocToa-Ha-O Hy
( 72) (1881)
21-22 Kies--Onecca (1872) 53-54 Ktes-rpaeBo (1881)
Ka3aTm--Onec:a (1881) 55-56 3xo.iayHoso-PaA3u1Hsao
23-24 Bo.oroe-Pu6bHCK (1872) (1881)
25-26 Baptuana-CocHoanHuU a paHm- 57-58 qyaoao-CTapan Pycca (1881)
ua (1872) 59--60 J1oaoBaR-CeBacTono.b (1881)
27-28 BapmaBa-A.nleKcaHapoa (1872) 61-62 PamcK--B3bMa (1831)
29-30 Bapu8a-BpecT-JHToRCK 63-64 Ps: 31-32. Ko.1OUKH-JoA3b (1872) 65-66 PocTo .Ha-.oHy-Baa:HKaaKa3
(1881)
KpaMaTopcKaH-JIyraHcK (1891) 67-68 DacT0o-HHKo.1aes (1881)
28 33-34 MocKBa--5pocnasab (1872) 69-70 Cb3paHb-OpeH6ypr (1881)
Mociaa-Bonoraa (1881) 71-72 KoYe.-b--M.aBa (1881)
MocKBa-KocTpoMa (1891) I

(continued)

Route # Route Route # Route

73-74 Bopom6a-XapbKOB (1881) 97-98 CaMTpealt--rlor (1884)
75--76 BeHaepu-PeHH (1881) 99--100 ckmnoBaTaJ--,jo0.AnncKas (1884)
77-78 HocK--Kirewmuta (1881) XapuuacKan--.-o.cmcxaa (1891)
79-80 hHKHTOBKa-3BepeBO (1881) 101-102 CMo.encK--BpecT (.1884)
MapHyno.b--3Sepeao (1884) MbaIcK-Bpecr (1891)
81-82 nepMb-EKaTepHi6ypr (1881) 103-104 MHHCK-POMHbi (1884)
nepMb-TroMeHb (1891) MHHcx-KpeMeH4yr (1891)
83-84 OcTawKosB-P OcTatuxoB-Bi3bMa (1891) JAlma6ypr--Pra (1891)
85-86 Pira-MomKei'Ka (1881) 107-108 rp$sH--Uap1IulH (1884)
87-88 11saHropon-J1yKoB (1881) 109-110 Ko.moWKHi-OcTpoBet (1891)
rpaHHua-JIyKOB (1891) 111-112 BIT.lbHO-POBHO (1891)
89-9C AepnT-Tanc (1881) 113--t14 E-c.ocToK-BapaaHOBmlil (1891)
Pira-Tanc (1891) 115-116 5Ipoc.lza.-B-Bo.lorna (1891)
91-92 E.neu-XpyvueBo (1881) 117-118 roMe.eb--BpHcK (1891)
E.eu-a-3.-oBaH (1891) 119-120 qo 1891 r. He 6bno
93-94 Ka6lnHKa--fiHcK (1884) 121-122 TilxopeuKaa--HoBpoccufiCK
BpecT-roe.-, b (1891) (1891)
95-96 BaKy-BarvM (1884) 123-124 CaMapa--.iaToycr (1891)
S125-126 nIcKoB-Ba.K (1891)

The above list has been assembled on the basis of official documents pub-
lished in 1872, 1881, 1884 and 1891. Parenthesis do not enclose the date
of a railroad opening for operation, but rather the first mention of that
route in official sources, e.g. Railroad Route No. 3 was assigned to the St.
Petersburg-Verzhbolovo Railroad Line up until 1872, between 1881 and 1884 to
the St. Petersburg-Kibarty line, then again back to St. Petersburg-Verzhbolovo
where it remained without change until 1891.

The official list of'railroad routes published in 1872 does not provide
railroad route numbers. Their numeration was gleaned from much later docu-
mentation.

Table 3

Calendar Railroad Postmarks of the
Second Period (1891-1902)

The introduction of a new type of postmark to be used for cancellation was
specified in Circular No. 13, 5 March 1890, of the chief of the Main Post
and Telegraph Administration. It notes that the last Lisbon Postal Congress
suggested the use of Roman numerals to designate the month of dispatch or
arrival. That change was considered useful and therefore was accepted for
both international and internal application.

Railroad Station Postmarks. The new postmarks had a single-circle form,
the date in a cross-shaped form at the center, with a Roman numeral designating
the month; the name (location) of the railroad section was placed at the top,

29

Fig. 8
and. at the bottom, its railway
designation: 3JIE3HOOPP. 17. 0
S 6 i 7 1 event the city had several railroad mail
19-02 1 9 1 -00 sections, the name of a railroad line was
ST o^ substituted, e.g. MDCK.-BPECT.X.7
[Moscow-Brest Railroad Line]. Neverthe-
less there are many exceptions to the
-c"k above, and a few of these are illustrated
'IF in Fig. 8. In fact one finds real bloopers.
S19 00- 1 3 For example, the PEBEJb postmark trans-
IV poses the "E" and "'" [ in IKEJhI3HO0P. ],
'124p ov while WECEKi CH is given as L nqE fi on
its postmark. (See Table 4.)

19-01 o 6 19 P 2 019-2
*-9 10 Iv -- 1
J'q. VIII V I

LIST OF RAILROAD MAIL SECTIONS AT RAILROAD STATIONS
EXISTING DURING THE SECOND PERIOD (1891-1902)

Name Dept. # Notes Name Dept. # Notes
A.ewccanapoB
(Ilo.iouK. ry6.) 3 B53bMa 2
A.:iKcaiiapoB raflBopOH 4 OTKpblTO
(B.iaa.M. ry6.) 2 OTxpuro FoMe.ib 3
Aaul.iaH 12 OTKpuITO rpaeBo 4
ATrapCK 9 OTKPUTO rpnmmua 3
anKyv 8 rpoato 3 OTrKpUr
5a.nam.s 9 OTKpbUTO rpU3 6 nepeBeaeuo
5BaTry 8 B 9-A oTneJi
r)eropoa 5 OTKpiTo 2BIIHCK I CM. flIIHa6ypr
be.iocToK 3 nbIa6ypr 6 flepenMcHOBIaH
Beilacpb. 4 B .BIIIICK H
nepB.caeH
SepaiHCK 5 OTKPbUO B .l-H oTaen
5epe3H;KH 7 OTKpIUo .o1nilHCKaH 4 3aKpibTo
53111 3 3aKpTro ExaTepHi6ypr 7 OTKPuTO
BHp3y.ia 5 3aKpuTO EKaTepimHoap 8 OTpbUTO
5pF'CK 3 nlepeBeaenc ELaTepHHoc-.aB 4 fnpebeaCHO
B 6-, oTae. a B -l oT1ae.1
BanuipKa 4 OThrpTO E.eu 6
BapiuaBa: Kniomp 4 OThrpTO
BtIchci KAMiepliHha 4
Tc;pC:IO.1bC1KH 3 3bepCBo 9 Omspbiro
Bcep;6o.ia so 1 3.o.a6) HOBO 4
Bcpuia.3oBKa 2 OrpuTro 3..aToycT 3
Bn.1.blo 3 IpKVTrcK 10 OTKpblTO
B.aaIIROCTOK 11 OTKPUrTO HcaKoropKa 2 OTKpblTO

30 Table 4

Table 4

SECOND PERIOD 1891-1902 (cont.)

Name Dept. # Notes Name Dept. # Notes

B.-aliNaBsa3 5 fepeneeeHo Ka3alb 2 OTKp1To
a 8-fi OTAeJ Ka3aTiIH 4
B.I"""P 2 OTKpuro KaMbiimH 9 OTKpbiTO
n10.orna 1 FrepeneaeHO [Kapc 8 OTKpbUTO
no 2-if ourien5
"Kepxib 5 OTKIPbTO
o.po'lcK 4
KnHem
Bo.13 c 9 OTXpUTo Kme2
"P""' 2 FpeneaeH KoBb
B 4-fi OTlei KoTB1 3

K03.1cB nlepeBeleo 0.ibBniOO.n b 4 OTKpuTO
(HblHe AMI'1ypHHCK) 2 B 9-f OT.i'-.l OMCK 7 OTKpTro
Ko.ioam t 3 Ope 6 OTKpITO
KonoTon 4 OTKPItro OpeH6ypr 2 Hcpeneeclo
7 H OTje.1
Kopei;eBo 4 OTKpTO B 7 OT
KocTpola I fnep- :.CeHo nel3a 9 OTKpbTO
no 2-A oraen1 rlepmb 7
KoT.iac 7 OTKpbiTO rh1saBa 3 OTKPbiTO
KpacHOBOACK 12 OTKpbITO fnonacHaa 5 OTKPrTO
KpacHoHpcK 10 OTKpbTo rIcKOB
KpcMeHqyr 6 PanJI3BH.nOB 4
KpynnmcK 5 OTKpbTO Peae.b I
KypcK 4 PerH 4
.In6aoa 6 Pira 1
JIyraHcK 5 PoHO 3
;lyKOB 3 PocTOB-Ha-,tony 5
Mapnlyno.ib 5 PTHuIeso 9 OTKPIITO
MepB 12 OTKpmTO PyaaeBKa 2 OTKppur
MHHCK 6 Pbi6HHCK 1 3aKpTro
M.naBa 3 PHsKCK 2
MOcKBa: PR3aHb 2 OTKpUTO
KypCKHA 5 CaMapa 2 nepesneeno
bpecTcKitil 6 B 7-Ai OTa1e.
HHKoiac.acKiAi 1 CaMapKalH 12 OTKpuTo
HlIKeropoacKHH 2 CaHKT-rieTep6ypr:
PH33HCKHi 2 HHKOnaeBCKHil 1
HllmKHifl HonropoA 2 BapmaBCKHf I
H1Ko.laeB 4 CapaToB 2 epflcB Se
HoBopuccHifcK 5 riepeneeeHo 5
B 8-fi OTre. CeBacTOnOJb
HonOCBeHuuHbi 1 OTKpubTO CepeAmHa Byaa 4 OTKpuTO
HoBoce.nlHu 4 OTKpb1TO CHM6HpCK 2 OTKpUTO
HoBOCOKO.IbHHKH 1 OTKPLTO CKapKllCKO 3 OTKpbiTO
06b 10 OTKPAITO C.io06oaKa 4 OTKrUTO
O(ecca 4 CM.oneHcK 6

31

Table 4

SECOND PERIOD 1891-1902 (cont.)

Name Dept. # Notes Name Dept. # Notes

CocoOBuU 3 OTKpblTO TI.IHC 8
CpCTCHCK 10 OTKpbTO TIoMeHb 7
CTaDponoJb 8 YMaHb 4 OTKPuTO
CTapaR Pycca I YiireHU 4
Cu3p3nb 2 OTKpUTO Ypan.bCK 9 OTKpblTO
Tam16o 9 Yp6ax 9 OTKpbITO
CeBacTono.b 5 OTKPUTO cIacTOB 4 3aKpblTO
Cepeanna ByAa 4 OTKDpTO COoaocHl 5 OTKpTO
saxputo
CwM16IpCK 2 OTKpblTO 3aT
CKapoKKO 2 OTpTO Xa6apoBCK 11 OTKPUTO
CxapuiacKO 2 OTKpbiTO Xapc II OiO
C.io6otaKa 4 Xapuli3cKaq 4 3aKpiTo
CsM.CeHcK 6 XapbKOB 5
CCu]OBu 1 3 LlapiuIn 6 llepeBeaeHo
CocnooBMb 3 a 9-A oTaefl
CpereHCK 10 OTKPWTO qapaZyr 12 OTKprTO
CTaBponoab 8 OTKphiTO Le.iR6mICK 7 OTKpblTO
CTapaR Pycca 1 tepHWroB 4 OTKpbhTO
C3pallb 2 Ll;vTa 10 OTKPUTO
TaM6oB 9 OTKpbZTO poC.1aB.Ib 2 OTKPUTO
TawKeHT 12 OrKpbTo

The above list is based on the list of Railroad mail units, following the
1891 reorganization, as published in the official listing of 1902. The notes
section attempts to show which Railroad Mail Departments were closed ["3AlfMPhl "
in text] or in operation [OT-PalTT] during the second period, or transferred
to another railroad mail department.

Railroad Mail Car Postmarks. Here we see a single-circle with the
words THTOblH? BARDAHb No. 84 [Railroad Mail Car No.] at the top, followed
by the railroad route number [No. 84 and No. 169 in the samples] and, at the
bottom, the serial number of the postmark itself [4 and 3 respectively in
the samples]. (See Fig. 9.) An octagonal shape was for routes numbered 135
through 142.

"18 26 d
19-03 2 9v
I C \VI 4

Fig. 9

Toward the end of the second period the number of railroad routes reached a
total of 266. That period is notable for the appearance of the first railway
routes crossing into other countries, e.g., the Sredne-Aziatskaia [Central

32

Asian] Railroad Line (routes No. 203 through 206) and the Kitaisko-Vostochnaia
[Chinese Eastern] Railroad Line (routes No. 259 through 266. (See Table 5)

CHANGES IN THE COMPOSITION OF RAILWAY POSTAL SECTIONS
WITH NUMBERED ROUTES CARRIED OUT IN THE THIRD PERIOD (1891-1902)

Route Route
Number Designation Number Designation

7-8 Ope---a'Bvm1c (1895) 135-136 PR3alIb-Ka3aHb (1895)
13-.14 MOcKBa-Ko3.io (1900) 137-138 B.iaaiKaBKa3-fnerpOBCK (1895)
17-18 BoponeK--Kine3 (1895) B.iaaxKaBKa3-5aKy (1900)
MocBsa-Knea (1900) 139-140 MHHepa.1bbue BO)bl-KHico-
BOICK (1895)
23-24 5ooroe-,qpocaaBJb (1899) CK (1
141-142 qepilroB-IFpflupTH (1895)
29-30 BapWaBa-MiUHCK (1900)
_epHnroB-Kpaciioe (1900)
31-32 KpaMaTropcaRr-flonacHaH qepmr Kp (1900)
(1899) 143-144 KoboTor.-fniporuoKa (1895)
51-52 Koa3oB-PocT-TO-a-aony 145-146 Hoooce.uUa--C.Ini'oaKa (1895)
(1900) lonocrte.::ua--5t..bUL (1899)
59-60 XapbKoo-CeBacTonob (1900) I-oaoce.i:ua-C.1Oo; aKa (1900!
63-64 Pa2cK-CaMapa (1893) 147-148 WKmepmiKa --OKHmita (1895)
67-68 Kiies-HufKo.iaea (1900) 149-150 Tam6onB-- anatuoB (1893)
69-70 Kmie.ib--OpeH6ypr (1893) Tas6oB-Ka.MbLu;ml (1899)
Ca.Mapa-Opeu6ypr (1900) 151-152 10oKpoIcKanS-Ypa.1bCK (1895)
77-78 MypoMs-Kmiewma (1899) 153-154 IIMaI--B.1aaHBocTOK (1899)
81-82 f1ephb-qe.a6IiHCK (1899) Xa6apoBCK-B.ialHBOCTOK
83-84 HonoTopKcK-BR3b.ma (1900) (1900)
85-86 PHra-MypaBbeBo (1900) 155--156 ATKapcK--Bo.bCK (1899)
101-102 JlyKOB-.J1o6.Hu{ (1899) 157-158 Yp6ax-AMieKcafapoB-raA'
(1899)
JIio6.in--.nanu (1900) (1
a ( ) 159-160 XapbKOB-Ba.-amoB (1899)
105--106 nBHHCK-P"ifa (1893)
119-120 Boro (1 ) 161-162 KynHHcK--JyracCK (1899)
119-120 oroBsa.eHCK--rleze- Hb (1893)
"(895) KynricK-Mii-ae1poBo (1900)
5oroasaencK--Eneu (1895)
oroa.eCK- e (19) 163-164 Ta.oBasa-Ka.aa (1899)
AcTanoso-Ba.yfHiKH (1900) 16 166 KanKa3cxa-CTaBponob
16,5--166 KaBa3cKaF1-CraaponO.-b
121-122 UapHUHm-Hosnpocc'ficK (1899)
(1899) EKaTepHHoaap-CTaBpono.ib
123-124 CaMapa--teai6HHCK (1893) (1901)
125-126 flCKOB-FlepHOB (1900) 167-168 qe.a 6IHnf c-OMCK (1899)
127-128 Ka3aTHr--Y.taHb (1893) 169-170 EKanTep;iGypr--TIoMeeh (1899)
129-130 BaV.HpKa--UBerKOoo (1893) 171-172 fIeIna-PyaaeCKa (1899)
131-132 0coa0ocfm--,A a'!Kof (1833) Py3aeBKa-5a..aV:OB (1900)
133-134 Cea.ie-Be.iocroK (1893) 173-174 T1efi a-Ba.1atuon (1899)

Table 5

33

Table 5 (continued)

Route Route
Number Designation Number Designation

B 1900-1902 rr. MapnJpyTa ne 2!5-216 Py3aeBKa--Cu3paHb (1899)
6'uo 217-218 Hu3a--CMm6npcK (1899)
175-176 nopow6a--CepeHna Byaa 219-220 rcpMb-Koyaac (1899)
( 1899)
177-178 JbroB-Bp K (899) 221-222 'annoHH--BepAIHCK (1899)
177--178 TTbroB--BpqncK (L899)
Bopo -Kpeeo (1900) 223--224 A.leKcanapoB--HanioBO-
BopoHeK--KopeHeBO (1900) Bo3HecelCK (1900)
179-180 Flna-.a-OcrTpo.CenKa (1899) 225--226 IycoBaa--epes33.KH (1899)
181-182 )KIITOMHp-Ce.MKH (1899) 227-228 Mep--Ky(uKa (1899)
183-184 fncKOB-Bo.ioroe (1899) 229-230 Twf.1iac--A.eKcaHaponob
185-186 OMK--O6b (1899) (1899)
187-188 06b-KpacHHopcK (1899) Tif.lnc--Kapc (1900)
189-190 TaenHal--ToMcK (1899) 231-232 MocIBa-Ko3.IOB (1900)
191-192 E.eu--Ba.'.yfiK (1899) 233-234 Plra--BImaaBa (1900)
B 1500 r. MapmpyTa He 6u.io 235-236 Cio.nelHc-Boros;B.eHcK (1900)
flHo-HoBocOKO.IbHHKH (1901) Map!ipyvroB 237/238 H 239/240
no 1902 r. He 6C10o
CaHKT-neTep6ypr--Ko6HH 1902 r. e 6o
(1902) 241--242 IIpKyTcK--qiTa (1900)
193-194 Bonoraa-ApxaHre.JbcK (1899) 243-244 tI;ITa-CpeTencK (1900)
195-196 BepxoBbe--MapMbXH (1899) 245-246 MlocKBa -CasieoBo (1901)
197-198 KpacHoRpcK-3HMa (1899) 247-248 H ll4ilmi HoBropoa-THMII pR-
seBo (1901)
KpacHoFpcK-H-pKyTCK (1900) (1901)
199-200 Patta-fecoHa (1899) 249-250 B.iaaiMiip--PqaaHb (1901)
199--200 Pa/luaim4necOiHaR (1899)
201-202 fIOHeBe-HoBocBeH 251--252 Benropon-KynHHcK (1901)
201--202 roHeaeiK-HoaoceHuBHbi
(1900) 253-254 KieB--fio.aaBa (1901)
203-204 KpacHOBoacK-q-apaKyh (1899) 255-256 Hono3wu6xob -HoaropoA-
205-206 Mapa>K--TamKeHT (1899) CeBepcK (1901)
207-208 4ep-.ieBO--Ai aH (1899) 257-258 5e.ropoa--Bacu (1902)
209-210 Bo.1oKo.aMcK-Kpefiu6ypr 259-260 2--MN ypH (1902)
(1901) 261-262 MaHp.,ypwi--Xap6nH (1902)
211-212 Pvya:ua-O.ib:ono.-b (1899) 263--264 XapI6!--B.Taa;BOCTOK (1902)
213-214 rpoaio--O.-rTa (1899) 2G5--266 Xapr;iii---fopT-Apryp (1902)
__rnFo! ---Opami ('900)

List prepared on the basis of official records of 1891, 1893, 1895, 1899,
1900, 1901 and 1902. Routes which were not changed are not listed: they
continued to operate as they did in the first period (See Table 3).

34

Third Period Railroad Mail Calendar
Postmarks (1903-1917)

S On 3 February 1903 the chief of the Main Post and Telegraph Administration
issued Circular No. 9 regarding the introduction of new types of handstamps
for cancelling correspondence and registry books, marking documents, and for
postal use. In that circular we find a chapter which for the first time
deals specifically with railroad calendar postmarks. The double-oval form
was specified for railroad calendar postmarks and differed sharply with the
circular form of the standard [i.e. non-railroad] postmark of the postal
service.

The 1903-type postmarks, regardless of type, had the date in one line at the
center, framed between two parallel lines, with the month given in Arabic
numerals. For major railroad sections on railway routes several identical
postmarks were manufactured, and they were distinguished by letters rather
than the previously-used serial numbers. The name as well as the number of
a railroad route was given on postmarks of railroad mail cars.

Although the new postmarks were introduced for the purpose of achieving uni-
formity, a considerable degree of non-uniformity resulted because they were
produced in local workshops according to specifications provided by local
functionaries.

Railroad Station Postmarks. On this subject the above-cited circular
stated: "At the top of the oval cut out [vyrezaetsia] the railroad station's
name or the name of the city where the section is located, and at the bottom
place the abbreviation "Bo3 ." [i.e. abbreviation for railroad terminal or
station]". If a city had several railroad stations then a brief form of the
railroad line was provided, e.g. "B4AP.BOWH3 ." [Warsaw Terminal in St. Peters-
burg]. Sample postmarks appended to the circular show a star at the left
side, and a lower-case italic letter at the right side of the postmark, i.e.
between the top and bottom inscriptions.

Thus we actually do not encounter many postmarks which reproduce exactly the
specifications given in the circular (Fig. 10).

APC b ( 23 3.10 N -9.5.15
S23 7 11 6 B 0*9 (90 K 3 AS P a 1

,V UJ A& WAV 08
E6C0 114

Figure 10 22 6.1

1 O335
Figure 10 t3
35

The name of the city or railroad station is almost always found at the top
of the postmark, but in some we find instead the name of a railway line or
of a gubernia [province]. Instead of the abbreviation "BOWI ." very often the
full "BOCAJ1b" is given, or, less often, something else is substituted (for
example: EJI. ROP. TDI. OT7. [Railroad Mail Section]). The most diversity
shows up with respect to the stars and letters. Sometimes two letters are
given, sometimes two stars, sometimes both are missing; instead of
letters sometimes we find regular letters or even numbers (Table 6).

CHANGES AND/OR ADDITIONS OF RAILROAD MAIL SECTIONS
AT RAILROAD STATIONS TAKING PLACE IN THE THIRD PERIOD (1903-1917)

Name Dept. No. Notes Name Dept. No. Notes

A.aInaecK 7 OTr.jp- TO Bo.ioraa 2 11epeseaeo
B 7-fi oT.ven
A.ieKcaii poB
(no:iouK. ry6.) 3 3aKphuro BO.bCK 9 3axpbrT
A.1excaH.IpoBCK 5 OTrpbTn Bopoine 4 HepeBeaerio
so 2-i oTreJ
Ai la aH11 ricpionenu
B -12-fi oTenA BS3bMa 2 lepcBealeio
B 9-fi oTrea
Ap3aMac 2 OTKpUTo
BarKa 7 OrTKplTO
ApsMaBnp 8 OTipblTO
Acpaxaib o u c opo6.1aronaTcKoe 7 OTKPUTO
AcTpaxaib no lurese-ic
paHntua 3 38KpblTO
ATKapcK 9 fepeBeHeeo
Bo 2-f oTaen lefl lcK:
5apanoBinu 6 OTKPUTO Piiro-Op.1HocK. I
BaTry 8 Cea.-3an. 1
BaxMa4 6 OTKpbITO aHy.1b a 8 OTKpbTO
5epe3l3lKH 7 3aKpuZro Io.irniueBo 5 OTKPUTO
B.naroBe!ueiK 11 OTKpblTO EiCK 8 OTKphiTO
5o6p;:HCKaq 6 OTKxpTO >K.11UGH 1 OTKphITO
Bonuroe Ino urTeMnemo B3epeBo 5 OTKPbTO
BpecT 3 3ao.16yHOBo 4 3aKpITO
SBa.iK 1 OTKxpTO I1cjKoropKa 2 nepeaeaeHo
B 7-H oTaen
Ba.yf'iKu OTKpbrTO
H 3aKpUbTO 1qHR 6 OTKpblTO
Bapuaaa: KanK33cKaH 8 OTKPWTO
SpeCTCKHIi HFo uTeMnenmo KaraH 12 OTKpblTO
Ka.THcKHil 3 Kameiieu-
nonO.bCK 4 OTKpblTO
KoBC.bcKH.i 3
Kas:mblaH 9 3apblTO
CnvEyprcKHi 3 nlepeHMeHosaH
B HerporpaA- Ke-Ibubu 3 OTKpblTO
CKHH KeTrpHueCo o ulTeiMneJlo
Be.imH e .lyKti .- o uIOTeMnemio KH6apTbl Ho mITeMnemlo
BepHaioBKa 9 K.HeuMaa 2 3aKpblTr
Bama bl 3 nepceeleeHo Kc.-oaBOACK 8 OTKpbTO
B 1-fi oTenA H 3aKpbTO
BmInlaBa I OTKpuro Ko3.1oB (HblHe fepeBxelifo
BRTeCK I OTKpUbTO MIllmypIHCK) 9 Bo 2-f OrTeA

Table 6

36

Table 6 (continued)

Name Dept. No. Notes Name Dept. No. Notes

KoKaii1 12 OTKpuTO MOCKOBCKO-
KoHOTon 4 3aKpTro HHnKerop. 2
KoincHT.iIOa 5 OTKpUTO H. Honr.-Kana-
SBHilO 9 OTKPUTO
KopeBeO, 4 3aKP'Jro HHKO.iaeC 4 3aKp,>,To
KocTpo'ta 2 nepeBeeio H.KO.bCK-Yccy- OTKpbro
B l-i OTAre.i piCKuI 11 F 3aKpIuTO
KoTIac 7 3aKpTro HOBOHrIHKO.IaeBCK 10 Gbiutiee 06b
KpyTbl 4 OTKpTro 06b 10 IloPeL eioBaHo
Kyain'leil3bi I I OTKPbUTO B HOBOIIKO-
:JyraHcK 5 3aKpbTo aacocK
JIyn1uw1C 6 OTKpiUTO OKHmla 4 OTKprTO
.Ibroo 4 OTKpiTO OMCK 7 lecpeBeleIo
S10-n oTeni
Illo61I 3 Opwa -_ no umTre.ne.o
Matmll ypn 11 OTKPUTO OpeH6ypr 7 3aKprTo
Almlcit: HeH3a:
BpecTTCKif 6 C puitpano-Bn3cM-
JIn6aBo-PoMeH- 6 CKilli 9
CKII(I Pa3aHo-Y .a.b-
Morn.ie HIo tuTestneM o CKIIf 9
Mo.oello 6 Orp uo freTporp -.: .o 1914 r.
KPTO CaIKrT-neTep-
MlcKBa- 6ypr
A.acKcaH+apoB- Ba.TlACKHri 1
CKIH 2
CKI 2 Bel.-Bapu. I1o mTc.mne.nio
BpancKlni 2
SBHTre6cicKHiH Ilo mTemunemio
BunnlaancK;!' 2
B KI 2 LapcKoce.bcKHIf 1
Ka3aHCK;fi
Pa3aHio-Ypa. b- 1o ITeMne.'IK HoponcXaa
PaHo-Ypa.b- c.io6oaa 9 3aKpTro
CKHlHi
Cae.1C Ho lUTerlne.iIo IlO.1 UK 3 OTpMTro
Case.iOi:cKlini
2f loMoWuHa 6 OTKpiro
CeBepnL uf -- o WTCMnee. I pocKypos 4 OTKpuTO
CapaToBcKHH n
CapaTocKHi 2 PeBaeb--raBaHb o uT ITne.Ifo
5Ipoc.lancKIIf -- o LUTCtmHC.1 PyAiHua 4 OTKpIro
JMypoM 2 OTKpbITO PRiKCK 2 nepee.ieno
HepexTa 2 OTKpUTo B 9-fi OTare.
H 3aKPbTO CaHKT-nreTep6ypr 1 FlepeHimctoean
HHuKHHi-Hooropoa: B neTporrn. (CM.)

CapaToB 9 3eKpbro Ty.a Ino WTe.nc.1I0
CBeHiumbl I 3aKppuTO Tio', eHb 7 3aKpUTO
Cea.aeu 3 OTKpUTO Ypa.IbcK 9 3aKpITo
Cepcaima Byta 4 3axputro Yp6ax 9 3aKpUTo
CniM6npcK 2 nepeBe.ieHo Xap6HH 11 OTKpUTO
a 9-A OTA:eJ XcpcoH 4 OTKPbTO
C.1o.OoaKa 4 3aKpuro Ha ptKonciCIHTIJ-
CMO.leHCK 6 loOBKa 5 OTKpUTO
Co.esBapHH 7 OTKprITO qaCOBH 9 OTKpbTO
ConosBHUbl 3 3aKpblTO tepnlroB 4
CocuKa 8 OTKP!TO qIITa 10 nepeBeiecno
B 1l-H oTe.1
CpeTeHCK 10 3aKpuTO
'UlM.',U 9 OTKpUTO
CuspaHb 2 nepeBeaeHO
B 9-i OTUen LJaapIIHCK 7 OTKpurTO
THxopeuKaa 8 OTKpUTO UlencTOBO 4 OTKpuTO
TpoHUK 7 OTKpblTO 1 poc.-aaBb 2 FepeBeaeHmo
Tyance 8 OTpUT B -ii oTfe.a 37
Tyance 8 OTKPUTO

In composing the previous table the list of railroad mail units existing after
the 1900 reorganization was used as published in Circular No. 61 of 17 May 1900.
The notes refer to units being either open or closed to operations following
17 May 1900. Some railway mail sections could not be found in official sources
[in notes they have the notation "T0D ImMflJ7' = accord, to postmark] and are
therefore given as proved by postmark usage. Circle-shaped railroad mail
section postmarks bearing the inscription "BOA37' are not listed here [but
are discussed at the end of the article].

Railroad Mail Car Postmarks. A sample postmark provided in Circular No. 9
dated 3 Feb. 1903 is described as follows: "Oval postmarks with large thick
print are also to be made for railroad mail cars; two postmarks per railway car.
On one postmark place, along the left side of the oval, the point of departure
of the railroad car, and at the right, the terminal point; between these, at
the top, place the number of the railroad car. On the other postmark provide
at the top the same names in reverse order along with the railroad mail car
number corresponding to the reverse direction of the railway line. Within the
oval place the single-line date elements for day, month and year in the same
order as prescribed for postmarks of stationary post offices. (In contrast to
railroad and steamship mail services, considered 'mobile," all other Russian
postal services were considered "stationary.") If the names of terminal points
are too long, they may be abbreviated."

In general these locally-produced postmarks correctly reflect the sample pro-
vided, but here too variety could not be avoided. (Fig. 11)

1d

| (fQ 0

we find postmarks with both letters and numbers. On the early postmark of
Railroad Route No. 33-34 we find both directional numbers of the route. On the

railroad Route No. 189-190 (Taiga-Tomsk) a postmark without any numbers was
used; at the top it had the depart-terminal points and at the bottom the word
"BATOHl" [railroad car]. (Table 7)
Route # Route Route # Route
1-2 nleTporpa --M5locKaa (19!4) 47--48 KIMepnIi:a-BopK;i-Be.lbKH
3-4 CaKTr-IeTe6ypr-Baptusa (i93)
(!903) 51-52 BpoOt;e--PocTos (1904)
ep,(p-i--Bap.;::.e. (1914' 55-56 3ao.16.iiooo-Poolio (1915)
OrTlne.:e Poi.so-Par3loaB.oBa (1916)
BH.lbio--Bnpuasa3 63--64 PH.KiK--Cu3palb (1912)
B. t bHo-Cat KTr-lerep5aypnr P1ncK-CaMapa (1915)
8 Table 7
Rout # outeRoue # out

Table 7 (continued)

Route # Route Route # Route

5--6 IbH-BpG.0 (93
5- B:i.sio-Bep+6oo.osB (1913) 67-68 KieB--XepcoH (1911)
Ca3HKT-rIeTeprypr--Bep;K60o-
anog (1910) p 69-70 Camsapa-TaiuKeHT (1906)
flerporpa--BepK6oojoBo 71-72 BapuanaB-M.aaBa (1903)
(1914) 77-78 Mypom--Hepexra (1904)
OTre.1eHMI: 81-82 B;rTKa--qe.1H6mncK (1906. 1911)
CaHcT-neTepGypr--3niTKyHeH
Ca KT-Ferep6ypr-3 yHeH epMb-EKaTepHfH6ypr (1910)
neTporpaa-3rt;aKVHe4H
BrTKa-EKaTepHH6ypr (1914)
56nc-- Bmto.I--BepK6f.10BO (1910)
6 61c 83-84 JHTxoc.iaB.Ib--B3bMa (1906)
7-8 Ope.--Pi:ra (1915) 85--86 Pura-A-rl6aaa (1913)
9-10 flB;HCK-P3a3HBH.1HWKLH (1906) 89-90 Tanc--ancaab (1913)
13-14 Moc.na-BopoHew (1904) 103-104 M.IHc,--Oaecca (1917)
OT.iae.uec: MocKBa-PascK 105-106 Para--BepK6onooB (1913)
21--22 Kiten--O:ecca (1915) 107-108 Ope.-UIapHubu (1915)
23-24 Bo.iorce--1poc.1aB3.b (1900) 115-116 EKarcpmiuypr-OMcK (1914)
Bo.oroe--KocTposMa (1913) 117-118 rotea--Ope. (1916)
1eTporpaa--KocTpoMa (1915) 119-120 BorosineHcK-BaayfiKKH (1914)
33-34 blocKBa-Bo.ior.ia (1913) 121-122 LIapiauH-THxopeuKaH (1910)
35-36 Bn.or.a--BTKa (!915) 131-132 Kepqb--AKaiiHKO (1906)
Ke., t--nleporpaa (1916) 133-134 ao.1IHCKa3-KHFKa (1904)
37--38 Xapt,n- -Oaecca (1905) ,onrmrmueBo--Bo.iHoBaxa (1906)
39---10 CaHKT-neTrep6ypr--ranca.1b Ao.-rmHteno-AneKcalapoBcK
(1906) (1908)
CK-I-rTepr- ra (1913) 135-136 MocKe, -Ka3aHb (1912)
CaHKI-rieepfiypr-PHra (1913)
CTp:fp-'-PIra (91-) 137-138 Kapum-K-rTa6 (1916)
flcrprpan-- Pira (1914)
Fer:.,,,pa --.Fca 1b (1917) 141--142 t1epmtron- "l't (1914)
43- 11 -C a (i143--144 Br.cilrK--JroB (1905)

145-146 OKHnua-Bap3vyna (1904) lerporpal--KeB (1915)
OKimlUa-C.io6oaKa (1908)
147--!48 KMecpJIiiKa-HoBoce.-lua (1904) neTporpaa-->K.io6Hu (1916)
151--152 Vp6aX--Ypa3.bCK (1909) 199-200 Ep2HCK--feco4aR (1904)
CapaTcn--Ypa.-bcK (1915) 201-202 nIoncnem--Bepc3De4e (1905)
153--154 XaapoacK-KeTpHeBo (1906) 207-208 Tau!KeIri-AHAtiKaH (19141
nXa6apoBcK-H I!xoo'bCK-Yccy. 209--210 M OCKBa-HoBocoxnruxw (1903)
picHi (1910) 243-214 MOCTb--OpaHbl (19Ub)
.3apoa BCK--B.13A!BOCTOK
(1913) 215-216 .AocKna-CaMapa (1912)
157--158 KpacHifi KyT--A.-eKcai.poB- 219-220 BaTKa-KoTrac (1906)
Fail (1908) 221--222 EKaTepimHoc.an--BepAnHcK
'p6ax-A.iecawnApoB-rai (19il)
159-160 fleH3a-XapbKOB (1915) 223-224 A.iexcaInApoB-KHHewMa (1904)
161-162 XapLhoB-M-. m..epoBo (1914) AMocKBa-KiuIemMa (1915)
169-170 TiomeHb--lepMb (1909) 225-226 9ycoBcKas--Co.ieBapHH (1906)
fleplb--4e-a6HHCK (1914) 229-230 TI)PI.Inc-3pi;Balb (1903)
171-172 l1eH3a-Ba.a3ao (1907) TrII'pac-A->'Ky.ba (1908)
3Ha'.ieHKa-EKaTepnHociaB 231--232 LIeneTOBKa-KaMeneu-.
(1916) lnoAO.ibcK (1915)
173- 174 KoHCTaITHHOBKa-E.eHo-Ka 233-234 HoBocoKo.IbHMKi-BHHAaBa
(1904) (1903)
KolncTaiT,loBKa-A:.ieKCaHA- 235-236 CMo.nelncK-Ko3.IoB (1906)
pOBCK (1908) 237-238 3BepeBo-UapiumuH (1904)
TaTapcKas1-C.aaBropoa 1916) PocToB--UapiLuZH (1915)
39

Table 7 (continued)

Route # Route Route # Route

175-176 Bopowx6a--XvTop MlxaLIoB. 239-240 PeBe.b--.Moia HK.b (1904)
C--1 (1904 243-244 KapwuMcKas-CpeTHecK (1906)
"-i'S Bi;poic>K-Konoron (19iy) .
"77-18 BPo -I (19apuIcKasn-- KepaK (1913)
Bo1po-C-KvCa (1909) IKapui:.xa-Ta.-a3H (1914)
179--180 I]insaRa--.nanr (]917)
179-1 (1917 KapblIKaR -6B.iaroseuleHCK
181--182 (KiTOMiip--faiopo (Lo-6) (1915)
"1 5--186 OsICK-HOBOHHKO.IaeBCK (1909) 247-248 H;iAHnifi-HoBropo--lreH3a
187--18 I OonoHo.0 aeRcK--Kpach:a pcK (1905)
(1909) 253-254 KHes--no.Tasa (1901)
191-192 H1o-H4 OBOCooKo.briHHKH 901) KneB-Jlo3oBaa (1906)
Ca rKr-TfleTep6ypr--K*no;HH 265-266 Xap6HiH--a.-sibin (1903)
(1902) ap6HH-nopr-Apryp (1904)

Xap6in-KyaHneH3QbI (1905) 299-300 HIuiKtti; Tarln.-A.1anaeBfs
267-268 KileB--KoBeib (1903) (1912)
K;ies-Bapmuana (1903) Hmlilli Tarii.i-Bor.ailloinlin
I (1917)
269-270 A.eKca apono.n--3pHnaHb 301-302 Ocit -Ypeibe ( 912)
(1903) 301-302 Ocn 'pebe (1912)
A.TeKcaHapono.a6Kapc (1903) 303-304 tacoDFu--Gyry.Tb\; (1911)
Ti{.minc-CapwPKa.Wbi (1915) Byry.rbta-4mlmul u (1914)
Tu<.nmc-Axyib4a (1915) 4acooRw--'m-1iu (1911)
271-272 Ra.7--UTroKfaHro( (1903) 305-306 Tpomwa--te.q6nHcCK (1912)
Ba.iK-KamibteHay (1916) TpolfUK-KycTanai3 (1914)
Ba.iK-A.AbTbr-U BaaleH6ypr .KycTanaii--qe.Msa6mwcK (1916)
(1916) 307-308 EKaTcpmI6ypr-UIlaapHmcI
273-274 Bapwaa-B-Ka.Htu (1903) (1913)
275-276 BepHa:Eoaa-KycTapesKa EKaTCepmi6ypr-Tanla (19161.
(1903) 309-310 BaxMa--O.ccca (1913)
277-278 Eper--Xoat. (I904) BaxM,--KpeMrc yr (1917)
279-280 CanKr-fneTep6ypr-BarKa 311-312 KoKana-HaMauran3 (1913)
(1905)
(1905) KoKaia--.xa.-a.3ra6aa (1916)
Ferporpan--Brx a (1914) 313-314 OeaopKa--la pcKIoncTa rrT-
Ineporpaa--Bo.ior.a (1916) HoaBa (1914)
281-282 ropo6.arosaaTcKaK--HaaeK- 315-316 XapbKon--HHKilTOBKa (1914)
aHHCKriif 3ason (1906)
CKI 3aaoA (1906) 317-318 Apmiaanp-Tyance (1915)
283--284 Bo.oroe-Toponet (1906) 319-320 HT Bo.ioroe-fno.aou (1907) 321-322 Jho6.anH-Pa3aaaoa (1914)
285-286 nlerporpaa--lnouK (1916) MbapWupyro c .Ye.V 323/324 Fr
Ceteu.--rno.oLIK (1907) 325/326 ne 6u.o.
Bapmuaa-flonouk (1916) 327-328 HooounKoniaeacK-CemIna.ia-
287-288 CaparoS-By3aa (1908) HHCK (1915)
CapaTos--Acrpaxab (1911) 329-330 A.nraicK--5mficK (1915)
289-290 KpoTroKa--CypryT (1909) 331-332 Ta>ra-Ko.1b.y'rno (1916)
291-292 PocTOB-HoBopocctnicK (1910) 333--334 THc.ic-Te.Tan (1915)
293-294 Ke.bibt--Fep6u (!911) 335-336 AKKep.a--.;efirmurc a (1916)
295-296 EAcK--CocuKa (1911) 337--338 EKaTeptroaap--lpoTo.a (1916)
297-298 JIbroB--PoAaKoa o (1911) EKareprHojap-AxTapf (1916)
JbroB--I.yrarnc: (1912) 339-340 FpurotKa-KyutesBa (1916)
JIbroB-JIxaq (1917) 341-342 Ka.liio-Bepasyu (19:6)

343-44 .\lapymppa He 6u.0o 347-318 aapwupyTa He 6u.o0
"345--346 Karan--Camcrnsoo (1916) 349-350 Kino6bH--UleneTOBKa (1916)
40 Karan--TepCte3 (1916) 351--352 IlcKOB-Kpeflu6ypr (1916)

Postmarks of
Unnumbered Railroad Cars

These postmarks comprise a special group within our classification scheme since,
as we pointed out above, the majority of railroad mail cars without numbers
were within the purview of territorial mail
districts, and not subordinate to the UPPZD.
Their appearance resembles that of railroad P1, 'A ,
postmarks of concurrent periods but their
diversity is found in their inscriptions 18 I
(Fig, 12). 178 V

Unnumbered railroad mail car postmarks
of the first and second periods character-
istically are distinguished by the terminal -
point of a given mail route. Further, we 21
divide that first period into two types: 2 19-02 2 6 7
1. a single inscription, without break, X
as in "7OlOTB4TO B4TOHA Phm-MOADEFICIB. x a *
X. g. (see Fig. 2)
2. a two-part inscription, e.g. clock-
wise at top "IYT. BArOHb" and counterclock- 0.l-op
wise at bottom "KPAMA4 PCKAH-Jy-TAHCIcb 0A 15 .1I =-
C 5^ 15 2.15
Early cancellations had a horizontally _k ,
placed number, indicating the assigned serial -,h 0 oB
number of the railroad station, placed along-
side the day figure of the central three-line
date display; later on that number does not
appear. / 1
S2011.15 a
28x l. 915 a
Postmarks of the Second Period. Dis- .
tinguished by a two-part inscription, but
with a cross-shaped date in the center; the
month is given in Roman numerals.
Fig. 12
Postmarks of the Third Period. Found
both in oval and circular shapes.

It would seem logical to use oval shapes for railroad cards administered by
the UPPZD, and circular shapes for those under territorial mail district
jurisdiction. Unhappily such conformity is not to be found.

Oval postmarks are either akin to those of numbered railroad cars, but with-
out the railroad route number (e.g. PI-WA-T-F M), or at bottom display the
words "nO7YT. BADH. Some of them even display a number such as that found
on numbered routes (e.g. EP-IACcW-1-EOBPH1CI4A ) but that number, however,
indicates the serial number of the postmark, and not the railroad route number.

On double-circle postmarks normally at the top we find the name of the route
(e.g. AVCRZB4-PAMEHCmOE ) and, at the bottom, the words "nOVT. BATOHb"
Worth noting is the fact that among postmarks of unnumbered railroad cars one
often finds late usage of early-type postmarks. It is evident that we need

41

far more data before we can finally answer the question as to which of these
railroad cars were and which were not equipped with postmarks for cancellation
purposes.

In all, by 1917 some 200 unnumbered routes
i ,CKO ^ r were in operation. A listing of these routes
i E 30 has not been attempted mainly because most of
Aoor 18 99 the routes did not utilize postmarks.
S tAPCKObMy \ VI"I
ce \N! The postmarks used on the suburban lines of
St. Petersburg are readily distinguished.
However, one cannot state with certainty
W ICTAA whether they belonged to railroad cars or to
Railroad stations. The former is more likely
S19- 07 2 01907 since the directions indicated correspond to
S vil the routes of railroad cars. (Fig. 13)

The postmarks of the Tsarskosel'skaia Rail-
road Line, lacking any date, are among the
earliest known. The earliest among these
are known in two variants, distinguished by
S18 409 numbers. Also known is the postmark with the
,5 J,11words "B 1ABJ)KBCM E" These postmarks were
SC- in use until the late 1890s, but most often
are found used on stamps issued in 1866.

Fig. 13 The early calendar postmarks of St. Peters-
burg's suburban railroad lines differ
little from other railroad mail postmarks.
Some of them carry a distinguishing supplemental number denoting the train
number.

Later postmarks have a design of parallel lines between the date bar and the
inner circle and large-sized numbers and letters straddling the date line:
e.g. 111, 217, 317. These mark the train's assigned schedule number (1st train
[nepeuz noead ], 2nd train, 3rd train). Somewhat earlier postmarks had the
route name at the top and the point of dispatch at the bottom (e.g. 7ETEPTW.
K. R. (3b6 [from] OPAHEHbAYMA )). Later, at the top we find both the name of
the railway line and an abbreviated indication of the initial and terminal
stations of the railway mail line (e.g. hAJ]T.X.,. C.U1.b. FAWIO ( H3E C.-
nEYPRA )) [i.e. Baltic Railroad Line: St. Petersburg-Gachino (from St. Peters-
burg)].

In postal material shipped on these railroad lines one also finds small circular
markings bearing the number of a train. These were not used to cancel stamps.
Further details on these are given below.

Some Specialized Postmarks

Railroad Car Section Postmarks. Known in use during all periods. (Fig.14)

During the first period (three-line date) their shape is octagonal with the
inscription "IDj97BOE OTuEEEHpE BLATHA MA [literally Mail Section of railroad

42

Car No. __; they are known for routes No. 3 and No. 4, 5, and 6. In the
second period (cross-shaped date) these postmarks are found both circular and
octagonal in shape (the latter known only for
Railway Route No. 13-14 with the full or abbre-
viated inscription "OTJTJEHkE IOMTOBOI-D
BAJTOA'). For the third period we find p1 ko05
ordinary oval postmarks with the abbreviation 13
"0OT7" at the bottom. On some we find the full CEH
18-99
name of the railroad route (e.g. No. 15: C 1904 VII
ACKRBA-XAPIDB ), on others a shortened route
name (e.g. BNEHO-C.17.BPrF, instead of BAH4zB4-
C.1.BE3 ). Official sources tell us that sec-
tions existed only on the following routes: 4-
Nos. 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20, and
56-6-. 5-1015
SVIII
If one were to take these inscriptions at their o 4 OTl
literal meanings confusion could easily set in:
thus fTDWBOE 2OTrEHHE BAFOHA could refer to
a section or compartment of a railroad car
while OT7EJTE E I70VWOBOTO BATOHA could mean only / ,15 k4
a section of a full route. However that is O 26
not the case. The first inscription is found o 30 9.09
only on postmarks of the first period, the a-- 5'-
second only on those of the second period OT.-
and on those of the third period only the
abbreviated "077' is found. Clearly the
meaning of these differing inscriptions is Fig. 14
the same. We think that the most probable
meaning is: sections of railroad cars, which were used partly on full-length
routes and partly on shortened routes. Such a supposition corresponds to
factual information, yet it does need further documentation.

One finds numbered octagonal railroad car postmarks even though their usual
shape was circular. Cancellations of this type are known for railroad cars
No, 135-136, 138, 139-140, and 142. It is likely that Nos. 137 and 141 exist
since they represent the reverse directions of routes 138 and 142. These routes
were in operation on various railroad lines but their initial date falls with-
in the same time, i.e. around 1895. Circular postmarks are found with later
dates than octagonals.

It is most likely that around 1895 the UPPZD planned to introduce octagonal
postmarks for use by all railroad cars but changed that plan and succeeded in
supplying only a few newly-opened railway lines with octagonals.

Mechanical cancellations. In 1910-1912 the Russkoe pochtovoe vedonistvo
[Russian Postal Department] began to introduce the so-called "mechanical" means
of cancellation. The handstamp was replaced by a roller-borne postmark. The
cancellation was impressed merely by running the roller over a letter laid out
flat. The impression made was a circular postmark framed by parallel lines.
(Fig. 15) Mechanical cancellations were used also at some railroad terminals,
e.g. the Khar'kov Terminal, and the Nikolaevskii Terminal of St. Petersburg.

43

Some Marker Cancellations. The postmarks
used by the suburban railroad lines of St. Peters- __EP5
burg represent a special grouping. Their shape _
is circular, varying in diameter from 14 to 20 ____ 12
mm. Four types are known. The oldest, used in
the 1870's, not only indicated the train number
but the time of dispatch as well. Later types
bear only a number and the word "tOE3s" [Train]
or "rOVrA" [Mail]. The use of numbers 1 through Fig. 15
4 is known, i.e. the train number on which the
letter was shipped. (Fig. 16) Normally letters were backstamped with these
postmarks.

Postage due postmarks, which had very wide usage, differ from the postmarks
of the stationary postal section by their inscriptions. Their shape is that
of a small double oval and in the space between the two ovals at the top they
carry the inscription )p7pj4ATmm1" and at the bottom the name of the mail section
to which the railroad car or railroad station belonged, and at the center an
empty space is provided for handwritten postage due figures. (Fig. 17)

3 2S ::Dq 25

Fig. 16 Fig. 17

Official Postmarks. In the 1910-1912 period experimental use of machine
registry of letters was tried. The machine impressed a rectagular marking
with a bilingual inscription [In French and Russian. French was the official
language of the Universal Postal Union, to which the Russian Postal Department
was a signatory.], the date and a serial number. (Fig. 18) Red ink was used
both on the postage stamp and on a clear portion of the cover. Then, when
dispatched, a handstamp with the two-line statement "i7PTkqTO M3E AB0TOATA"
was also impressed on the cover. Such machines were used at St. Petersburg's
Nikolaevskii and Tsarskoselskii railroad terminals, the latter using the ini-
tials "'.B." following the city name.

As a rule letters received at post offices for registry had a special label
glued to them, but some post offices including the railroad mail sections,
used special handstamps instead. (Fig. 19)

3lsSV 0760 A.
Pfro.oQAoBCKQHM A.
344 AnP.2513 I .. n. o.

Fig. 18 Fig. 19

44

Postmarks of Railroad Stations
and Railroad Terminals

In conclusion we must consider two types of postmarks which collectors have
erroneously considered as railroad types: railroad station postmarks and
double-oval postmarks bearing the word "BO3AIJA". Their story in fact also
provides a really interesting insight into some facets of general Russian postal
history.

Railroad Station Postmarks. The low density of Russia's population,
spread across a vast territory and linked by a sparse transportation net created
real problems toward creating a nationwide mail service. In the 1860's some
help came in the form of "zemstvo" postal services which brought mails out
from remote populated places to the nearest state-managed post office. Never-
theless this provided only partial help since zemstvo units operated only in
districts within the European part of Russia. Toward the end of the 19th century
a solution to the problem was reached, namely, when it was decided that large
villages could open special offices authorized to function as basic postal
units. Thus we see on June 29, 1894 the effective date for the "Vremennye
pravila o proizoodstve v volostnykh pravleniiakh prodazlii znakev oplaty
pchtovoi korrespondentsii, a ravno priema i vydchi ee." [Provisional regulations
on the sale of postal franking markings on correspondence by volost-level
(small administrative division usually including several villages) administra-
tions at appropriate receipt end dispatch routes]. Similar postal units were
to open at railroad stations some five years later (on 24 January 1900).
These units fully justified their existence. And if we consider that only 32
railroad mail sections were in operation at railway stations in 1903 then take
note of the fact that 572 were open for business by mid-1913.

Railroad sections at single railway stations were attached to territorial
postal services and were not subordinated to the UPPZD in any way. That situa-
tion was clearly spelled out in the Postal Separtment's Circular No. 9 of 3
February 1903 wherein orders are given to railway stations handling mail in
accord with the "Provisional Regulations" of 1900 to equip themselves with a
circular postmark (as used in "stationary"
post offices) for processing incoming and
outgoing postal items. Their mark of dis- i/ 'Z nc 80
tinction was the abbreviation "CT." preceding 4 (',
the name of the railway station along with 19 04 14
an abbreviated inscription of their railroad,
line. (Fig. 20). -f B

We must point out that one finds postmarks of 0.H

stations, quite rarely to be sure, which 105 14
either have a circular shape, or which are V 4 /'
double-circled and bear inscriptions not only -jAn.
identifying a railroad station but even a
mere platformm" [loading point] or "raz'ezd"
[siding], with the appropriate text changes Fig. 20
necessary.

Circle Postmarks with the word "BOCK3A" [Railroad Terminal or Railroad
Station]. There are two suppositions possible with regard to the nature of

45

these postmarks. In the first place, as mentioned above, Russia's postmark
devices were manufactured locally and thus, by that very fact, varied greatly
and frequently from prescribed official specifications. Following that logic
one might assume that there is no palpable difference between circle-shaped
and oval-shaped railroad station postmarks. In the second place, if one
assumes compliance with Postal Department circulars by stationary postal
units, one can take these postmarks to be those of stationary postal units,
one can take these postmarks to be those of stationary postal units housed
near or within a railroad station. To forward this viewpoint one can properly
lean on the fact that in some cities postal units did not have an assigned
number and only identified themselves by the name of the place at which they
were located.

However, a more exhaustive review of the matter shows that none of the above
approaches leads to the true situation, but rather that the truth lies some-
where in the middle ground.

In point of fact circular postmarks with the
So PBO8 inscription "BOWSAI7" are found in use at cities
S which never had any railroad mail sections,
25 4 15 M 1 1213 e.g. Grishino, Elisavetgrad, Kalish, Petro-
pavlovsk, Smorgon', and Turkestan. In other
Cities we have knowledge of railroad sections
existing earlier, but, having been shut down
by the time purported postmarks of their use-
age were introduced. (Fig. 21)

20 8.17 One simultaneously finds circular and oval
postmarks both in cities where railroad mail
r a sections existed (e.g. Briansk, Vil'na,
Volochisk, Kiev, Riazhk, Khar'kov, Cheliabinsk)
and in cities where they did not exist, accord-
Fig. 21 ing to official documents (e.g. Orsha, Tula).

All the above allows us to conclude only the following: the greater part of
the third-period postmarks bearing the inscription "BO.3A41" do not relate to
railway mail sections. The greater part yes, but not all of them. Some rail-
road mail sections disobeyed existing regulations by employing oval postmarks
along with circular postmarks. One must also conclude that some territorial
postal units located at or near railroad stations used oval postmarks.

Written in Obninsk (Kaliizhkaia oblast)

46

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
17. rlpHrapa C. B. PyccKaS noITa B HMnepHH, B TypuHH, B KIrae H B UapcrTe 1on.b- 1961, N 29.
H 1. HrTop)rI CCCP c apeBHeflmHx spemenH Ano CKOM. Hblo-FIapK, 1941. 32. Baillie I. L. G., Kethro W. E. C.
HatuHx AHnei. .A., ,Hayxa,, 1967-196& 18. PasaHTs e CB13an CCCP. M., (r. IV, c. 224-225: T. V, e. 122-124. 1967. J. Russian Philatel,, 1959, N 26.
310-311; T. VI. c. 268-271). 19. PeMMep K. Marepna.u ais iacnpaa.iennfI 33. Bochman E. von. Die Postmarken von
2. Sonwauaa CoseTCKa SHitifKJIOneAHM. 2-e- I Aono.HenIHHI C6opHKa nOCTaHon.Betnfti Russland. Leipzig, H. Kr6tsch, 1895.
Han. T. 15, c. 626-627; T. 34, c. 328;. H pacnoprHmemtif no floTonBO-Tenerpaq4- 34. Cron i n A. More about travelling post;-
T. 46, c. 440. HOMy BeLAoMeTBy. KIIaHHeB. 1892. ,lonoa- 3. Apeba H. H. CIIce.MarTnecKHiI' cBoA noi. IHeCIII K H1M. KHI1ieB, 1893, 1895. 35. Kethro W. E. C. Russian railway ter-
TOBUX nocTaIOBinemiiM, orTocaRlunxcH Ano 20. CGopmHK nocTaHOB.eileii' H pacnopnKeHHii mini. KoppecnoHlAelilHmn acrHbx anIU. CRIB, no flosroBo-Te.erpaqnoiMy BseaoMNCTy B N 20.
1872. 2 qactax. 4acTb I. FloqTOBa. CRIB, 1885. 36. Kethro W. E. C., Barry J. List of
4. BasHjeneB K. B. rfloa B PocCHH a. 21. C6opHHK pacnopnxeemui raanoro ynpas- railway routes 1912-1913 with distan-
XIX a. M., 113n. HKnT, 1927. .neia nosr n rTenerpaqoo. CnB, 1885- ces 5. BonHOBH' M. Kopo.nenrno lnonAexoe. 1887. 37. Kethro W. E. C., Barry J Railway
PyccKIie ce.e3iom1 opouiiile raueHmrn. 22. CoKoJoB H. H. repeno3Ka noqr no mce- postmarks of imperial Russia. cimaTe.,ni5 CCCP". 1969. 1M 12, c. 12. nea.3HMM oporaM B POCCHH.- CrlowroBo sica, 1955-1957, N 46--53.
6. ByHHHa Q. H. n Ap. Ma1TepnanJb no HCTO- Te.erpaHbMiil cypian. OTUen HeoimUH- 38. K u r b a s V. Adeenda to T. N. O. article
1pu cBna3H B PocCIIn. XVIII--Hnaiaa.- a.bl'bHif, 1895, T. 8. NM 6, c. 680; N 7, of W. Kethro and J. Barry. XX a. JlenHmrpaa, 1966. c. 770. 1961, N 61.
7. BOBHHn F. Holepine ulmrene.a PoccitnH 23. CnHcoK .MeeTIux ypeKmeHenifi noqTroo- 39. Shiel d s A. Kramatorsk-Lugansk rail-
1858-1876. N. 11, c. 10. nan. C7i, rITr, H13anne riaonoro ynpaa- Philately*. 1959, N 25.
8. FreMiotoKnh A. 0. rlo'lToBo-Te.'erpaliturip neFm nowq II Tenerpacjon, 1876-1916. 40. Stephen W. S. E. Bukhara railway
Kalanelapb Hia 1905 r. Beinepi, 1904; To- 21. Yxa3are.ab nnu BpeMeHHioro pyKoaoCTBra routes. me, na 1910 r. Kitunimcn. 1910. npu Hanpasa.eHHH KOppecnonlenInHH H3 1966, N 39.
9. FieM6oitKHi A, Y. a3aTae.b noqTOBa.x. noqTOnBbx BaroHOB. Onecca, 1881. 41. Tris t a n t H. The transsiberian postal
H noqTOBo-Te.erpaTn(Iibix yqpemleHnir. 25 WIeAjHHr M. rIepeno3Ka nosTOBUX OT- route. Rossica,, 1965-1963, N 69-75.
IuMCIOItLx Inenocpe.'lcTDemIbIi f o6teH Kop- npaBaeHHIf no wene3HblM Aopora.. 42. Tc h i i n gh i ri a n S. D., S t e p-
pecnoHlleHuHI c 11O'lTOnbMII BaroHaMi.. cnoITrono-Te.nerpaHbnAf mypHan,. Oraen hen W. S. E. Stamps of Russian Empire
Kiuimen, 1909. Heo4pmaHajAbibiil, 1916, T. 29, N 5-6, Used Abroad. Part one-six. Bristol-Aber-
10. KypcaioaB C. 0. notiTono.Te.Icrpaiibit.. c. 180. lour, 1957-1960.
cnpaBo'iHiiK iia 1917 r. nleTporpan, n3a 26 KaTajor noTroBux MapOK 6bIBW. PoccHA- 43. Wortman A. H. Oval railway post-
mypIana 1917. 1924 roA. Bbin. 2, Ha3. 2-e. M., H3M ynoa- 1949, N 3.
11. HeupKylpb no ynpao- o loro no ciH.'aTenJIHH H 6oHa B 44. Wort m a n H.he early railway post-
L. O6utHe LHpKaIyDp no FaanHoMv ynpai, CCCP, 1924. marks. -- Brit. J. ,Oissian Philately,,
.Celo no1Tr I npt6n1ar:Ielie 3a 1843-1863. 27. A d I er K. Addenda to railway postmarks 1955, N 19.
C1 i 1843-1863. of imperial Russia 12. neTpon M. noirono-rc.,erpaQ4Hul Kan.ieC- N 54 and 55. railways of the St. Petersburg district.--
Aapb Ha '1902 r. ClB. 1901. 28 A d I e r K. A supplement to 13. lnoira H Tejerpai) B XIX CTOerCTHH. (MAl- marks of Russia,. cBrit 1 Rlsnian 46. Wortman A. H. Early postmarks of
ImcTepcrBo uHyTpeCmIIII ae.. licTopHiec- Philately*, N 27. the Trans-Siberian railway. --Rossica,
K"i omepK. nlpH.'oWKerIie BTopoe). Cnti. .29 Adler K. The octagonal railway mail- 1963, N 65.
1902. coach postmarks of Russia Brit. J. 47. Wor t m a n A. H. Russia: covers and
14. no0roaas cTarIcTHKa 3a 1874-1883, Russian Philately), 1961, N 29; Further cancellations 1773-1923. CnFB, 1876-1885. note: Ibidem, 1962, N 31. Philatelists, 1966, vol. 75, N 877.
15. norToao-Teicrpa4dnaa CTaTHCTitKa 3 :30. AshforA P T Transcaucaslan railway 48. Wortman A. H. The earliest oval rail-
i1888-1915. Cn., IrTr, 1890-1918. Cfai,.<..,. .Brit. J. Russian Phila- way cancellations. 16. lno4Troo-rejerpacPu K KypHaa. OTAe.p tely,, 1955, N 18. Philatelyo, 1967, N 40.
o(HLLUnabHblii. cnIB. Trr, 1888-1919. 31. Baillie I. L. G. Local train marks:
(B 3TOM H311ann1 ny6.11IKOa.,IncL 11I-
a.Inbibe MaTepna.ib rF.aBnioro ynpaBemw
noW H Te.nerpa#oB; ;to 1888 r. c.M. C6op-
HHK nocTaBHOa4 eHHiAi H pacnopiKeHnii).

UKRANIAN REVENUE STAMPS *

by Valentin Zabijaka

Until recently the most neglected area of philately was the Revenue Stamps.
Lately, however, there appears to be a very strong interest for the back-of-
the-book material and especially the revenue stamps. Revenue collecting attrac-
ted many followers and the prices for revenue stamps increased drastically. A
recent stamp auction in Boston featured a large world-wide revenue collection,
prices of which exceeded all expectation. Revenue stamps, in my opinion,are
still underpriced because they are not common. This is especially true of
Ukranian revenue stamps which not only were issued in limited quantities but
are rarely seen on the market.

The intent of this article is to familiarize the reader with the newly-found
popularity of these issues. As such, it will serve as an introduction to this
fascinating aspect of Ukranian Philately. There is very little literature
available on this subject as my bibliography clearly indicates. The available
literature consists only of brief articles that contain little information.
Thus, this topic provides a great opportunity and a challenge for serious
collectors to research this area of philately. In this article I will attempt
to pool together the available information and will also contribute some new
facts not previously noted.

As in many countries, Ukraine has also used revenue stamps (sometimes called
fiscal or tax stamps) to collect funds for its Treasury. Two different types
of revenue stamps were used in Ukraine during the 1918-20 period: documentary
revenue stamps and theater stamps.

Documentary revenue stamps

These stamps (called Herbovi Marky in Ukranian) were used to tax documents and
were cancelled by pen marks, written dates, or official rubber stamps (Figure 1).
Ukranian documentary revenue stamps were issued in June 1918. Six different
values were designed by artist Yuriy Narbut (who had also designed the first
Ukranian stamps (Scott 64-66, Michel 3-5). These revenue stamps were printed

Figure 2 Fi

on thin semi-transparent gummed paper by Kulzhenko Printing Plant in Kyiv.
This printing shop, as you recall, was also used to print the 20 hryven stamps

48 Reprinted courtesy of the Ukrainian Philatelic Society

(Scott 74; Michel 66). Similar paper and security markings were used for
revenue stamps. Prior to printing of revenue stamps a security pattern (net-
ting) was imprinted on the paper to make the forgery more difficult. Horizon-
tal security pattern (see Figure 2) was used on 40 shahiv stamp and all
karbovanets values. For 50 shahiv issue a different vertical pattern (see
Figure 3) was applied. Ukranian revenue stamps measure 31 1/2 mm. high and
17 mm. wide and are all imperforate. Since I was not able to locate a sheet
of these stamps, we have no idea about the number of stamps in a sheet. I
was told by some, however, that these stamps were
printed in 100 stamps per sheet. Plate block
numbers, similar to those used for 20 hryven k*
stamps, were applied in the top left hand corner
(see Figure 4). Two different designs were used,
one for shahiv values and the other for karbo-
vanets stamps. Figure 5 illustrates all of the
different values of this set. There were some
color variations in these stamps as the table
below indicates.

Ukranian Documentary Stamps
Figure 4
Value Stamp Color of Paper Netting
Netting-2 Type

la 40 shahiv prussian green olive green white a
lb 40 shahiv sage green olive green white a
2 50 shahiv olive green yellow white b
3 1 karbovanets gray green gray green white a
4a 2 karbovantsi olive brown gray green white a
4b 2 karbovantsi olive brown gray green light gray a
5 5 karbovantsiv yellow orange orange yellow white a
6a 10 karbovantsiv lilac lilac white a
6b 10 karbovantsiv lilac lavender white a

1. Unit of currency used in Ukraine was: 1 Karbovanets = 2 Hryvni
1 Hryvnia = 100 shahiv

2. Color definitions are according to Hygrade Color Guide. The second part
is the dominant color and the first part of the color towards which it is
inclined. Color grading is difficult and inaccurate. Therefore, all these
are approximations. Color variations among Ukranian revenue stamps are negli-
gible and it is difficult to differentiate among la and Ib, 4a and 4b, and 6a
and 6b. For theater tax stamps they are pronounced and noticeable.

Figure 5

49

Ukranian documentary revenue stamps, as was the case with the Ukranian postage
stamps, were unchanged by the Soviet Government (see Figure 6). Some stamps,
S however, were modified with a hand or lithographic overprint (see Figure 7).
These stamps are also found with a violet rubber hand stamp overprints:
"Kholmshchyna", "Krym", "Kuban", "Lemkivshchyna","Zakarpatska Rus", and "Zelenyj
Klyn", but these regional overprints were not official and were a work of an
eccentric philatelist. Maksymczuk, Shramchenko and Stefanowsky in their

Figure 7

articles mention that the Ukranian Government used Russian stamps before
Ukranian revenue stamps became available. These stamps, according to these
authors were "Ukrainized" with a hand stamped trident overprints. Several
different tridents were mentioned: Kyiv I, Kyiv II, Poltava, and others. I
have not been able to locate any proof of such overprints, although in my
collection I have several Russian revenue stamps with forged trident overprints.

Theater revenue (or tax) stamps

These stamps were used to obtain revenue from various performances and theatri-
cal events and were issued by the June 14, 1918 decree on the basis of which
ten different Ukranian theater revenue stamps appeared. These stamps consist
of two parts: the right side was attached to the theater (event) ticket and
the left side was attached (for the record) on the remnant stub (pad) from
which the tickets were removed. As a result of this, genuinely used copies in
collections are unknown. Ukranian theater tax stamps were designed by two
famous artists: George Narbut and Vasyl Krychevskyj. Printing of these stamps,
as for the earlier revenue stamps, was done in Kulzhenko's Printing Plant in
Kyiv. Once again similar thin semi-transparent gummed paper was used with
security markings. Ukranian theater stamps are 31 mm. wide and 16 mm. high
and are also all imperforate. There were reports, however, that 20 and 80

Figure 8
50

shahiv values were perforated, although I have never seen them. Again we have
no idea about the size of the original sheets that these stamps were printed on.

S Three different stamp designs were used along with three different security
markings. One security marking is identical to that used on documentary stamps
for 50 shahiv (see Figure 3). However, there were two other nettings used:
one horizontal and the other vertical (see Figure 8).

Ten different theater stamp values on this white paper were issued (see Figure 9).

Figure 9

Figures 2, 3, and 8 courtesy of Figure 4 courtesy of J. Terlecky
Linda S. Burtnette

Ukrainian Theater Tax Stamps

Color of Netting
Value Stamp Netting Typ

7 10 shahiv bistro brown yellow c
8a 20 shahiv gray blue salmon b
8b 20 shahiv gray blue yellow orange b
9a 40 shahiv gray blue yellow b
9b 40 shahiv gray blue chrome b
10 70 shahiv deep brown sage green b
11 80 shahiv deep blue orange yellow d
12 100 shahiv red orange sage green d
13 160 shahiv ultramarine lilac rose b
14 1 karbovanets gray green chrome yellow d
15 1 karbovanets and olive green gray green d
120 shahiv
16 2 karbovantsi gray blue green d

Bibliography:
1. Maksymczuk, Julian. Catalog of Ukrainian Postage Stamps, Ulm, Germany,
1950, (pages 99-100).
2. Maksymczuk, Julian. Ukrainian Private Stamps Catalog, Chicago, 1957 (page 118).
3. Shramchenko, Svyatoslav. "Ukrainian Theater Tax Stamps of 1918," Postal
News, Mmnich, 1956, (pages 6-7).
4. SteTanowsky, E.E. "A Listing of the Fiscal Stamps of the Soviet Union,"
The American Revenuer, April 1962, (pages 53-55).

51

MOSCOW-BERLIN AIR ROUTE -- 1922 SEASONS
by R. Taylor

My recent interest in early Soviet postal history found fascination in the air-
mail field and this combined with broad interest in the inflation period led
to this article. The first airmail season of regularly scheduled flights is
said to have been inaugurated on May 3, 1922 on a route from Moscow-Smolensk-
Koeningsburg-Berlin. The line was operated by the Deruluft Society ("Deutsch-
Russian-Air") which was a joint enterprise of the Soviet Government and the
now well known Lufthansa Airline. Because of the Treaty of Versailles the
operation of the line was ostensibly in Soviet hands. Flights were originally
scheduled twice a week in each direction and took about 10 hours. The route
was apparently in operation until early December 1922 despite the fact that
this was rather far into the winter season for successful air operations.

Both ordinary and registered mail were accepted in the RSFSR for delivery to
Western Europe and letters were accepted in many of the major Soviet cities
for delivery to Moscow and thence by airmail. It is interesting to note the
various postage rate increases during this time of rampant inflation and com-
pare them to flown covers of the period. The following table is in 1922
Roubles which equal 10,000 1921 Roubles.

Postcard Ordinary letter Registration fee

April 30 12 R 20 R 20 R

July 1 27 R 45 R 45 R
October 25 45 R 75 R 75 R

November 1 90 R 150 R 150 R

December 1 Note that the published rate increases of December 1
to 150 R, 250 R, and 250 R never went into effect.

According to published Soviet airmail rates the first increase in letter rates
took effect on June 4 and it was a surcharge of 20 R. This was again increased
on July 1 to 45 R and then on October 25 to 75 R. Some sources indicate that
a further rise to 150 R was made on November 1 in accordance with other in-
creases of that date. Among the covers that I've examined the earliest is
dated July 1, so I have no evidence of the 20 R rate. However, from July into
December most airmail covers seem to carry the recognized rates as per the
table plus a surcharge of 45 R. The exceptions to this are covers mailed in
early November (at least until 11/14) which were all figured at the October 25
rate plus 45 R rather than on the November 1 rates. Perhaps there was an
exception allowed for a time, for airmail letters, because certainly the
Moscow GPO was well aware of the correct rates. However, it surely appears
that the published increase in airmail rates to 75 R on October 25 were never
put into effect.

On either November 7 or 8, 1922 (I've seen conflicting information as to the
first day) the first Soviet airmail stamp was issued. It is listed as Scott
C 1 and has the familiar airplane overprint in red on a 45 R black and green

52

stamp of the Fifth Anniversary of the October Revolution commemorative issue.
S The printing was 100,000. Note that the Soviet Printing Office inflation
philosophy of "better late than never" finally brought forth an airmail stamp
of 45 R for a rate which had been in effect since July and which supposedly
went out of existence on October 25--although, we now know that this rate
lasted through the 1922 season into December. This stamp was sold only at the
Moscow G.P.O. and thus legitimate airmail covers presumably must carry either
a Moscow originating or transit postmark. The stamp was legal for franking on
non-airmail covers and occasionally so used. The issue was apparently sold out
to the public within a few weeks of issuance although the mint stamp was offered
by the Soviet Association in later years. Thus, legitimately used copies and
particularly these on flown covers are restricted to the November-December 1922
period and are rather scarce and considerably more valuable than the mint.

I have seen a number of covers postmarked in the town of Balta in the South
Ukraine. These non-airmail covers dated in November 1922 using C 1 with a
variety of other philatelic franking (211-215, B34-37, etc.) are, in my opinion,
fraudulent. They purport to be registered and all of those that I've seen are
in unusually fresh condition. The proof of fraud to my mind is the consistent
substantial under-franking, with no consistency of rate and no indication of
postage due. I realize that the inflation period led to many erroneous frankings
but in this period, particularly with registered mail, it was unusual to have
a letter go through which was off by more than a few roubles.

Airmail covers of the 1922 season also bore various handstamped cachets. I've
noted the following:

1. "Mit Luftpost", framed in violet or black.
2. 'Mit Luftpost Befordert Konigsberg (Pr.) 1", unframed, in two lines
in red.
3. "Mit Luftpost befordert Briefpostant Berlin", framed, in two lines
in red.
4. "P.O. Stelle Konigsberg", plus date, unframed, into lines in green
or red.

These cachets are identified by number on the chart that follows, itemizing the
1922 season airmail covers from the collections of Sam Robbins and myself.

I would enjoy hearing from Rossica members as to other information relating to
this first period of regularly scheduled flights and would particularly like
to hear details of other covers from this period.

References used in preparation:

Aeroflot by Hugh MacDonald, Putman Publishing, 1975
American Russian Phliatelist
British Journal of Russian Philately
Journal of the Rossica Society
Postage Stamps of the Soviet Republics by Godfrey White
Postage Stamps of the USSR edited by Cercle Philatelique

S53

53

DATE CITY CXL. TRANSIT CXL. REC. CXL. REG.

1. (T) 7/1/22 Moscow No. 4 Berlin 7/3/22 Yes

2. (R) 7/1/22 Moscow No. 4 Berlin 7/3,7/4/22 Yes

3. (R) 7/15/22 Moscow No. 7 Berlin 7/18/22 Geneva 7/19/22 No
4. (R) 8/29/22 Moscow No. 7 Moscow Exp 8/29/22 Berlin 8/31/22 No
(Oval 3 Black Triangles)
5. (R) 8/30/22 Moscow No. 4 Moscow Exp 8/31/22 Berlin 9/2/22 Yes

6. (R) 9/11/22 Moscow No. 4 Berlin 9/15/22 No

7. (T) 9/11/22 Moscow No. 4 Moscow Exp 9/11/22 Berlin 9/15/22 No
8. (T) 9/26/22 Moscow No. 4 Moscow Exp 9/26/22 Bergen-On-Zee, Yes
Berlin 9/30/22 Netherlands
9. (R) 9/28/22 Moscow No. 7 Moscow Exp 9/28/22 Vienna Yes
Berlin 9/30/22
10. (R) 10/2/22 Moscow No. 4 Moscow Exp 10/2/22 Chemnitz, Ger. Yes
10/6/22
11. (T) 10/23/22 Moscow No. 4 Rudnice, Czech. Yes
S12. (T) 10/31/22 Moscow No. 7 Berlin No

13. (T) 11/9/22 Moscow No. 2 Berlin 11/18/22 Yes

14. (T) 11/11/22 Moscow No. 2 Vienna Yes
15. (T) 11/?/22 Moscow Berlin (Handstamp & No
inscription "not
found at address
11/18 & 11/19")

16. (T) 11/14/22 Moscow No. 2 Louvain, Belg. Yes

17. (R) 11/17/22 Kharkov Moscow 11/30/22 Berlin 12/2/22 Yes
Konigsberg 11/30/22
18. (R) 11/23/22 Moscow Berlin 11/30/22 Yes

19. (R) 11/24/22 Petrograd Moscow 11/27/22 Stettin, Germany Yes
12/6/22

20. (T) 11/28/22 Moscow -Berlin No
21. (T) 12/1/22 Moscow No. 7 Berlin No

22. (T) 12/7/22 Moscow No. 7 -Berlin 12/?/22 Yes

S23. (T) 12/7/22 Moscow No. 7 -Berlin 12/14/22 Yes

54

RATE FRANKING CACHET
135 R (45+45+45) 77(3), 109(12) 2, 3 1.
135 R (45+45+45) 77, 109(13) 2, 3 2.
60 R (?) 109(6) 3.
90 R (45+45) 109(9) 1 4.

135 R (45+45+45) 77, 109(13) 1 5.
90 R (45+45) 77(2), 138(11), 201b, 206 1 6.
90 R (45+45) 79(9) 1 7.
135.04 R 119(7),121(17),123(15), 188- 1 8.
(45+45+45+.04 over) 190(Block 4), 194,200, Plus B30,B33 +strip of
5x25R Control Stamp-not valid for postage
135 R (45+45+45) 77, 117(13) 1 9.

203 R (?) 75, 79(20) 1 10.

135 R (45+45+45) 77, 79(13) 1 11.
120 R (75+45) 77(24) 1 12.
195 R (Pre Nov. rates 75+75+45) 211, 213, 215(4) 1 13.
195 R (Pre Nov. rates 75+75+45) 212(15), 45 R removed 1 14.
120 R (Pre Nov. rates 75+45) 210(3), C1(Pair) 1 15.

215,C1
195 R (Pre Nov. rates 75+75+45) 121,211,212(2), 213(2),214, 1 16.
326 R (Probably Nov. rate of 75(6),76(12),79(8),87(16) 4 17.
345 R--150+150+45) 119(16),131(103--including 2 full sheets of
50) ,211,212(4)--could be others missing
345 R (150+150+45) 210(3), 215(7) 1, 4 18.
345 R (150+150+45) 211, 213, 215(7) 19.

195 R (150+45) 211(3), C1 (Block 4) 1 20.
200 R (150+45+5 over) 75, 119(2), 210(19), 211 1 21.
345 R (150+150+45) 131, 210(2), 214(12) 1 22.
5 345 R (150+150+45) 211(8), 212(11), 213(6), 215 1, 4 23.

55

MORE INFORMATION ON RUSSIAN PICTORIAL MILITARY COVERS 0

by Gordon Torrey

In Rossica Number 89 (1976) the writer discussed and illustrated two military
pictorial covers that had been sent through the mails before the First World
War. Since then two members have recorded similar items.

Mr. John Lloyd sent illustrations of two covers, one infantry and one cavalry.
The first of these is a cover from a serviceman in the field, in the 33rd bat-
talion of the Russian Army at Nikolayevsk on Amur, Primorskaya Oblast, addressed
to Kazan where it received its circular datestamp on arrival of July 18, 1905
(Illustrations 1 and la). The circular datestamp of Nikolayevsk is dated

-.71

Illus. 1 Illus. la

June 25, 1905. This is a much earlier cover than the ones noted in the previous
article in Rossica. The pictures of both back and front of the cover are of a
pink shade. The front is identical to those already illustrated, but the back,
still depicting the four stages of the serviceman career but with totally dif-
ferent backgrounds. Mr. Lloyd believes this to be an earlier printed envelope.
Note the violet military censor mark on the back of the cover at the upper left.
The two line printed inscription at the left bottom reads "private edition of
G. Benniker & Co., Vilna."

The second illustrated item is from an auction lot sold by Robson Lowe in the
"Droar" sale held at Basle in October 1974. Lot number 1075 was described as
"1914 patriot postcard from Petrograd to Hugo Griebert, London; also rare pic-
torial patriotic covers from Narvik (with original letter), Petrograd and
Libau Photo ." The cover shown has a cavalry theme: a troop of calvary,

56
artice in ossia. Th picture f boh bac andfrontof te cve ae f
pik shatoXde.~ Th rn sieticlt hsearayilutaebu h ak

*h *w iepitdisrpina h etbto ed piaeeiino
G. Benike F~ C., Vln56

currying of horses, their feeding, and two scenes of troopers with horses.
The printer's name and address cannot be made out (Illustration 2).

Illus. 2

Member Daniel Levandowsky loaned
an item which solves the mystery
of the publisher and adds an in-
teresting sequel to this series
of pictorial envelopes. This
is an unused, unfolded enve- I
lope. Of great interest is -. .
the fact that it has scenes .- _
both from the infantry en- -
velope mentioned in Number .. i: --.
89 and the cavalry envelope
(Illus 3), the captions on
the No. 89 cover, the num-
bers "1" and "4," and then
"G. Benniker & G. Cinaja,
Vilna." There must have
been numbers 2 & 3, but they
have not turned up yet. Ap-
parently, paper stock that-
never was made into envelopes-
was discovered in Vilna after
the First World War and, with
the shortage of paper, was "re-
used" to make envelopes in the
new state of Lithuania...

Illus. 3 _-,
CORRECTION "

In the article, "The Exploration of the
Eurasian Arctic," by P. J. Campbell in
Rossica Volume 90/91, Figure 24 incorrectly
pictured Alekseev when it should have shown
Kolchak. The correct stamp is illustrated
to the left. The publisher regrets the 57
error.

MEMBER-TO-MEMBER ADLETS

The purpose of the member-to-member adlet section is to allow members to adver- 0
tise special requirements and interests and to make contact with fellow collectors
for the acquisition of needed material and information. The adlets are not de-
signed for purely commercial users, but as a service to individual collectors in
the pursuit of their philatelic inquiries. The rates have been kept purposely
nominal to cover printing costs only. Due to minimum printing page format require-
ments and cutoff deadlines, Rossica cannot guarantee that such adlets will be
printed in the next Journal issue, but all ads will be processed on a first come,
first served basis. Finally, since Rossica cannot assume any responsibility for
transactions resulting from member responses to adlets, nor get involved with me-
diating disputes, members are cautioned to be fair in offering and honest in
responding. Any material of value sent through the mails should be insured for
each member's protection. The regulations and prices for the adlets are as follows:

1) Rossica adlets will be limited to 6 Journal lines, each consisting of 75
characters or spaces per line.
2) The price per adlet line is $1.00 per issue.
3) Each adlet must include the name and address of the member placing the ad.
4) No general buy or sell ads will be accepted as adlets. The Journal makes
different provisions for strictly commercial advertisements.
5) Adlet service is available to Rossica members only.
6) All adlets will be accompanied by a check for the correct amount made out to:
Mr. Norman Epstein, Treasurer, 33 Crooke Ave., Brooklyn, New York 11226.
7) All adlets and checks will be mailed to Dr. Kennedy L. Wilson, Secretary,
7415 Venice Street, Falls Church, Virginia 22043.

WANTED IN ANY AMOUNT: Wenden stamps, covers, whole sheets, etc. Just send for
offer or your price. V. Kent, 807 Newbury, Antioch, California 94509.

WANTED: Russian postal stationery (including offices) in nice used condition
up to 1927. Also scarcer Zemstvo stamps and stationery (used preferred). Also
want used imperial stamps on piece with clear cancels, common to scarce.
Dr. Heinz von Hungen, 1722 "H" Street, Modesto, California 95354.

WANTED: Tannu Touva 35, 36, 38 mint and Scott unlisted surcharges. State price.
Shawn Carmack, 3214 Albin, San Antonio, Texas 78209.

WANTED: RUSSIAN REVENUE, fiscal, vignette, label and cinderella stamps, plus
revenue & legal paper, paper seals, bills of exchange cutouts, and any revenue
documents, intact or otherwise. All periods: Imperial, civil war & Soviet. Will
exchange or purchase. MARTIN CERINI, 37 Wyoming Dr., Hunt Station, New York 11746.

WANTED--BOGUS, PHANTOM, PRIVATE ISSUE, and UNISSUED stamps of Russia and States;
as well as reprints, forgeries, and varieties of these items from all periods.
Any quantity considered. Send price quote or items. All postage and insurance
costs will be paid for material sent for examination. Also interested in
purchase of related literature. Gregory Whitt, 308 Delaware Avenue, Urbana, W
Illinois 61801.
58

THE ROSSICA BOOKSHELF

S IMPERIAL RUSSIAN STAMPS USED IN TRANSCAUCASIA, Part III: Tiflis Guberniya,
by P.Y. Ashford. London: British Society of Russian Philately, 1978. 70 pages.
Map. Bibl. Three pounds?

This part continues Mr. Ashford's proceeding two parts which dealt with the
postal history (part I) and the Tiflis Town Post and the city's cancellations
(part II) published in 1972 and 1975 respectively. So far the author has 206
pages on this comprehensive subject. In the future he plans to cover Kutais
guberniya, Sukhum okrug, and Batum oblast; Erivan guberniya, Kars oblast, and
the Postal Wagons of the Transcaucasian Railway; Baku guberniya, Elisavetpol
guberniya, and Zakatali okrug.

Mr. Ashford opens this part with a sketch map of the post offices of Tiflis
Guberniya in 1914, then he lists in alphabetical order approximately 111 dif-
ferent postal places. This does not count suboffices in various towns. Each
cancellation is illustrated, some incompletely since examples of whole cancels
so. far are not known. One error is listed, that of Monastery Dzhvaris Zakdari.
However, the author now is aware of this since receiving a copy of the 1876
post office list mentioned in the President's Message. It is Duvanei in Ufa
guberniya. Ashford had listed this with reservations.

This series of works on Transcaucasia is produced in the high standard of
scholarship that we have come to expect from the former editor of the British
Journal of Russian Philately. It is unfortunate that, due to costs, that it
could not be printed on coated paper, but that does not detract from the know-
"ledge found therein.
Gordon Torrey

ISTORIYA POCHTY I ZNAKI POCHTOVOI OPLATY TUVY [History of the Postal Service
and the Postage Stamps of Tuva], by Samuil Markovich Blekhman. Izd, "Svyaz"',
Moskva, 1976; pp. 112, paper, 13 x 20 an., price 47 kop.

Tuva (Tannu-Tuva; Tuvan People's Republic) was an independent nation from 1921
to October 1944, when it merged with the USSR as an Autonomous Oblast'. On
October 10, 1961 it gained its present status of an Autonomous Soviet Socialist
Republic within the RSFSR.

Tuva issued several series of fascinating, somewhat controversial postage stamps
between 1926 and 1943, which have been selectively catalogued and widely des-
cribed in scattered literature articles. Now, S. M. Blekhman, a long-time
student and collector of Tuvan philately, has collated his knowledge in book
form, summarizing previous information and presenting much that is new.

He opens with an introduction in which a very short historical survey and an
account of sources are mentioned, and remarks that although there is a wide
interest in Tuvan stamps, certain examples are extremely rare, for such reasons
as the loss of some archives, the former low level of literacy, and the fact
that Tuva was not a member of the UPU and hence did not send archive copies of
her stamps abroad.

59

The first of the four chapters, entitled "History of the Post," begins by
reminding us that Tuva, known from antiquity as [the] Uryankhai [region], was
under Kirghiz suzerainty before coming into the orbit of Chinggis Kahn's great
conquests of the 13th-14th centuries. His successors Ugedai and Kubilai es-
tablished and consolidated a regular state message service; thus much of Central
and Western Asia, embracing Tuva also, saw the beginning of a postal system. In
fact the date 1270 is given for the introduction of postal services in Uryankhai,
under Liu Hao-Li, viceregent of Kubilai. The horse-post was maintained through
several Tuvan political states, from the fall of the Yuan dynasty to the esta-
blishment of Manchu power. At this time one main postroad led from Uliasutai
in Outer Mongolia to Chadan in Uryankhai; it had nine stations each with a
staff of 10-12. Local government posts were also is existence at this time.

The fastest horses carried express letters of a special "flying post," marked
with a bird symbol and four horseshoes; a 19th-century example (from Mongolia?)
is reproduced. An interesting detail noted in the section on this system is
that monasteries did not use the official horse-posts, but relied for commu-
nication on itinerant lamas; could this have been because the Chinese rather
disapproved of the Buddhist religion? Of course the ordinary working and pas-
toral people did not use any postal services.

The more modern and familiar postal history of Tuva begins about 100 years ago
when Russians, especially traders, penetrated to the southern fringe of Siberia
and into the Chinese empire. Uryankhai at the time was nominally under Chinese
(Manchu) suzerainty but was connected culturally with Mongolia and had even for
a time been a "no-man's-land" because the two mountain ranges which enclose it
had been confused in early treaties.

In the 1860s thenearest Russian post office was at Minusinsk on the river
Tensei, about 100 km. north of the Tuva border and now a town of 45,000 inhabi-
tants. A most fascinating illustration is given of the reverse of an Imperial
Russian envelope of the 1848 style with impressed stamp on the flap; it is date-
stamped "Minusinsk 20 Nov. 1869" and 'Moskva 16 Dec. 1869" and by implication
came from Uryankhai.

At the beginning of the 20th century many Russian settlers infiltrated this
region and farms and villages were established; the Tuvan capital city Kyzul
was founded as Belotsarsk in April 1914, in which month the Uryankhai krai
was placed under administration of the Yenisei guberniya. The Manchu
connection had been effectively broken by the Revolution of 1911, which was
quickly followed by declarations of independence from Mongolia and Tibet.

The development of postal and telegraphic communications in the period 1914-
1918 is given in some detail; the Imperial Postal Service controlled the
Uryankhai region via the Tomsk postal-telegraphic okrug. In 1918-1919 communi-
cations were at a standstill because of the Civil War; Belotsarsk came under
Bol'shevik control on 18 July 1918 and some post offices were re-opened in
Tuva later that year. In 1921, when Uryankhai became the Tuvan People's Republic,
Belotsarsk was renamed Krasnyi (later, Khem-Beldyr and finally Kyzyl) but as
it had suffered badly during the Civil War the government only moved there
from Turan in March 1922, at first living in yurts until suitable modern
buildings were available.

A Tuvan government traditional post-horse system was used until 1925, and
modernization of communications was accomplished with Soviet help. In 1925,
60

for example, mail from the USSR to Tuva was carried on Wagon 187 (return route
No. 188) to Achinsk on the Novosibirsk-Krasnoyarsk section of the Trans-Siberian
Railway, and from Achinsk to Minusinsk by carts, presumably horse-drawn. Pack
animals were also important at this time.

However, on 1 October 1925 all Soviet postal stations in Tuva, with their
equipment and supplies, were given to the Tannu-Tuva Government, and from that
date begins the modern independent postal history of Tuva. The rest of Chapter
I gives much information on the establishment of post offices, number of letters
despatched and received, and postal tariffs in the 1930s.

We may recall that the first "air mail" stamps of Tuva were the diamonds and
triangles of the eighth series, issued in 1934, but Blekhman states that the
air post to Tuva developed in 1941 over the route Krasnoyarsk-Abakan-Kyzyl.
However, it seems that regular air mail schedules date only from 1955, becoming
daily between Kyzyl and Krasnoyarsk in April 1957. Now fast three-jet YaK-40s
make nine flights a day into Kyzyl, and there are further local flights, some
undoubtedly with postal loads, internally in the Tuva ASSR.

The second chapter deals with cancellation markings, both before and after 1944.
Blekhman discusses the possible use of a striaght-line canceller "Belotsarsk P.K."
but no example seems to be known today, and the first one illustrated, a great
rarity, is a circular handstamp reading "Belotsarsk P. T.K. 19 7 17" used as
an arrival marking. In theory we should be able to find such cancellations on
Tsarist standard issues of 1907-1917 and the Romanov Jubilee stamps.

On 17 August 1921 Belotsarsk was renamed Krasnyi and a circular cancellation
"Kransnyi Yenis *a*" is known on a small number of pieces. Tchilingirian and
Stephens described two, but Blekhman now lists a known total of five (three
letters, two money transfer cards) which bear stamps of seven denominations of
the first standard USSR issue (small heads).

After this time, Kyzyl postmarks in Latin, Cyrillic, and Mongolian alphabets
were used. Examples are known of Tuvan covers used in 1945 with Soviet stamps
which were cancelled with devices introduced in 1933. The chapter ends with
a description and illustrations of the most recent cancellations from Kyzyl
and other towns, including four commemorative ones and the airport cancellation.

The actual postage stamps of Tuva itself are the subject of the third chapter.
Most are well known, but several very rare color varieties or surcharges are
listed.

Even at this late date, contemplation of Tuva's stamps can present food for
thought. The native monetary system of the country was based in lan and aksha
(the latter from an old Turkish coin) but most catalogues, and the Latin and
Cyrillic denominations on stamps from 1927, used the terms kopek and rubl'.
However, the 1926 first issue uses Mongolian inscriptions (repeated on the
later stamps) which Blekhman quite rightly refers to as "mo" and "to", abbre-
viations for the Mongolian Mongo and togrog coins. Presumably these were the
vernacular terms used by the Tuvinians at the time.

A very interesting feature of this chapter is the account of the essays or
proofs (proekt) of many of the stamp issues; naturally these are mostly

61

described from archival holdings. Cancelled-to-order markings are also mentioned.
Illustrations, one in color, show fiscal use of the first issue on money transfer
cards from Kyzyl to Moskva.

The July 1927 provisional overprints are described and discussed, listed as oc-
curring with a) bright glossy ink and b) matt ink, rather than as originals and
reprints -- there were apparently several intermediate blends of ink affecting
the final appearance. However, the 8 kop/50 m. is said to have a black over-
print, rather than red as listed in the standard catalogues; this must be a
misprint.

It is tantalizing to read of the proofs and sheet compositions on the third
(1927) Tuvan issue, as these can only be found now in the "Goznak" archives.
This issue has kopek and rubl' denominations but uses also the Mongolian "mo"
and "to" abbreviations. These attractive ethnographic designs were the work
of Ol'ga Fedorovna Amosovaya; we may note the similarity in style to her 14 kop.
USSR stamp of 1930 (Scott 434) commemorating the 1st Mounted Army.

There is a short discussion of the fiscal stamps overprinted "O.K.T.E." for
use as fund raisers, and of a fiscal stamp with a postal cancellation, though
this latter use was never authorized. However, the "Posta" overprints on the
fiscal, issued in 1933, are described in some detail, with pictures of blocks
and covers.

The illustrations and discussion of Tuva covers give valuable information on
postal rates and delivery times, and sometimes on routes. One of the color
pictures (Fig. 61) is of a 1933 cover bearing five surcharges fiscal and a
50 m. of the first issue totaling Ir. 85 k. in postage. It is said to be an
air mail despatch from Kyzyl to Moskva but is seems to have taken 21 days in
transit, longer than most surface letters. The date 1933 also does not tally
with Blekhman's statement (Introduction) that air services began in 1941;
however, the large amount of franking does indicate some unusual form of
despatch or treatment.

This brings us to the first of the well-known pictorial issues of the mid-1930s,
designed by V.V. Zav'yalov. The first 1934 issue is shown in the form of
rectangular essays or proofs in one of the interesting reproductions, and they
bore "Postage" instead of "Registered" which was the inscription when they were
released in different geometric shapes. In the discussion of the genuine postal
use of these stamps the writings of Cronin and Stephen are referred to.

Among the revelations of this section of the Blekhman book is the reproduction
(unfortunately not in color) of a cover of 21 Feb 1934 despatched to Kyzyl from
Oirot-Tura, a town in the Oirotiya AO, named Gorno-Altaisk since 1948. It is
addressed in Russian to a Russian lady and bears two of the 15 kop "registered"
stamps of the 1934 Tuvan issue. There was a Tuvan agricultural college in
Oirot-Tura at this Time, and Blekhman suggests that the stamps were brought by
a Tuvan student from home. Was the whole thing a "lark"? Soviet stamps should
have been used and surely were available; the sender of the letter appears to
bear the surname Abrikos. However, there are very clear Oirut-Tura cancellations,
and this "Tuva used abroad" may be unique.

Another unique item is the illustrated Tuvan cover bearing the only known example
of the 15 kop 1934 "registered" stamp with inverted "20" surcharge.

62

It is interesting to note that in the 1936 jubilee issues a hybrid monetary
system of kopek and aksha is used; these stamps are described in all their
color and perforation varieties.

The attractive pictorial stamps, for which album pages are available2, gave
rise to a handful of rare surcharged provisionals which were produced to meet
certain required postal rates. Here Blekhman quotes, from his correspondence
with the Tuvan postal authorities, the numbers surcharged and the reasons they
were needed. No more than 1000 copies of any of the 1938 provisionals were
produced and Blekhman does not know them on cover. More provisionals were
brought out in 1939, 1941, and 1942; some of the postal rates for these years
are quoted.

Another tantalizing story is of an "unknown" set of Tuvan stamps planned to
celebrate the twentieth anniversaryof the republic in 1941. They had been
ordered for preparation in large quantities in the USSR and 350,000 of the
600,000 to be printed were reserved for the Soviet philatelic trade. Thirteen
subjects from Tuvan life and achievement had been selected and were finally
narrowed to ten. However, the German attack on Russia in June 1941 forced
cancellation of production, and later Tuvan stamps were prepared in Kyzyl.

Blekhman lists two provisional surcharges of 25 [kop] on the 3 and 5 aksha
1936 anniversary stamps; this seems to show that these high values saw little
postal service.

Presumably the 25 kopek rate was now standard for internal letters (50 for
international mail) and in 1942 and 1943 two series of stamps in these values
were printed in Kyzyl to commemorate the 21st and 22nd anniversaries of the
Tuvan Republic. They were typographed in a newspaper office under primitive
wartime conditions and were imperforate or only partly perforated; copies
have been available in the West for some time. Blekhman gives quite a detailed
account of these rather crude stamps and even illustrates, though in very poor
reproduction, the two unissued 1942 designs which are mentioned in a footnote
in the Gibbons catalogue. It is stated that the artist who designed them made
reprints for collectors in blue, the issued color, and in other colors, and so
these last would fall into the "fantasy" category. To add to the pitfalls,
one of the 1942 issues was illegally printed from a forged cliche. A table of
these variants is given, but by way of compensation a genuine 1944 censored
cover with two of the 1942 stamps se-tenant is shown in color.

Tuva's last stamps were a 25 kop and 50 kop prepared in 1943, again at the
newspaper office. Several varieties and reprints by the designer V. Demin
are described, as well as two covers.

Chapter 4, the final one, describes the six known types of imprinted envelopes
issued in 1935, 1939, and 1942; no postcards arementioned. It ends with a
useful listing of 67 reference sources, some being state archives but including
several from "Rossica" Journal and our well-known writers Cronin, Tchilinghirian,
and Negus. It should, of course, be read in conjunction with James Negus's
bibliography in Kanak's album page production

I have tried to give an account of the range of subjects in this book because
very few collectors will possess sufficient Tuvan philatelic material to be
able to ignore it. However, the serious student must refer to a masterly

63

and critical review by Cronin3 which augments many of Blekhman's descriptions
and gives a very full survey of registered letters. Valuable as "Istoriya
Pochty.....Tuvy" is, its potential completeness has been diminished by the
lack of free exchange and travel between the various ideological and political
factions of our world. As Cronin rightly says, when Soviet specialists use
the many foreign sources which are also available, the comprehensive Tuvan
handbook may yet be written. Meanwhile, the extra background information on
Tuva and its stamps, which cannot be found in the usual catalogues, makes this
little book a valuable addition to any library of Central Asia.

References:
S.D. Tchilingirian and W.S.E. Stephen, "Stamps of the Russian Empire Used
Abroad," Part Four, pp. 295-7 (Aberlour, 1959).

2R.C. Kanak, "Tannu Tuva" (Berwyn, Illinois, n.d. [1974])
3
A. Cronin, "Yamschik- The Post-Rider", No. 1, pp.5-28 (Toronto, 1977)

Denys J. Voaden

NEW MEMBERS (continued)

997 Michael J. Cimmino, 880 E. Fourth St., South Boston, Massachusetts 02127

998 Tamara Adams, P.O. Box 1569, Peterboro, Ontario, Canada K9J 7H7

999 Carl S. Sloane, 19 Greystone Road, Marblehead, Massachusetts 01945

CHANGES OF ADDRESS

822 Lawrence S. Weissman M.D., 26457 Huntington Road, Huntington Woods,
Michigan 48070

988 Dennis F. Davis, P.O. Box 1410, St. Charles, Missouri 63301

WE BUY

For 50 years, we have been handling
scarce and unusual stamps of RUSSIA.
We are therefore able to probably
appreciate your holdings more than
anyone else. Accordingly, we offer
you more cash!
We are now in urgent need of Collections,
Covers, Errors, Rarities. We are also
interested in Lots, Estates, etc.
Selections held intact pending accept-
ance of our Cash offers-minimum $100.00.

S. SEREBRAKIAN, INC.
P.O. Box 448 Monroe, N.Y. 10950

64

	Front Matter
	Table of Contents
	Officers and representatives of...
	Life of the society by Gordon...
	1977 annual business meeting...
	Obituaries
	Russian post offices abroad seal...
	The 1961-66 Soviet definitives...
	Russia's railroad mails by N. Luchnik...
	Ukrainian Revenue Stamps by V....
	Moscow-Berlin air route - 1922...
	More information on Russian pictorial...
	Member-to-member adlets
	The Rossica bookshelf

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