Journal of the Rossica Society of Russian Philately

ROSSICA

No. 125 October 1995

THE JOURNAL
of the
ROSSICA SOCIETY
of
RUSSIAN PHILATELY

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY
President: David M. Skipton, 50-D Ridge Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770, USA
Vice President: Dr. Peter A. Michalove, 307 S. McKinley, Champaign, IL 61821, USA
Secretary: George G. Werbizky, 409 Jones Road, Vestal, NY 13850, USA
Treasurer: Gary A. Combs, 8241 Chalet Ct., Millersville, MD 21108, USA
Librarian: Andrew Medwid, 16 Woodfield Terrace, Tarrytown, NY 10591, USA
Auditor: Webster Stickney, 7590 Windlawn, Parker, CO 80134, USA

Board of Directors:

George Shaw, 759,6-J Lakeside Village Drive, Falls Church, VA 22042, USA
Dr. G. Adolph Ackerman, 629 Sanbridge Circle E., Worthington, OH 43085, USA
John Barefoot, P.O. Box 8, York Y03 7GL, United Kingdom

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SOCIETY
USA:
Washington-Baltimore Chapter
Vacant
Midwest Chapter
Dr. James Mazepa, P.O. 3ox 1217, Oak Park, IL 60304, USA
Northern California Chapter
Mike Renfro, P.O. Box 2268, Santa Clara, CA 95055, USA
Europe:
Ivo J. Steyn, Postbus 16636, 1001 RC Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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this journal are their own and the editor disclaims all responsibility.

The Rossica Society of Russian Philately, Inc. is a non-profit, non-political organization incorporated in the state
of Maryland, USA, and affiliated with the American Philatelic Society. The Rossica Journal is the official periodic
publication of the Rossica Society of Russian Philately, Inc., published twice a year in April and October and mailed
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Millersville, MD 21108
USA

Copyright 1995
The Rossica Society
ISSN 0035-8363

THE JOURNAL OF THE
ROSSICA SOCIETY OF RUSSIAN PHILATELY

Journal No. 125 for October 1995

Editor: Gary A. Combs
Editorial Board: George Shaw, David M. Skipton, Howard Weinert

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Topic Page

ARTICLES

Editorial 4
The "MEZhDUNARODNOE Markings"-David M. Skipton 6
Express Mail in the New Republics-Paul Burega 19
A Russian Soldier's Cover From France, 1916-Michael M. Ercolini 23
Alands Revisited-Leonard Tann 27
Variations in the Use of the St. Petersburg Residence 39
Permit Adhesives-J. G. Moyes
Declared-Value Letters in the New Republics-Paul Burega 46
The Belgian Armored Car Division in Russia (1914-1918) 52
-Michael M. Ercolini
The Russian Field Post During the Russo-Turkish War 55
of 1828-1829-I. W. Roberts
Collateral Zemstvo-George G. Werbizky 57
Back to the Beginning-Weights, Rates, and Routes-Leonard Tann 70
Moscow's Southern Railway Postmarks-Addendum-Gary Combs 80
Moscow's Dotted-Numeral Postmarks, 1867-1884-Gary Combs 81
What's It Worth? The Thorny Problem of Scarcity and Value 85
-P. E. Robinson

OF INTEREST TO MEMBERS
In the Back Room 86
Life of the Society 87
Member-to-Member Adlets 88
Reflections On Finlandia '95 89
Reviews of Philatelic Publications 89
Membership Status 96
Submitting Articles for the Journal 97
Dealer-Member Ads 98

Collector: Accumulator or Philatelist?

Some people collect bottles, others postal reference libraries are often expansive,
items. Some horde these items, others research including books on topics considered non-
and study them. Is there a difference? If I may, the philatelic, but providing insight into an
following are my definitions of the three classes area or topic. They compose articles for
of our hobby. They are not clear cut and overlap journals and sometimes exhibit as well.
across categories. They are members of as many philatelic
Accumulator Level I: Individuals who own societies as their budget allows. They are
a catalog and systematically set about active communicators and conduct ex-
acquiring one of every item in the cata- tensive correspondence on philatelic sub-
log. The only thing of interest to collec- jects. Their opinions are sought by newer
tors of this level is the stamp itself as collectors and occasionally by expertising
cataloged. They mount or otherwise dis- committees.
play the items in a manner pleasing to
themselves. The imagination is limited to The price for Russian area material is on the
album pages prepared by someone else. rise and indicates one of two things: a significant
These people are not interested in doing increase in individuals seeking the material; deal-
original research or reading about re- ers are selling less and have increased their prices
search conducted by others. Their phila- to overcome the deficit. I believe the former is the
telic libraries are very limited. Often they case and continued growth in philatelic societies
are speculators in the market and take at supports this position.
face value anything a dealer tells them. The number of original research articles are
Normally, they are not members of any on the decline. Russian-area exhibits at major
Society offering information beyond a shows is on the decline. Knowledgeable judges
catalog number. I call this level the "hole in our area have become extremely scarce. Sales
filler." of philatelic literature have been slowly decreas-
Accumulator Level II: Individuals who may ing. But what does all this negativism mean?
or may not display items on prepared or Although the number of individuals joining
original pages. Normally, they have nu- our hobby is increasing, the number of people
merous copies of items-sometimes in acquiring and sharing knowledge is declining.
the thousands. Varieties may form sepa- On the surface, it appears the collectors and
rate pages in stock books or albums- accumulators far outnumber the philatelists. I
sometimes original discoveries, but often would submit the number of stamp catalogs, pre-
based on the work of someone else. printed albums, and stock books generate signifi-
Stamps are their primary interest, but cantly more revenue than the sale of items such as
they might own a few covers. Their phila- the Prigara and Bazilevich books. More time is
telic libraries consist ofafew items, which spent at dealers' booths poring over pages of
were probably pointed out by another stamps than is spent in seeking information from
person. They may belong t6 a Society, if a philatelic library. Local, national, and interna-
the information deals only with stamps. tional meetings are experiencing a decline in
Accumulators rarely pay full catalog for attendance. "Show and tell" sessions have be-
items and look for bulk lots. come virtually non existent. The number of
Philatelist: Individuals who do all the above, people exchanging ideas and knowledge is dwin-
but take it one step further. Research is dling. Again, whatdoes all this negativismmean?
mandatory for these individuals. Their

4 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

The bottom line ... although more items are Fewer than a dozen members actively exhibit
bought and sold than in the past, the knowledge at any level of competition-or write philatelic
of our members appears to be waning. The recent articles. True, this phase is an ego sport much like
questionnaires indicate we are a Society of"Gen- grooming and showing dogs, cats, etc. However,
eralists" with a few limited pockets of informa- stamps and covers do not require feeding or
tion. One question begs to be asked, "How can an taking out for potty breaks. They do not bite or
individual be involved in a hobby for 20 or 30 scratch or require quarantine when traveling
years and possess no knowledge of the subject?" abroad. Start with local shows (the Rossica Jour-
I suspect there is knowledge there, but some nal qualifies) then advance to national shows. If
people may feel a bit intimidated because they you have the stamina, move into the international
consider themselves less capable than someone arena. Share your exhibit at meetings and let
else on a particular subject. When I first started in other people help you shape it. Exhibiting should
this hobby, I knew virtually noting. Over the be a pleasant experience. While not all viewers or
years I learned from other collectors, accumula- judges will share your enthusiasm, so what!
tors, and philatelists. I read their works, listened Have fun. If you think your exhibit has to be some
to their words. Occasionally, I would make state- dry, boring postal history topic costing thousands
ments I felt had merit only to be informed they of dollars and filled with rare covers, ask John
were worthless. Over time, the number of these Briggs about his exhibit. The APS provides a
"worthless" statements rapidly decreased. I wonderful, although slightly stuffy and bureau-
learned more about our hobby from informal cratic, manual to assist you. Get a copy!
gatherings consisting of seasoned as well as OK, you win. This has all been just abig plea
newer members of the hobby. for articles! You can see what is published in the
Fortunately, there is a cure for this problem. Journal. You cannot see what is not published. If
Perhaps the best medicine to prescribe is encour- your area is stamps, you will notice a large void.
aging you to attend local, national, and interna- Why? There are no articles submitted on the
tional gatherings. If no chapter exists, consider subject. Perhaps the pump needs to be primed.
starting one. The knowledge present at each level The seed for an article can be planted by reading
is incredible and shared willingly. Talk about something already published or (the best way)
your collection. Bring items to discuss. Ask through communication with other people and
questions. Answer those you can for others. Lis- looking into your own collection. Can't write!? I
tening is an absolute must, whether you are am more than willing to ghost an article using
interested or not. If you will not listen to people your original thoughts and material-you will
else when they speak, do not expect them to listen not be the first. Send me your thoughts and allow
to you. SHARE your knowledge! Learn and me to "pick your brain" to extract the informa-
grow in the hobby. tion. If it is an area about which I cannot verify the
Read philatelic publications and compare information, the opinion of others will be sought.
notes. There is a wealth of information available. Imagine your name on the marquee! Instant fame
Find out what the Rossica library or the APRL and glory will come your way. The world knows
has on your topic. Ask other collectors. Visit you know something!
exhibitions and learn from the displays. Ask the Now that I have beaten you into submission,
exhibitors to explain their displays. Again, cor- consider the topic, evaluate your position, and
pare notes. When (NOT if) you discover some- take action accordingly. Communicate! If I have
thing new, different, or which provides addi- made you mad for whatever reason, publish your
tional insight, COMMUNICATE the informa- findings in another journal. The point is to share
tion. Correspond with other individuals on the your knowledge so everybody can all grow in the
topic. Submit articles for the Bulletin and Jour- hobby. Our writers enjoy robust interchanges
nal. SHARE your knowledge! with other people around the world based on their
articles. 0
Rossica Journal Number 125 5
October 1995

The "MEZhDUNARODNOE" Markings

by David M. Skipton

In a remarkable article published recently in present some circumstantial and empirical evi-
Filateliya, "Censor Handstamps for International dence that points strongly to the existence of just
Correspondence," V. Kalmykov1 asserts that the such a practice.
"MEZhDUNARODNOE" (International) mark-
ings found on foreign mail to the USSR from the 1) ECONOMY vs. the large number of
1950s to the late 1960s are indications of censor- handstamp varieties. The Postal Admin-
ship. In addition, each marking differs in some istration was then and is now a part of the
way from the others, so that each censor would Ministry of Communications, which has
have had a distinct, personal "MEZhDU- a number of production enterprises at its
NARODNOE" handstamp. His assertion is an disposal. Those enterprises produce the
eye-opener, but it is only that-an assertion. He equipment and tools necessary for postal
neither presents any references in support of his operations, everything from mail-sort-
statement nor hints at any names. ing machines to mail boxes to handstamps.
So what are we to make of this? The fact of Batch-produced mailboxes of one type
Soviet clandestine censorship is well established, all look the same. A given type of mail-
(see Avzeger2-3, Knighton4, Medvedev5, sorting machine in Moscow will be ex-
Michalove6, Pavlenkov7, Shmuely8, Skipton9, actly the same as that type of mail-sort-
and Sobeleva10, to name just a few) so that Mr. ing machine in Leningrad. Those are com-
Kalmykov's claim of a secret censorship depart- plicated things compared to handstamps.
ment or shop at the Moscow International Post Handstamps are simple to make. Once a
Office is not unreasonable. To his credit, Mr. template is prepared, they can be cranked
Kalmykov asked about the existence of a postal out in great quantities, "po shablonu," as
censorship office during the 1950s and 1960s at the Russians would say. The production
the Moscow International Post Office and the enterprises were centrally subordinated,
Ministry of Communications. He got the same and would have produced handstamps
answer from both: "We don't know. We haven't according to Ministry of Communica-
heard [of such a thing]." tions specifications IF those orders came
Mr. Kalmykov says he has seen a fromthere, and IF those handstamps were
"MEZhDUNARODNAYa" (femine form, rather to be used by real postal workers.
than neuter) marking on a piece of official mail at
one of the Moscow branch offices, but it lacked A casual glance at the list of "MEZhDU-
a frame, and he thinks it might actually be an NARODNOE" handstamp varieties in this ar-
indication of a legitimate postal sorting mark. tide will suffice to see that just the dimensions of
Wehavenoofficialdocumentationthatwould the frame vary wildly, from 38 mm to 50 mm
back up Mr. Kalmykov's claims, either, but we long, and from 4 mm to 9 mm wide. Frame
do have a vast pile of physical evidence that we dimension variations are accompanied by some
can consult-hundreds of thousands of letters strategically-placed, all-too-clean breaks in the
mailed from the USSR to various destinations frame. Then there is the height and width of the
abroad. One thing to note is that Mr. Kalmykov individual letters, and a multitude of discernable
was talking about mail coming INTO the USSR variations in the style of the letters.
from abroad. The handstamps he illustrates are These handstamps could easily have been
the same as those we see on correspondence produced at just one or two of the Ministry of
coming OUT of the USSR. In this article I shall Communications' production facilities, so it
6 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

seems unlikely that such variation would have problem was. We know from Leopold
been tolerated, unless they were ordered that Avzeger's account in "Ya vskryval vashi
way. If one postal establishment, say, the Mos- pis'ma..." and "Chernyi kabinet" that the
cow International Post Office, orders "x" number Chita military censors' work was spot-
of handstamps, why have so many different ones checked by supervisors, and that, on oc-
made? It would be far more economical to have casion, the mail stream was "salted" with
numerous handstamps made from just one die, a letter that violated some internal cen-
and keep making them that way for years. sorship rule, as a test of the censor's
Another consideration is the nature of the vigilance and loyalty. Since both overt
frame breaks. If they were just signs of ordinary military and clandestine mail surveillance
damage or shoddy production, Soviet "brak," were run by the MGB/KGB, there would
how is it their spacing is so precise? Many breaks seem to be no reason why clandestine
start and stop exactly over or under a letter, or Soviet censors would not have been
they will start at the left on one number and stop checked, too. It is also possible that even
at the beginning of the next. As Marxists were if a censor's personal handstamp were to
fond of stating, this is no accident. If more proof be damaged, if the damage was distinc-
is needed, take a look at the Soviet datestamps of tive, an impression of the "new look"
that eraas a comparison.Howmanycleanbreaks could be taken and added to the
have you seen on the outer circle? On the inner supervisor's list until such time as a new
bridge? handstamp had to be ordered.

2) EFFICIENCY. If these were indeed However, in light of all the varieties, Mr.
censormarks, as Mr. Kalmykov claims, it Kalmykov's inference that only 9-12 censors
would make sense from the standpoint of worked at the Moscow International Post Office
avoiding duplication of effort. Mail vol- (based on the number of handstamp varieties he
ume being what it was, it would not do to recorded) bears re-examination. Nine to twelve
have letters checked more than once by individuals would not even begin to make head-
anyone other than a supervisor or quality way against the mountains of mail rumbling
controller. Even if there were no varia- through the International Post Office in the 1960s,
tions at all, the application of a and the same is true for the other cities where
"MEZhDUNARODNOE" marking "International" marks were used. Thousands of
would suffice to tell another censor it had censors would be necessary, although of course
already been perused once. they would be scattered around a relative few
offices that handled international correspondence.
3) QUALITY CONTROL. If these were How to distinguish who is who with just one
censormarks issued to censors, they would "MEZhDUNARODNOE" handstamp?
be useful in assigning personal responsi- Well, .5 mm increments in the frame length
ability (in the event a censor missed some- and frame width would give us a number of
thing advertently or inadvertently). The varieties, as would differences in the height of the
existence of such "individualized" letters. When the style of the letters (and there are
censormarks would strongly indicate the 13 of them) and the positions of clean breaks in
presence of a quality-control function, the frame are taken into account, the number of
much like the control numbers and super- possible handstamp variants becomes more than
visors' marks that appear on WWI mili- large enough to cover the number of censors
tary-censorship mail. Without an indica- needed. Then there are the various locations in
tion of who did what, it would be difficult the USSR. A 44 x 7 x 4 mm handstamp with a
for a supervisor to identify where the break over the first "E," say, could be used in two

Rossica Journal Number 125 7
October 1995

different, widely separated locations with no 1) Frame length-from the center of the left
possibility of confusion as to who the censor was. vertical line to the center of the right
If aggregate differences in certain combinations vertical line. (Due to the vagaries of ink
of letters and breaks are factored in, well, you get spreading on different kinds of paper, the
the idea. Those who like to play around with math pressure applied to the strike, and the
are more than welcome to compute the possibili- inevitable wear on the handstamps, mea-
ties; I will just take an aspirin, thanks. surements taken from the outside of each
Please bear in mind that this article is a broad line are likely to be a bit less accurate.
overview of these markings in general, an at- Still, the method I have chosen is cer-
tempt to show that yes, these are indeed tainly not perfect.);
censormarks. I make no attempt to equate any
"MEZhDUNARODNOE" handstamps with spe- 2) Frame width-from the center of the top
cific locations. If such a thing can be done, it will line to the center of the bottom line,
have to come in a future article, measured along the vertical stroke of the
first "E" in "MEZhDUNARODNOE";
Frame Breaks
3) Letter height-measured from the center
As can be seen from the illustrations below, the of the bottom line to the center of the top
frame breaks occur in one of five ways: line on the first "E" of "MEZhDU-
NARODNOE" when possible, the sec-
"* the top line only (fig. 1); ond "E" when not.
"* the bottom line only (fig. 2);
"* both top and bottom lines (fig. 3), The table on page 12 includes transit time and
"* a side line only (fig. 4), or mail-origin dataas rough aid to establishing the
"* a side line and a top or bottom line (fig. 5). whereabouts of international censorship offices,
and, of course, any suspicious delays. (The tran-
To date, I have seen only five examples of a sit times are derived by subtracting the date of
break on either vertical line of the frame clean posting from the date of arrival in country at the
enough to be definite, but others must exist. For border, not necessarily the final destination. This
the horizontal parts of the frames, some ex- is possible only with registered mail.) Of course,
amples sport as many as THREE breaks on a the small, non-oblast' or non-republic capital
single line (see fig. 2a), and a few look almost like towns mentioned in the table certainly had no
dotted lines. There should not be any reason why such offices. Their mail would have to have been
more than three breaks per handstamp could not routed through amajorpost office in order to pick
exist. Care must be taken to differentiate between up one of these markings. The trick is figuring out
wear-and-tear to the handstamp frame and a line which one.
break that has been manufactured on purpose,
hence the focus on "clean breaks." As can be seen Note: An asterisk denotes frame measurements
in figs. 1 and 2, moving down each column the cited by Mr. Kalmykov. He makes no mention of
arrows trace the advance of the breaks' positions letter height.
from left to right. In fig. 3, it is a potpourri of
break placements. There are 38 sizes in Table I, and it is cer-
tainly not a comprehensive listing. There are
Variations In Frame Dimensions many thin spots in the progression of lengths
alone, most notably between 50 mm and 43 mm.
The measurements presented below were taken Figure 6 shows a few of the variations in dimen-
as follows: sions.

8 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

S/ ........... --- .--.-.

tr .,,n'liHAPO TI HAP HOJ

MEIJ IIAPO. '

____, __.____ ME(KAyL POHOE
--.-. APO- --I [ A l .- ,I O :l.- ,

SA ___P0AP

Figure 1. Top-line frame breaks.

Rossica Journal Number 125 9
October 1995

/ A

""-" MEPVHAOOHOE
..., h APMlElHO

i/ IME)KPLHAP OnHO
W-:.*'- :-. --. MM."i -*"J

Figure 2. Bottom-line frame breaks.

Figure 2a. Three breaks on a single line.

10 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995
October 1995

.LrxEziJNP tel.AF. H.

:.. : Dn.unF ."r 1
-t

Figure 3. Both top- and bottom-frame breaks.

Figure 4. Side-line frame breaks.

Figure 5. Side-line and a top- or bottom-line frame break.

Rossica Journal Number 125 11
October 1995

Size Date mailed From -> To Arrived Days in transit
50 x 9 x 5.5 -- 61 Valki -> United States ?
47 x 7 x 4 18 12 56 Moscow-> United States ?
45.5 x 7 x 4 04 02 57 Moscow-> United States 11 02 -57 7
43 x 8 x 6 26 09- 61 Leningrad -> United States ?
ditto 18-06 62 Leningrad -> United States 25-06-62 7
43 x 8 x 5.5 29 10 60 Leningrad-> France ?
ditto 13 04- 62 Leningrad -> United States 20 04-62 7
43 x 7.5 x 5 ? ? -> United States ?
43 x 6.5 x 4 13-01 59 Kharkov -> United States 02 02-59 20
42.5 x 8 x 5.5 16 11 60 Kapsukas United States ?
ditto 18-06 62 Leningrad-> United States 25 06-62 7
42.5 x 7.5 x 5.5 14-02- 66 Podgaitsy-> Canada ?
ditto 16-01 68 Podgaitsy-> Canada ?
ditto 11 07 68 Ternopol' -> Canada ?
ditto 10-01 60 Kapsukas -> United States ?
ditto 06- 10- 63 Kiev -> Austria ?
42.5 x 7.5 x 5 03 05 62 Donetsk -> United States 08 05-62 5
ditto 16-09- 59 Moscow-> England ?
42.5 x 7.5 x 4.5 05-09- 60 Moscow-> France ?
ditto 30- 10- 60 Leningrad-> France ?
42.5 x 7 x 5 15 07- 63 Moscow -> United States ?
42.5 x 7 4.5 12-11 60 Leningrad -> France ?
42.5 x 6.5 x 3.5 08-06- 63 Angarsk -> China 7
42.5 x 8 x 5 16-11 61 Leningrad -> United States 21-11-61 5
42 x 8 x 5.5 12-11 65 Moscow -> United States ?
42 x 7.5 x 6 28 02- 59 Tashkent -> United States ?
42 x 7.5 x 5.5 21 -07- 65 Smolensk-> United States ?
42 x 7.5 x 5 14-09-61 Moscow -> France 18 09-61 4
ditto 07 12 58 Moscow-> France 10 12-58 3
ditto 27 03 62 Moscow -> United States ?
ditto 28-12- 59 Moscow -> France 01 -12-59 3
ditto 11 -05- 62 Leningrad -> United States 17-05-62 6
42 x 7.5 x 4.5 23 01 59 Moscow -> France 27 01 -59 4
42 x 7 x 5 07 04- 65 Moscow -> United States ?
42 x 7 x 4.5 31 -08- 58 Dobele -> United States ?
ditto 15 09 58 Moscow-> France 18 09-58 3
ditto 08 06 60 Podgaitsy -> Canada ?
42 x 7 x 4 18-08-57 Moscow-> France 29-08-57 11
42 x 6.5 x 4 13-12 56 Igarka -> United States ?
ditto 04 01 57 Moscow -> United States ?
ditto 26-04 57 Tuma -> Canada 06-05-57 10
41.5 x 7.5 x 5 17 06 66 Dunte -> East Germany ?
41.5 x 7.5 x 4.5 04-04- 60 Latvia -> West Germany ?
41.5 x 7.5 x 4 22 10- 65 Molodechno -> United States ?
41.5 x 7 x 5 27 11 59 Moscow-> United States ?
41.5 x 7 x 4.5 09 06 60 Temopol' -> Canada ?
ditto 22 07 54 Riga -> United States ?
41.5 x 7 x 4 23 08- 58 Gor'kii -> United Kingdom ?
41 x 7 x 4 23 08- 60 Tallin -> United Kingdom ?
ditto 27 09 57 Lvov-> Canada 07-10-57 10
ditto 25 03 59 Sukhumi -> United States 21 04 -59 27
ditto 01 07 51 Riga -> Switzerland 13-07-51 12
41 x 6.5 x 4 11 -04- 57 Perloya -> United States ?
ditto 06-12-67 Kingisepp -> United Kingdom ?
41 x6x?*
41 x 6 x 4 06 -12 64 Tallin -> United States ?
40.5 x 7.5 x 4 06 04- 57 Staryi Sambor -> Canada 13 -04 -57 7
40.5 x 6.5 x 4 18 08- 59 Riga -> United States ?
ditto 05 06 54 Moscow -> Austria 13 06 -54 8
40 x 8 x 5 11 03 60 Moscow -> Australia 21-04-60 41
40 x 6 x 4.5 23 09- 59 Moscow -> United States ?
38 x 7 x 4 20 -12 65 Kharkov -> United States ?
Table I. Empirical information gleaned from marks.

12 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

50 x 9 x 5.5mm 43 x 7.5 x 5mm

IME)KVYHAPOa OE lMEInVHAPORH E

42 x 6.5 x 4mm 41.5 x 7 x 4mm

S... .-. 7" ...

40 x 6 x 4.5mm 38 x 7 x 4mm
Figure 6. Variations in frame dimensions.

Variations In Font
-il AP UHOE
The overwhelming majority of handstamps -
seen are in upright block capital letters, although
a few are seen in a "leaning mixture" of block MP 1 f4 Ej
capitals and small "E"s (fig. 7). Among some
individual letters, though, there is a considerable .
amount of play, most notably in the Es, U's, and W L.A '1 i i 'n ; -" U
D's. The m's vary in the depth and placement of
the "v" portion, some O's display a missing A OE
section at right, top or bottom, but all the other ME)K Y AP E i
letters show subtle differences as well. Mr.
Kalmykov did make note of variation in the U's
Figure 7a. Common letter variations.
and Zh's, but stopped there. Figure 7a shows
some of the more common types, and fig. 7b
hosts the "weird stuff"-what I call the umlautt ';
M," the "busted O," and the "missing E." _G_ |_ _G_

eyiJngll J [MEAaH YAP O,,HO_ ri

Figure 7. Variations in font, upright and leaning ex-
amples. Figure 7b. Weird font variations.
Rossica Journal Number 125 13
October 1995

Color probably have had to submit frequent orders for
new handstamps as the old ones wore out) and
The overwhelming majority are in black. A time-consuming as mail volume increased re-
very few are in violet, and an extremely few from lentlessly. Nor was the practice always accurate.
1950 and 1951 are in red. Mr. Kalmykov records The blurry and/or faint strike of many markings,
some red handstamps, but does not mention any like that shown in fig. 13, would have made it
violet ones. difficult if not impossible to identify a censor,
thus defeating part of the purpose for having such
Usage handstamps in the first place.
Another possibility, and for this suggestion I
The earliest"MEZhDUNARODNOE"Ihave am indebted to George Shaw, our "Postal Index
seen is 12 May 1950; after that, the usage is Guy," is the Soviets introduced their version of
universal. From several covers posted early in the zip code in 1969 (even though it did not take
1950 lacking a "MEZhDUNARODNOE" effect immediately), and the designation for mail
handstamp, it would seem the practice was intro- to be sent abroad was "500." If "500" automati-
duced sometime after 10 April 1950, the date of cally equated to "International," why continue to
the latest cover without such a marking. The apply the "MEZhDUNARODNOE" marking? A
latest date seen thus far for these markings is 27 question like that, if asked frequently enough,
December 1968. "MEZhDUNARODNOE" would serve to call attention to the marking, and
markings appear on all outbound foreign mail, thereby heighten the risk of discovery. So, rather
both to the West and the East Bloc countries. Of than have the true meaning of "MEZhDU-
the huge 2,000-cover sample from the Shaw NARODNOE" exposed, the KGB discontinued
collection, a paltry few lacked this marking, its use.
showing that on rare occasion the censors could If the Soviets abandoned this technical solu-
make a mistake.* This bolsters Avzeger's state- tion (i.e., it was not replaced with some other
ment that ALL mail going abroad was censored, marking of which we are unaware), the same
without exception. Even government-establish- quality-control function could have been ac-
ment correspondence was checked. We do not complishedprocedurally.Forinstance, each cen-
see much correspondence to the USSR in deal- sor could put the day's work in an individual bag,
ers' stocks overhere, butwe haveMr. Kalmykov's which would be passed on down the line. Instead
article to show that those were censored, too. of each piece of mail bearing the censor's mark,
"*Then on the other hand, maybe sometimes the bag itself could display it, and the quality
these omissions were not mistakes. Take a look at controller could pick and choose by bag. Perhaps
the coincidences in these three covers (figs. 10- they reverted to the secret marks of pre-WWII,
12)! Two of them, from October 1959, are ad- or just discarded it altogether-a cumbersome,
dressed to then-Rossica-President A.A. time-consuming, inefficient waste.
Chebotkevich from Uzhgorod. The other is ad-
dressed to John Barry of BSRP fame from the Location Of SovietInternational-Mail-
1957 Festival of Youth International Philatelic Surveillance Offices
Exhibition in Moscow. And not a
"MEZhDUNARODNOE" to be found. Odd... Moscow, at the International Post Office, is
These markings were certainly phased out by the most obvious choice. I eningrad and Riga are
early 1969. My guess is the new policy of no close behind (SOMEbody had to look at all that
"MEZhDUNARODNOE" handstamps took ef- R.S.S. de Lettonie mail!), followed by Kiev and
fect on 1 January 1969. The question is why? And Vladivostok (see fig. 8a). We must include Chita
what, if anything, replaced them? The practice on the strength of Avzeger's account, even though
may have proved too cumbersome (they would it did not have an international post office. Per
14 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

;-:* '' "" '"-' /- I r\ f\ i^W O~ f^'l ^ '"': ";''' ''

: "' ;-'-i~ "- I' '. -
.- .' .- ,,

S -- ".':.*x -' ,. fr u''f^ .... .,,..
..' N ;. ..

-- / .f *w .- .-*. ... < ^ .;^:y ** *:-
_, .-\ ^ ^^ ^ .. .- : ,' '- ". ..' ,;. .- ..' "--
^ .. .- ..:^ --.',^^ '^ ^ -... -_ _

Figure 8. Kazan' to Pyongyang, North Korea, 20 June 1950.

Figure 8a. Vladivostok transit mark on reverse.

Rossica Journal Number 125 15
October 1995
iit '

Ky cda....

;al

oy Ko..

Figure 9. Angarsk to China.

.3. ... .

C/e~N. C.7>ce

!;j pa ., i,..jA '' .k "-a hr 'ii. .p. fl-Vity.
.s'- Jift wiP~. '3 Yuropox
"foarpaaca, t&/"
Saapnataxa o6a. YCCP

Figure 10. Cover to Chebotkevich with no censor marks.
16 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995
nor,;a I t7
n~x -iC'* ua +a11a16 oli

Figur 10"' Covrt Ceokeihwihncno mrs
16 ~ _~L7 Rosia ouna Nmbr 2

5r o //

"" ... .. a .
""AM

Cropo nuniA 8ao. f/ / lnrp S/r.&
MyxaqeBe. N^
CTar. ~II IIk SalD JIEBflAP-B.B Yr=o0
Bid narpacK M 21
Ko4mopoae fpomo T. 4Mana. M SaapnaTicaah o6. yCCP

jlepMiaBiie BHH2Bi!HULTBO pa3oTIuipWIoro MHnqeUiTBa i Myan3HII aIiTc|paT'pn.I Kin 1938
BGd 04527 1/ 958 p. 28. Tiupa? 25.000
J1pvyapan i. B)im i apebKo Jciiiifirpaa. LUiHa 20 xon.

Figure 11. Another cover to Chebotkevich with no censor marks.

-

"--Kyda,

KnYO. .............

Adpec omnpaeumancAs:

Mocuaa. nlamamH ocosaaeamo Mocisa lOpmjo Aonropymoxy

Figure 12. Cover to John Barry with no censor marks.
Rossica Journal Number 125 17
October 1995

Figure 13. Blurry, faint mark.

Avzeger, the international-mail censors were BIBLIOGRAPHY.
co-located with the "PK," the domestic-mail
censors. I would be very surprised if there were 1. Kalmykov, V. "Pechati tsenzorov
not more locations. mezhdunarodnoi korrespondentsii,"
Filateliya No.1, 1994, pp. 45-46.
In Conclusion 2. Avzeger, Leopold. "Ya vskryval vashi
pis'ma ...," Vremya i my Nos. 55 & 56,
Given all the considerations and handstamp 1980 pp. 224-253 & 244-278.
variations listed above, I believe Mr. Kalmykov 3 Avzeger, L. "Chernyi cabinet. Zapiski
is correct about the function of the tainogo tsenzora MGB," Khoken, Tel
"MEZhDUNARODNOE" markings. There is a Aviv, [n.d.].
4. Knighton, R.P. "More Soviet 'Damaged'
certain elegance to this practice-sticking a "More soviet 'Damaged'
censormark right out there under everyone's nose, Markings," British Journal of Russian
but masking it as an ordinary auxiliary postmark. Philately, No. 63, 1986, pp. 81- 84.
Unless you knew (or suspected) what you were MedvedevhoresThe Medvedev
looking at, and went to the trouble of examining Papers," in the section Secrecy of Corre-
hundreds of covers to record and compare the spondence Is Guaranteed by Law,
markings, you would never realize what these Macmillan, St. Martin's Press, 1971.
things were. In any event, it is to Mr. Kalmykov 6. Michalove, Peter. "A 'Damaged' Cover to
to whom credit must go for exposing the true Latvia," British Journal of Russian Philat-
nature of these handstamps by the differences in ely No. 63, 1986, pp. 85- 86.
frame size and letter style. The only substantial 7. Pavlenkov, Vladlen. "Postal Communica-
addition by this article to this is in identifying the tons Between the USA and the USSR and
frame breaks as another means of distinguishing How to Improve Them" FC-IZDAT,
individual censors. New York-New Jersey, August 1983.
If ever there was a cheap, endless field for 8. Shmuely, M. "Soviet Censorship and
collecting, this is it. The "MEZhDU- Other Markings," Rossica No. 112, 1988,
NARODNOE" markings exist in great abun- pp. 17-41.
dance, and without an authentic KGB supervisor's 9. Skipton, David. "'Damaged' Mail and the
chart equating handstamps to specific censors, it Soviet Post," Rossica No 119, October
is doubtful a complete list of any particular office 1992, pp. 44-56.
could ever be compiled. These are truly the 10. Soboleva, T.A. "Tainopis v istorii Rossii.
"flyspeck varieties" of the censormark world, (Istoriya kriptograficheskoi sluzhby Rossii
and I shall doff my hat now to the person with the XVIII-nachala XX v.)," Mezhdunarodnye
patience, the time and the bottomless wallet to otnosheniya, Moscow, 1994.
ferret them all out. 11. 2,000+ covers from the George Shaw
My thanks to George Shaw for his loan of collection, and another 200-odd from
2,000+ "MEZhDUNARODNOE" covers from various dealer stocks and the author's
his collection. I fear it is now he who has the collection.
biggest Soviet censormark collection in the U.S.!

18 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

Express Mail in the New Republics

by Paul Burega

Prior to the breakup of the USSR, there was rate was 300 rubles. At this time, an airmail
form of mail called "EXPRESS," which equates postcard costs 220 rubles and an airmail-express
to our "Special Delivery." This form continued postcard costs 330 rubles reflecting an additional
after the breakup. Figure 1 illustrates a cover 110 rubles for the express rate. I have not seen
from Ukraine, 21 April 1993, to Canada, re- any later examples of EXPRESS mail from
ceived 3 May 1993. The airmail label is blue and Ukraine or any of the other republics.
the EXPRESS label is orange. On the reverse is I would be interested in hearing from readers
a Canadian "3 -V1993 St. Laurent H4T 1AO who know of other courier or express envelopes.
PAR EXPRESS SPECIAL DELIVERY" In particular, has anyone seen an overnight ex-
handstamp with a time of 0100 hours (1:00 am). press envelopes from any of the republics to a
The rate for this service continued to rise in 1993, foreign destination? These probably would be
and I believe the service is no longer offered or from a Western business with offices in the new
the surcharge is so high individuals in Ukraine republics. Several correspondents informed me
can no longer afford express-mail service, such items exist, but they would cost around US
An airmail-express cover sent to Canada on $25, which is nearly the average monthly wage in
18 July 1993 from Ukraine cost 275 rubles vs. Ukraine-clearly not for use by average citizens.
213 rubles for regular airmail. The express charge In the USA and Canada, the overnight express
was 62 rubles. By 26 October 1993, the airmail- envelopes tend to be large, and most are dis-
express rate was 410 rubles, while the airmail carded and not saved or collected.

.. v ,. ;. '. ...

-16 11e-e2 21Z 2

"- m-- '1:,.'. '- 7"- 7, -

October 1995
Figure 1. Cover from Ukraine, 21 April 1993, to Canada, received 3 May 1993.
Rossica Journal Number 125 19
October 1995

""--'.-i -9 ---- '<---A -_.- .

._ _____-_._____.,___- / . .. ..... ....-

Figure 2. Cover used for rapid or express post exclusively in the Smolensk region of Russia, which uses postal codes
214, 215, and 216. The cover is white with light-purple printing and measures 11.5 x 16 cm (roughly 4 1/2x 6 3/8
inches). No markings appear on the reverse of the cover. I do not know the cost associated with this service. Does any
reader know of other regions in Russia or in other republics having such a service?

-
OIL Cf 1?

CHEflPCEPBICBAHK
I \y I-, Z -- -------

Figure 3. Courier (express) post cover (reduced) from Dnepropetrovsk (postal code 320). This ia a standard-size
envelope, white with black printing. The three letter logo at the top left is in gold foil, which appears to be embossed
into the envelope. The square handstamp at the lower left is purple. A large handstamp is applied to the reverse of the
cover, but in the two examples I have of this cover only a small portion of the handstamp is legible.
20 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995
AH~f1PCEPB11CfiAH

Figre3.Corir (xpes) os cver(rdued fomDneroetovk potalcoe 20. hi iaa tadad-iz

00

0,

same as the box at the lower left. The cover measures 16 cmx 22.5 cm (6 inches)n the mark perhaps a rate marking?

s s the t t l Thcoermeasre16 5cxm(63/89inh) the upperihtrer i manuscript B r n
I ~ ~ <

DES BORDEREAUX AV 7 EMS ETAV 7 S EMS
z

APLOKSNE PAVADOEKUMENTIEM AV 7 ES UN AV 7 S flS

GAJLAPUNKTA LIS STA

COENVELPAOPE AE TRAENNE SESSION
DES BERXAV 7 E E

| DATE DU UR

stripes around the borders. In the upper box printed in purple is "RIGA 50 EMS." Between the boxes is "Totaux des sacs: Poids: also in purple. A
SDATUM ? ^ LAIKS ^*

similar coverfrom Latvia to Lithuania, dated 14 December 1994, does not have these two items printed on the envelope; they were added in manuscript.
The envelope measures 16.5 cm x 23.5 cm (6 5/8 x 9 1/4 inches).

A Russian Soldier's Cover From France 1916

by Michael M. Ercolini

There is a story of the Imperial Russian Army Russia would send five additional brigades of
and its role in WWI which is not generally 10,000 soldiers each between 14 August and 15
known. It concerns the Russian troops which December.
were sent to France to fight along side the French. The Russian troops were met with great en-
This situation was brought about by the French thusiasm upon their arrival in France. The divi-
themselves and only halfheartedly fulfilled by sions were called Special Purpose Divisions
the Russians. Mr. J. Posell published a series of (Osobago Naznacheniya) and were composed of
articles on the subject in the Rossica Journal nominated or appointed officers and men from
during the 1950s. Mr. Posell states at the start, different units of the Russian Army. Undesir-
"The official histories of the war give it (Russian ables were not sent. Volunteers were allowed to
troops in France) very little mention and such join, and thus these troops are sometimes re-
information as is found in personal memoirs is ferred to as the Volunteer Brigades.
often contradictory. Philatelic moments (sic) Some of the soldiers sent to France were
are certainly not plentiful ." Bearing that in volunteers from Siberia. As Mr. Posell writes:
mind, a condensed version based on the above
follows. "Tall, bearded Siberians who had come by way of
Becae te F h hd s d e e Vladivostok and a long sea voyage of more than
Because the French had suffered extreme
13,000 miles, ... well dressed and well armed, they
losses during the years of the war, the French presented a stirring picture of military strength."
government sent Senator Doumer to Petrograd
with a request for Russian troops to assist the This led me to check some lists of men in the
French in France itself. The Senator arrived in Wrangel papers (there are boxes and boxes of
Petrograd 4 December 1915 and met with the them, of which I have looked through only a few)
French Ambassador to Russia, Maurice at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
Paleologue. The latter pointed out the great diffi- One list of members of the 1st Special Infantry
culty in attempting to get the Russians to comply Regiment was called "List of names of lower-
with a French request for400,000 troops. Senator rank members who make up a battalion formed
Doumer was not dissuaded, and he and the am- from the reserves of the 9th, 10th and 12th
bassador met with Russian Foreign Minister Siberian Rifle Battalions, being allotted 30 men
Sazonov, Premier Goremykin, and Russian and to each company." It contains the name Grigorii
allied military officials over the next two days. Nikiforov, the presumed sender of this cover,
They finally met with the Tsar himself. which shows he is a member of this regiment and
After Senator Doumer left on 18 December, its First Machine Gun Company.
the Tsar and his Chief of Staff, General Alekseev, There were problems inherent with the mis-
met and, since the Tsar appeared to want to sion. Some troops who arrived in Marseilles
commit Russian troops, it was agreed that a trial destined for Salonika mutinied. French troops
group of 40,000 would be sent. This brigade intervened. The three Russian brigades sent be-
landed in Marseilles on 20 April 1916. A subse- tween April 1916 and April 1917 were extra-
quent mission to Russia occurred in May 1916, territorialized, that is, considered as if they were
headed by French Minister of Justice Viviani and fighting at home and, therefore, under the abso-
Albert Thomas, the Undersecretary of State for lute control of General Lokhvitskii and not the
Artillery and Munitions. They pushed the origi- French GHQ.
nal idea of 400,000 troops, but it was agreed

Rossica Journal Number 125 23
October 1995

The article goes on to state the following: The article goes on to describe what hap-
pened in general to the various armies. Much of
"Russian troopsparticipated in many battles with (the) it is based on memoirs and is of conflicting
French, and later with the British Armies. They occu-
pied the lines at Courcy in 1916 where they fought nature. Mr. Posell ends the article by saying that
heroically, but were used as cannon fodder by the nothing is known of the postal system used for
French who sent them on murderous and useless the distribution and delivery of mail to and from
raids. During the attacks on Fort Brimont which the Russian troops. Two post cards of an official
began 4 April 1917, there was a Russian brigade nature are shown. They were printed in Russia
attached to the VIIFrench Corps at Sapigneul. Losses
here were extremely heavy because the Germans had and were meant to be mailed thereto. However,
intercepted the French battle plans. One of the bri- both examples shown were used within France.
gades was employed next to the 5th and 6th British Both are free-franked and bear a military unit
Armies, west ofAmiens. In the battle of the Aisne, 15 postmark as well as French FPO No. 189's
April 1917, the Russian brigadesfought with the 5th datestamp. All addenda show some more post-
French Army under General Mazel and with the 6th
Army under General Mangin. The Russian soldier in marks and also part of a set of picture post cards
the trenches and in the rain became less enthusiastic in French and Russian.
everyday. Militarylosses onbothsides( i.e., Western In Rossica Journal #52/53 (1957), a clarifi-
and Eastern fronts) and the final collapse of the cation of the postal situation is given based on a
Tsar's government in Russian made him question the letter to Dr. Vorophisky by Mr. Nevelino, a
reason for his presence in France. Constant pacifist f o o
and socialist propaganda from Paris helped to un- former officer of the Brigade.
dermine his fighting spirit. Before the great Somme
offensive in April 1917, the soldiers under General "In our regiment, loyal to the provisional government,
Nivelle balloted to decide whether they wouldfight or several men were commandeered from each com-
not andfinally voted to so do. The men having decided pany. Our soldiers for correspondence with Russia
to fight, didfight extremely well, but did not think that received special post cards, but these were not com-
their officers had done their share (according to pulsory and ordinary letters could be sent. Corre-
General Spears, in his book, "Prelude to Victory," spondence was not limited, they could send as many
pp. 331-2, 446-7and 508.) During the attack on Fort letters as they wished, and no stamps were needed.
Brimont on 16 April, the 3rd Russian Brigade was Incidentally, all letters passed through my hands."
partially engaged on the front of the XXXII French
Corps, but the heaviestfighting was borne by the 1st He is referring to incidents at LaCourtine in
Russian Brigade. Here one of the attacking battalions
lost three quarters of its number during the first rush September 1917. I think it is fair to assume that
and by the end of the day the Russians had lost about matters regarding the postal system were similar
half their men." at the time this cover was posted.
This is certainly interesting, and sheds a great
In doing some research in the Wrangel pa- deal of light on affairs after September 1916. It
pers, I believe the sender of the cover was in would be fair to conclude mail from Russian
Malier(?) France at the time this cover was sent. soldiers written in the normal course of events,
-1arepb MBJIbH is the Russian designation. I was had a military cachet marking applied, then went
unable to locate anything exactly like this under through the French FPO to Moscow and then to
various French spellings. If correct, here is a its destination. The cover shown here illustrates
summary of the Brigade's movements. On 9 quite clearly what happened.
August 1916 it was in the countryside of Juvigny This cover began its journey in a Russian
on the Marne (>KyBHHbH Ha MapHe) and left the military unit. The text of the light bluish cancel
following day forThe GreatMurelon (MypeloHb (top right) appears to read "First Special Infantry
ne FpaHJ-b). From the 25th of August through Regiment" (HEPBbIf OCOBbIiH H-XOTHbIH
the 28th of February 1917, (I have not checked nHOJK'b).Thecoverthenwentthrough the French
further) the listing continues to be "Camp Malier" FPO No. 189 on 15 December 1916. According
--larepb MBJIbH. [MBnbH maybe Ma.jbH-Ed.] to information provided to me, this FPO is listed

24 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

in Sinais' "Catalogue des Obliterations Mil. made its way to the cemetery, where a special
Francaises1900-1985."Theofficeopenedon 1 service for the dead known as a panikhida
March 1916, when it was located in Laval, France. (naHHXHMa) was sung.
The office was subsequently transferred twice At both this ceremony and the ground-break-
and eventually dissolved on 7 February 1919. ing ceremony, many former Russian soldiers and
The cover arrived in Moscow on 27 Decem- officers as well as French officials and members
ber 1916 (old style, thus 9 January 1917 on the of the public were present. After the religious
Gregorian calendar). Seven days later it left rites were finished, many of those present partici-
Moscow, having been censored (small circular pated in special military ceremonies, and Colo-
purple cancel #110 and Moscow Military Censor nel Simonov, the former commander of the 6th
tape on back). Fourteen days later (17/30 Janu- Special Regiment, declared the memorial offi-
ary) it arrived in Vladivostok. cially open. Both the flags of Russia and France
The address is "Staff Commanding Officer, were raised. After this, a ceremonial march
Siberian Navy (Fleet), Pavel Efimovich Pankov, through the cemetery of Russian veterans led by
Vladivostok, Russia." Colonel Simonov, and followed by various French
If anyone can shed some light on any aspect war veterans groups and Russian national youth
of this mystery, it would be appreciated. Please organizations took place.
correspond directly to: Michael M. Ercolini, Box
778, Daly City, CA. 94017. Ifsufficientpertinent The Text of the Decree is as follows:
information is received, I will advise the editor in
a follow-up article and credit will be given, "Le Pr6sident de la R6publique Frangaise
ll p Sur la proposition du Ministre de la Guerre
unless the provider wishes to remain anonymous. Vu le d6cret du 18 Novembre 1922
As a postscript to this article, a Russian
Orthodox Church was built near the cemetery DECRETE:
where the soldiers from this campaign lie. It is
e t s f t c l. I i Art. 1-Est autorisde 1' reaction A proximity du cimetibre
located threekilometersfromMurmelon(?) (Rus- russe de Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand (Marne) et sur le
sian: MypMejioH-) near Marne and is, at least as territoire de cette commune, d'une Chapelle
of 1937, the largest cemetery of Russian war orthodox destinee a comm6morer le souvenir des
dead, containing the bodies of over 1,000 fallen militaires russes tombs a cet endroit.
soldiers. In the summer of 1934, the building Art. 2-Le Ministre de la Guerre est charge de
l'ex6cution du present d6cret.
committee contacted architect Albert
Alexandrovich Benoit about building a church Fait a Rambouillet le 7 September 1935
adjacent to the cemetery where the Russian sol- Aber LEBRUN
diers who died in France and Macedonia during Le Ministre de la Guerre
1916-1918 are buried. His plans to build one in Jean FABRY
the style of the 15th century Novgorod and Pskov
Churches were approved. On 7 September 1935 Bibliography:
the French President issued a decree "authoriz-
ing the building of a Russian Orthodox Church Posell, J. "History of Russian Troops in France
near the Russian Cemetery of Saint-Hilaire-le- 1916-1917," Rossica No. 48, pp. 26-33,
Grand (Marne)." The first stone was turned in 1956.
April 1936. Construction went along quickly, Posell, J. "Addenda to Russian Troops in France,
and on 16May 1937, the Church of the Resurrec- 1916-1917," Rossica No. 49/50, pp. 38-39,
tion of Christ was consecrated by Metropolitan 1956.
Evlogii (EB oraRf). The first sacred Liturgy fol- Posell, J. "Additional Postmarks of Russian
lowed immediately afterwards, after which a Troops in France 1916-17 and Postmarks of
procession lead by the Cross (KpeCTHbrii xoa) a Russian Unit in France," Rossica No. 55, p.
22,1958.
Rossica Journal Number 125 25
October 1995

Y; 4 ,5 VV-

F t of c r b g te c t it S il I ty R i t r

,* .;. -

% WOCKOBCK^^A I -
4' '

... ,* ,,

Reverse of cover. Moscow 5th Dispatch Oce ine postmarks indicate the cover arrived on 27 December 1916
and remained in Moscow until 3 January 1917. The cover was censored as indicated by the censor tape applied to reseal
the letter. Vladivostok arrival mark dated 17 January 1917 also noted.

"26 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995
October 1995

Alands Revisited

by Leonard Tann

It gives me immense pleasure to write this rubles would have been available, the truth is the
article, not only because it allowed further explo- values known used in the Alands are the basic
ration into another area of collecting, but because kopeck values of the issues of 1902-6 and 1909-
this article is enhanced by the assistance of an- 17, a few examples of the 1914-15 war-charity
other specialist. It is with great pleasure that I stamps, and (very scarce!) a very few Romanov
acknowledge the philatelic contribution of Bill items. A few items of the Arms-issue postal
Ross of the GB Scandinavia Society, and with stationery are known as well.
grateful thanks to him for his help with these Postmarks of the Alands in the last decades of
notes. One of the most important aspects of tsarist rule (1900-17) were bilingual, with the
philatelic study is what I call "cross-fertiliza- Cyrillic at the bottom and the Swedish-Finnish at
tion"-one specialist contacts another, they learn the top. Mariehamn had both a bilingual and a
from each other, and publish their studies for the trilingual postmark. It might have been intended
benefit of others. That is exactly what has hap- for the bilingual one to supercede the trilingual
opened here. type, yet in practice it seems that both remained
In a back issue of the Scandinavia Contact in use and there appear to be no specific uses for
magazine (December 1988) I found some very either. Outlying villages used straight-line post-
interesting notes by Bill Ross. I contacted him marks applied by the village postmaster. Mail
and sent a copy of my earlier Aland notes from was handed to a rural post-carrier who collected
Rossica No. 120, April 1993. Bill said he had mail from various villages on his rounds and took
never really looked at the stamps, concerning them to the nearest main post office, where they
himself with the postmarks, and was unaware were postmarked by a circular-type postmark.
that specifically Russian stamps (as opposed to Some mail has a "number in circle" marking,
Finnish stamps) were relatively scarce used in which was applied by the rural mail-carrier.
the Alands. He sent photocopies from his collec- Bill's excellent article explained that steamer
tion of several very important and interesting mail services regularly operated between Abo/
items franked with Russian stamps used in this Turku, the Alands, and Sweden. In the latter part
tiny corner of the tsarist dominions. of the last century, the long-running services by
All the authorities that Bill and I have con- steamer operated between Ekero (Alands) and
tacted asking about the possibility of Romanov Grisslehamn (Sweden). The development of
stamps being used in the Alands have responded merchant-marine trading vessels based in
with the sort of reaction one gives to an idiot- Mariehamn extended the mail services both to
child asking a perfectly stupid question. Bill Finland and Sweden. During the severe winters,
attended the Helsinki Exhibition and put the ice steamers ensured that the mail got through.
question to Finnish specialists. In his letter to me There were services also between Helsingfors-
he said the answer was always, "Oh, there will be Abo/Turku-Alands-Sweden, as well as smaller
none used in the Alands!" Having myself eaten vessels linking the main islands of the Aland
"humble pie" before, it gives me the very greatest archipelago. Mail posted on ships from the Alands
pleasure to offer a large helping to others!!! to either Finland or Sweden sometimes received
While it seems safe to say that from 1900 a "ship-picture" postmark.
(when Russian stamps for ex-Finland mail were The population of the Alands during the last
required by law), the whole range of stamps and years of Russian rule was under 30,000 and
postal stationery denominated in kopecks and scattered over these islands. Most settlements

Rossica Journal Number 125 27
October 1995

consisted of a collection of houses and a shop or Nicholas II letter card with an Aland village
two-a hamlet, rather than a village. There were postmark ...
a few villages having a main street with a few The story of Russian stamps and stationery-
shops, a church, a school, and either a small post and of Romanov items-used in the Aland Is-
office or part of a shop that had a postal counter. lands has just opened. There is, surely, much
Lemland and Lumparland would be categorized more to surface. For example, the saga of the
as hamlets. Jomala and Godby might have quali- steamship and mail-boat connections both to
fied as villages. The only "town" worthy of the neighboring mainlands and within the islands,
epithet was Mariehamn. Locations such as Kikar and postal and mail activities of Russian troops
and Karlby were scattered farming communities, stationed in the Alands during World War I. One
where there was a central shop and a small might suspect that Russian stamps were used on
building serving as a bank and post office. These money-order transfer forms with high values -
hamlets and farming communities would have have such survived?
used the straight-line postmarks. This must be Again, my sincere thanks to Bill Ross for his
understood clearly when dealing with the help and allowing us to see some of the beautiful
Alands-scattered rural farming communities items he has of Russian Aland.
for the most part, with the rambling rural mail
carrier making his rounds collecting and deliver- [The following are excerpts from Baedeker's Russia
ing mail. Mariehamn was founded in 1861 by 1914 and provide further interesting information on
Tsar Alexander II in honor of his wife, the Tsarina the Aland Islands.
Maria Alexandrovna. Not withstanding the ex- "The local steamer from Abo to Stockholm vi& the
isting towns and mail centers, it was intended for Aland Islands calls at Degerby ... and also at
the new "Maria's town" to become the capital, Marienhamn, but the daily mail-steamer does not
which it did. Both Bill and I think it is safe to say touch at these ports.-The smaller steamers which
ply 6 times a week to Marienhamn, calling at
that whatever arrangements existed for the ex- ply 6 times a week to Marienhamn, calling at
various intermediate stations, may also be used
change and transfer of mail between post offices (fare 16 or 12 m.).
and the islands of the archipelago, Mariehamn,
Lemland, Degerby, Sund, and Ekero were the The steamer threads its way through the innumer-
points through which mail entered the islands' able small islands opposite Abo ... enters the
Skiftet Sound... and soon comes in sight of the
postal system and left for foreign destinations. Skland Island...
Perhaps another specialist in this field might be
able to give some detailed account of the steamer- About 8 hrs after leaving Abo the steamer reaches
mail system within the islands and connections Degerby, a village on the island of Figlo. Thence to
from the islands to the adjoining mainlands. Marienhamn the voyage takes 2 hrs. more.
I do not believe Romanov stamps were on
SThe smaller steamers hold more to the N. and pass
sale in the Alands. The handful of Romanov through the sounds of Lappvesi and Delet, which
items existing from the Alands were carried there run from N. to S... In approaching Marienhamn
by people on vacation and visitors. Of the very they pass the fortifications ofBomarsund, destroyed
few Romanov items existing used in the Alands, in 1854, and the Lemstrim Canal, completed in
the majority would have Mariehamn postmarks.
There is a chance one or two items could bear the 125 Kil. or 78 M. (from Abo) Marienhamn, Finn.
postmarks of Sund, Lemland, or even Ekero. In ... Bad-Hotel, open in summer only... a pleas-
this case, they would be even scarcer, antly situated little town and bathing resort with
If I might be allowed a moment of total about 1400 inhabitants... Eckeri Storby, the larg-
est village in the Aland islands, lies on the island of
fantasy, imagine a 2-kopeck Romanov wrapper estvillagei the Aland isad ,leotiad
fantasy, imagine a 2-kopeck Romanov wrapper Eckero, situated to the W. in the Alands Haf."
used from Mariehamn, or a 4-kopeck Peter post-
card used from Degerby-Aland, or a 10-kopeck -Ed.]

28 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

Post Card Postkarte Cart, p
Correspondenzkarte Levelez6 Lap UDopis -,- 3ia
korespondencvfna Cartolin pcslale Briefkaart tb kort -

M41; i, 7 /-
i .. .

TRYC> N -ST i', ^
.- ,, t

..P
*Z P A ^ ^ ****... . .

82.

Figure 1 (Bill Ross collection). Postcard to the USA franked with a 4-kopeck Arms stamp from the issue of 1902-06.
The stamp is tied to the card by a straight-line "ECKERO PH," the postal station of the settlement ofKyrkoby. The
card was transfer t iemere d t iemn, ere it received the trilingual postmark and went on its way.

TRYC-.nl N er .. 125
October 1995
IMYPRP:.1 S.,

October 1995
r; H (^fe
'i _ _ _
1 : lll 11 ^

October 1995

4rtlAk ^ t-' '.' < "

Figure 3 (Bill Ross collection). Postcard sent to Germany and franked with a pair of 2-kopeck Arms stamps from the
issue of 1909-17. The stamps are cancelled by a straight-line village postmark of G lby in blue. Mariehamn applied
a trilingual transit mark.
\/.4J / ,-r,".'%' -.

Figure 4 (L. Tann collection). Postcard addressed to Warda. The picture side shows a scene ofAbo/Turku. The postcard
was written in Abo and posted aboard a ship plying the waters of the Alands. The pair of 2-kopeck stamps were
cancelled with a trilingual postmark when the ship arrived in Mariehamn and sent on to Wardd, receiving a bilingual
Ward& arrival mark.

30 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995
UNIONN POSTAL Ur;^ERSEL'iE La

P; 9.
i^^^3 ;K

*s ii"r r "" < r/

WardoS arrival mark.

October 1995

L. ,h,,11 U l 3
[.ll 730l 1 ' ,
\ ,' ,;. -- I,._-., / I,

'. .. *, ,. '-',,. ". ,
3,, .0, Ii, .,'W ., ---

Figure 5 (L. Tann collection). Registered cover to Helsingfors franked with ten 2-kopeck stamps from the 1909-17
issue. A registration label with the town name in Swedish and Finnish is affixed on the front. The postmark is a bilingual
type. The cover was postmarked on the reverse upon arrival in Helsingfors. Sent on 5-XII-14, it was subject to
censorship. At extreme right can be seen (dark strip) the edge of the censor's resealing label. This was in fact "internal
Finnish" mail and Russian stamps were not strictly necessary.

..-- .'

"-.C -

. . ........ ............. .. ................. ........ ..................
.. ,-'-._ /<-,.', "

very fine bilingual postmarks of Lumparland dated 5-V-15.
Rossica Journal Number 125 31
October 1995

Postkarte Carte postal Post Card
Weltpostveren Union postal universelle Briefkaart -- Brevkort Brcl f

S. .. ... ..............,

r ......... .. ........

Figure 7 (Bill Ross collection). Internal mail within the Alands, bearing a 2-kopeck stamp with a bilingual
Hammarland postmark. The 2-kopeck rate applied for an inter-town postcard bearing just a few words of greeting,
which were written on the picture side in this case. A trilingual Mariehamn arrival mark completes this fine item.

Postkarte Carte postal ,.' i
CWeh'r-. pend- a Union postal Unverseiie \

irta kor+ispo.vdenqjpo Korespordencii .-'* -t'_. ,-: L ti t
6 t f k i -C rt nirri ostaie -.Postcard ri rt ''.
OTICI'hITOL-UICbMO

Figure 8 (Bill Ross collection). Postcard to Sweden bearing a 4-kopeckArms stamp cancelled and tied by the straight-
line village postmark of Odkarby and taken to Sund, where it was postmarked with a bilingual mark dated 19-VII-10.

32 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995
.^*/ /'

Copi~~~~~~~nlceOtoe 1995sptjnkdt L~e2jp t ~*

", f ....... E'. 7
",.. Ay J. P, .. \l *'" ;

".',-'.... -, <'^...
tt i "' g '-

j O TOBAS }APTO KA- -

Figure 9 (L. Tann collection). Postcard sent to Russia. The address is headed "Ryssland" and the rest is in Russian.
It bears a 3-kopeck internal-Empire-rate Arms stamp and a scarce bilingual Degerby-A land markafrom 1914.

Rossica Journal Number 125 33
SOctBCor 1Hb I 9O TO
rIJi UNION POSTAL 1>'.

.......... .

Figure 10 (L. Tann collection). 4-kopeck stationery postcard addressed to Vasa (Nikolaistadon the Finnish mainland
coast) cancelled by bilingual Lemland. The second Lemland postmark is overstruck by the Nikolaistad arrival mark,
which is trilingual.

Rossica Journal Number 125 33
October 1995

Posikarte Carte post
tclrpostvcrein '-Union postal univ '
Sopisnice Correspondenzkarte Lrrf0e
Karta kortspondencyjna jorespandenni
Briefkaart-Cartlina postale-Post card- Br e
JBrefkort-OTKPbrtrot.-nKcz o,-arjeta postal

.... ........ ..A.......

----------^ '- ^ .. .. .. .- .

Figure 11 (Bill Ross collection). Postcard sent to the USA. At lower left is the circular numbered cachet of the rural
mail carrier on route 76. This was one of the earlier mail routes, established in 1893 (and surviving until 1962) between
Lemland and Flaka. The postcard was collected and taken to the Lemland office, where a bilingualpostmark was added.

A

Figure 12 (Bill Ross collection). 1907postcard sent to Stockholm. The 4-kopeck Arms stamp was affixed in the village
of Vestantrdsk and cancelled with the straight-line Vestantridsk village postmark. It was taken on to Godby, where the
bilingual postmark was added, and sent on to Stockholm, where a receipt mark was applied. Straight-line village
postmarks and rural mail carrier cachets on items with Russian stamps are scarce.

34 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995
I^' ..?t C//y / yf ^YA iy
<^ ^ iZ^/^-^*^^"^
i'`:t ^ ? 2!:^'"" ~:!-..^'^ illA^^'3~i Ity:!fia~ z
ocl i ri^ I /r.i ~ ;:~ ;-; ~/
.-^ <*L ^-^*i* ^-< ^ ^

October 1995

, ''i^ \' N

Figure 13 (Bill Ross collection). An outstanding item addressed to Tyskland (Germany) bearing ive 10-kopeck Arms
stamps from the issue of 1909-17, cancelled on 24-111-13. There is a straight-line village postmark of Flaka (on left
lO-kopeck stamp). The cover was taken to Lemland, where the bilingual postmarks were added. Part of the cover is
missing at the left, so we do not know if it was a registered item (no label is present) or just a heavy cover.
I "G ,

-nOqTOBA51
-.... r. ......

Figure 14 (L. Tann collection). 3-kopeck (internal Empire rate) Romanov postcard sentfrom St. Petersburg to
Mariehamn. Because Finland (including the A lands) used the Western dating and Russia still used the Orthodox Julian
dating, the postcard gives the curious appearance of having taken a long time to travel from St. Petersburg to
Mariehamn when, in reality, it took only 3 days. Mail from the lands and Finland to Russia with cle ar rival marks
give the odd appearance of having arrived before being posted!
Rossica Journal Number 125 35
October 1995
October 1995

OTPb3HOi KYnOH-b. COfIPOQBOfl TE6IbHbl AAl PEC'b

ln rli;Ca r .ITbHHo(II Ha p'
"/ -. H na.0o..CHH' n, n,.Aamc nc" py. 'on7
,\,0. XC H Ib .,I CI, Mon.
,I 7 P YMT
\ ~ Lj /4/t 1eQ \n 1 c

HameHeouaHie H a:pe:6.' Anf

S~.. K ,\

S.... j o--r

0 j.-Vill. I.
C o c~oatiiHtmHa 8 ~patt mairo :.'

i j It C01oro ,.. ,pol ? 0 1CY. *' 7--

1I*l.W'YCtURbflj *l*dfle.*Th b CyM T "Mfl.
"i"

'nncbic) Nk(upamn)

36 Rossica Journal Number 125
",October 1995
"" iHLO M^L. ::.. r..r.,
nJlo:nw,) a

Figure 15 (Bill Ross collection). Parcel card from Petrograd to a Russian officer serving with the occupation forces
in Land, 13 July 1916. Addressed to Degerby-,Aland, Finland, the card has a red war censor mark. On the reverse
(lower illustration above), transit marks for Vyborg and Abo were applied, as well as a Degerby-Alland arrival mark.

36 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

OTPB3HOR KynOH, .. biPOOllI Llbblr l .AAPECb

.MtCTO

S*- A ,,]'_,,fi J 4
-Ic neu o1n
:: i' ;-, ,.. ,j i.. S t, .

., *, c '' cI. ( X / } 1a9C 4l ,/ n int-ll T

II tLhrt'MA

{ '- .I = -.-: ..... .. .. ....... ,- '..' 9 oo
S) -" ^..... ........ y eHCKO

fl eK n mClud. o '^! Apx. n..T. ONp.
S oror KynoMa.

Alf.
o a0lOa.aBaTo.TbCKOf m IMnaiI nO[TrOI O I -.
KDHI'e. ^ i MQ'QS ,T&c I

"j /A>-. ."'

"" I,

POCnHCKA nOJYIY ATEJIlR. J' 0 .

3ua(CHunyw na auilesoAgl cmqopomwr amozo 9oKy.euma no- /

Figure 15 (Bill Ross collection). Parcel card from Ust'e in Vologda Province to the Navy Cruiser 'RUS' on the island
of Aland-Degerby." Postmarked in Ust'e on 21 July 1916. Marks on the reverse allow us to trace this cover from
Petrograd, 31 July 1916, through Revel, 6 August 1916, and Abo, 26 October 1916. Revel' was the Russian support
base for the Baltic Fleet, and the card seems to have been held there until October. Can anyone provide information
on the cruiser? [Dave Skipton informed me the Petrograd censormark "O.1." is rare and unrecorded until now.
This mark was applied only to package mail.-Ed.]

Rossica Journal Number 125 37
October 1995

I'A tT L IN -\ PI()TlA LI K

Figure 17 (L. Tann collection). Postcardfrom Italyfranked with a King Victor Emmanuel 10c. The pencil-written

the base of the stamp.
And now for the grand-finale!
This veritable feast of Alands concludes with this fine item in the collection of the author.
I-

SPostkar tei
ost Card. Carte post!.a, Union postal universelle.

.. /......
/ -.- -
"/ II i I

.1
Figure 17 (L. Tann collection). 3-kPostcard fromanov stamply tiranked with a King Vipostcard by a Mariehamn trlingualOc. The posencil-written
address does not show up. but it says cleow arl machine cdMariehamn. The postcard passed through Helsingfors, where itow
threceived a Helsingfors trilingual mark, and was sent on to Mariehamn, where actual item shows the postrilingual mark just tyingmore

clthe base of the stampknow of no way to make it clearerfor illustration. You must take my word
foAnd nr owit-THIS IS A ROMANOV ITEM USED IN THE AANDS!-final
-- ""1'e Pi os ar-e "

"A A ( < ", L
addressed to Mosow. The Moscow arte rivpoale machine cancellpoataeion smothers the Mariehamn postmark, butjust below

the stamp you can see ".. PIEXAMH< .. of the Cyrillic part of the mark. The actual item shows the postmark much more

38 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995
October 1995

Variations in the Use of the St. Petersburg
Residence Permit Adhesives

by J. G. Moyes

The St. Petersburg residence permits are fully sued at Shumskaya Volost', Novaya Ladoga on 5
listed and discussed in Rossica No. 63 by Emile October 1898 to a man moving to St. Petersburg.
Marcovitch in his article "Stamps and Receipts On his arrival in St. Petersburg the following
of Adresny Sbor in St. Petersburg." This short were added to his passport at the Okhtenskii
article illustrates unusual use of these stamps. Precinct of the Vyborg Quarter on 10 November
It is important to remember that the Forbin 1898: a 3-kop. police visa fee; a 1-ruble hospital
listing of these stamps is incorrect in giving issue tax fee; a fifth-category residence permit for 12
dates for the 12-month series as 1895. Both the months at 86-kop. Later the man moved and
6-and 12-month series for men and women were reported to the 1st Precinct of the Petersburg
issued in 1889. Additionally, as the following Quarter, where a 3-kop. police visa was added on
shows, the men's and women's series were not 16 December 1898. He obviously changed jobs,
strictly used for the respective sex. as two extra residence permit stamps were af-
Figure 1 illustrates a one-year passport is- fixed to make up the difference in the fee. The fee
sued at Ivanovskaya Volost', Shlissel'burg on 7 would have risen to 1 ruble 43 kop. for category
September 1893. The passport was issued to four. Using available stamps, 1 ruble 44 kop. is
Anna Nikitina Arkhidova and bears a St. Peters- the nearest rate that could be achieved. Thus, an
burg police 3-kop. visa fee and a 1 ruble 43-kop. extra kopeck was paid. The additional 58 kop.
residencepermitinthethirdcategory.Bothstamps required was achieved by using a 15-kop.
were canceled 25 September 1893 at the 3rd women's six-month issue and a 43-kop. men's
Precinct of the Moscow Quarter. The residence six-month issue. The stamps were used simply at
permit stamp is not the women's one-year stamp, face value, with the three different category-five
but the men's six-month issue, which for cat- issues making the category four fee for 12 months.
egory three was the same figure. A manuscript note above the two extra stamps
Figure 2 illustrates a passport extension form says "from category five to 4."
issued to Stepan Andreev of Danilkov Volost', The receipts which were given to the resi-
Kostroma Province on 14 march 1893 at the 1st dents after they paid their fees are also listed in
Precinct, Kolomna Quarter. He was granted a the Rossica No. 63 article. Another receipt, how-
six-month extension on his original passport. A ever, could be obtained by any resident for the
3-kop. police visa fee was added on the reverse total of local taxes paid at St. Petersburg. Figure
and canceled the same day. The third-category 4 illustrates one of these receipts. At the top right
residence permit stamp was canceled on 18 March is a handstruck impression in slate-blue giving
1893. This stamp is not the men's six-month the fee, 2 kop. I have seen an example in red on
stamp but the one-year issue for women, which yellow paper also, but it is an undated cut-out.
for the third category has the same value, 1 ruble On the reverse is an abstract "on the right of the
43 kop., as the men's six-month stamp, payers to receive from the Town Tax Collectors
What happened if anyone changed jobs or certificates showing payment of Address and
moved to a different category for the residence Hospital Taxes." Such certificates would only be
permit? I suspect no refunds were given if any given on presentation of all documentation.
resident moved down a class, but if they moved The certificate in fig. 4 was issued to St.
up, the higher rate had to be paid. Petersburg artisan Vasilii Filipov Fyodostov for
Figure 3 illustrates a one-year passport is- payment of a residence permit in the fourth
Rossica Journal Number 125 39
October 1995

category from 1 October 1890 to date, and the Figure 6 illustrates a three-year passport sheet
hospital tax until 3 October 1891. The receipt is costing 4 rubles 35 kop., which was issued to
dated 15 April 1891. The cachet at the bottom left Henrietta Sophia Matilda Vestlin on 21 March
is that of the Town Tax Collector of the 1st 1891. She registered with the police at the 2nd
Precinct, Rozhdestvenskii Quarter. The hand- Precinct, Moscow Quarter in St. Petersburg on
struck impression on this form is illustrated by 23 March 1891. Rather than pay the fee year by
Forbin, but without any details. Probably, many year, she chose to pay for three years of duration
types and colors exist, on the passport at once. Although the police
Figure 5 illustrates a one-year passport is- cachets canceling the stamps are dated 23 March
sued to Ivan Ivanovich Nikitin at the St. Peters- 1891, the manuscript notes above the stamps
burg Trades Council on 19 February 1892. He show that the fee has been paid only to the date of
registered with the police at the 2nd Precinct of issue of the passport, 21 March of each year.
the Liteinii Quarter on 1 March 1892. The 15-
kop. fee was paid by using multiple 3-kop. stamps.
There is no hospital tax so he was registered [Jack passed on a couple of corrections to his article
higher than category four. The adhesives used to "Passport Fees Under Nicholas II" in issue #123. They
are: page 54-comb perforation 12.5, not combina-
indicate payment of the residence permit fee are are: page 54combperforat not comb
tion, 50-kop. dark blue, not 90-kop.; page 56-The
two category-four stamps used for men for a original passport was issued 29/2/91,not the extension,
period of 12 months. This totals 2 rubles 86 kop., which was issued 1/3/93 and is correctly stated in the
which is the fee for category three for 12 months, text.-Ed.]
The stamps were used at face value.

October 1995,

A fJEH.$i, rt -l.

Figure 1. A one-year passport issued on 7 September 1893 at Ivanovskaya Volost', Shlissel'burg.

40 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

OTCPOqRA.

/a4BITeaJ ceroQ .Y^
/ /y ^~~~-2 7 -/- G

aRAuTHo H acipTf C a X124 OTcposTa cpoToC O

roaa, C. TM WTO ecN OA B a o-
,meHi- cero cpoaa He noayqT% HnoBaro naclo a, TO O6aa m CaegOBaTL
c, aacTosUmelo oTcpo0Roxo Ba MXCTO LpIPIIp caH, 6yge me nony'Hun na-
CIIopTT, TO gOa4- OTlpOURy TJT BOSB aTHTL. IIpMTul npeaanni -

a wcm pwma

BoJ"AjH-qH C6pIOSp R On. yaaere no7 u "

Ae 6 .- .- .

Figure 2. Passport extension issued to Stepan Andreev of Danilkov Volost', Kostroma Province on 14 March 1893 at
the First Precinct, Kolomna Quarter.

Rossica Journal Number 125 41
October 1995

; ---"---------J-r IL-'

*, 3, ,. .

ell
18

,I Il k189 .

Figure 3. One-year passport issued at Shumskaya Volost, Novaya Ladoga on 5 October 1898.

42 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

i. Mayiia '-
,7609 C;

Cn PABRA 2

(6/> / 4-/ ; 3

.. S.".' '?C1 IdU( i"'L i\,_ > H .

,,pOOM, 1,9" .. ... ,h ll ,.C,, Hect. 'ir, / 'y iac'l,
Sc// //. Iaern c.Aylromiic c(optl, a 1,M('11110: a,Ipe)eCHblW
110...o pas3j)H)y, CIJIuOM'l .t ---
S, 6 11b in11lihli 3a cemi1 I-,--
cponoy 1,r / L f .
t OllJ (tol 6 pi it l lacl''l t 7

',' 'R I

Figure 4. Certificate issued to St. Petersburg artisan Vasilii Filipov Fyodostov for payment of a residence permit.

Rossica Journal Number 125 43
October 1995

2$/-.
S" ... 'a ~- ....,'i*

7. 7

P 8 '-T 189Z

; .
j

Figure 5. One-year passport issued to Ivan Ivanovich Nikitin at the St. Petersburg Trades Council on 19 February
1892.

44 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

!U

^,,.,i .
, ..i:e .. "

Figure 6. Three-year passport sheet issued to Henrietta Sophia Matilda Vestlin on 21 March 1891.

Rossica Journal Number 125 45
October 1995

Declared-Value Letters in the New Republics

by Paul Burega

One form of mail which has continued from came from several former Soviet republics, and
the USSR to the new republics is declared-value some of them still bear vestiges of the USSR.
letters with wax seal(s). The following covers

SLE /o, LA44 4 ,4. -

R74C32 4W1A-A -32

Am Figure 1. Front of a cover (top) sent from
"Turkmenistan in August 1994 to Ukraine,
marked "LIEHHOE IHCbMO 1 (OIIHH)
AHA T The postage paid is indicated by a
"TP" marking. Initially, an Ashgabat regis-
tration marking was applied, then it was
scratched out and replaced with a second
.marking. The reverse of the cover shows a
manuscript marking "80t" and a Kiev 205

. the letter (left) with the markings
"CTPAXOBA3I ALIXABAI HO H-MT
ALIFABAT TYPKM. CCP."

46 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

-----------i---- r ,
-, 'I^ .; ,-7 | \I "; -

4 -C

Figure 2. Front (top) of a cover (brown craft paper) sent
"from Ivano-Frankovsk, Ukraine to Dnepropetrovsk with
a declared value of 1000 krb. and dated 22 October 1994.
Note the similarity to a registration mark, but containing
the letter "Ll" (for L(EHHOE). The reverse of the cover has
two wax seals. Note the Ukrainian emblem in the seal (left,
enlarged to 200%).

Rossica Journal Number 125 47
October 1995
/^^ ^^^^<:7 Ly<: ,r7
./-7

Figure 2. Front (top) ofa cover (brown craftpaper) sent

a declared value of 1000 krb. and dated 22 October1994.

October 1995

.--,-- --^ -- ;. :^per Jorn ^t ^, % ^ 300( k30. .

fl P onC/T POOBL 4

IAA' JT, i

fnwirb i"tA"C 10AAMOM0C78 2 iy gucW np.....4e.*..

Figure 3. Upper portion, front of a cover (white paper), franked 9 krb., with a declared value of 300 krb. going from
Dnepropetrovsk to Dnepropetrovsk (post codes 320070 to 320100), dated 20 May 1994. The reverse has three wax seals
(above, lower, reduced to fit), one at the center of the envelope tying the flap, and the other two at opposite ends.

October 1995
October 1995

Z 3
.' K^ }' ~

| ....-.---- ^?3/

I I
it VI / ^ --e-----

A/I v. (2A

w0

SI

"'1 '4

Figure 4 (opposite page). Front of a large cream-colored cover going from Perm' to Kazakhstan, "Valeur declaree
7000 seven thousand roubles" rate 6460p TP, dated 22 May 1995. The reverse (above) contains five wax seals, one
in each of the four corners, and one in the center. The wax on this cover stuck to the cover next to it, and bits of paper
adhere to the seals.

50 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

Item From To Date Number of Seals Insured Rate

1 Kazakhstan Kirghizistan 14.11.92 1 5 rub 12 rub
2 Kazakhstan Kirghizistan 14.10.92 1 5 rub 9.90 rub
3 Ukraine Ukraine 28.12.94 1 2000 krb 900 krb
4 Ukraine Ukraine 27.03.95 1 10000 krb 500 krb
5 Ukraine Ukraine 30.05.94 1 500 krb 300 rub
6 Russia Kirghizistan 13.03.92 1 10 rub 5 rub
7 Ukraine Ukraine 07.05.94 1 2000 krb 100 krb
8 Ukraine Ukraine .08.07.94 1 500 krb 340krb
9 Ukraine Ukraine 12.10.94 1 1000 krb 400krb
10 Ukraine Ukraine 11.11.93 1 1000 krb 240 krb
11 Ukraine Ukraine 18.12.94 1 500 krb 550krb
12 Ukraine Ukraine 28.12.93 1 1000 krb 400 krb
13 Belarus Ukraine 10.12.93 1 100 rub 280 rub
14 Ukraine Ukraine ? 1 1000 krb 560 krb
15 Ukraine Ukraine 04.10.94 1 1000 krb 2800 krb
16 Ukraine Ukraine 28.04.94 1 1000 krb 660 krb
17 Ukraine Ukraine ? 1 5000 krb 2800 krb
18 Ukraine Ukraine 17.11.94 1 5000 krb 3100 krb
19 Kazakhstan Kirghizistan 02.05.92 1 10 rub 6 rub
20 Ukraine Ukraine 18.02.95 1 5000 krb 5500 krb
21 Ukraine Ukraine 08.07.94 1 500 krb ?
22 Ukraine Ukraine 30.04.94 1 1000 krb 500 krb
23 Russia Kirghizistan 27.02.92 1 15 rub 30 rub
24 Turkmenistan Ukraine 02.08.94 1 manat 80 t
25 Ukraine Ukraine 03.05.94 2 4000 krb 4800 krb
26 Ukraine Ukraine 11.06.? 2 1000 krb 450 krb
27 Ukraine Ukraine 22.10.94 2 1000 krb 400 krb
28 Ukraine Ukraine 20.05.94 3 300 krb 9 krb
29 Ukraine Ukraine ? 4 1000 krb 800 krb
30 Ukraine Ukraine 7.02.95 4 5 krb ?
31 Ukraine Ukraine 23.11.94 5 5000 krb 3400 krb
32 Russia Kazakhstan 26.08.94 5 3000 rub 1560 p
33 Russia Kazakhstan 22.05.95 5 7000 rub 6460 rub

Table of declared-value covers noted with wax seals.

The wax seals are quite fragile and many in the relationship between the value and the num-
my collection have broken in transit. The wax ber of seals applied. Also, many of the republics
leaves a brown stain. I have many covers with no are not represented. Do they still provide this
actual wax, only a tell-tale round, brown stain, service? Please write me with information on this
I have included a table of covers with de- topic. PaulBurega, 16 Aldgate Crescent, Nepean,
dared value noted with wax seals. I do not know Ontario, Canada K2J 2G4.

Rossica Journal Number 125 51
October 1995

The Belgian Armored Car Division
in Russia (1914-1918)

by Michael M. Ercolini

In 1956, an article by J. Barry appeared in the The division continued to serve even as
British Journal of Russian Philately No. 21 con- Russia changed from an absolute monarchy to a
cerning the Belgian Division in Russia. Accord- parliamentary democracy under Kerensky. Once
ing to Mr. Barry, the Belgian Armored Car Divi- the revolution of 25 October/7 November oc-
sion was formed in the beginning of 1915 and curred, the Belgians were ordered home to rejoin
first employed on the Yser front. This part of the their own army. Mr. Barry continues to recount
front had been flooded as a barrier to the Ger- the history by saying that the division left the
mans and the division was forced to remain idle southwest front for Moscow on 20 February
in the Belgian "Moeres." King Albert then of- 1918 and arrived 5 days later. From Moscow the
fered the services of these armored cars to Rus- division proceeded via Vyatka, Perm', Omsk,
sia. Tsar Nicholas accepted the offer, asking that Irkutsk, and eastward along the Trans-Siberian
Belgian troops be sent with the cars since Russia Railway. He mentions that, like the Czech Le-
was short of technicians used to motorized units, gion, it had trouble en route with local soviets.
Since the Belgian constitution did not allow The Belgian Armored Division left Vladivostok
deploying troops beyond the frontiers, an appeal on the S. S. Sheridan on 24 May and arrived in
for volunteers was made. The response was suf- San Francisco on 12 June. It traveled across the
ficient to enable the division to be sent to Russia. United States to New York and then by ship to
On 20 September 1915, a contingent of 12 Bordeaux, which it reached in July.
officers and 634 men (including 275 specialists A fellow collector who was doing research
and maintenance men) under the command of on this same period came across some photos of
Major Collon left the "Moeres" for Brest on the the Belgian unit. A larger group in front of a train
steamer Wray Castle arriving at Arkhangel'sk on is simply labeled "Belgian soldiers," while a
13 October. On 20 October, they arrived at smallergroupislabeled"Belgianofficers." Both
Petrograd, where they were billeted in the bar- are marked May 1918. One of the photos shows
racks of the Imperial Guards at Peterhof. On 28 an armored vehicle and gun "brought to Harbin
December, the division left for Zborov on the by the Belgians for the Russian front." The gun is
Galician front, twenty miles from Tarnopol', known in English as a "pompom." The French
becoming a part of the Army of General Brusilov. call it "canon mitrailleuse." The Russian word
On 4 June 1916, the division saw its first for it is "pulemyet" (nyneMeT). A student of
action, in which they repulsed an attack on the languages might have fun explaining the origins
front. In August the division took part in the of these words, but that is another story.
battle at Zborov and was prominent in other Similar accounts are provided by Emile
actions. The division's losses were higher than Marcovitch in Linn's Weekly Stamps News for
15%. The Belgian armored car division contin- the 16th, 23rd, and 30th of December 1963; they
ued fighting and, in June 1917, was reinforced by are based on personal interviews. Mr. Marcovitch
the British armored cars commanded by Colonel calls the place "(a) small town of Lermoeres." He
Locker-Lansson. Between 28 June and 31 July, also states that the men and materiel were "at the
the division distinguished itself in the taking of disposal of the Russian Military Mission in
Koniuky. For its part in the battle, the division France" and sailed on a French transport to
was mentioned in the Army Orders by General Arkhangel'sk.
Kornilov, who succeeded General Brussilov.
52 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

In Part II of Mr. Marcovitch's article he cover is pictured, but we can assume that the
mentions that the Belgians and their equipment earlier (July) cover went through Petrograd as,
arrived in Kiev in 50 railcars by Christmas 1917. apparently, all the other covers had up to this
Between then and 16 February 1918 further hard- point. I say apparently because although Mr.
ships regarding the movements of the Belgians Barry states place of origin and destination to-
and encounters with various authorities are re- gether with the dates, he does not always specify
counted. He states that "armored canons and ifthe cover was censored. When he does mention
machine guns" were blown up on 16 February a censor it is the one in Petrograd.
1918 and "Several ration trucks and motorcycles Given where these men were (they took
were handed over to the Bolsheviks in return for Kinky-Koniuki about 40 kilometers due east of
permission to evacuate the remains of the divi- Tarnopol') on 31 July 1916, and the direction
sion. The Belgians were able to disassemble they were moving (toward Kiev, per the Septem-
three cannons of 37 mm caliber and a few smaller ber 1916 cover illustrated on the next page), it
ones of Hotchkis type, besides a number of good makes perfect sense that the cover shown here
rifles, which were hidden in the boxes containing would have been posted from Kiev. In fact, Mr.
their clothes." He says they arrived in Moscow at Barry does state that the last cover in his collec-
the end of February. tion is a Red Cross picture postcard franked with
Mr. Marcovitch comments about the 5 kopecks and sent from Kiev.
division's entry into China and the differences Mr. Barry presumes it was mailed by a sol-
between what they found and what they had been dier on leave and states this card received a "Kiev
enduring in Russia. ". At the first Chinese rectangular box censor mark with the date in
station, they literally threw themselves into the manuscript." Finally, this cover received a "Di-
restaurant, where, after many months of hunger- visional cachet" which "has arms in the centre of
ing, they were able to consume hot chocolate the circles, the wording between the circle is not
with freshly baked buns. In ecstasy, they admired clear, but 'Belgian Automobile....' can be read."
in the windows of the local shops pastry with The cover illustrated on the next page is
cream and other long not seen delicacies and postmarked Kiev, 19 September 1916. It is a
English cigarettes. The next leg of the trip was registered cover to London. The franking of 20
travel from Harbin to Vladivostok ." (Mr. kop. represents a 10 kop. foreign letter rate plus
Marcovitch's article recounts much of the his- 10 kop. registration. The cover was handled by
tory and movement of this division and makes the central post office as noted on the registration
exciting reading. Those interested can request label. It bears two cachets. The one in Russian
copies from the American Philatelic Research may be the one to which Mr. Barry referred. It
Library. shows the arms of Russia in a center of circles and
So, now that we have a bit of the history, wording in Russian as follows (beginning with
what about the mail? Mr. Barry's article men- the star at the 5 o'clock position and continuing
tioned a group of covers which ranged from 5 clockwise) DEPO. Belgian Detachment of
November 1915 to 21 December 1916. He ex- Armoured Automobiles. ('EllO. BenbrifcKif
plains the covers and their markings, all but two OTpnab BpoHeB(pH)-poBaHHbIxb ABTO-
of which were addressed to: "Oeuvre du, 'Motdu Mo6Hnel) To the right is another cachet of double
Soldats', BaarleHertog (Baarle-Duc) Belgique." circles in French reading (from the same posi-
In tracing the route of covers mailed in July and tion) "* Depot Corps of Automobile Pompoms."
August, Mr. Barry shows one which was cen- In the middle, in large letters the words "Belgian
scored in Petrograd even though it was marked Army" are found.
"par Kiev." The other bears the Kiev War Censor On the reverse one finds written in Russian
"Nikitaikin" (A. Speeckaert, typ. 12) and did not "do vostbovania" (Ao BOCT6OBaHis), which is
go through Petrograd. Unfortunately, neither undoubtedly an error for the Russian "do

Rossica Journal Number 125 53
October 1995

I1

--- '

'' L R e ts-A

Front of cover bearing a Belgian Armored Car cachet.

*1 .

54 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

vostrebovaniya" (ao BocTpe6oBaHi1), meaning The Russian Field Post
"General Delivery." On the next line is "main
post office." Underneath is "Belgian soldier" during the Russo-Turkish
(again with misspelling) and the signature of the War of 1828-1829
soldier. Below the signature one finds upside
down the rectangular Kiev censor marking
(Speeckaert typ. 2) and the circular censor stamp by I. W. Roberts
of Kolomeitsev, dated 20 September 1916
(Speeckaert typ. 10) Speeckaert indicates these On 26 April 1828, Emperor Nicholas I of
marks were used until August 1916 and June Russia declared war on Turkey in the aftermath
1916, respectively, although a slight divergence of the Turkish government's repudiation of the 7
is not uncommonly noted with regard to censor October 1826 Convention of Akkerman and
and post marks. The other circular date stamp is Turkey's defeat by ajoint Anglo/French/Russian
the registered London arrival mark, dated 18 naval force at the battle of Navarino on 20 Octo-
October 1916. ber 1827. Russia had made common cause with
In listing the count of men that composed the Great Britain and France in supporting Greek
Belgian Armored Car Division, Mr. Barry noted independence and, by the Convention of
that 2 officers and 65 men were attached to the Akkerman, the Turks' had agreed to the passage
Depot Staff. He does not show any "depot" vessels through the straits, and to allow the rulers
postmarks, nor does he mention the word appear- of Serbia and the Danubian Principalities
ing in the "arms in centre of circles," on which the (Moldavia and Wallachia) a considerable mea-
words "Belgian Automobile" can be read. Thus, sure of autonomy. This was the second war of
the handstamp may in fact be different than the Nicholas' reign (the first having been with Per-
one he noticed on the other Kiev cover. He does sia) and the eighth in Russia's long series of wars
note that the wording is unclear. It would seem to with the decaying Ottoman Empire, which began
me a bit strange that two similar handstamps in the reign of Peter the Great.
existed, but perhaps someone can shed additional Fighting took place in two separate theaters
light on this. No mention is made of French of war, in the Balkans and Asiatic Turkey. At
language handstamps. Mr. Barry also doubted first, all went well for the Russian armies in both
the existence of other covers from these soldiers. areas, but in November 1828 the Tsar called a
It has been my experience that covers can sleep in halt to operations because of the Russian failure
collectors' and dealers' boxes for a very long to capture the two Turkish fortresses of Shumen
time before someone recognizes their special and Silistria. In February 1829, Nicholas ap-
story. pointed a new Commander-in-Chief, General I.
As a cover collector, I am aware that each I. Diebitsch, who received considerable rein-
cover is unique and has its own story to tell us. forcements. On 30 June 1829, his forces suc-
True, some are not exciting and many are stories ceeded in capturing Silistria and two months
we have read before, but occasionally something later, on 20 August, they captured Adrianople.
new is discovered. I certainly do not expect to The Sultan of Turkey quickly sued for peace
have the last word on this subject. Maybe it will and a treaty with the Turks was signed by the
spur collectors to check through their accumula- Russians on 14 September. It was moderate in its
tions. Who knows what might turn up? This terms, as the Tsar had been persuaded by a
cover came from an English dealer's shop who special committee of advisers that it would be
did not specialize in Russia, but had this filed in more advantageous for Russia to keep a weak
his stock album of better covers. Seek and ye Ottoman Empire in existence than to risk a con-
shall find! frontation with the other major European powers
U by capturing Constantinople and the Straits.

Rossica Journal Number 125 55
October 1995

In the course of the campaign and the subse- plaints every day from officers who had long been
quent occupation of European Turkey, which deprived of the comfort of news from their relatives
lasted until July 1830, the Russian forces suf- and dear ones in Russia. I myself knew from my own
experience how distressing this was, for, during my
fered enormous losses from disease. According two months stay in Giurgiu, I had received only one
to official casualty figures, 118,745 persons died letter from those at home. All the others, even those
from illness and wounds, including 23,098 from sent to me at Bucharest, were found by me piled up
plague. in the Adrianople Field Post Office. I immediately
By contrast, the number killed in fighting appointed army officers to assist the Postal Director
and within a short time order was restored to the
was a mere 12,000. The forces operating in chaos of letters."
Asiatic Turkey were smaller in number and less
seriously affected by sickness. Out of a total Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky goes on to de-
casualty figure of 6,000 persons, only 1,000 died scribe the measures he took to improve the over-
of plague. land communication service with Russia, includ-
During the war, the Russian forces orga- ing the struggles he had with his fellow generals
nized a Field Postal Service which operated over- in the administration who resented the authority
land. The regulations governing its use were he had been given by Diebitsch. There were
based on those which had been promulgated in shortages of carts, forage, and horseshoes, but
January 1812, a few months before Napoleon's eventually his efforts to make good these defi-
ill-fated invasion of Russia. Junior ranks were ciencies were successful. In due course, he was
permitted to send letters from the field to Russia able to report that the average time taken for an
free of charge, while senior ranks were required official courier to arrive in Adrianople from St.
to pay the cost of postage for the carriage of mail Petersburg was ten days. On one occasion the
from the Russian frontier to its final destination, journey was completed in eight days.
However, the widespread extent of illness in In December 1846, the Russian Field Postal
the Russian army was to have a disastrous effect Service was reorganized, but as is apparent from
on the efficient operation of the Field Postal my article about the Russian Field Post Offices
Service. In August 1829, Lieutenant General A. during the Austro-Russian campaign in Hun-
I. Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky was appointed by gary in 1849 (Rossica, No. 106-107, 1985) reor-
Diebitsch to the post of Duty General at the ganization on paper made little difference to
Russian Army Headquarters, after having fought what actually took place. The author has not
in the campaign as the commander of an infantry succeeded in finding any letter sent to a member
brigade. His main task was to deal with various of the Russian army or dispatched from Turkey to
administrative problems which had arisen in the Russia. There is no mention of the operation of
campaign, including the efficient functioning of the Russian Field Postal Service in this war in the
the Field Postal Service. article by V. Sinegubov, which appeared in
In his memoirs, parts of which were pub- Filateliya SSSR No. 2, 1977, and only a few
lished in a Russian historical journal in 1893, details are given in S. V. Prigara's classic work
Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky gives a graphic de- about the Imperial Russian Post. It is my hope
scription of the situation which he found on his that this brief account may be of interest to those
arrival in Adrianople. studying the operations of the Russian Field
Postal Services in the 19th century.
"The Field Post Office was, if it were possible, in
worse disorder than the military judiciary. Whole
tents were filled with letters, packages and docu-
ments from Russia to various members of the army.
All the senior officers in the postal service were ill,
while its head was suffering from delirium-tremens.
Thus, no registers had been kept for the thousands of
letters which had accumulated. I received com-
56 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

Collateral Zemstvo

by George G. Werbizky

During the reign of Alexander II (1855- zemstvos did not, however, have any police
1881), many important changes took place that power.
affected the infrastructure of the Russian Empire. Although a few zemstvos began issuing their
In the 1860s, especially after the emancipation of own stamps a bit earlier, zemstvo postal services
the serfs in 1861, the Russian Government began were initiated in 1870. The zemstvo postal ser-
to see the importance of establishing some sort of vices acted in concert with the state postal sys-
rural self government. On 13 January 1864, the tem, augmenting the existing postal system where
Law of the Zemstvos was published. This law state establishments did not exist. The need for
provided the basis upon which each district (uezd) these zemstvo postal services diminished as the
would elect a self-governing body, a Zemstvo state expanded its routes, which, by 1917, were
Assembly. Individuals elected to these assem- virtually complete.
blies came from three classes of people: wealthy It is this zemstvo postal activity most of us are
town people, landowners, and peasants. Although familiar with, not the other activities mentioned
these elections were far from perfect, they repre- above. Correspondence between the various
sented a significant step towards local self rule zemstvo offices and the central government is the
and development, subject of this article. Since most of this corre-
Zemstvos were formed in most of European spondence was "official business," it was posted
Russia, but not in Asia. They were responsible free of franking. The following illustrations are
for the construction and maintenance of schools, examples of non-postal activity reflected through
roads, public health, veterinary services, agricul- postally-used covers and postcards of the time.
tural advice, bank loans, aid to the poor, etc. The

/ f:'t-

Figure 1. Early free-frank coverfrom the Moscow Zemstvo Court to the St. Petersburg nobility's trusteeship. On the
reverse is a Moscow dispatch mark and a court seal seen overlayed here on the lower right-hand portion of the
illustration.
Rossica Journal Number 125 57
October 1995

letter was to be delivered directly to him.

58 Rossica Journal Number 125
"' "

58 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995
h ^K'^ ^ ^^T~t ^''*! ^ y

October 1995

# L

.. .. ..
:,_... .. -' .

; ..... . .... *'4 '. .,,, ", ,- '

*F ._ *.. .. coe, ,drse a ,lc inp co setb thD tr tP lce
'

*? L. *. -*;yi

I .. ..._ r__ i ... E A4. ,

Figure 3. Free-frank folded cover addressed to a police inspector sent by the Ust'-Sysol'sk District Police Office.
Since only a zemstvo postmark has been applied, the route was completely within the zemstvo's postal boundaries.

Rossica Journal Number 125 59
October 1995

-----------

flEqATb 0
Figure 4. Free-frank letter to the 1st section of the Library of the Imperial Academy of 0 Jn ,aKCTOB '
Science from the Ufa District Zemstvo Board. On the reverse is a St. Petersburg arrival
mark and the board's official seal, shown here overlayed on the lower right-hand RO

FoonoAHHny raaeHoMy C.-l-eTepbypreKaro

ry~epneHaro 3eMeKRaro CofpaHiq.
N__ --/11 5

60 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995
nE4ATb | g'
Figure 4. Free-frank le tter to the st section of the Library of the ImperialAcademy of \'" ""'^osy '
Sciencefrom the Ufa District Zemstvo Board. On the reverse is a St. Petersburg arrival
mark and the board's official seal, shown here overlayed on the lower right-hand poto o eu n

rocnoA~Hjy FiaeHoMy C."IleTepOyprcKaro

October 1995

... *.. ',.......... ... ..... ....................... .......
5 ^i& OTKPLTOE K'IEA3:EHi E nICIH. I

E ' c,: '..
7 1 13. 1,11

"| ,L :. ... .. ...., ^ ^
S... ;.. ... .

S................. ...... ..s

BcRss ionpaunu i nodJoerrnu aN .7boer nuU tib do.acuU 6uju oeoeopenu.

O3ctobpr u Y19h5Ooit H04&muciu).
Cie.ita emjn u t6nt iw cunya iu oi ou / /t, or ,

ce6o 0wda.

ieM a_......OHi 191l 000a.
1 B lcwi non ao*J Glttpu cn'nucwKH e^foM^ nucbrwb Ou o

Figure 6. An official letter carrying a surveyor's report sentfrom Shatsk to the Tambov Provincial Zemstvo Office.
On the front of the cover (top) note the Shatsk zemstvo postmark next to the Tambov arrival mark.

Rossica Journal Number 125 61
October 1995

4 ?48T-

Figure 7. Official registered letter to the Provincial Court in Kursk from the Putivl' District Zemstvo Board, 2
November 1915.

K ,,P .
., ,19 ,^1 50 O TOBAC91 '

flHAFO 3EM'TBA
T Q k...... C) 3.EM........ ........ T
-~PflLE ,----c r\

Ii ,a ornfoi emoponi n 1

Figure 8. This postcard is an example of a zemstvo-sponsored trade school. Please ignore the bisect since it is still
questionable. The rubber-stamped cachet reads: Zemstvo ofKursk Province, office of the Miropol'e shoe repair school,
Sudzha District Zemstvo Miropol'e, Kursk Province.

62 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

BEnHHAl OTESECTBEHHAR BOHHA 1914 roa J1 A 3 -' T'
Ilpn6blb. UocTyuaerb Ha ycn.ieie cpeA CTi "
ry6epHCKaro iOMMITeTa Bcepocciiiclaro 3"enca o
Colo3a OMOmU _aeulM' it 6 oJblnbx CoHUuams. '

in establishing, maintaining, and managing hospitals for the wounded One ofthe activities of ..the Provincial Committee.-

in Moscow. The cachet at the upper left reads, "The Savva Timofeevich Morozov Memorial Hospital for Wounded
\IU -. -M ] -^. --.

Figure 9 Initially, Russia greeted World Warwith greatpatriotic enthusiasm. The zemstvos exerted significant effort
in establishing, maintaining, and managing hospitalsfor the wounded. One ofthe activities of the Provincial Committee
of the All-Russian Alliance to raise money was issuing a postcard series with patriotic themes. One such postcard used
postally is illustrated here. In addition to a Moscow 9th P. machine postmark, it bears the seal of the Main Post Office
in Moscow. The cachet at the upper left reads, "The Savva Timofeevich Morozov Memorial Hospitalfor Wounded
Soldiers. S. T. Morozov was a well-known, wealthy Russian who was a patron to many causes. The Soviet regime
enthusiastically exterminated people of his ilk as well as zemstvo organizations. Class struggle and other ideological
competition were not allowed. Today, an American-Russian project named after S. T. Morozov brings Russians to the
USA to study government and thefree enterprise system-what goes around, comes around. 1,' 3, 4 On thefront of the card
(lower illustration, cropped) the picture depicts a Russian knight attacking. The picture was drawn by the popular
Russian painter V. M. Vasnetsov (1848-1926).

Rossica Journal Number 125 63
October 1995

1CEPOCCIMICHIM 3EMChfl COK003b
hOMWTET-b C(bBEPHAFrO cpPOHTA.
ncKxoab, 3aBean be, A. Ba'rona.

I
.. ..... .
.... .- .... ................... .-.. \ ..-. ..... ..

Figure 10. A cover from the All-Russian Zemstvo Union, Committee of the North Front in Pskov sent to the office of
the medicalfaculty at the Imperial University in Yur'ev, Liflyand Province (Derpt, Estonia today). On the reverse (lower
illustration) is the free-frank seal of the All Russian Zemstvo Union. To the right is the Yur'ev arrival mark.

64 Rossica Journal Number 125
/October 1995

Figure 10. A coverfrom the All-Russian Zemstvo Union, Committee of the North Front in Pskov sent to the office of
the medicalfaculty at the Imperial University in Yur'ev, Liflyand Province (Derpt, Estonia today). On the reverse (lower
illustration) is the free-frank seal of the All Russian Zemstvo Union. To the right is the Yur'ev arrival mark.

64 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

'A'' '

. ....
(j7 '*- r -- -;T 5
'~~ :, 1. .

ik s ,opia s i
7i

'^ ^ ^^;CV*^<^ **' k J, / \iiA -" / ^ ^ .-*-

(^ f fl-. f

Rossica Journal Number 125 6
Octob. 1 f5 ,,
-I.
** .. *-i & *

Figure 11. Free-frank cover sent from Nerekhta to Oberpalen, Liflyand Province. On the reverse is the seal of the
Nerekhta zemstvo hospital (lower illustration, on the left). An Oberpalen arrival mark was applied at right.

Rossica Journal Number 125 65
October 1995

Figure 12. Cover addressed to Dr. Nadezhda Dmitrievna Abramova, office of the All-Russian Zemstvo Union. In the
upper right-hand corner is a postmark of military Reserve Field Post Office No. 131. The cachet below this postmark
is that of the All-Russian Zemstvo Union, medical-nourishing station.
Rnannr : *-4

)*I1OHTO B"A., 5. KAP T = '*"<"

Ha aloa cmopori nausemca tno.,-'o aJp-cz.

Figure 13. World War I caused significant dislocation of the populace. This postcard serves as an example of the
situation. The rectangular cachet reads, "All-Russian Zemstvo and Town Union, 13 May 1916, Department for
location of refugees. The circular cachet reads, "Refugee Department of the All-Russian Zemstvo and Town Union. "
The message on the reverse of the postcard reads, "Please let me know into which children's home a 4-year old boy
named Adoshaikov, Vassilii went. His registration number is 596." The address of the sender also is included. This
search-and-locate activity clearly was unplanned and unexpected by the zemstvos. However, as a responsible
organization, the zemstvos accepted the responsibility.

66 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

IOTO-3AnALAHbL
OinanTHao 3reMKRin HOMfIT6Ti MapiM AZneKXaHa poBHt M KJIonoTI0oKb.
nomo '" '
-. n* uu nmueai um naihun -n uu.d '- : -;.; -. .
,ampaia '- "- 7 AH aHbeBi, .XepCoHCKoI

KIEB-b 4. ColracHo Baime npocbd npn aSroM Bos-
1( 60.6. .-c. p. "o. _o"T- BpaaerTca Ba&W7 Kofl cB4jImATejibCTBa AHaHbB-
I Me. I oo.. C0 MapimHc1ofi KeHCKo-PruHasiX -3a 1IVI

I .' 1 ai o eTra ...i ....
nP9A0 .cVN9 oYA. $94 ,, .' :- .6.

SHa'"abH b, IKaHuLeJ.lpiml

Figure 14. Another example of the variety ofzemstvo activities is illustrated here. This is a notice sent by the Southwest
Regional Zemstvo Committee for Assistance to the Sick and Wounded of the War. The typed text reads, "As requested,
we are returning a copy of the certificate of graduation from the Anan'evskaya Mariinskaya Woman's High School,
under No. 153."

,,." .- .< ._ \ a .
1^, -S ", ^ ^ /

I%" ';. z ":"

a.

Figure 15. Free-frank postcard sent from Hospital No. 20 of the All-Russian Zemstvo Union. The cachet is bright
green.

Rossica Journal Number 125 67
October 1995

..... ...... .........
O 1-

Figure 16. This postcard has two interesting zemstvo marks. The mark on the lower left is from the Employment Bureau
of the All-Russian Zemstvo and Town Union. The mark on the right (partial strike) is from the All-Russian Zemstvo
and Town Union, First Engineer's construction Division. The postcard is addressed to a Evgenii Ivanovich Matskevich
at a zemstvo apothecary (drug store). This single postcard references three different zemstvo functions.

October 1995
5:1808H~~
~3~-JL~ikk

~r~a r~~- ~5-a L/C/ ~g W-A j-~l

October 1995

\ ." /, "

v^~/ ~ ~r. ^

STb K

"Figure 19. The Okhansk Zemsto, Perm 'Province, issued a charity vignette in 1915. The black text is printed on a light-
green grid and the value of 5 kopecks is placed at thefour corners. The text'reads "Okhansk District Committeefor
Figure 18. This final cover bears the cachWounded, 5 kopecks, All-Russian Zemstvo Union, the hospital at the men's High School.unded

Soldiers. This is the only known zemstvo-issuedvignettefor charitable purposes and is shown larger than the original.
Many vignettes were issuedfor the same purpose by private organizations or city councils, but not by the zemstvos.
References:

I. H-arcave, Sidney. "Russia-A History," J. B. Lippincott Company, 1956.
2. Werbizky, George G. "Free-Frank Mail in Imperial Russia," Rossica No. 122, April 1994.
j -_ KOMHTOTIb

-- flJITb I' f F. -

"I... lf i l X', P, ,Ii llh!x I> pa

Figure 193. Volkogonov, D. "Lenin," NPermovince, issued a charity vignet in Russian). Transhe black te is printed on a light-
green grid and the value of 5 kopecks is placed at the four corners. The text'reads "Okhansk District Committee for
the Maintenance of Hospitals for the Wounded, 5 kopecks, All-Russian Zemstvo Alliance for Aid to Sick and Wounded
Soldiers. "This is the only known zemstvo-issued vignette for charitable purposes and is shown larger than the original.
Many vignettes were issued for the same purpose by private organizations or city councils, but not by the zemstvos.

References:

1. Harcave, Sidney. "Russia-A History," J. B. Lippincott Company, 1956.
2. Werbizky, George G. "Free-Frank Mail in Imperial Russia," Rossica No. 122, April 1994.
3. Volkogonov, D. "Lenin," Novosti Press, Moscow 1994 (in Russian). Translated into English
and published by Free Press, division of Simon and Schuster, New York, 1994.
4. Shipunov, V. G. "At the Morozovs," Specialist No. 1, Moscow, 1993 (in Russian).

Rossica Journal Number 125 69
October 1995

Back to the Beginning-Weights, Rates, and Routes

by Leonard Tann

Sometimes those of us who are so highly This short article presents some very basic
specialized we can recognize the extremely rare stamps and covers after the turn of the century
postmark of the Mongolian village of and what each item tells us-the weight, the rate,
Lokshenovichfromtwofragmentsof a postmark and the postmark. More simply put, the stamp
on a 7-kopeck stamp of the 1909-1912 issue that was used to satisfy the franking requirements
forget the very basic part of our hobby-stamps! and where it was used.
In that sense, the article by Michael Ercolini in
Rossica No. 122 detailing the basic postal uses of 1-kopeck rate
the low value Romanov stamps is invaluable, and
reminds us of the foundation of our hobby. This The 1-kopeck rate was for intra-city (local)
triggered two important recollections for me. items. A postcard with a few words of greeting,
The first was some 30 years ago when I something like Happy Birthday, Happy New
attended one of my first BSRP meetings. Several Year, etc. This correspondence would be deliv-
great veterans of Russian philately were present ered within the town for the basic rate of 1
when I, a very green 19-year-old, took along my kopeck. The 1-kopeck wrappers (banderoli) of
album. I was very proud of my collection of basic the Arms series and Romanov set were intended
Russian stamps, including two No. is and some for light (small) newspapers or magazines within
varieties of the 1-ruble issue of 1917-1920. Iwas the town limits. These wrappers, especially the
ignored for most of the meeting while the "el- Romanov wrapper, are not common used with-
ders" sat around talking about postcards, post- out any additional postage added.
marks, postal history, etc. Just as tea was served, Figure 1 illustrates a postcard addressed lo-
one said to me, "Well, you'll get over stamps cally and franked with a 1-kopeck Romanov
soon and get into the real thing, postal history!" stamp. The card was posted at the Samara Rail-
I am glad to say I never lost my love for stamps, way Station on 13 April 1913 and delivered the
although I am into postal history, too. next day. Note the word "31ECb" (zdes') at the
The second incident occurred at a later meet- top which means "here." This word as part of the
ing when a fairly new collector was showing me address indicates intra-city usage.
his used and mint sets of the Romanov issue. I Figure 2 illustrates a postcard which seems a
noticed his 1-kopeck Peter had an almost com- bit odd when you look beyond the stamp. The
plete oval postmark of route 266, Kuangchentzi- card is franked with a 1-kopeck Arms stamp. The
Harbin. It was very nice and I offered him 1, message is short and the address is Taps,
which was fair for a loose item. He did not want Ehstlyand. The stamp is canceled by the TPO
to part with it because it would leave a gap in his "Riga *40* St. Petersburg," 17 November 1913.
used set. I offered him another 1-kopeck stamp There is an arrival mark of Taps on the following
of the same series with a nice Warsaw postmark day. Perhaps the sender put it into the postal box
in addition to my original offer. We both went on the side of the train's postal van as it passed a
away happy. For him, he wanted a nice complete nearby stop on the edge of town. Perhaps it was
set of used stamps. I wanted the postmark, mis-sorted and found itself on the TPO. It is
We are so busy looking at the postmarks and conceivable the item was postmarked by the
other postal marking we forget the humble stamp! clerk on the TPO while the train steamed away
In fact, some of our most imminent postal histori- towards St. Petersburg. He set it aside to be put
ans complain the stamp often gets in the way of off at Taps when the train made its way back to
the postmark. Riga.
70 Rossica Journal Number 125
October, 1995

Postal items from the 19th century franked at large Russian auctions, a small cover franked
the intra-city-1-kopeck rate are scarcer than with a single 1-kopeck stamp in the 1860s went
those from the 20th century. In one of the recent for quite a sum.

-

t t 'io

Figure 1. Postcard addressed locally andfranked with a 1-kopeck Romanov stamp.

J, 7,
k? lJC../ 17.

Figure 2. Postcard dd postcard franked with a 1-kopeck Arms stamp.

Rossica Journal Number 125 71
October 1995
^W^;^.^./
~ ~ > ;l^.r*rti7

October 1995

2-kopeck rate

The 2-kopeck rate was for inter-town (do- a brief message. 2-kopeck wrappers without any
mestic) correspondence. Again, a light newspa- additional franking are also uncommon.
per or magazine in a wrapper or a postcard with

BCEMIPHbIPl nOHTOBblft C0103'b. POCCIT'1)t -:
UNION POSTAL UNIVERSELLE RUSSIE. .'-
OTKPblTOE IIHCbMO. CARTE POS-A'e.

T .,

II

72Figure 3. Postcard from Dybun' St. Petersburg Province to Lemberg (L'vov) in Austrian Galicia. Number 125

October 1995
*ol ... V 0.- .-

,\,*.' -" ------ -- 'b .
Figure 3. Postcard*from Dybun St. Petersburg Province, to Lemberg (L'vov) in Austrian Galicia.

S' m .. r r Thecarispostmarked
l. 1 with a5fine TPO oval "Kiev *267*
"- -- ... ... ." Varshava."

72 Rossica Journal Number 125
/^i^ ^c^ ^^^^ -^^< ,^^

nOHTOBAf hflPTOlHWl.

/ -t- _- .. -

Figure 5. A 2-kopeck Romanov stamp on a postcard with printed commercial information from St. Petersburg to
Morshansk.

S ^Cymatnuamuzeenoc Tr1=o
B.IRlAMIPA BAfMnbfBMHA nH30OBLEBf.
O C.-nerep6ypris, 3aSpHHcKasI yn.. a. J. 9, Ks. 30. Ten. 457-0.

iaoa pata oa biOOaa H mOHexa iyOitel cs 1 auryca 1914.
) A.ab6oMi so o.ibumux na6.jius, ICnoe.InHIusX as KpnrKacFCa. c pIIcyHma.MU,
\J5 d pHI0 *KicuxB M.uormi c 14215 Ho 1914 :'. asecia.tarPcz a 7; FOff. Cs
S iUnepbeciboa.-J.(.WI NO Mapfia.u)., a.Io.m. n.iam. Ja r py6.
K' lifrthJ. n dlq-ipil 1z. as inamAms )oo..ibmin i2 acmoeanm o.aMi
V -Q0ai'J '1ewaImHru) aucu.Iamopnex no ; piy6.ein, a (a-oli, .eamncu) no
e) F .),p6.f u tria-zi/: ar. ai. naA.uAm Omtnerlhlseuu eouiri o 1o 10 py.,
a ca nC.umnnuHoMRfs Hprnepamnopy A.reKcaHaIpy III no 25 py6. cb utpPcu.i1Km0.
Azpecb: nTrporpar.. 3-SpHnHCKBs 9, Ka. 30. BRaa. Bac. Huso3uesy.

S.- ~ ~- _, "- ..- _..--- - __ ..

Figure 5a. Reverse of postcard with printed message.

Rossica Journal Number 125 73
October 1995

nOHTOBRI KRPTOLKR. ..:

-.7

I

Figure 6. Postcard with printed advertising. The card is franked with two 1-kopeck stamps, and sent from Kiev to
Liverpool, England. Also note the interesting censor marks and the Kiev machine postmark.

South-Russian Pharmaceutical Trading Company Ltd.
-- r:.^ M,--------* --- -- --- ----

S' .
r Dear Sirs,
Wishing to enter in the commercial
S relations with your esteemed House, we kindly

b you to send us yours price-currents with
SN: editions of sale of yours items in our country.
,, We refer to all Russian Banks and
"Sr-^e-main
a n

Yours respectfully
"r SOUTH-RUSSIAN PHARMACEUTICAL
TRADING COMPANY LIMITED.

Figure 6a. Reverse of postcard with printed message.

74 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

Toimnpiiii'cri, m HapBCKOH CyKOHHO.k M-11b. I, r "

Figure 7. 2-kopeck Romanov wrapper with additionalfranking to Narva. This indicates it was a heavy magazine or
several newspapers requiring additional franking.

Figures 8a-c illustrate three items franked in rightfully put a postage due mark on the card and
1912 at the 2-kopeck rate and indicate confusion assessed it an additional 2 kopecks (twice the
over what truly qualified for that rate. deficit amount). However, the mark has been
The first item is a postcard addressed to crossed out with an official violet crayon. Thus,
Barnaul and postmarked with an oval TPO mark someone at the station considered this to be
of "Nizhnij-Novgorod *247* Penza." The post- validly franked at 2 kopecks.
card, far from carrying merely a few words of The third item also is franked with a pair of 1-
greeting, actually has a full, letter-length mes- kopeck stamps and was posted at the Gomel'
sage, yet it passed through the post without any railway station to a local address. This also has a
additional franking or request for additional post- long message and has been properly assessed an
age marks. additional 2 kopecks
The second item is a postcard franked with The 2-kopeck rate is interesting and I am sure
two 1-kopeck Arms stamps bearing an oval TPO there are many other interesting 2-kopeck types
mark "Chelyabinsk 124 Samara." Again, there is around in collections.
a long message. The clerk at the railway station
Rossica Journal Number 125 75
October 1995

/ p -'/_ u
-2 *. A /,. ,. t-e.c,.
_5, ."', 1 A W_ .-I- / -

45 r.. ,, "A *c.t-a e-
-- -* -" .--- .

W-- '9.c, edy---. .. e 4
^(/C -" e

Figure 8a. Postcard addressed to Barnaul and postmarked with an oval TPO mark of "Nizhnij-Novgorod *247*
Penza."

^ ^ -' 'N ^ / M' .

OTRIJ/boe Apc e

Figure 8b. Postcardfranked with two ]-kopeck Arms stamps bearing an oval TPO mark "Chelyabinsk 124 Samara."

October 1995
^ ? A Orc,1 o rlLb`;r -*' **~ *U ."';**

Fiur 8. oscad/anedwih wo1-opckrm samps beainanolTPmr Chybis12Smr."

** :C) -s^* i^y. ^ -

.3-kopeck rate kopeck until 1909I. The item illustrated in fig. 9 is
a small cover addressed as "zdes and franked on
3-kopecks was the general rate for postcards the reverse with a 3-kopeck Romanov stamp. By

throughout the empire, and there are many sur- the time this letter was posted, 1913, there was an
--- > F* ,.e "' ''" ,. /
letters only in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The pre-1909 letter franked at 3 kopecks and used in
S/-'.L .." ,'" .," 7 :

,C.A ,4A. %I: f i7 gi /.) _A--'- t : '1
1(.. .Qp.z ..A .>; ,

intra-town letter rate for all other towns was 5- St. Petersburg or Moscow? ,-
VdC ^^.^4(rf611X4d4V-/// "

~~~~Figure ~9. ~a small coverfromSt. Petersburg addressed as "zdes'"' and frankedon the reverse (illustration on the right)on
3-kopecks was the general rate for postcards the reverse with a 3-kopeck Romanov stamp. By
Olettobers only in Moscow and St. Petersburg. 1995The pre-1909 letter franked at 3 kopecks and used in

:7 y / k
y cf Fi.'/ .I ,/ i. -

aFigure 9. Small cover from St. Petersburg addressed as "zdes"' and fan dra n ked tonight)
3-kopecks was the general rate for postcards the reverse with a 3-kopeck Romanov stamp. By
throughssica Journalt the empire, and there are many sur- the time this letter was posted, 1913, there was an77

October 1995

4-kopeck rate overprint on existing stock! When was the last
time you remember the rates decreasing?
The 4-kopeck rate was for postcards sent to Figure 10 shows a postcard franked with a 5-
foreign destinations. There are many common kopeck stamp in 1904. Perhaps the writer thought
examples of this rate, right up to the end of the the rate was 5 kopecks, or maybe he had only a 5-
Imperial period. kopeck stamp? The correct rate for this postcard
was 3 kopecks. The card bears a nice strike of the
5-kopeck rate seaside railway St. Petersburg-Sestroryetsk. The
message on the picture side is clearly more than
The 5-kopeck rate was a curious rate in the a simple greeting. Perhaps the sender felt it
empire days. It was abolished in 1909, reap- should have been franked with 5 kopecks?
peared during WWI, and continued in the When the Great War exploded on the scene-
Kerensky-Republic era. The 5-kopeck rate was sounding the death knell of the empires of Eu-
a concessionary rate for intra-town (local) letters rope-mail from the active armed forces went
for towns other than St. Petersburg and Moscow. free frank. It would appear that mail to the active
Stationery envelopes were printed at the 5-ko- armed forces also went free frank. There are
peck rate. Can some member show us a properly plenty of postcards bearing regimental marks
franked 5-kopeck envelope-with no additional and those addressed to active army-personnel.
franking-from this period? However, I have a few examples of letters sent to

BCEMIPHbIl nflOTOBbll COIO3'b. FOCCIFl.
UNION POSTAL UNiVERSELLE. RU
OTHPblTOE nl.lCbMO -- CA L.

S --7 --.1 11A'A L

HaI noi rmapo lm minr in o h to){ (-',. ((;I; I !servi, exrIlifshcnu'ni fir I'tlressr

Figure 10. Postcard franked with a 5-kopeck stamp in 1904.

When the rate was reduced in 1909 to a the Active Army (fig. 11) which bear frankings
universal 3 kopecks, the stationery envelopes of 5 kopecks from early 1917. Perhaps the ex-
were overprinted with a 3 kopeck marking on the hausted state of Imperial Russia's finances needed
indicium. That must have been a very rare ex- the extra revenue by then and charging postage
ample in the whole of philately when a decrease added money to the state coffers as the rate
in postal rates was achieved with a surcharge increase of 1916 did.

78 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995
October 1995

The in-town concessionary rate increased The 5-kopeck rate as a standard rate was
from 3 kopecks to 5 kopecks during the war. I introduced in the summer of 1917, when the
have seen a very nice cover mailed within Kerensky Republic raised the postcard rate to 5
Petrograd, addressed to His Imperial Highness kopecks. The new Republic issued a 5-kopeck
the Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich. postcard showing uncrowned double eagles both
The cover was franked with a 3- and a 2-kopeck on the imprinted stamp and on the State Arms at
Romanov stamp. On the reverse is the receipt the left.
mark of the Royal Chancellery.

fHO-ITOBAIH E AIPTOTIA.I L .
C AR T E 0 OST A \. E.

I

i *, ... ........ ......

"HA.l. KOHTPArTETCTUA A. C. CY80FAlHA H K0. I)9 t oOTOT4ll U.LPMPi HLIFroLP l 4 4., MOCrA.

Figure 11. Letter sent to the Active Army franked 5 kopecks from early 1917.

""OITOBA9I KAPTOHKA

I a

........... ... .

Figure 12. Kerensky postcard with an oval railway postmark of the Petrograd to Moscow line from 1918.

Rossica Journal Number 125 79
October 1995

Moscow's Southern Railway Postmarks-Addendum

by Gary Combs

In "One Station or Two-And Which One" A recent discovery extends the earliest date
(Rossica No. 121, October 1993, pp. 54-57) to 29.12.69. Thanks to Timo Bergholm we can
Noel Warr and I published the findings of our illustrate the postmark representing the latest
study covering the Southern Railway postmarks known date. Illustrated below are the earliest
of Moscow. In the article, we listed the range for known mark on top and the latest known mark on
these postmarks as 1871-1883. A. V. Kiryushkin the bottom. The St. Petersburg mark in the top
and P. E. Robinson in "Russian Railway Post- illustration extends the range of Kiryushkin and
marks" (1994) list the dates for the postmark (No. Robinson's mark No. 1045.2 from 5.4.73 to
760.1) as 18.11.71 to 26.7.95. 27.12.69.

S. -Earliest
Known
-' p 9 m ark

I.v
-, ,, -,'' 1

ko

SLatest known mark
.. ...

80 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

Moscow's Dotted-Numeral Postmarks, 1867-1884

by Gary Combs

The dotted-numeral marks of Imperial Rus- A Town-Post Sub-Office (OTqIIb'b
sia have been the topic of many articles. Almost FOPO)CKOI nHOMTbI-OTDEL GORODSKOI
all the articles have dealt with their use in various POChTY) directly subordinate to the Central
locations or the railroads. Little effort has been Post Office was established in each of the 8 postal
given to their use in Moscow. The purpose of this sectors to convey the mail between the populace
article is to open a dialogue with fellow collectors and the Central Post Office.
on the subject of dotted-numeral postmarks used The 6th Branch Office appears in 1875 and is
in Moscow between 1867 and 1884. located in the Sushchev District. In 1876, a 7th
Branch Office located in the Pyatnits District
How many were there? appears for one year only. In 1879, two seasonal
offices appear: BHP)KEBOE HnOTOBOE
Dr. Bochmann in his epic work of 1895 OTDBJIlEHIE-BIRZhEVOE POChTOVOE
illustrates postmarks for numbers 1-9. However, OTDELENIE, located in the Exchange building
in his write up he accounts for numbers 1-5 and on Il'inka; HETPOBCKO-PA3YMOBCKOE
7-9-the number 6 is not mentioned. Prigara in HOMTOBOE OTAI5IEHIE-PETROVSKO-
his classic work is skeptical about the existence RAZUMOVSKOE POChTOVOE OTDEL-
of number 9 and discusses varieties of these ENIE, located at the Moscow Agricultural Insti-
marks in the Rossica Journal. Kalmykov illus- tute. Branch Offices with a number designator of
trates 9 in his excellent research article. What do 7 (with one exception listed) or 8 are not noted
these numbers really represent and how many until 1893. The 9th Branch Office does not ap-
were there? pear until 1893 and is located in the Tver' District.
The Moscow Town Post became a postal During the period of the dotted-numeral post-
entity in 1845. The town was divided into 8 postal marks there were never more than six numbered
sectors. Five Town-Post Branch Offices Branch Offices, or seven in one year if the single
(FOPOcCKOE HnOTOBOE OTAIbJIEHIE- example of the 7th is considered. The 3rd Postal
GORODSKOE POChTOVOE OTDELENIE) Section appears between 1884-1888, possibly
and two Town-Post Sections (also called located in the Yauza District. I have no evidence
OT7EtJIEHIE) were established to administer its to indicate when the 9th Sub-Office opened, but
activities. The 1 st Town-Post Office was located in 1893 there were 10 Sub-Offices in Moscow. It
in the Arbat and the 2nd, or Central Post Office is feasible the 9th Sub-Office could have opened
(IJEHTPAJIbHOE OTIbJIEHIE-TsENTRAL'- during this period.
NOE OTDELENIE), was located at the Main
Post Office. The five Town-Post Branch Offices Who used them?
were located for the convenience of the populace
as follows: Do the numbers correspond to the Branch
Offices as stated in previous philatelic literature
1-Presnensk District (later moved to Arbat Dis- or to the Town-Post Sub-Offices? The relative
trict) scarcity of material to evaluate presents a prob-
2-Prechistensk District lem itself, so assumptions have to be made. These
3-Yakiman District assumptions will be altered as new evidence
4-Rogozh District surfaces. My theory is these numbers belonged to
5-Basman District the Sub-Offices and not the Branch Offices as
previously held.
Rossica Journal Number 125 81
October 1995

A couple observations can be made relative cious lack of dispatch office marks on these
to the use of these marks and the roles of the Sub- covers.
Offices and Branch Offices. The Branch Offices I would appreciate hearing from members
were normally manned with a singleperson in the who can provide photocopies of material with
earlier years who was responsible for all mail these postmarks. When enough material is avail-
transactions across the counter. As the volume of able, a follow-up article will be published.
mail increased, additional personnel are noted.
Available literature listing the names of person- References:
nel assigned to the Branch Offices indicate only
one or two people were assigned to a Branch KAPMAHHA5I nHOTOBAI KHH)KKA HJIH
Office. Names are usually provided for the Postal CBOPHHKb HOqTOBbIX'b FOCTAHOBJIEHI1,
Section personnel as well. No names are pro- CFIB, 1849.
vided for the Sub-Offices, which were usually, Bochmann, Dr. E. von. Die Postmarken des
but not always, collocated with a Branch Office. Russischen Kaiserreichs, published by Hugo
Personnel assigned to the Sub-Offices picked up Kr6tzsch, Leipzig, 1895.
and delivered only local mail until 1867, and Prigara, S.V. The Russian Post In The Empire,
foreign mail as well thereafter. In 1897, the Turkey, China, AndThePostln The Kingdom
Moscow Post Director Radchenko stated, ". .. it Of Poland, New York, 1941.
is the responsibility of the Branch Offices to Prigara, S.V. "Pochtovye shtempelya Rossii 19
receive correspondence from postal patrons and stoletiya," Rossica No. 36, 1939, pp. 218-
hand it out to the addressees ... it is the respon- 223.
sibility of the Sub-Offices to deliver all ordinary, Prigara, S.V. "Pochtovye shtempelya Rossii 19
registered, and money mail within the bound- stoletiya," Rossica No. 38, 1939, pp. 266-
aries of their region." 273.
There were eight Sub-Offices, which di- Kalmykov, V. "The Number Cancels of the
rectly equates to the uncontested numbers 1-8. Moscow Town Post: 1867 = 1903," Filateliya
What about the 9th? Marks from the 9th are very No. 8, 1993, pp. 46-49.
difficult to find. Those observed appear to be Radchinko, K. G. CHPABOLHA5I KHH)KKA
after 1875. From the late 1870s only numbers 6- HOMTOBbIXb HPABHJYb lJIYl YlOBCTBA
8 are regularly observed and 1-5 sporadically. KOPPECHOHZEHTOB'b, Moscow, 1897.
Was a 9th Sub-Office formed circa 1875? MOCKOBCKA5i nAM51THA5t KHH>KKA, 1866-
Mail sent locally, intra-Moscow, bears these 1868.
marks canceling the stamp and a Branch Office nAM5ITHA5t K4HXKKA PA3HbIX'b YqPE)>KEHIH
postmark indicating forwarding. Mail sent out of F. MOCKBbl, 1873-1876, 1878-.1879.
Moscow bears these marks canceling the stamp ALIPECb-KAJIEHAIAPb FOPOZA MOCKBA,
and a Central Office postmark. There is a suspi- 1884-1885, 1888, 1892-1893.

egg* .... 5

.*We'te... ,,-.; ir o. (* ***rs
...... .... ...:............. .

""u"i ::;iiiili @-a-goSi ,
W.i~i~ial :::::!: ::

Examples of dotted-numeral postmarks listed by Prigara. The book contains more examples.
82 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

nii;,L R._v

..\ ,.,

Folded cover sent from Moscow to St. Petersburg. The 10-kop. stamp of the 1866 issue was canceled at the 2nd Town-
Post Sub-Office. The Moscow Central Post Office dispatched the cover on 24 March 1871. The cover reached St.
Petersburg on 25 March 1871 and received a St. Petersburg 3rd Dispatch mark. There are no rail markings, although
it must have traveled by rail. There are no Moscow Dispatch Office marks.

Rossica Journal Number 125 83
October 1995
October 1995

*es re---

A local letter. The 5-kop. stamp on the reverse was canceled at the 8th Town-Post Sub-Office (illustration on right).
This mark is typical in that you cannot always see the number clearly. A clear strike for any of these marks is hard to
find. On the front of the cover note the word "ZDES" indicating it is a local letter. An unidentified Town-Post Branch
Office applied its mark on 12 July 1878 at 4 o'clock. Locally used covers are very hard to find.

<^ tc

/ 1 -wQ

8-kop. stationery from the 1th issue of 1875 sent from Moscow to St. Petersburg. The 3rd Town-Post Sub-Office
applied its mark to the indicium. The Central Post Office applied its forwarding mark on 7 June 1878 at 12 o'clock.
On the reverse is a St. Petersburg arrival/dispatch mark applied at the Dispatch Office for Dispersing Ordinary
Correspondence on 8 June 1878. Again, there are no rail marks and no Moscow dispatch office marks.

84 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

What's it Worth?
The Thorny Problem of Scarcity and Value

by P. E. Robinson

Collectors and dealers often disagree as to valuation rating, with the second (1990) edition
how much any given stamp or postmark is worth. rating this postmark "F."
With stamps, there are always the standard cata- It is important to bear in mind that scarcity
logs for reference, but with postmarks it is rather and value are different concepts. They are, of
different, as the "big names" in philatelic pub- course, related, but in a free market the price of
lishingrarelyproducespecialistpostmarkbooks. anything naturally depends on supply and de-
Anyone who writes a book on Russian post- mand. To indicate the scarcity or commonness of
marks, therefore, has to make the decision whether a postmark is to give a measure of the supply. The
or not to include postmark valuations. It can be a value of a postmark will depend on the supply
difficult decision. available, and also on the demand for it. Oval
Some authors do not include valuations in postmarks from route 264 are certainly common,
their books, and their books are often criticized as correctly stated by Tchilinghirian & Stephen,
for this. Others, myself included, include valua- but among collectors of Russian postmarks there
tions in the belief that, while some of the values has always been a strong demand for the "used
quoted might be open to question by experienced abroad" postmarks of Manchuria and the Chi-
collectors, the beginner is at least given some sort nese Eastern Railway. This accounts for the "E"
of yardstick to use when assessing the value of a (20-40 on cover) valuation rating given for
cover. Another group of authors indicate the route 264 postmarks in my first edition; it reflects
relative scarcity of postmarks, without giving the fact that collectors are usually willing to pay
actual cash values. An advantage of this ap- more for these postmarks than for other TPO
proach is that scarcity ratings, as opposed to marks, which might in fact be scarcer, than, for
valuations, do not go out of date, as the scarcity example, postmarks from some of the lesser-
of any particular postmark is more or less con- known TPO routes of European Russia.
stant, except for the odd occasions when a large In the world of stamps, one might consider
archive is discovered and finds its way on to the the fact that there are stamps, of Russia and other
market, or, conceivably, when large collections countries, of which maybe only a few thousand
are accidentally destroyed. However, it seems were printed, but which sell for less than, say, a
some authors who give scarcity ratings in their Penny Black. The Penny Black is a common
books might have been thinking more in terms of stamp (almost 70 million were printed) but, of
valuations. In some cases this can be an impor- course, there is astrongdemandfor Penny Blacks.
tant distinction. Before deciding on valuations for postmarks
Melvin Kessler, in his article "When Does listed in the first edition of my book, I sought the
Common Become Scarcer" (Rossica # 124 p. advice of several leading collectors, all of whose
71), raises the question of the scarcity of a post- suggestions were included in the final draft. I was
mark, in this case the oval traveling post office careful also to refer to valuation ratings, not
(TPO) mark "Vladivostok264 Kharbin," of which scarcity ratings, as this seemed to reflect the true
eight varieties have been recorded. Reference position better, on the basis of supply and de-
was made to the fact that the postmark is rated mand. When preparing my second edition, I
common by Tchilinghirian & Stephen (ref. 1), thought of altering the cash equivalents of the
while in the 1986 edition of my book on Siberian "A" to "H" ratings, but this would have led to
postmarks (ref. 2) I gave it a moderately high "E" "blanket" increases in the values of all the post-
Rossica Journal Number 125 85
October 1995

marks listed in the first edition. To judge from In the Back Room
dealers' prices and auction realizations, the val-
ues of some of the postmarks had clearly risen in
the four years since the first edition appeared, We have a limited number of back issues of
while others had hardly changed. I therefore kept thejoural for sale, both in English and Russian-
the cash equivalents the same, and altered the language editions. Russian editions available are
ratings for individual postmarks where it seemed numbers 44-69; English editions available are
appropriate. Some TPO postmarks from Chinese numbers 70-119. Unfortunately, there are many
Eastern Railway routes were among those which holes, and some issues have less than 3 in stock.
had evidently increased in value, along with, for Prices listed for back issues are in US dollars and
example, pre-adhesive postmarks, and some include-"Surface Postage."
postmarks from remote parts of Siberia. If I had
given scarcity ratings (as opposed to valuation Single issue:
ratings) in the first edition, then, of course, post-
marks listed in the first edition would have had Member-7.50 Non-Member-10.00
the same ratings in the second edition.
Overall, I am glad I made the decision in 1986 Single issues currently available are:
to provide values for the postmarks listed and 44-45, 48, 54, 62-75, 78-82, 84-85, 88-89,
described in my book. The valuations may have 93, 110-112, 115-124
provoked debate, which itself is a good thing,
and, I think that in practical terms, the book is of Double issue:
more use with valuations than it would have been
without them. But, of course, you cannot please Member-15.00 Non-Member-20.00
everyone. It would be a dull world if we all agreed
on everything, but it is important not to confuse Double issues currently available are:
scarcity and valuation. Common does not usually 46-47, 76-77, 94-95, 96-97, 98-99, 100-101,
become scarcer, but prices often rise. 102-103, 104-105, 106-107, 108-109, 113-
114.
References:
1. Tchilinghirian, S. D. and W. S .E. Stephen. Back issues may be obtained from:
Stamps of the Russian Empire Used Abroad,
published by the British Society of Russian Gary A. Combs
Philately, Part 5, 1959. 8241 Chalet Court
Millersville MD 21108
2. Robinson, P. E. Siberia: Postmarks and Postal USA
History of the Russian Empire Period, 1st
Edition 1986, 2nd Edition 1990.

[This article originally was a rebuttal to an article
written by Mel Kessler in the last journal. After some
careful thought, I decided it was worth presenting this
viewpoint to our membership. Value, worth, and scar-
city are terms many collectors use as buzzwords with-
out understanding the true meaning of them. The
market is driven by demand. If you want an item, you
will pay for it whether the item is scarce or not.-Ed.]

86 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

Life Of The Society

by David M. Skipton

For the first time since the early days of Greg The 1997 international show in San Fran-
Salisbury's term, the Rossica Society finds itself cisco will require a trek on the part of the officers
without an expertization service. Gordon Torrey's (Web Stickney, our Auditor, is the only one west
death in March of this year left us without the of the Mississippi), but it's not every year an
help of an eminent philatelist, postal historian international comes to the US, and an AGM on
and possessor of an excellent reference collec- the West Coast is long overdue.
tion. The benefit to Rossica members of one free I'm pleased to announce that the Voikhanskii
expertization per year is thus on hold. The offic- Azerbaidjanhandbookprojectisnearing comple-
ers will do what they can to reestablish this tion, and barring disaster we'll have it available
service, but people such as Gordon are not easily to the membership in 1996. This won't be "just"
replaced. There are other knowledgeable philat- a translation. George Shaw has been slaving
elists out there, some perhaps with reference away on it, and the book will have considerable
collections even larger than Gordon's, but will- value added. A price guide, a map or two, new
ingness and time to devote to expertizing are plating information, a bibliography of
scarce attributes, too. It may well happen that the Azerbaidjan-related articles in the Rossica Li-
Society will be able to offer expertization ser- brary, some words about Voikhanskii from one
vices in only a few areas, but something will be of our members who knew him, and corrections
better than nothing. This problem is high on our of errors in the original. Alot of new photography
agenda at the upcoming AGM at Chicagopex 95. will go in as well, thanks to the efforts of Dick
Speaking of CHICAGOPEX (17-19 Novem- Wrona, who is donating his time to the project.
ber 1995, at the Rosemont Convention Center That saves the Society a heap of money, and our
near O'Hare Airport), it promises to be yet an- thanks and appreciation to him and George for all
other outstanding show, and Rossica will be their work to make this project a success. Until
there in force. In addition to activities on Satur- we have a better idea of what the damage assess-
day and a strong showing in the exhibit frames, ment from the printer will be, we won't be able to
we'll have a booth there for literature sales, fix a price. However, as was done with the
membership applications, and a sore-feet-rest- Prigara and the Bazilevich, the membership will
ing- place. The Midwest Chapter of Rossica get a chance at a much lower, pre-publication
always rolls out the red carpet, and in past years price, and after that, the usual lower membership
the Russian material in the dealers' stocks has price will apply.
been abundant, so don't miss this opportunity.
This term the officers are going to try some-
thing that hasn't been attempted before: an AGM
at each of the three major concentrations of
Rossica members in the US, Our schedule looks
like this:

1995 CHICAGOPEX
1996 NAPEX (Tysons Corner, Virginia)
1997 PACIFIC 97.

Rossica Journal Number 125 87
October 1995

Member-to-Member Adlets Wanted: OSTARBEITER MAIL. Dur-
ing WWII, the Nazis used workers from the
Rossica cannot assume any liability for trans- SovietUnion andcalled them OSTARBEITERS-
actions resulting from member responses to adlets Eastern Workers. I will gladly buy covers, post-
nor get involved with mediating disputes. Mem- cards, Ostarbeiter cloth patches, or related mate-
bers are cautioned to be fair in offering and in rial. Send offer (with photocopy or preferably a
responding. Any material considered to be of photo) to: George G. Werbizky, 409 Jones Road,
value by the sender sent through the mails should Vestal NY 13850-3246, USA.
be insured or registered for your own protection.
The regulations and prices are as follows: Wanted: PHOTOCOPY OF AN AR-
"* Member adlets are free with the follow- TICLE ON THE "GBSO" FORGER-
ing limitations: they must not exceed 480 IES which appeared in Rossica
characters. A character is defined as a
letter, number, space, or punctuation No. 11, 1932, BELA CRKVA, Yugoslavia, writ-
mark. The member's name and address ten by N. Kardakoff. Contact Robert Plemmons,
are NOT included in this 480-character P.O. Box 73, Somerdale NJ 08083, USA.
limitation.
"* For adlets that exceed the 480-character FOR SALE by H.L. Weinert, 7104 Oxford
limitation, the price is 10 cents per word, Rd., Baltimore MD 21212, USA.
no matter how long the word may be.
"* Each adlet must include the name and 1. Rossica Journal, #44, 54, 55, 56, 57 (this last
address of the member placing the ad. in Russian only). $7.50 each
"* No dealer ads will be accepted as adlets. 2. E.S. Voikhanskii, Postage Stamps of
The journal makes other provisions for Azerbaijan, Baku, 1971 (in Russian).
strictly commercial advertisements. 3. S. Blekhman, History of the Post and Post-
"* Adlet service is available to Rossica age Stamps of Tuva, Moscow, 1976 (in Rus-
members only. sian), $25.
"* All adlets exceeding the 480-character 4. Official Guide to Railway, Water and Other
limitation must be accompanied by a Passenger Transport, Moscow, 1947 (in Rus-
check for the correct amount made out to sian, with timetables and folding map show-
the Rossica Society. ing routes), $100.
"* Adlets for the April journal must reach 5. Atlas of Finland, Helsinki, 1923 (with 54
the Editor by 15 February. colored maps and index), $75.
"* Adlets for the Octoberjournal must reach 6. R. Hosking, Paquebot Cancellations of the
the Editor by 15 August. World, 1977, $45.
"* Mail all adlets and checks to:

Rossica
c/o Gary A. Combs
8241 Chalet Court
Millersville MD 21108
USA

Wanted: MOSCOW cancellations prior to
1918 for research article. On cover, loose stamps
or CSQ. Send xerox or photo. Gary Combs, 8241
Chalet Ct., Millersville MD 21108, USA.

88 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

Reflections On Reviews
Finlandia '95
Western Ukraine: A Catalog-Checklist. Avail-
With over 2,000 frames of high-powered and able from Peter Bylen c/o Ukrainian Philatelic
diverse postal history exhibits (plus 1,000 frames Resources, P.O. Box 7193, Westchester IL
of postal stationery), the recent 6-day intera- 60154-7193, USA. $5 postpaid to the US,
tional philatelic exhibition held in Helsinki from Mexico, and Canada. $6 postpaid to all other
May 10 to 15 was a great success from the locations.
standpoint of the viewers. In fact, it was clearly
the most impressive aggregation of covers to be The catalog is a register or checklist of all
seen in the world since LONDON '90. More- major varieties of Western Ukraine. Some of
over, there was a wide variety of interesting these varieties are listed for the first time. Occu-
material available for purchase in the bourse, national issues which are not properly Western
including the stocks of many European dealers Ukraine emissions are listed separately.
which would not normally be available for in- Since the appearance of the catalog in Part II
section by American collectors. of the Introductory Handbook of Ukrainian Phi-
There were 26 Russian-related exhibits on lately, the need for a listing more useful to inter-
display from thirteen different countries. The mediate and advanced specialists became appar-
distribution of the medals for these exhibits in- ent. The original version-both the Hugel/Capar
eluded 1 large gold, 1 gold, 5 large vermeil, 9 edition and subsequent revision-were designed
vermeil, 8 large silver, 1 silver-bronze, and 1 to furnish the collector a listing for a representa-
bronze-the last two given to modern exhibits tive collection of Ukrainian material.
from Russia. Although many attendees felt that However, many collectors desire to build
the judging was unduly harsh, especially for more than a representative collection electing to
non-classical material, collectors of Russian include varieties, sub-types, errors, and tangen-
postal history can take great pleasure in the fact tial material such as un-issued, occupation, and
that an exhibit on the Crimean War 1853-56 by phantasy issues. The need for a more comprehen-
Francois Piat of France was very well received by sive listing started the Ukrainian Resources
the jury and won the Grand Prix Internationals. project; Western Ukraine: A Catalog Checklistis
There were two Russian exhibits by collec- the first in a planned series of inexpensive hand-
tors from the United States. Al Kugel won a books covering the various fields of Ukrainian
vermeil for his "American Intervention in Rus- stamp collecting.
sia," and Joseph Taylor a large silver for his Peter has done exactly as he stated he would
"Allied Intervention in Russia" exhibit. Al Kugel do. This catalog will clearly become a standard
also won a large vermeil for his exhibit on the reference work on the subject. I look forward to
"Allied Intervention in the Boxer Uprising," more publications from Peter and encourage all
which included eight covers from the Russian collectors of Ukrainian postal items to consider
forces in China at the beginning of the 20th this inexpensive series (when there are more than
Century. one) as a standard addition to your reference
library.
Al Kugel
Gary Combs
[As one individual who managed to make the trip
stated, "It was tremendous! I could have spent a for-
tune buying quality covers."-Ed. Note]

Rossica Journal Number 125 89
October 1995

Reflections On Reviews
Finlandia '95
Western Ukraine: A Catalog-Checklist. Avail-
With over 2,000 frames of high-powered and able from Peter Bylen c/o Ukrainian Philatelic
diverse postal history exhibits (plus 1,000 frames Resources, P.O. Box 7193, Westchester IL
of postal stationery), the recent 6-day intera- 60154-7193, USA. $5 postpaid to the US,
tional philatelic exhibition held in Helsinki from Mexico, and Canada. $6 postpaid to all other
May 10 to 15 was a great success from the locations.
standpoint of the viewers. In fact, it was clearly
the most impressive aggregation of covers to be The catalog is a register or checklist of all
seen in the world since LONDON '90. More- major varieties of Western Ukraine. Some of
over, there was a wide variety of interesting these varieties are listed for the first time. Occu-
material available for purchase in the bourse, national issues which are not properly Western
including the stocks of many European dealers Ukraine emissions are listed separately.
which would not normally be available for in- Since the appearance of the catalog in Part II
section by American collectors. of the Introductory Handbook of Ukrainian Phi-
There were 26 Russian-related exhibits on lately, the need for a listing more useful to inter-
display from thirteen different countries. The mediate and advanced specialists became appar-
distribution of the medals for these exhibits in- ent. The original version-both the Hugel/Capar
eluded 1 large gold, 1 gold, 5 large vermeil, 9 edition and subsequent revision-were designed
vermeil, 8 large silver, 1 silver-bronze, and 1 to furnish the collector a listing for a representa-
bronze-the last two given to modern exhibits tive collection of Ukrainian material.
from Russia. Although many attendees felt that However, many collectors desire to build
the judging was unduly harsh, especially for more than a representative collection electing to
non-classical material, collectors of Russian include varieties, sub-types, errors, and tangen-
postal history can take great pleasure in the fact tial material such as un-issued, occupation, and
that an exhibit on the Crimean War 1853-56 by phantasy issues. The need for a more comprehen-
Francois Piat of France was very well received by sive listing started the Ukrainian Resources
the jury and won the Grand Prix Internationals. project; Western Ukraine: A Catalog Checklistis
There were two Russian exhibits by collec- the first in a planned series of inexpensive hand-
tors from the United States. Al Kugel won a books covering the various fields of Ukrainian
vermeil for his "American Intervention in Rus- stamp collecting.
sia," and Joseph Taylor a large silver for his Peter has done exactly as he stated he would
"Allied Intervention in Russia" exhibit. Al Kugel do. This catalog will clearly become a standard
also won a large vermeil for his exhibit on the reference work on the subject. I look forward to
"Allied Intervention in the Boxer Uprising," more publications from Peter and encourage all
which included eight covers from the Russian collectors of Ukrainian postal items to consider
forces in China at the beginning of the 20th this inexpensive series (when there are more than
Century. one) as a standard addition to your reference
library.
Al Kugel
Gary Combs
[As one individual who managed to make the trip
stated, "It was tremendous! I could have spent a for-
tune buying quality covers."-Ed. Note]

Rossica Journal Number 125 89
October 1995

"Es Muss Nicht Immer Ein Wertstempel Sein" where we are accustomed to seeing a stamp was
by Leon Nebenzahl. an oval indicium reading "three kopecks for the
letter." The second card had an
It was with great interest and close attention "INOGORODNOE" (inter-city or domestic) on
that I read this book for review. It discusses the it, printed in light green with the oval reading
history of the Russian postcard from 1872 (when "five kopecks for the letter." After 19 June 1875,
the first postcard appeared) to 1926 in consider- when the rate for an inter-city letter was reduced
able detail, albeit in compressed form. The au- from 5 to 4 kopecks, new inter-city postcards
thor presents a large number of photocopies with were issued. These had "four kopecks for the
detailed descriptions, and covers almost all the letter" in the oval (the photocopy on p. 19). After
major Russian postcard types up to 1917. 20 March 1879, though, the rate for an inter-city
Considerable attention is devoted to those letter was lowered yet again, to 3 kopecks, and it
postcards issued by various firms and organiza- became a unified rate for both local and inter-city
tions, as well as official postcards, although their postcards. That eliminated the need for two kinds
number is probably so great that a complete of postcards, and new cards appeared. These had
description would require more than one book a postage-stamp indicium printed on them, in-
(more about this later). The author also dwells at stead of a conventional "sign" that reminded
length on postcards issued during WWI and the patrons of the necessity for and cost of a postage
various types of postal and non-postal handstamps stamp for local or inter-city mail. In my opinion,
used during that period, that was a very important moment in 'he history
It was this section of the book.that interested of Russian postcards.
me most, and I am grateful to the author for the It seems to me that important dates like April
illustration of several WWI postcards of which I 1884 were not addressed in sufficient detail by
was not aware, or had not seen. Finally, the last the author. That was the month when the Interna-
section of the book covers the Soviet period up to tional Bureau of the Universal Postal Union
1926, although I do not understand why the introduced a universal color scheme for post-
author chose that particular year to end it over cards, so that Russia issued new cards of a differ-
any others. To me, this part of the book did not ent style. (presented in a very abbreviated fash-
measure up very well, since many interesting ion on pp. 16-17.) Beginning on 1 June 1886,
facts about the history of Soviet postcards were (the first period was 1 Januaryl886), all of the
omitted, and even illustrations for these cards previous cards were withdrawn from circulation
were lacking. (The illustrations for the first Rus- and replaced with new ones that conformed to
sian and Soviet postcards were included.) UPU requirements. This book also fails to ad-
I would like to add some information to this dress how under the influence of that same Postal
book for Rossica readers, to fill in some of the Union the Russian Postal Administration gradu-
gaps. Among the first postcards that came out on ally changed the appearance of its postcards. It
1 May 1872, i.e., 5 months after the first issue, does not discuss the rate changes, like the in-
there were three that I would like to discuss. One crease on 24 January 1889 to 4 kopecks for a
of them was printed in black ink and had an postcard sent abroad, which led to the appear-
inscription stating the cost of a local letter (3 ance in July 1889 of the 1884 type with changed
kopecks) and an inter-city domestic letter (5 inscriptions, or to the new postcards that differed
kopecks). (Das Formular No. 2, pp. 16 & 19.) from those of 1886 in their denomination and
This is described and illustrated in Mr. shape of the stamp. The indicium was that of the
Nebenzahl's book. There were two other cards standard 4-kop. stamp of 1889, with truncated
issued at the same time, though. One of them, corners.
bearing the word "GORODSKOE" (intra-city or
local), was printed in brown ink. In the place

90 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

March 1890 also has to be considered an And another important consideration: ini-
important date in the history of Russian post- tially, that is, prior to 16 February 1904, the
cards. That is when the first monotone postcards message was written right on the picture, while
appeared, in light red. Those who study this the other side of the postcard was reserved for the
postcard field believe that, after 18 years of address and postal markings. On 16 February,
experimentation, the Russian postcard finally permission was given to divide the address side
acquired its "look," and that "look" remained of the card into two sections. The one on the left
essentially unchanged up to 1917. In my opinion, was for the message, and the one on the right was
the author should have emphasized the three for the address, the stamp and postal markings. It
major issues of Russian postcards that came after was essentially in that form that the artwork
1890: in 1907, when the coat-of-arms was postcard has been issued up to the present day.
changed; in 1909, when the inscription Thesectionofthebookdevotedtopostcards
"Pochtovaya Kartochka" was replaced with of the First World War begins with the author's
"Otkrytoe pis'mo," and in 1913, when postcards classification of the major types of postal and
intended for international correspondence came non-postal handstamps then extant. However,
out, bearing a shortened, bilingual inscription, on page 45 the author doesn't describe or illus-
Devoting just one page and three illustra- trate three kinds of postmarks: those of main field
tions to the topic of artwork postcards is a glaring post offices, post offices at the main headquarters
deficiency. Like postcards issued by businesses, of the various armies, and corps post offices. Of
artwork cards ought to be the subject of a special- course, this is a theme for a specialized study, but
ized study. I would like to add abit of information if the author thought it necessary to devote some
to supplement this section of the book. attention to this matter, then ALL the handstamp
Introduced in Russia in 1895, artwork post- varieties should have been described and illus-
card varieties number in the thousands. That was treated, especially since there are not that many,
how many were in the possession of Leningrad and almost all of them are found on photocopies
collector N. Tagrin, who had the most massive of postcards from that period.
collection of all. For instance, just the St. Peters- I do not want to go into detail about the
burg Trustees Committee for the Sisters of the section on postcards up to 1926-a tremendous
Red Cross (the Society of St. Eugenia) issued number of postcards were issued during that
over 6,400 signed cards in 20 years. An important time. I do want to emphasize, though, that the
point here is that these cards were serially num- majority of cards were openly propagandistic.
bered. By the beginning of the 20th century, This section, it seems to me, was most inadequate
highly popular artwork postcards were being and poorly developed by the author.
issued with no controls whatever. Anyone who In conclusion, I have not set myself the task
had the will and the means to do so did. Anony- of providing a simple evaluation of this book,
mous postcards started appearing in this torrent which is certainly interesting. I have tried to
of issues, openly revolutionary in their content, supplement its themes with what I know, and to
They were directed against the existing order, point out what seems to me to be insufficiently
and carried a very strong dose of propaganda. described. Think that this book will be of consid-
This alarmed the Russian government, and on 1 erable interest to collectors of Russian thematic
April 1902 the Main Administration for Press material, and allow them to learn a lot of interest-
Affairs sent a circular around to its subordinate ing things from the history of Russian postcards.
agencies. That circular introduced very strict
limitations on the production and sale of post- Mark Tartakovskiy
cards-in other words, a postcard censorship (translated by Dave Skipton)
was initiated.

Rossica Journal Number 125 91
October 1995

"ZAKAZNOE-Recommandirt. The Imperial postcards, transit times, and identifies some of
Russian Registered Post from the Beginning the censors and translators behind the initials on
of the 19th Century Until the End of the First censored mail.
World War in 1918. (Addendum to the 1993 Andy Cronin's "Brest-Litovsk Treaty Mail"
German version.)" Translated from the German article covers the resumption of postal services
by P. E. Robinson, FRPSL. Published by Harry v. after the treaty was signed, and determines that
Hofmann Verlag, Hamburg, 1995. Copies avail- the postal rates for that period given by V. A.
able from the publisher at DM 22. Karlinskii differ considerably from what is actu-
ally seen.
The original German version of this excellent P. J. Campbell offers "Scouting for Boyars,"
work was reviewed in Rossica No. 121, October ahistoryofthe Russian Scout (Boy Scout) move-
1993. Thanks to Philip Robinson's very readable ment that began in late 1910 and was displaced
English translation, the contents of the book are abroad following the Russian' Civil War. Much
now available to those of us whose German, to of the information in this article came from the
put it charitably, is rusty. The addendum is son of Oleg Ivanovich Pantyukhov, the founder
softbound, 80 pages long, and printed on good of the Russian Scouts-our own member John
quality paper. It is refreshing to read a smooth Bates.Forscoutingenthusiasts, amust-readitem.
text without endless typos, one that does not Alex Artuchov continues with his long-run-
assault the King's English and treats punctuation ning series "Postage Stamps Issued by the
with the respect it deserves. The translation is Zemstvos," with this installment on Osa.
keyed by page number to the original, with both "The Story of the Battleship Potemkin," fea-
regular text and captions having been translated. during aRumanian picture postcard of the famous
The reader should be alerted, however, to the fact warship, is Ya. Afangulskii's contribution to the
that this is an ADDENDUM, not a complete naval theme.
English makeover. There are no illustrations, so Andy Cronin invades new territory with his
anyone wishing to see what all the fuss is about "A Hungarian Emergency Issue Under Soviet
must buy the original German version as well Control," showing both Hungarian usage on So-
(and still available from the publisher for DM viet territory and Soviet usage on Hungarian soil.
68). The original and the addendum are well Further invasion in this area is threatened.
worth the money. Buy them, and enjoy. An article by Dan Grecu and Ovidiu Reu-
"Transnistrian Date Cancellations and Censor
Dave Skipton Markings (1941-1944)"-is reproduced from
"The Romanian Postal History Bulletin." While
"Yamshchik-The Post Rider," #36, June 1995. the topic is definitely Romanian postal history
ApublicationoftheCanadianSocietyofRussian and not Soviet, an interesting exhibit showing
Philately. Editor: Andrew Cronin, P.O. Box 5722, both sides of this WWII arena could be put
Station "A," Toronto, Ontario, M5W 1P2, together, with the Romanian half ably repre-
Canada. sented by this detailed article.
Rabbi Leonard Tann, one of "The Choo-
The latest offering from our neighbors up Choo Guys" from across the Big Water, presents
north has something for just about everyone. "Final Ovals," a raft of TPO and railroad terminal
Yuri Khranilov leads off with "Mail from a oval cancellations. While this is touted as being
Russian P.O.W. Held in Austria-Hungary to the last of this series, I do not believe it for a
Vyatka," a systematic study of 50 postcards from second. Just as a ferret that sees a mouse cannot
NCO V. G. Dmitriev to his wife in Vyatka. The help itself, neither can Lenochka when he spots
article looks at the camp marks from Austro- an oval. There will be more.
Hungary, the Russian censormarks, the types of

92 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

In "Russian Mail from Roumania (1916- issue. Covers are referenced only for the Crimea;
1918): Addenda & Corrigenda," Alexander otherwise they are reported as not being seen. In
Epstein plugs yet more holes in our knowledge of addition, only Georgia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania,
the Imperial Russian field post. Moldova, and Uzbekistan are covered at all among
The Caucasus region gets some attention the recognized republics, and these listings are
from Peter Michalove in "A Registration Receiv- spotty.
ing Mark" (an odd Georgian-language registra- A couple of editorial enhancements are sug-
tion mark applied IN RECEIPT at Tbilisi) and gested. Maps or a gazetteer would help the reader
Henri Siranyan with "Selected Items of Arme- immensely in locating the items. The volume
nian Postal History." The journal is rounded out could also use a summary of the different types,
with letters from various collectors in the "Phila- with illustrations in normal size-this would
telic Shorts" section. An excellent journal! allow the user a quick means of identifying where
to find the stamp, even without a knowledge of
Dave Skipton Russian. A little history or demographics on the
region or city would also go a long way. The
The Commonwealth of Independent States author also needs to find a way of streamlining
Handbook. 1995 Edition. 501 pages. David E. the presentation to preclude the volume growing
Race. New Century Publishing Co., P 0 Box to several times its current 500 pages. Finally, a
1941, Jacksonville, TX, 75766. topical cross-index (especially for animals) would
be a welcome feature and broaden the appeal.
It has been difficult to obtain comprehensive
listings of the tidal wave of postal and philatelic George Shaw
emissions emanating from the former Soviet
Union. This handbook is a distinct improvement Uredni A "Provizorni" Vydani Prirazovana
over the Czech compendium of last year and K Uzemi Byvaleho Sovetskeho Svazu (Official
offers much more detail than dealers' price lists, and "Provisional" Issues From Areas of the
The strongest aspect is the illustrations thanks to Former Soviet Union). Jiri Marek and a group of
the excellent use of a scanner to blow up the authors (Geophila). Prague, September 1994.
overprints to 6" x 3.5", which aids in identifica- 152 pages. ISBN 80-901803-0-2.
tion of the increasingly topical subjects. The
basis for the pricing is appropriate (Eastern Euro- This book is a listing of the different jurisdic-
pean sources), and far below American retail tions that have issued stamps from the former
prices. This reviewer appreciated the detail of the Soviet Union. It is arranged by republic and
denominations in each set. Mr. Race plans to includes 17 rough maps, and gives key demo-
update the reference quarterly with the C.I.S. graphic information on each of about 90 regions
Stamp Journal. Annual editions are promised. or cities. Although written in Czech and Russian,
Despite the fact the handbook details issues the format makes it possible to follow.
from some 59 jurisdictions, this reviewer was The book mirrors the interests of its au-
disappointed. The listing is fragmentary for many thors-to describe the interrelationship of geog-
of the areas at the time of publication. This is in raphy with philately (hence, geophila). Unfortu-
curious juxtaposition to Mr. Race's own price nately, beyond the maps and geographical listing
list, which was enclosed and lists many more there is little utility in this work.
items, often from the same areas. There are some
obvious errors in transliterating names (Ivano- George Shaw
Franilovsk and Nagomy Karabakh). Used stamps
are rarely reported as seen, even for the St.
Petersburg stamps and the Michel-listed Kiev

Rossica Journal Number 125 93
October 1995

Spezialkatalog R.S.F.S.R.U.D.S.S.R., 1918- "Tainopis' v istorii Rossii" (Secret Writing in
1960. 500+ pages in double-sided A4 format. Russian History), by Tat'yana Alekseevna
Comes with a 4-ring binder. DM 120 includes Soboleva. "Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya,"
postage and packing. Available from Rolf Moscow, 1994.
Weinbrecht, Kastanienallee 15, D-76189
Karlsruhe, Germany. This is a remarkable book, and not just
This specialized catalog of Soviet-period because of the information it contains. The very
stamps up to the currency reform of 1961 is a fact of its existence is astounding, even given the
welcome addition. Gibbons or Michel until now collapse of the Soviet Union. Cryptography is a
have been the most accessible western language sensitive issue for governments, and (Russia is
catalogs to help the American collector beyond no exception), even when the period in question
Scott. This work pulls together much that has ranges from the early 1700s to the early Soviet
been published in the Soviet and specialty jour- period. The author has done a lot of digging in
nals, as well as additional details. Although the imperial archives, and a few Soviet archives
volume is in German, the layout (heavy use of which cannot be named, for security reasons.
descriptive tables for distinguishing different The introduction is devoted to an overview
printings; understandable numbering system) of secret writing from around the world-the
makes it possible for a non-German speaker to ancient Indians and Greeks, the Arabs, and medi-
navigate without too much difficulty. All varie- eval to 18th century Europe. This is followed by
ties known to the author are priced, giving a 17 chapters on Russian cryptography and its
relative scale for scarcity. In general, the pricing cryptologic services.
seems appropriate for the German market-it is Much of the text will be heavy going, as the
a 40-60% discount from Michel. The 1955-7 author treats ciphers and codes in considerable
reprints of the commemorative issues of the prior depth. But, there is a wealth of historical informa-
decade are well beyond Gibbons, which does not tion here. How all this relates to Russian philately
list them. The listings of vertical diamond, hori- is obvious-secret writing means letters, which
zontal diamond and square screen dots for vari- many of us collect, and sometimes a code or
ous photogravure issues was particularly useful. heavily-euphemized text will pop up on a cover
The appendix lists all definitive issues in (see "The Swiss Woman's Cipher" in Rossica
tabular format. The tables enable the collector to No. 119 and "Good Seats on the 70" in Rossica
find the issue in the main catalog for any single No. 122, 1994 for examples of secret writing).
stamp from any definitive set. Codes and ciphers also mean black chambers,
There were a couple of omissions. The 1919 where some cryptographers made them and oth-
Soviet printings of the Large Arms stamps were ers broke them. For censorship collectors, this
not included, nor was the Tambov provisional book is a treasure trove. I wish it had been
overprint of 1931, which is listed in Yvert. Al- available when Peter Michalove and I were work-
though there was a translation into English of ing on "Postal Censorship in Imperial Russia"-
philatelic terms, it would have helped also to a lot of guesswork and a few erroneous impres-
provide an English version of the nine-page sions could have been avoided. For instance, the
description of papers, printing methods, etc. term "black chamber" was used to denote those
Nevertheless, this volume is an essential addition offices where mail was intercepted and codes, if
to the bookshelf of any Soviet collector. any, were read. That, as it turns out, was not
entirely the case. In the 20th century, for in-
[According to the author, an English version of the stance, codes and ciphers the perlustrators found
nine-page descriptions is available inthe final version. were sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs,
Also inthe final issue the definitive are complete from where the Police Department had several sec-
where the Police Department had several sec-
the 1923-24 set onwards.-Ed.]
George Shaw tions devoted to deciphering. Thus, the term
George Shaw
94 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

"black chamber" should be thought of in broader For instance, the author tells us that there were 7
terms, as the functions of perlustration and deci- sections in the VChK/GPU's "Spetsotdel" (spe-
pherment were not co-located. cial department) in the 1920s and 1930s, and lists
"Secret Writing in Russian History" gives the functions for exactly six of them, 1-4 and 6-
us many more names of people who were in- 7. Of the 5th (V), there is no mention. The reason
volved with the black chambers. One revelation for this omission, perhaps, can be seen in the
is that Ivan Zybin, who figured prominently in cover illustrated below.
the censorship book, stuck around after the Octo- Posted at Petrograd' s Nikolaev RR Termi-
ber Revolution and helped the Soviets with their nal on 15 January 1923, it is addressed to an
fledgling black chambers. So too did a number of individual in Moscow. The rectangular marking
other former tsarist employees. Chapters 10 and reads "Examined by the V Sec(tion) / of the
11 will be of the greatest interest for censorship SOGPU [i.e., the Spetsotdel of the GPU],
collectors, but Chapter 14 will raise some eye- '...'......192.. / Signature .........." It is one of the
brows on a subject not seen before-White forces' very few examples of early Soviet police censor-
(Kolchak) cryptography during the Civil War, to ship seen in the West, and the back of the cover
include radio intercept! does not help in figuring out exactly why this
Not surprisingly, the rather detailed look we cover was censored and then marked as cen-
are given at the tsarist perlustration effort be- scored. (I am indebted to Mike Carson for this
comes a thick fog when the early Soviet period is cover; he has the only other recorded example of
reached. Here, the emphasis switches to Soviet this marking.)
agents stealing codes, and Soviet cryptographers
breaking them. Only a few hints about the rela- I highly recommend this book to any Rus-
tionship to mail intercept operations can be found, sian censorship collector or cryptography buff.

October 1995
t^ ^ ^^^^^^^5^

\ff 0 '^

October 1995

Membership Status

Our membership now stands at 364-16 new 1573 Ian R. Stone
tentative members since the October Journal! 2 Salisbury Road
The new applicants are heartily welcomed and, if Herne Bay
you happen to live near one, personally welcome Kent CT6 6JH
that person to our favorite hobby. England
Please review the list of names. If for any 1574 Michael 0. Webb
reason you feel that an individual should not be 3708 NW 12th
granted full membership, please write the Trea- Oklahoma City OK 73107
surer with your reasons. If no negative comments USA
are received on the individuals listed below by 1575 Rolf Weinbrecht
31 January 1996, they will be granted full mem- Kastanienallee 15
bership status. D-76188 Karlsruhe
Germany
The new applicants are: 1 Dad F Re
"1576 David F. Renn
1566 Larry Wojnarowicz 2603 South Waldron, Apt. 6
1566 Larry Wojnarowicz
508 Hunters Ct. Fort Smith AR 72903
508 Hunters Ct.
Chesterton IN 46304 USA
USA 1577 Benjamin B. Helfner
1567 Mark Schroeder 78 Kay Street
P.O. Box 3151 Newport RI 02840
USA
De Pere WI 54115 USA
USA .1578 Wilfried Nagl
UA Postfach 2104
1568 Edward D. Wolski Po h
D-96012 Bamberg
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USA 1579 Randy M. Collins
1569 CliveFoss 44676 Mansfield Drive
10A Kirkland Road NoviMI 48375
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
USA 1580 Charles D. Westrup
1570 David Race 13331 White Oak Landing
P.O. Box 1941 Dallas TX 77065
Jacksonville TX 75766 USA
USA 1581 Charles M. Slocumb III
6738 Prestonshire
1571 Anatoly Dukhovny 678 Pestns
P.O. Box 360358 Dallas TX 75225
Brooklyn NY 11236 USA
USA
1572 John-Paul Himka All applicants listed in the April Journal have
KEP-DRE Associates been granted full membership.
10433-86 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta T6E 2M4
Canada

96 Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

Submitting Articles for the Journal

Submitting articles for the journal has never If you use your personal scanner, save the
been easier. I can accept floppy disks 3-1/2 inch files as gray-scale TIFF files, NOT as PICT
only-created on Macintosh computers OR MS- (unless it is simple line art requiring no manipu-
DOS computers. lation) or plain TIFF or EPS. Check to make sure
The text for your article must be typed if a they are of good quality before sending them.
computer is not available. When using a com- When submitting tables, charts, or pictures,
puter, please attempt to print the article on a laser please let me know how you think they should
or ink jet printer. If a dot matrix printer is used, appear in the finished article relative to place-
make sure that you print it as close to letter ment. I will try to honor your layout as far as
quality as possible. This saves me an enormous possible. Besides, it may save me some time.
amount of time since I can simply use the scanner Thanks.
and an OCR package to bring the text of your If you send covers, pictures, or photocopies
article into the computer for manipulation. Long of items, please let me know what part of the
articles (over 2 pages) WILL NOT be accepted item-or the entire item-illustrates the point
if hand written. The more time I spend on typing you wish to make. As you may already know, I
the article, the less time I have for anything else. sometimes crop pictures to show only the salient
Please understand and cooperate. For files that parts. Please send actual size or larger copies.
are sent on a floppy, I have both Microsoft Word There is no way you nor I can know exactly what
and MacWrite. You may also submit them in size they need to be until the final layout begins.
"text file" format or RTF. I reduce covers if they are general in nature and
Pictures can be high-quality photocopies, or still show what the author intended to say. The
prints taken with a camera. Be sure the contrast is final size varies with every item included.
balanced so that the picture is not washed out or If you have any comments (positive or nega-
overly dark. If you cannot see the image, neither tive), want to know more about what equipment
can I. You may also send the original item. If this or software capabilities I have, or any general
method is chosen, please take any measures you information relative to the process, please feel
deem necessary to safeguard your material. I will free to write and I will attempt to answer your
return them with the same safeguards in place, questions. If anybody wants to volunteer to help
If you wish to include drawings in the article, with any typing, etc. that may arise, please let me
please ensure they are neat and legible. If you know.
draw them on the computer, save them as PICT Deadline for the April journal is 1 February
or TIFF images. I can handle either. EPS images 1996. This will give me time to enter the article
are a bit harder to work with if any corrections are and get the next issue to the printer by March.
needed. If you have a Macintosh, I can handle Thanks in advance and SUBMIT ARTICLES
MacDraw II and Canvas files, for your journal!
Spreadsheets should be in Excel or Lotus
format. I have Excel on the computer. If you have Your Friendly Editor
any embedded macros or calculations built into
the spreadsheet, please tell me what and where
they are.

Rossica Journal Number 124 97
April 1995

Dealer-Member Ads

The Editorial Board of the Rossica Journal For one-time ads: $52.50, $97.50 and $150,
invites advertisements from our dealer-mem- respectively.
bers as well as non-members who conduct the
occasional auction or mail-sale with a strong For outside back cover ads (full page only):
offering of Russian and related-areas material. $150, first come first serve (based on postmark
The Journal appears twice a year, and reaches date).
over 400 members and affiliates worldwide in
April and October. Deadlines for submission of If you should desire to place an ad in the
ads are February 15 for the April issue, and Rossica Journal, please notify the editor as soon
August 15 for the October issue. We strongly as possible, together with the text of your ad, the
prefer commitments for ads in three consecutive rate and number of issues, and a check in $US
issues to aid us in planning. However, one-time made payable to the "Rossica Society" drawn on
ads for upcoming auctions or mail-sales can be an American bank.
accommodated. Thank you for your support!

Rates: Gary A. Combs
1/4 page $35 per issue (for 3 issues) 8241 Chalet Ct.
1/2 page $65 per issue (for 3 issues) Millersville, MD 21108
1 page $100 per issue (for 3 issues) USA

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

Free price list
Loral
Box 521
Rego Park, NY 11374

Fax (718)271-3070

Rossica Journal Number 125
October 1995

5jannu Tuva
1943 PRIMITIVE PRINTING BY HAND
1943 PRIMITIVE PAINTING BY HAND, one by one on the only small pieces of paper available,
in sheetlets of 4 or 5! FASCINATING WAR ISSUE listed by Stanley Gibbons, Michel, etc.

BUFF PAPER WHITE PAPER
25k black with gum -
2 horizontal perfs. 24.00
Imperf on 3 sides. 36.00 *,
ORIGINAL sheet of 5 210.00
25k slate blue w/o gum -
2 horizontal perfs. 12.00 22.00
Imperf on 3 sides. 18.00 30.00
ORIGINAL sheet of 5 120.00 190.00
25k green w/o gum -
Imperf on left and top 48.00 75.00
Imperf on left and bottom 48.00 75.00
VERTICAL left pair 120.00 200.00 .

50k green w/o gum .
Imperf on right and top 48.00 75.00
Imperf on right and bottom 48.00 75.00 -
VERTICAL right pair 120.00 200.00 ..,

50k green with gum LIMITED NUMBER AVAILABLE
Imperf on right and top 75.00 100.00 -
Imperf on right and bottom 75.00 100.00

We have very few complete sheets of 5, 25k slate blue w/o gum with perforation errors. We also have one complete
sheet of 4,25k and 50k together, green w/o gum, some perforation separation through the middle (see below)P.O.R.

----.... .--r-- -

!
VSgs yv 't iliF a

S S. SEREBRAKIAN, INC. A

P.O. Box 448 Monroe, New York 10950 (914-783-9791) Fax (914-782-0347)

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