Journal of the Rossica Society of Russian Philately

ROSSICA

OCTOBER 1999 No. 133

The Journal of the Rossica Society of Russian Philately

THE ROSSICA SOCIETY OF RUSSIAN PHILATELY

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY All rights reserved. No part of this journal may be
President: Gary A. Combs reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means
8241 Chalet Ct, Millersville, MD 21108, USA without permission in writing from the journal editor.
Vice President: Howard Weinert The views expressed by the authors in this journal are
7104 Oford Road, Baltimore, MD 21212, USA ^ ^ .
7104 Oxford Road, Baltimore, MD 21212, USA their own and the editor disclaims all responsibility.
Secretary: George G. Werbizky
409 Jones Road, Vestal, NY 13850, USA
Treasurer: Gar A. Co s The Rossica Society of Russian Philately, Inc. is
Treasurer: Gary A. Combs
8241 Chalet Ct, Millersville, MD 21108, USA a non-profit, non-political organization incorporated in
Librarian: Gerald (Ged) Seiflow the state of Maryland, USA, and affiliated with the
1249 St. Claire P1, Schaumburg, IL 60173, USA American Philatelic Society. The Rossica Journal is the
Auditor: Webster Stickney official periodic publication of the Rossica Society of
7590 Windlawn, Parker, CO 80134, USA Russian Philately, Inc., published twice a year in April
and October and mailed "surface rate" from the Editor's
BOARD OF DIRECTORS residence. Price for non-members is US $10 per issue.
David M. Skipton For air mail delivery, please add US $5. Subscriptions
50-D Ridge Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770, USA
are available for US $30 which includes air mail pos-
Dr. G. Adolph Ackerman
629 Sanbridge Circle E., Worthington, OH tage. Available back issues are listed in the section titled
43085, USA "In The Back Room." Submit articles for consideration
Dr. Ray J. Ceresa directly to the Editor. Periodically, other Rossica publi-
Spinnaker House, 7 Jacken Close, Felpham, cations are listed in the back of the Journal. Information
Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO22 7DU, is available from the Editor or Secretary.
United Kingdom Society dues are US $20 per year with a discount
for early renewal. Membership applications can be ob-
PUBLICATIONS tained from the Treasurer or Secretary at the addresses
Bulletin: Raymond Pietruszka listed under "Officers of the Society."
211 Evalyn Street, Madison, AL 35758, USA .
Dealers wishing to advertise in the Journal are
Journal: Karen Lemiski
2641 Emerson St., Chandler, AZ 85248, USA welcomed. Information pertaining to advertising can be
2641 S. Emerson St., Chandler, AZ 85248, USA
found in the back of the Journal.
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SOCIETY Checks and money orders submitted should be
USA made payable to The Rossica Society of Russian Philately
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Midwest Chapter: Dr. James Mazepa Sorry, no credit cards are accepted. Please make all
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Northern California Chapter: Ed Laveroni
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EUROPE 8241 Chalet Court
Jack G. Moyes Millersville, MD 21108
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United Kingdom

The ROSSICA homepage may be accessed at: http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Stands/3610/Rossica/rossica.html
Rainer Fuch's homepage devoted to zemstvos may be accessed at: http://fuchs-online.com/zemstvos

Copyright 1998
The Rossica Society
ISSN 0035-8363

THE JOURNAL OF THE
ROSSICA SOCIETY OF RUSSIAN PHILATELY

Journal No. 133 for October 1999

Editor: Karen Lemiski
Editorial Board: Gary Combs, David Skipton, Ivo Steyn

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ARTICLES

From the Editor's Desk 2
A Classification of the Stamps of the Khvalynsk Magistrates
Appeals Court, by J. G. Moyes 3
"Thar She Blows": Nineteenth-Century Yankee Whalers in
Russia's Northern Waters A Historical and Philatelic Connection,
by G. Adolph Ackerman 8
Notes on the Russian Watermarks, by Hugo Krotsch 26
The Romanov Zemstvo Connection, by George G. Werbizky 32
Russian Zemstvo Free-Frank Paper Seals, by Bill Nickle 40
In Postmaster Gan 'ko's Footsteps: Lokhvitsa Zemstvo,
by George G. Werbizky 52
International Collector Societies, by Gary Combs 53
The Russian Field Post in the Caucasian World War I Theater-of-War:
Addenda & Corrigenda, by A. Epstein 68
Additional Notes on the American Relief Administration Courier Service,
by Raymond J. Pietruszka 71
Revenue Stamps of Soviet Ukraine, by Ingert Kuzych and Viktor Mohylny 75
More Siberian Surprises: Comments on the Article by Ivo Steyn
and Something Else, by A. Epstein 78
The North Pole Overprints of 1955-1956, by Dave Waterman 85
Soviet Intercosmos Issues '78-'87, by Jeff Dugdale 86
"Historic Ukrainian Churches": The Stamp-Production Process,
by Ingert Kuzych and Val Zabijaka 90
Philatelic Books: Printing, Publishing, and Plagiarism, by P. E. Robinson 95

OF INTEREST TO MEMBERS
From the President 97
Library Notes 100
Member-to-Member Adlets 102
Expertization, Dealer-Member Ads 103
Society Publications For Sale 104
New Rossica Publications 107
Reviews of Philatelic Publications 110

From the Editor's Desk

New Web Page war issues? There are endless topics. Send me a
submitted by Jeff Radcliffe scan with a write up. The more featured item
The Rossica web page changed locations entries received, the more information we can
and webmasters this year. Many thanks to Peter provide to our members.
Michalove for his outstanding efforts in setting
up the first web page and for assisting in a very Request for Information
smooth transition to the new site at the follow- In the sale of the Liphschutz collection of
ing URL: Imperial Russia II (Guido Craveri, Harmers
http://www.rossica.org. Auctions SA, Lugano, 1 May 1993), lot 1791,
http://www.rossica.org.
there was a 1909-1918 1 ruble with a perfin
This is your site! What do you want to see? used at Kashgar (cancelled Tchil. type 2, sub-
Did you find another web page that is particu- type 2A) included in a mixed lot of Russian
larly informative and would be useful to our stamps used at this office. If any member either
membership? Like something on the Rossica bought or viewed the lot, do they know what
web page? Do you particularly not like a feature the perfin was.
we have? Want to see a new feature added? All This question is asked by Paul N. Davey,
suggestions and comments are welcome. Contact the librarian of the China Philatelic Society of
me at webmaster@rossica.org or better yet, take London, who is updating the catalogue of The
our web-based survey. You can find it on our Perfins of China. If you can provide any infor-
web page. mation on this stamp, please contact Paul at:
The Rossica web page is always in transi- Bleak House, Ulley Road, Kennington, Ashford,
tion, so please check back frequently. Our goal Kent, TN24 9HU, United Kingdom; or email:
is to make our web site not just an informational daveypn@nascr.net.
medium, but also a useful tool for all collectors
of Russian philately. You will see a gradual for- RSFSR Catalog
mat change that will make the site easier to use. The latest section of the Rossica Catalog of
Some possible changes and enhancements we are the RSFSR is now available. Section 10 (134
looking at include: a password protected area for pages) covers the Second Standard Issue (25
Rossica members only; an on-line Rossica prim- August-September 1921). As with the earlier
er; a postmark identifier; a Rossica library listing sections, it is divided into three parts: intro-
(with on-line request forms?); and a "what is duction, detailed illustrations of varieties; and
this?" page for members to solicit input on items detailed catalog entries with prices. For more
they cannot identify. The possibilities are end- information about the content, please write or
less. I welcome and will consider all suggestions email Ged Seiflow or the Rossica treasurer.
for site improvements. Section 10 is priced at $14 for Rossica
We are always looking for new items for a members ($28 for non-members), which in-
featured item page. Some suggested items of inter- cludes surface mailing costs. Please send your
est you may be able to provide include: errors, check (drawn on a US bank and made payable
anomalies, fakes and forgeries compared to the to ssica), money order, to the Rossica treas-
normal issues. Is there an expert on revenue urc., whose address is on the inside front cover.
stamps? zemstvos? revolutionary overprints? civil Sorry, no VISA/MC or stamps for payment.

2 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

A Classification of the Stamps of the
Khvalynsk Magistrates Appeals Court

by J. G. Moyes

Municipal issues of magistrates appeals large plain format from different towns are
courts stamps are difficult to locate and it is found with corresponding receipts. I cannot
fortunate that a small number of those from match any of the Khvalynsk stamps with a cor-
Khvalynsk have survived, allowing a classifi- responding receipt, although two types are only
cation to be made. The stamps themselves are known from the receipt. I can match identical
very plain in appearance, consisting of no more inscriptions on smaller-sized issues with those of
than an inscription in black on white paper, the two receipts, and possibly they go together,
with sections to be filled in by hand to cover but I list them separately as I do not know of
the court fees due from an action. These fees any example from any court where the size of
follow the usual practice of one percent of the the stamp does not match the size of the receipt.
amount claimed in the action plus ten kopecks My thanks as usual go to Bjor-Eric
for each sheet of the petition. Saarinen for his enthusiastic assistance in helping
The inscriptions on each issue are standard to classify these stamps. This article is the result
and are typeset. All are imperforate. All magis- of an assessment of both our holdings.
trates and magistrates appeals court stamps in this

1878
Large format. Inscription in eight lines. Dated M A P I A
187-. No receipts recorded. At least four sub- A nia
types exist.

Kh.M.A. 1 Marka (stamp) .
Kh.M.A. la Kvitantsiya (receipt) Io R'I; IICea ( p. -it.)
unknown cyJee6GHblx nomalJIHua .
Ilo qpacy (A C) JIHCTOB'
10 iton. c6opa . .
187 r. --^^ IIenpe-
1IHHILM M Hb CI'L;Ia
M14poBIx'S Cyei XBa-
JaiH1HC OKpyra

Kh.M.A. 1 Marka

Rossica Journal Number 133 3
October 1999

ti'A iK A t B Ei T A 1H- I I .I
-- ,,,Aia J 18& r.

1io llu nCa ( p.i,.) Ho nLa' ci ( __ .) -.-
cyAC61I[uxL nomainll. cvijeACix';, Mo..ui - -.
Ho c0C.Ty ( / ) IcTTOBL | Ho 'ic.ay ( / ) a.Tcrcwn 10
10 non. c6opa 2 o. c op --
18AD rr / Iienpe- Y r Hcpcri.ll
lxrnluii q.7cnzi ChI-,3,',a Mlpo- rIyl^ Cl''i;a ^SfO^' CV'iX
nux CyAcii XBa.r./,OKpyra Xnaiiua. Oin ra / -.

Kh.M.A. 2 Marka Kh.M.A. 3 Kvitantsiya

1880
Large format. Inscription in seven lines. Dated
18-. Smaller letters than 1878 issue. I B H T A H IA I JI
A..Z.v -, aaM 180/ r.
Kh.M.A. 2 Marka
Kh.M.A. 2a Kvitantsiya unknown P.
Io liwit laci a ( p. K.)
1881 cyAc6lilxl IIInomrin .
Large format. Inscription in seven lines. Dated I1o 'rcny .( / ) AUCTro0 10
18-. Wider spacing than on 1880 issue. No ixon. cdopa . .
words hyphenated and split over two lines, as is 18'Y? r. Houpoa'l.
found on the previous issue. 4ICn'1 Cr13aa MHpoBUxI CyAciI
XUai. Oysp. / .
Kh.M.A. 3 Marka unknown
Kh.M.A. 3a Kvitantsiya
Kh.M.A. 4 Kvitantsiya
1881 (?)
As above with slightly narrower vertical spacing.
On fifth line after date the word "Nepremyen-
nyi" is abbreviated while it is given in full on
the previous issue. On the bottom line, the two
words are abbreviated to four and three letters
while on the previous issue, they are six letters
each. Only known copy is dated 1882.

Kh.M.A. 4 Marka unknown
Kh.M.A. 4a Kvitantsiya

4 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

M AP K A I A P K A
Jc -XAt^ AJ MI

P. E P. K.
1Ho niiir nca ( -i- 1o i ,i, ,c
p.-._ t, cyAe~nuxT, p. h.) cyjtctux
noflI.flIUl, .. I~4-- nozI x i'...u. .
11o 'Iiey (/ ) 1ic- lO Icy (/) .-nC
To.11 10 noln. c6opa ron 10 bn. ,c6opa-
I 18 /r.
aflii )eii ic n, ua,'l;;;-.. Ileiipcerlh. iiu qlsln!T
A3 Mnl oniuX' CyiA(i CA Mnpon. CyAc
IXnB Xi vuaco 0Kp

Kh.M.A. 5 Marka Kh.M.A. 6 Marka

1881
A P K A Small format. Inscription in nine lines. Dated
18-. At least five subtypes.
X xr^ Kina
.'/ Kh.M.A. 5 Marka
Il a Kh.M.A. 5a Kvitantsiya unknown
Uo Irili' ncKa ( --
p- K.) cyAc6nuxI,
nomns 1881
Ho nicAy ( / )iC- 181c
To,. 10- on. c6opa -- Small format. Inscription in ten lines. Dated
MYin. 'jcnI, . 18-. "P.K." in value tablet is in large capitals,
Mnpoi. CyAei Xna. '
po. CyAe n. while the tablet itself is double lined. At least
four subtypes.

Kh.M.A. 6 Marka
Kh.M.A. 6a Kvitantsiya unknown

Kh.M.A. 7 Marka 1882
Small format. Inscription in nine lines. Dated
18-. Bottom line reads "OKP". Value tablet as
Kh.M.A. 5.

Kh.M.A. 7 Marka
Kh.M.A. 7a Kvitantsiya unknown

Rossica Journal Number 133 5
October 1999

M-A P RA. W A P H
S -- ;a X. A a
MAP1AS +

188-- r. --
P. .NI
P. K.
no Itiitt Hxa (,--..
p. K.) cyAe6e(maX7. i Io ,-LL nca, ( S --
nowu Kmi. .--' ..) cyAcGHUux7
lo cTmy 1/ ] JIc- inoinrs. ....
Ton 10 Kon. c6opa 11o ,icjy (/) arc-
1883 rc,. He- Toa 10 lion. cGopa
IIpoie-. Ii-e O- I 'H :8 r./ < : /<.
ta8a Mnponsaxi Cy- ]IcIpc 'nai;mnL i.r 'TcI- < ,
18C8a rI8,or.. Cyjc -a
""a" IiauaCo e Y- I K1C

Kh.M.A. 8 Marka Kh.M.A. 9 Marka

"1883
l I A Small format. Inscription in ten lines. Dated
18-, and date repeated under "MAPKA".
i7 -Bottom line reads "PYIA". Value tablet as
Kh.M.A. 5.

o .) ,c caz UX( -. Kh.M.A. 8 Marka
,,o.I. .. .. IKh.M.A. 8a Kvitantsiya unknown
Ilo nxua.y ( 7) .m-c-
TOn. 10 non. c6ops'
1887 r.., 1.* ....,
Heipewhua e 1885
i,'a Mapoo. CyACf Small format. Identical to Kh.M.A. 6, except
XraAuciaoa Qpy- that "MAPKA" is in fancy series and the value
'. '" tablet is similar to Kh.M.A. 5. At least three
.* subtypes.

Kh.M.A. 9 Marka
Kh.M.A. 10 Marka Kh.M.A. 9a Kvitantsiya unknown

1887
Small format. Inscription in ten lines.
"MAPKA" with fancy serifs as 1885 issue, to
which this seems identical, except that this type
has a printed border and is dated 1887.

Kh.M.A. 10 Marka
Kh.M.A. 10a Kvitantsiya unknown

6 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

MAP- A. MAPEA.

I 0

1o1 I. .. . p. ] ... .."" "
l ss ., / ,- o n .. .. -
ToIl. 10 lo. cOopi l iu. ss : .. .11 -
T1 1. r. /, TOl 10 :01. c o.l, 'I
1SnpS 18r8 .* ^ ^ ^ *
.t.i 1a poll. C' -il -
Xjja.CuX.:crato' Ooi'yACV
-Xii%.; u.A112arU OUpTII.;

Kh.M.A. 11 Marka Kh.M.A. 12 Marka

1888
Small format. Inscription in nine lines. Dated Editor's Note: The translated text on these stamps
1888. Very small letters, with a fancy border. reads:
Second word on eighth line has five letters. "Stamp/Receipt
No. of case
Kh.M.A. 11 Marka For cost of the suit ([in] rubles [and] kopecks)
Kh.M.A. 11a Kvitantsiya unknown court fees ... 10 kopecks per ( ) number of
sheets. ... 18_ [month and day] Permanent
The similarity between this type and the next Member of the Khvalynsk District Magistrates'
may mean that they are two types from the Assembly."
same sheet.

1888
As previous except the second word on the
eighth line is complete and has eight letters.

Kh.M.A. 12 Marka
Kh.M.A. 12a Kvitantsiya unknown

Rossica Journal Number 133 7
October 1999

"Thar She Blows":
Nineteenth-Century Yankee Whalers in
Russia's Northern Waters -
A Historical and Philatelic Connection

by G. Adolph Ackerman

For centuries, sperm oil and oils from other
whales were essential in people's lives. These oils wit'
fueled lamps to light homes and businesses and -
were important in textile manufacturing as well c
as other industries. The whale population in
European coastal waters and in the north in
the Norwegian and Barents seas had been
devastated by over-hunting long before the
eighteenth century. In their pursuit of whales, HISTORIC PRESERVATION
hunters gradually moved north- and southward
in the Atlantic and then into the Indian Ocean
and south Pacific.
In the United States, the whaling industry Figure 1: Yankee whaling ship Charles W. Morgan,
grew rapidly after the War of 1812 when whaling which sailed the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans
prices in Britain and Europe markedly declined during the nineteenth century.
as coal and petroleum products began to replace
the industrial use of sperm oil in European
countries.4'6 These changes resulted in the gradu- .- -.-
al waning of the whaling industry in Europe, /
and fewer British and French whalers scoured
the seas. In contrast, in the United States, the
use of coal and petroleum products lagged sig-
nificantly behind western Europe during the
early half of the nineteenth century. Thus, Yan- lrdk l^k'd" 90c
kee whalers (figure 1) began to dominate the
seas in both the Atlantic and Pacific, sailing from
New Bedford, New London, and other ports in
Figure 2: British whaler Onward,
Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and a.
out of Sydney, New South Wales.
Connecticut. Over seven hundred whalers sailed
from twenty-three ports along the eastern coast sailed along the coast of Chile and into the south
during a thirty-year period of expansion, reach- seas. Their hunting ranged between 50 degrees
ing a peak in 1857 when over three hundred south and 40 degrees north, and they joined
Yankee ships sailed from the eastern ports." British whalers (figure 2) in their search for the
During the 1820s and 1830s, U.S. whalers sperm whale.4 As the whale population in the
sent to the Pacific rounded Cape Horn and Pacific declined in the 1840s, the hunters gravi-

8 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

tated northward toward the Bering Sea. Soon --- -SpFw
Hawaii, and later San Francisco, became winter "".w a,.
bases and supply ports for the whalers.
From their New England home ports,
whaling ships would be gone well over a year
and with declining harvests, two or three years
would often pass before their return from the
Pacific. From an economic standpoint, as had -
happened earlier in Europe, the early 1840s saw IVusa
petroleum products (kerosene) replacing sperm
oil, resulting in a significant decrease in the price
of sperm oil in the United States. Whalers soon
turned to whalebone (baleen), which had be-
come an important item in the economy.4'6 The
flexible whalebone was used for such things as
bodices, bustles, and hoops in women's fashions, ------------
combs, horse whips, canes, fishing rods, fine 'u npbleq"?
brushes, and bone boxes.4 Oils were still used in
soaps and lubricants. Thus, hunting shifted from
sperm whales, which lacked baleen, to the bow-
head, right, and gray whales that inhabited the
more northern seas (figure 3).
Russian and U.S. territorial waters in the
northern Pacific Ocean and the Arctic seas pro-
vided the major hunting ground for whalers KALAALLIT NUNAAT
SAr ft *ImO mynkotum rmntondlnWom
throughout the nineteenth century. Yet in spite "* a-
of the historical importance of whales and the
whaling industry, few whales and whaling ships
have been depicted on American or Russian
stamps. GRNLAND 6,50

Whales and Their Distribution"'1o
Sperm whales range through much of the "
northern Pacific, Bering Sea, and into the lower 12
Chukchi Sea, but their numbers were severely
depleted in the central Pacific during the early
to mid-1900s. The gray whale is concentrated
along the coastal regions of the East Siberian and
Chukchi seas, the eastern coast of Siberia to [ O TA C CC P
Kamchatka, and the coastal waters of Alaska. ... .... .__
The gray whale migrates nearly ten thousand
miles from the north to their winter breeding Figure 3: Top to bottom: Sperm, right, humpback,
grounds along the coast of California, the Baja, and bowhead whales, and a walrus.
and Mexico. These whales were nearly de-
stroyed by excess hunting during the 1800s. To-
day, gray whales are still caught in limited num-

Rossica Journal Number 133 9
October 1999

PUEast Si n rangel Island Point arrow
-_r East Siberian, T 2 *- it ,R
Sea A -f RLfSKfl
Chukchi Sea

kolymsk Anadyr
SIBERIa B ay"t1

SPacific Ocean
0 ,4

SKuril Islands S

Figure 4: Map of whale-hunting grounds in the northern Pacific Ocean and Arctic seas.

bers by Russian hunters in the Chukchi and The Sea of Okhotsk, Kamchatka, and
Bering seas according to an international agree- Vicinity
ment, under which the catch is processed for oil The 1840s saw the end of the sperm whale
and meat for use by regional native peoples. era and the expansion of the U.S. whaling do-
Bowheads range the entire northern Pacific in- main from the Central Pacific and Sea of Japan
cluding the Sea of Okhotsk, Bering Sea, west northward toward the Kuril Islands, the Far East-
and north in the Chukchi Sea as far as Wrangel ern coast of Russia, Kamchatka, and into the Sea
Island, and along the northernmost coasts of of Okhotsk and Gulf of Alaska (figure 4).4,6 Be-
Alaska and Canada. Fin whales are found in the tween 1843 and 1845, a number of whaling ships
Sea ofJapan, regions of the Sea of Okhotsk, and from several countries hunted these territorial
along the Kuril Islands into the Bering Sea. waters. One ship, the Manhattan under Captain
Right whales range along the Aleutians, Kam- Cooper, entered the Sea of Okhotsk in 1845
chatka, and Kurils to the Sea of Japan and the while ten ships (American and French) stopped at
southern coast of Alaska and Canada. Hump- Petropavlovsk in the summer of 1845.4 Among
backs concentrate along the southern coast of these ships were the Josephine under Roys and
Alaska into the Bering Sea, and the northeastern the Neptune under Sodring. The whaler Golden
coast of Russia (Anadyr Bay and the eastern por- Hunter out of Fall River, Massachusetts, cap-
tion of the Chukchi Sea near the Bering Strait). trained by William Wood, was part of this group

10 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

/4
V

.

Nrg tO11"4 i\ e/ .
------------------
/. c/) /

d: V, el

"" s jora N u/m 1-
/. ~1 / ^-* /,,_
> ,,,- ,"- "? "" "- t/ .'" <
Sf ... : .
C /.y._. ... 1. ,.\,/

*,.. y.-.; -
:..- Vie of r s er "'00s;S
, 1<. l

Figure 5: a/b: Wood's cover and letter page sent from his ship near Petropavlovsk (1865);
Cover sent to Fall River has a "New York 9 Jan" circular postmark with a 7-cent marking;
c: Cover reverse shows a broken wax seal and Vera Cruz postmark with an ill-defined date;
d: View of Petropavlovsk, early 1800s;s
e. Modem view of Petropavlovsk harbor.

Rossica Journal Number 133 11
October 1999

navigating the Kamchatka region and stopping at The reverse has a Vera Cruz, Mexico, postmark,
Petropavlovsk. A wonderful, but brief, letter which is quite unusual. The text of the letter in-
dispatched by Wooda'l as he neared Petropav- dicates that Wood gave the letter to a mer-
lovsk in 1845 (figure 5) documents the end of chantman sailing from Petropavlovsk. The mer-
the sperm-whale era in the Pacific, the dangers chantman subsequently off-loaded the letter at
of whaling, and the expansion of Yankee Vera Cruz, where it was transferred to another
whaling into Russian territorial waters. ship sailing to New York. The letter, upon arri-
The Wood cover (figure 5) is addressed to val in New York, received a ship cancel and
Captain Wm. H. Topham, Fall River, Massa- paid fee, and was then dispatched to Fall River.
chusetts, and bears a New York ship cancel A transcription of the letter and added nota-
dated 9 January, franked with a seven-cent rate. tion follows:

Kamschaska, August 10th 1845
Dear Abby,

I am now bound to the port of Petropavlovsk (Petropanthki) in Kamschaska a ship is in sight
coming out a merchantman and I send these few lines hoping you will get them before you hear
the report of my wound 2 weeks ago I shot my left wrist nearly half off. broke no bones, and it
is nearly well with no danger at all. I have had a very bad season 800 bls (260 sperm) but ships last
season here took from 1 to 2000 after this date. I shall be at home the first of May oil or no oil.

Got one letter from you that by Mr. Phillips. I heard by the Borden that you was in Fall River last
Sept [GAA: 1844] glad to hear so excuse shortness [GAA: of note] and badness as the ship is off and
I am very weak by loss of blood but don't be alarmed for I am now safe and shall not loose the use
of my hand. My love to all and rest assue that I will be there as soon as I can. Once more to see
my all which I never leave again.

Yours, affections
William

Added note in another hand: Dear sister To day I hear of the accident which william met
with and at the same this letter on the office directed to you in falls river. so I took the liberty to
open it for the purpose of learning the truth of the report and nature of the wound. I was glad
to find there were not bones broken and that nothing dangerous will result from it It seems that
Wm. will not arrive before May and should you think but to come to Fall River will try to find
To ..... ment [GAA:?] for you.

Fall River Jan 9th 1846 0 H Brook

12 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

Cooper, sailing the Manhattan into the Sea
of Okhotsk and along the Kuril Islands in 1845, noqri .awrAs>'
discovered new hunting grounds for right and CCCP .
bowhead whales.3 The Okhotsk, much like the '
waters along northern Kamchatka and the J ,
Bering Sea, is ice-covered much of the year
(November to June); fog and storms are com-
mon. The Sea of Okhotsk provided an impor-
tant source of whale for U.S. ships during the ,
late 1840s and early 1850s. By 1849, 250 ships
dominated by Yankee whalers were plying the
Okhotsk; none were of Russian origin.4'6'13
In 1850, a joint Russo-Finnish Whaling
Company that included five whaling ships was Figure 6: The Russian Vega, a cadet sailing ship
formed.6 One ship, the Suomi, operated in the believed to be similar to Russian ships dispatched to
Okhotsk; the others worked the Asiatic seas, patrol Far Eastern territorial waters during the
mid-nineteenth century.
i.e., the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan.
During the 1850 season, the Suomi collected one
thousand barrels of blubber and over twenty The Arctic Seas and Russian/Alaskan
thousand pounds of bone. The Russo-Finnish Territories
catch was transported to and sold in Germany6 Russian exploratory voyages (figure 7) to
rather than being used regionally. The company the northern Far East were made by Kruzen-
was disbanded in 1863. stern sailing into the Sea of Okhotsk and to
Russian vessels (figure 6) were dispatched in Russian Alaska (1803-1806), by Golovnin sail-
1853 to protect Russian shores and the Sea of ing along the Kuril Islands, Sea of Okhotsk, and
Okhotsk from foreign invaders after earlier un- northward to Kamchatka (1811), and by Wran-
enforced restrictions failed.6 Apparently, this gel, who had explored northeastern Siberia and
action had little effect since on one single day voyaged from Petropavlovsk to Russian America
during the next year (1854), nearly fifty whales where he established a fortification at New Ar-
were harvested by foreign whalers in the Sea of khangel'sk during the 1830s (figure 7). Litke
Okhotsk. Such exploitation soon depleted the charted the Bering Strait and surrounding area in
regional whale population and the search for 1825.
whales moved northward. Earlier, Shelikhov headed an expedition to
It should be noted that Russians did not ac- America in 1784, establishing a settlement at
tively pursue whaling in the Okhotsk or along Kodiak (figure 8). At the turn of the century
its shores, nor did they pursue the hunt for (1804), Baranov served as chief magistrate of
whales in the Arctic seas. Native peoples along Russian properties in America in the settlement
the northeastern Russian mainland and Eskimo of Sitka (figure 8). As the Russians began to
in the Alaskan territory had hunted gray whales establish settlements in the Alaskan territory near
over the centuries. Steller, the German naturalist the end of the eighteenth century,2,' an attempt
on the Bering expedition (figure 7) in the 1740s, was made to form local whaling companies, but
described native hunting of whales near Kam- these proved unsuccessful due to the inexperi-
chatka as well as reporting on the regional wild- ence of the Russian crews.6 One of these com-
life. panies was the Onerskye Company, established
by Count Vorontsov in 1786.6 The Russian

Rossica Journal Number 133 13
October 1999

IV---W ----WV-------------- I W WW W WW M

iiiuin iuiN~iuhhu-----u----N---Nh--
Djui u uM a uVma aieiw *7o,4AacMre ;/ kCa? furuu'A rcuucAux Uaa*Nue fi

Figure 7: a: Bering expedition to the Bering Sea and Alaska;
b: Kruzenstern expedition to the north Pacific, Kamchatka, and Kuril Islands;
c: Golovnin expedition to the Kuril Islands and Sea of Okhotsk;
d: Wrangel expedition from Petropavlovsk to Russian America and the fortification at New Arkhangel'sk.

American Company, formed in 1799, concen- the first to pass beyond the Aleutians in search
treated on hunting sea otters and fur animals, of whales; his success resulted in an onslaught of
although the company did build a small whale- whalers northward starting in the 1850s. Over
processing factory at Mamga, Tugursky Bay on 150 ships went north in 1849 after Roys' dis-
the Sea of Okhotsk.' The factory operated two cover and more in 1850. The majority of Arc-
vessels at most, hunting in the protected Okh- tic whaling voyages took place between 1850
otsk during the latter half of the nineteenth cen- and 1870, although by 1860 whales were be-
tury. Later, another Russian whale-processing coming scarce in the Bering Sea and the hunt
site was set up on the eastern coast of Aniva Bay moved further north.
(southern tip of Sakhalin).6 From there, whale Ice in the Bering Sea begins to break up in
meat was shipped to Japan and bone to Europe.6 late June, with narrow waterways appearing in
In the summer of 1848 and after a dis- late March or early April and allowing the pas-
appointing hunt in the South Pacific, Roys in sage of whales and ships to the north.4 Ice melts
the bark Superior decided to turn northward.4 later in the Chukchi breaking up from June
While in Petropavlovsk in 1845, Roys had to August with weather conditions (fog,
spoken with a Russian naval officer, who had gales, wind direction, and current speed) deter-
mentioned that many whales could be found mining the extent of its northern retreat.4 Ice is
north of the Bering Strait.4 Passing through the always near the coastline even during the brief
Aleutians into the Bering Sea, Roys proceeded summer months. Whale-feeding grounds move
through the Bering Strait and 250 miles into the from east of Point Barrow to concentrate near
Chukchi Sea, where few ships had ever ven- Herald Island in late August and September4 and
turned. There, his catch filled the ship to capacity then southward into the Bering Sea as ice covers
with oil and baleen (eleven bowhead whales and the more northern seas.
sixteen hundred barrels of oil). Roys' whaler was The passage of whaling ships through the

14 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

Wrangel and Herald islands off the Siberian
Coast, where the whalers found a concentration
S4s of whale during the later summer months.4'6
With the Atlantic fished out, the whaling
industry in Europe began to decline as the
North Pacific and Arctic became the most fre-
S 70Or l C quented hunting grounds. Ships were under sail
for periods of two to three years. Large numbers
of American whaling ships scoured the Russian-
Alaskan coasts and the Bering and Chukchi seas
from the 1850s. Most sailed from New England
around the Horn to Honolulu or San Francisco,
and then to the Far North.
A cover and excerpts from a letter relate
Directly to these ports and whaling in Rus-
sia's northern waters. The cover bears a red
"HONOLULU/HAWAIIAN ISLANDS" cancel, is
"backstamped "SAN FRANCISCO/CAL", and bears
a "SHIP 12" handstamp. Reported excerpts from
J a letter written by Captain Granville Allen
aboard the George Washington to his brother,
dated 2 June 1854, follow:

"'O- 'ff Cape Thadeus, Bhering Sea. In lat 62.00,
long 180.00 [GAA: this location places the ship
off the coast of the Siberian mainland near Mys
Navarin in the Bering Sea, at the southern en-
Figure 8: a: Shelikhov established the first Russian Navarin in the Bering Sea, at the southern en-
trance of Anadyr Bay]. I have been here now
settlement (1784) on Kodiak Island, Russian America; trance of Anadyr Bay]. I have been here now
about 1 month dodging among the ice and
b: Baranov established a fortification on the island at Sitka, about 1 month dodging among the ice and
snow storms and fogs a good part of the time
Russian America (1799); c: View of Novoarkhangel 'sk
but have not seen a whale yet. Neither have I
(New Arkhangel 'sk) near the island of Sitka, mid-1800s.'4 b
heard of but one being seen. ...

,. Aug 27, Arctic Ocean. I have given up all
northern waters was treacherous and ice floes Aug 27, Arctic Ocean. I have given up all
hope now as it is about time to leave the
took their toll. Unusual weather conditions with country. If I want to get away with a whole
changes in wind and current frequently en- hide. 45 ships and only 21 whales taken al-
trapped ships along the northern Siberian and together. I got one poor devil .... This season
Alaskan coasts. Some ships were severely dam- has been one of the greatest failures that was
aged, some were abandoned, and some were ever known in the annals of whaling. .
r. (Phillips auction catalog, London)
totally destroyed or sunk far from civilization. (Phillips auction catalog, London)
Survival was dependent on remaining supplies or San Francisco soon became a major whaling
nearby ships that found safe haven in protective base and, with the purchase of Alaska from
coves and bays. By mid to late July, ships were Russia in 1867 (figure 9), the American whalers
usually able to reach Alaska's Cape Lisburne or secured their own waters for seeking northern
Icy Cape in the Chukchi Sea, two hundred bowheads. The same year (1867), Captain
miles northeast of the Bering Strait. In August Thomas Long in the whaler Nile in his search
and September, they moved westward toward for Arctic whales headed westward in the Chuk-

Rossica Journal Number 133 15
October 1999

ing crews. The incredible stench and filth re-
Ssulting from processing the catch added to the
discomfort of these hardy men. Weather condi-
tions, such as entrapment within the ice, pre-
sented formidable problems, and many whalers
were lost in Siberian and Alaskan waters. Severe
ice conditions in the Chukchi Sea during the
1871 and 1872 seasons were particularly devas-
V stating (figure 11).
The fortunes of the Helen Snow from New
Bedford is a case in point. Along with other
whalers, the Helen Snow under Captain George
H. Macomber voyaged into Alaskan waters dur-
ing the summer of 1872 and proceeded around
Alaska toward Point Barrow on the Chukchi
Sea, where they hunted and participated in the
_^ ^ AL^^^^^^ AAsalvage of wrecked ships following the disastrous
events of 1871.4 However, the Helen Snow and
several other ships soon became entrapped by
Figure 9: a: Seward, who negotiated the purchase of pack ice as weather conditions changed. Against
Alaska; b: Alaskan territory, the captain's orders, the frightened crew aban-
doned ship (19 August 1872) and were taken
chi Sea and found a previously unidentified is- aboard other unencumbered whalers. An im-
land, which he named Wrangel Island.6'16 Long provement in the ice conditions then followed
described the island as a "mountainous country in the region. The whaler Jireh Perry, under
of considerable extent in the Polar Ocean be- Captain Owen, sighted the abandoned Helen
yond the Behring Strait."16 Snow. Its crew was able to free the damaged ship
Transport of products from San Francisco and later brought her to San Francisco where
via the transcontinental railroad had become a she was sold. The ship then sailed one voyage
reality by 1867. Whale oil and bone could be from San Francisco under the Russian flag.'5
transported rapidly to the industrial eastern sea- The Helen Snow, renamed the Desmond as part of
board rather than by ships making the longjour- the Hawaiian fleet, again sailed with other ships
ney homeward to their New England base. An into the Arctic seas (1876) and was again caught
1865 bill of sale for a cast of sperm oil in New with nine whalers in the pack ice.4 The ships
Bedford is illustrated in figure 10. Yet by the were all abandoned and their crews made it to
1870s, the Civil War and an increased consump- safety; the ships were lost.
tion of petroleum products severely affected the A letter written by a sailor (John Babcock)
profitability of the whaling industry. "at sea" aboard the Helen Snow one month after
Few written records concerning Yankee sailing from New Bedford is illustrated in figure
whaling and hunting voyages in the Far North 12. This cover bears two handstamps: a black
exist beyond those recorded in logs and letters "SHIP" and a circular "Boston Mass" with ob-
from the whalers involved in sailing the cold scured date. A blue crayon "6" indicates the
and treacherous Arctic seas. It is impossible to postal fee paid. The ship left New Bedford for
imagine the freezing cold, winds and fogs, the the Pacific on 17 October 1871 on a fateful
loneliness, isolation, and boredom between the voyage to the Arctic seas. Excepts of Babcock's
harvesting of catches that was felt by the whal- letter to his cousin in New London follow:

16 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

G4" B GS X../ -..

oulrp of S. THOMAS & CO.,
manufacturers of S erm aOnb t halt @ils,
S/' pSnm and Iatet (amSius, and opfrm an1l ihalf @il f ap,
"No.l3 CENTRE STREET, NEW BEDFORD.

; -... J-./'
;7 -p_-- I '*

Figure 10: Bill of sale (1865) of Thomas & Co., New Bedford, for a cask of sperm oil.
Note the affixed U.S. revenue stamp.

Lithographs by J. H. Bufford.

Rossica Journal Number 133 17
October 1999
S.... i

ic -i

October 1999

"1 ", v4 1 1

S // Figure 12: Babcock's 1871 cover/letter page from
.the whaler Helen Snow to New London has a "SHIP"
handstamp and postmark dated 13 November.

,.. I am in hopes in three years time that i will be with you
enjoying my self with you all once more as i used to.

Syou must excuse this breif letter for this is an unexpected
.C .;. < to me and i have not much time to write but i thought
9, -' .... it would please you to here from me once more, ...

I can not think of any thing of anything mor so i will
close by giving my best respects to all inquering friend
and my love to you
at sea
Sunday Nov 12th 1871 good by from your Cousine John Babcock.
Dear Cousine Williams

As I have a chance to send i thought i would write a few Directions to send to me
lines to you. I arrived all safe Monday night and said
Tuesday morning at 8 AM. we have had very heavy Bk Helen Snow
weather since we left home we are now one month out Capt Maccomber
we have not seen anything yet but am in hopes to soon. Honolulu or Tombege

I was as homesick as a dog for the first week out but have you must write to boaths places for i do not know which
got over that now and am enjoying good health as usual. of the posts we shall go in to first.

18 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

Ships voyaged between the hunting grounds
for whales and walrus along the Siberian coast
and the coast of northern Alaska. The following
letter from Captain B. Franklin Homan aboard
the ship Cornelius Howland in 1875 describes
hunting in Anadyr Bay off the Russian Siberian
coast and Arctic Ocean (figure 13):

Onboard Ship Cornelius Howland at Point Barrow Arctic Ocean
Aug 13th 1875
My Dear Son Willie

... Willie we Came through the Fox Islands in to Bherings Sea May 20th, the wther was cold,
May 25th we came to fields of Big broken Ice and on the 28th we went in to broken Drift Ice and
2 other Ships with us, June 9th we got out of the Ice in to clear water in the Anader Sea and whare
we first went in to the Ice was about 60 miles South East of Cape Thadius, You can find this Cape
on your atlass, At Tlover Bay we saw a Schooner and she was trading with the Indians for whale
Bone and Walrus Ivory and furs and we bought some Seal Skin mittins of the Indians, The Capt
of the Schooner told us that the whale Ships had passed Tlover (Plover?) bay the day before, June
11th we came up with the ships at East Cape the North part of Bherings Straits and spoke the
Barque Onward and Capt Huse (?) came onboard of us to see me and this Day we were in the
Arctic Ocean and been in the Arctic ever since, From the middle of June to the 20th of July we
was looking for Walruses and Catching them when we could with our boats and dart the harpoons
in to the Walruses and Kill them by lanceing them with the whale lances and then hawling the dead
walruses on to the Ice and Skin them and carry the Skin with the Blubber to the ship in our boats,
We shot part of the Walruses we got with a rifle on the Ice, for the walruse croll on to Big pieces
of Ice to sleepe, Thare is now 14 ships in the arctic and 12 of them have been Catching Walruses
and the Ships have all the way from 400 to 1000 bbls of walrus oil and the Ships have got most all
thair oil by shooting Walruses, The reason that we did not get more Walruses is that we had not
Cartridges to shoot with 6-8 Walruses, We left off walrusing the 18th of July and came over on
the American shore and found the Ice on shore North of Sea Horse Island, here we saw the Barque
Onward and we worked to the NE betwinst the Ice and land as the Ice worked off the shore, July
27th in the night we passed around Point Barrow to the East, ...

... we run back to the West for Point Barrow for Safety, the last two months we have had no
night and the sun did not set, but now the sun begins to set and the nights will grow longer and
longer and the Days shorter and shorter and this warm sun weather we have had will soon turn to
Long dark and cold nights and the Wild fowls and the whales will leave this arctic shores and go
south to spend the long cold winter nights, but the Indians will burrow in the ground, this Ocean
will be covered with big rough Ice and snow and Ice so that the land and Ocean will looke all
alike, all one rough field of Ice and snow, what a sudden change from warm weather to cold weather,
The Drift wood we See on these shores is brought here from the south of Bherings Straits by strong
Northerly currents and Cast on to the shores by the winds and Ice, We have Seen on the shores,
pieces of Spars, Staves and wood and Stuff that came from the wrecked whole ships, the Ship Arctic
and ship Hellen Mare got a shore a little south of here and thay was got off all right and are with
us now and thare is 10 ships here with us now, I finished a long letter 3 or 4 days ago and put it
on board the Barque Florance of Sanfrancisco for your Mother, ...

Rossica Journal Number 133 19
October 1999

.Figure 13: Homan's 1875 cover/letter page to his son
from the Arctic Ocean to New York. Cover has a San
Francisco postmark and 3-cent franking. Letter page
describes walrus hunting. Courtesy of George Hall.

_, -Another cover addressed to the captain's son
-,--,- at Riverhead, Long Island, New York, with the
inscribed notation (lower left) "Ship Letter Arc-
//tic Ocean" is shown in figure 14. The cover is
postmarked "San Francisco 22 Sep" and has the
"SHIP" handstamp with twelve cents in postage

in the text of the letter and the date cancel.
Sfrom the S ailing into the Chukchi Sea between Point
S^ ,Bar Francisco postmark and 3-cent franking. Letter page
whaldesbes wal-h u s hunngd s for Yankee whalers. The

The remaining parts of this letter describe following letter from Captain Homan (figure 14)
animals and natives in the northern region of describes some ofaddressed to the cndiaptain's son
Alaska. Apparently, although the ship had re- fecting tRiverhese head, Long Island their ships. Ho-w York with the
ports of whale to the north, weather prevent ed ma n otationer to his wife Louise was wrip Letter Arc-

pursuits. The last page, dated 13 September, in- 1879 aboard his ship Hunter during its whaling
dictates that the letter was being sent bt tOcean" is shown figure 14. The cover is
A ^:&, / x2-.3t .' postmarked "San Francisco 22 Sep" and has the
S g"SHIP" handstamp with twelve cents in postage
/ry 4. ^ ^-< .> due stamps, plus a "PAID 12" handstamp. The

ship Helen Mar and that the captain would be in Bering Strait into the Chukchi Sea, to the vicin-
,F1t... -.C ,/^... <,A(^_^)^, the Legal Tender (figure 15) out of Francisco,
ts.u~y 4A^4Z1 A ^om Point Hope in Alaskan waters, as indicated

Honolulu in the fall. Both the Florance and Helen ity of Haroldthe letter and the date cancel.
Mar are Barrowlustrated and discussed by Bockstoce. the sighting of the ill-fated DeLong exped a vorition:

whale-hunting grounds for Yankee whal Numbers. The

October 1999
The remaining parts of this letter describe following letter from Captain Homan (figure 14)
animals and natives in the northern region of describes some of the events and conditions af-
Alaska. Apparently, although the ship had re- fecting these hearty men and their ships. Ho-
ports of whale to the north, weather prevented man's letter to his wife Louise was written in
pursuits. The last page, dated 13 September, in- 1879 aboard his ship Hunter during its whaling
dicates that the letter was being sent back on the venture along the Alaskan coast, through the
ship Helen Mar and that the captain would be in Bering Strait into the Chukchi Sea, to the vicin-
Honolulu in the fall. Both the Florance and Helen i of Harold Island. Mention is also made of
Mar are illustrated and discussed by Bockstoce.4 the sighting of the ill-fated DeLong expedition:

20 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

Arctic Ocean Sept 2nd 1879
My Dear Wife, we have left the East Shore of Alaska and are now halfway a crost to Herald Island,
and several Ships in compaing and fine weather Last Evening I spent on board the John Newles in
compaing with Capt Nawls and Cagan and Smith and Gamble, We are working along to the West
through scattering Ice, The Northerly wind the last 2 weeks has bluwn the Ice off south of the
Pack and Scattered the Ice all over the Sea, We have about given up Point Barrow for the Season,
Capt Smithers in the Vigalent will stay on the East Shore until the middle of this month and then
if he cannot go to Point Barrow will come West to Harold Island, We don't know that we can get
to Hearold Island yet We may falin with the SteamerJanette Bennets Craft that will try to land on
Rangles land, This land is about 30 miles to the West of Heraolds Island, I saw this land last Season.

Sept 6th We are in sight of Hearold Island the last 2 days, this Island is in sight 90 miles to the NW
of and only here and there a small strip of snow on the Island, It is all Ice from us to the Island, this
Black looking Island sticks its head above the Ocean of white Ice and it is a fine sight to look at
from a ships mast head, I see to day about all the fleete of Whalers coming here to day over 20
Ships insight, There is no whales to be seen here yet, for there is many eyes looking over the
Ocean here, We are in a strip of water, Packed Ice on the west and packed Ice on the East side of
us, So the Ships are close to each other, yesterday we was beating to the North with a strong North
wind betwinst the two packs of Ice and several Ships in compaing and the Hunter beat them all.
The Paciffic kept close to the Hunter While we was tacking ship our Braces got fast and carried
away the Main top galland yard and the main Kazlyard, So it made a half day job for all hands to
clear away and send down the Broken yards and now we are making Newyards,

Sept 16th We have fine weather the last few days and seen some Whales and we have chased
Whales the last 3 days and seen a chance to catch a whale or two, But the boats frightened the
whales off, by crowding them before thare was a good chance to go on to them, Thare has been
7 whales taken by 5 Ships lately, We are now on the West side of the Sea along the Northern Ice
and the whales comes from North East out of the Ice, There is 22 or 23 vessels around here trying
to catch whales,

Sept 20th My Dear Wife We are now in the Same part of the Sea Lat 69o 33' North and Long
West 174, 00' from Greenwich, and we are along the Northern packed Ice and a clear Sea South
of us, We have had a long spell of Southerly wind and fine clear and warm weather for this Cold
Country, The nights are now long and the day very short and growing shorter very fast, When the
Northerly wind sets in we be very cold and freezing for we are in an Ice house, The fleete of Ships
are around us and a few whales are seen by the Ships every day and the Ships Boats chase whales
from Sun rise to Sun closen and then don't catch many whales, Several ships have 2 whales here and
the most of them has got one whale here, We have chased whale every day 6 days and the Officers
and Boats steers has made bad werk in catching whales, they has drove away 3 whales by crowding
the whales when it was not a proper time to near the whales and the Boat Steers has mist 2
whales, So you see part of our seasons werk has been spolt all ready, On the 18th I put one of my
under officers in to the Second whale Boat so we raised a whale and they went off and caught a
Big whale pretty quick so, now we have got one whale and I feel better, I saw Capt Heppingstone

Rossica Journal Number 133 21
October 1999

[GAA: John Heppingstone in the Fleetwing out of San Francisco and New Bedford] catch 2 whales
here lately so they are doing pretty well, yesterday I spoke the Barque Vigilent Capt Smithers he
is right from the East Shore from Icey Cape and reports thare is no chance for him to go North
along the Shore for Point Barrow and the ice is packed hard on the Shore North East of Icey Cape,
So he will not winter at Point Barrow for he cannot get there, So Capt Smithers let me have 1700
lbs of fresh potatoes that the Legal Tender brought up here for him, he has lots of things and trade
that he will not need now as he cannot winter at the Point, We picked up a Nice dead whale with
3 or 400 fathums of whale line to it on the 18th, Thare has been several whale lost here by Ice,
When we first came over on the West Side of his Sea Capt Barns [GAA: Barnes in the Sea Breeze
out of San Francisco] saw the Julnette, Bennets Steamer going North for Hearald Island in the same
lead of water that the whale ships worked North in and he went North and out of sight in the leads
of water and Scattering Ice and we all think if the Janette gets caught fast in this Northerly Ice that
his fate is sealed up and all Capt DeLong prod fame and glory and honor will be sealed up in a bag
with him, It is hard to get out of this Northerly Ice where the current is most always setting to the
North and man cannot rase power enough to move the Ocean of packed ice if it is broken up in
large pieces, We think if Capt DeLong has stopped and had talked with the Whaler they would told
him something that would been a help to him, He is sailing on Ciens and Books so he will fetch
up in to the other world all right,b,' How beautiful and warm, pleasant it will be in the warm sea
around the North Pole where thar will be found all sorts of life and sorts of Sumer fruits, Where
the Sun Shines 6 months in a year and then have 6 months of night where Man Can Sleep and rest
from thair long Sumers tail, What a lovely vincard to live in, How we envy Capt DeLong, Night
before last we tooks our whale along side of our to ship and made him fast to our ship with a large
fluke change and the wind blowing strong and a rough sea On the ship would role and the whale
surge along side of our ship, We call it Rugged Cutting, we saved the whales head and blubber
from the wales body all right and we was all night in Cutting in our whale by torch light and I swet
while I was at werk with a strawhat on my head and some of my clothing off and now I am lame
and stiff, Whaling is rough business and it is work day and night when there is a chance for
whaling,

Oct 8th My Dear Wife, this day we have had strong S.E. Wind and part of the time a thick snow
storm and a rough sea on, since I wrote this letter we have had part of the time good weather and
part of the time bad weather, and seen a few whales Most evry day and chased whales most evry
day and our boats cannot catch many, ...

22 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

"" 4L( A /f -, / / .' ..' .,. '
.4 4
P of. f L -. ,

7 < <- ./ ".. // '

/ 4 1 -. + .,L"

... .. <

I; r o. .
,,A. A:. 4x "
"-4 "':-

,Cover inscribed "Ship Letter Arctic Ocean with "SHIP" handstap, "12" postage-due handstamp, as 12-cent franking.
San Francisco postmark dated 22 September, to New York. Courtesy of George Hall.

The rest of the letter describes various whal-
ing activities in the Chukchi Sea and the ships'
return through the Bering Strait and Sea to SanUSA
Francisco. It is curious that the ship Vigalent .
mentioned in the Homan letter remained in the 4
Chukchi Sea for that winter of 1879 along with
the Mount Wollaston. The other ships left in Sep-
tember and early October, while the Helen Mar
and Mercury remained to the very last moment
and barely returned to southern safety. The
abandoned Vigalent, with several dead bodies
aboard, was discovered in 1880 by Siberian nat-
ives. Its identity was made from examination of
several of the items removed by the local nat- Figure 15: Square-rigged packet ship Yorkshire, from
ives. The Mount Wollaston was never seen again.4 c.1850 may be similar to the Legal Tender that carried
The disastrous events of the 1870s signaled Homan's letter from the Arctic to San Francisco.
the rapid decline of whaling in the northern
seas. Although American whaling in the Arctic Endnotes
caused concern among the Russians, enforce- a The ship name and last name of its captain
ment of their restrictions on territorial waters are not indicated on the cover or enclosed
had limited success during the nineteenth cen- letter. Data pertaining to U.S. whalers and
tury. Russian whaling in the Far East and Arctic their home ports, dates of sailing/return,
seas never became a major endeavor in spite of hunting grounds, barrels of oil, and pounds
sporadic efforts over the years. While Yankee of bone gathered have been compiled in a
whaling in the Russian seas was over, intermit- number of sources.7-" Information gathered
tent fur trading between Russians and Americans therein indicates the letter was written by
continued into the first half of the twentieth William Wood aboard the ship Golden
century."'9 As late as the 1920s, the Swenson Fur Hunter out of Fall River during his three-
Trading Company exchanged specific goods for year whaling voyage in the Pacific.
Siberian furs.9 The Russian Arctic seas were also
plied by U.S. ships of the Alaska Steamship b In 1879, DeLong captained the Jeanette on
Company, which traded goods and supplies in an exploratory voyage into the Arctic seas
the pre-World War II period (figure 16). Today, via the Bering Strait in search of a purported
Russian whalers are permitted to catch a limited large northern land mass. His ship became
number of whale for regional native peoples as ice-bound near Wrangel Island and drifted
allowed by international agreement, for nearly two years before being crushed
Long gone are the days of the sleek sailing near the north of the New Siberian Island
ships that plied the seas the world over in search group.16 DeLong and his crew attempted to
of the prized whale. The heroic adventures of reach the Siberian coast over the ice and in
the men and whalers live on in legend, in cap- small boats. Many, including DeLong, died
tains' logs, surviving documents, and the call of starvation. Survivors reaching the coast
"Thar She Blows" as a reminder of the sighting carried DeLong's log book and tales of their
of the whale. ordeal. Remnants of DeLong's camp found
years later along the Greenland coast pro-
vided the basis for Nansen's attempted drift
in 1893 to the North Pole from the vicinity

24 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

Figure 16: Alaska Steamship Line cover posted at Uelen, northern Chukchi Peninsula, 29 August 1938, to Warren, Ohio.

of Wrangel Island.3 Captain Barnes of the U.S. 8. J. R. Gibson, Feeding the Russian Fur Trade:
whaler Sea Breeze sighted the Jeanette under full Provisionment of the Okhotsk Seaboard and the
sail and steam on 2 September 1879, fifty miles Kamchatka Peninsula 1639-1856. Madison:
from Herold Island.12 Captain Keel of the Dawn University of Wisconsin Press, 1969.
saw her on 3 September, while Captain Bauldry 9. R. J. Gleason, Icebound in the Siberian Arctic.
of the Helen Mar and several other whalers saw Anchorage: Alaska Northwest Publishing
her smoke near Herold Island heading north.16 Company, 1982.
10. National Geographic Society, Whales of the
References World. 150: 772A suppl., 1976.
1. Alaska Geographic Society, Alaska Whales 11. New Bedford Whaling Museum. Overview
and Men. v. 5 (4), 1978. of American Whaling:
2. T. Armstrong, Russian Settlement in the www.whalingmuseum.org/whaling.htm.
North. Cambridge: Cambridge University 1998.
Press, 1965. 12. F. D. Robotti, Whaling and Old Salem.
3. P. D. Baird, The Polar World. London: New York: Bonanza Books, 1962.
Longmans, Green and Co., 1964. 13. I. T. Sanderson, Follow the Whale. Boston:
4. J. R. Bockstoce, Whales, Ice and Men:The Little, Brown & Co., 1956.
History of Whaling in the Western Arctic. Seat- 14. Y. Semyonov, The Conquest of Siberia.
tie: University of Washington Press, 1986. Transl. E. W. Dickes. London: Routledge
5. G. F. Dow, Whale Ships and Whaling: A & Sons, Ltd., 1944. P. 349 (Novo-Arkhan-
Pictorial History. New York: Dover Publica- gel'sk photo, mid-nineteenth century).
tions, Inc., 1985. 15. A. Starbuck, History of the American Whale
6. R. Ellis, Men and Whales. New York: A. A. Fishery: From Its Earliest Inception to the Year
Knopf, 1991. 1876. New York: Argosy-Antiquarian, Ltd.,
7. Federal Writers Project Works Administra- 1964.
tion of Massachusetts, Whaling Masters. 16. H. S. Wright, The Great White North: The
American Guide Series, Old Dartmouth Story of Polar Exploration. New York: Mac-
Historical Society, New Bedford, Mass., millan Co., 1910.
1936.

Rossica Journal Number 133 25
October 1999

Notes on the Russian Watermarks

by Hugo Kr6tsch

It is remarkable what little is known about
the watermark of the stamps of Russia; it came
into being with the 1866 issue, and continued in
use until the issue this year of stamps of new de-
signs. Describing the 1866 issue,' we read in the
Senf Catalogue: "With watermark of wavy lines,
laid paper," and further: "In stamps on laid pa-
per, specimens may be found in which the laid
lines are almost imperceptible." In Kohl's Cata-
logue the heading reads: "Watermark wavy lines,
horizontally or vertically laid paper." In the Senf
Catalogue an illustration of the watermark is giv-
en, but as the groundwork is lined diagonally, it
is of little or no use. It would not have been
difficult to make a correct illustration; owing to
the position occupied by the illustration in the Figure 1: Wide wavy lines.
catalogue, the groundwork should run vertically,
as the direction of the wavy lines is vertical. It
would also be highly desirable that the letters
and figures be mentioned which occur in con-
junction with the watermark "wavy lines." As
that has not been done, a collector, seeing the
figure "3" as the watermark on a 30 kopeck
might well think he had a valuable stamp of the
1857 issue, whereas, as will be shown later, the
stamp might be quite common, belonging to the
1866 issue, with wavy lines watermark (in
which the figure "3" occurs).
In order that the collector be not deceived,
it is as well to be familiar with the wavy lines
watermark of Bavaria and Hamburg. Illustrations
1 and 2 show the Bavarian watermark, with
wide and close wavy lines, which are particularly
apparent in the envelopes, in which they have a Figure 2: Close wavy lines.
diagonal direction; whereas in the stamps the
direction is either vertical or horizontal, waved serpentine lines, which do not fit into one
Now, the "wavy lines" watermark of Russia another, as in the Bavarian watermark, but which
is quite different from the above. Instead of the are opposed one to the other, or to express the
regular, more or less parallel lines, the Russian matter more clearly, the node of one curve ap-
watermark, as we see in illustration 3, consists of preaches the node of that running alongside of it.

26 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

The fact that this important point is omitted
"from the Russian handbook of the Krbtsch ser-
/ y ies, so carefully written by Dr. E. Bochmann,
\ 3 cRiga, shows how little even Russian specialists
I have studied the watermark. The position of the
letters in the diamond-shaped spaces has given
rise to several theories. Thus Dr. v. Bochmann
says, "In two rows ... on each sheet of 100
stamps." On the other hand, in the course of a
paper entitled "Whole Sheets," which was read
Figure 3: Waved serpentine lines, at the Leipzig Philatelistentag in 1904, Schwane-
berger says, "In the lower portion of each sheet."
The description appended in the catalogues We ourselves obtained possession of a whole
to the 1866 issue had far better read "waved sheet of the one kopeck of the 1889 issue, in
serpentine lines, on laid paper," and be accom- which the watermark appears vertically in the
panied by an illustration similar to Type 3 as centre of the sheet.
above, but preferably also showing the laid lines. At the fiftieth meeting of the German Phi-
As a matter of fact, illustration 3 is only sup- latelisten-Verband, in Gossnitz, we read a paper
posed to show the waved serpentine lines and on the varying position of the letters in the
the letters forming the actual watermark. The Russian watermarks, and we were thereupon
vertical lines running through the waved lines shown by Mr. A. E. Glasewald a whole sheet of
are not accurately shown, as every diamond- the one stotinka of the 1886 issue of Bulgaria.
shaped space should be bisected by a vertical We were greatly interested, knowing that the
line, so that even the letters are cut by vertical stamps of that issue were printed in the Russian
lines running through them, as is clearly shown State Printing Office, on similar paper to that
in illustration 4, which is taken from page twen- used for the Russian stamps.
ty-one of Kr6tsch's Handbook on Russia. As regards these stamps the Senf Catalogue
An important point is that the above-men- merely states "Watermark wavy lines," and in
tioned vertical lines are not part of the waved Kohl the watermark is not even mentioned for
lines and letters, which were soldered together that issue, only, in fact, the Bulgarian watermark
upon the dandy roll, which impresses the water- of the Boris issue. It is certainly absolutely
mark. The vertical lines are connected with the correct to state that the Russian watermark was
horizontally laid lines of the paper. used for Bulgarian stamps from the 1879 issue
until the issue of stamps of a new design in
'_"=- .. ~ 1889; the 1889-90 issue appears to us to be
Sunwatermarked as far as we can see from single
copies, but it is just possible that the sheet wat-
.--.. ermark of the Boris issue was in use for that of
"" . 1889-90.
-- We were extremely interested in these Bul-
S- garian sheets, and Mr. Glasewald informed us that
-- -- he still had a stock of them. He very kindly al-
lowed us to have the twenty-five sheets he had in
stock, which had formed part of the remainders,
Figure 4: Russian watermark as shown in a block of eight so that they were still in exactly the same order
stamps. The perforations show the size of the stamps. as they were received from the printing office.

Rossica Journal Number 133 27
October 1999

Figure 5: Russian watermark in a sheet of stamps, Figure 6: Russian watermark in a sheet of stamps,
showing corresponding letters in the two lines exactly showing the bottom row of letters misplaced to the left.
one above the other.

From these sheets we drew the following In illustration 8 we reproduce the water-
conclusions: In each sheet there are some thir- mark as it appears on the whole sheet of paper,
teen horizontal waved serpentine lines, and the and from it we draw the following conclusion,
letters vary in the relative positions which they viz.: that the dandy roll was composed of a
occupy. Some of the sheets show corresponding number of wires close together running across it
letters exactly vertically one above the other, as from side to side, which wires formed the laid
in illustration 5; others show the bottom row lines seen on the paper. The wires forming these
misplaced to the left, as in illustration 6, or to laid lines, which are not shown in our illus-
the right, as in illustration 7. In the twenty-five trations, were themselves crossed at right angles
sheets the three varieties were divided as follows: by other wires encircling the dandy roll, and the
lines thus formed are the vertical lines shown in
With the same letters vertically one above the other: lines thus formed are the vertical lines shown in
the illustrations. The wires then that formed the
ten sheets, of which two sheets had the
watermark reversed, and three sheets had vertical lines were the supports of the layer of
watermark reversed, and three sheets had

the watermark inverted; finer wires running across them, which formed
the watermark inverted;
a network right round the dandy roll. As a mat-
With the letters misplaced sideways: eleven sheets:
Bottom row to the right, seven sheets, and ter of fact, ordinary laid writing paper is made
bottom row to the left, four sheets, of with a similar dandy roll. On the network of
bottom row to the left, four sheets, of
which one sheet with inverted watermark; wires other wires were soldered serpentine fash-
which one sheet with inverted watermark;
ith one ro only o letters or sheion across the dandy roll from edge to edge, and
With one row only of letters: four sheets.
in about every fourth row of spaces the letters
Thus it will be seen that the proportions were formed in metal.
with evcely placed and misplaced watermarks It follows that on the dandy roll there
are abou- equal. should be no less than thirty-two waved serpen-

28 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

t. \ -- \ i ,- I- -
\.f ,- ., ^1", i .,-,, I r '-. j

}xactly p \icay if ' i ',--e ^ -^ i "" i?
t "
S-i', ;'.
-- II-)
-fr

Figure 7: Russian watermark in a sheet of stamps,
showing the bottom row of letters misplaced to the right.

tine lines, in order that similar letters might be j
repeated in every fourth row of diamonds lying f
tine lines, inu orer thatsimilar letters mh t be;.

exactly vertically in line with the row above it. ,". \
It is, however, probable that the waved lines \ "i
were only repeated thirty times, so that to ob- .f V
tain four sets of letters equidistant one row from I .f | '*' i
the other, they had to place the letters slightly
higher or slightly lower, in the row of diamonds N
half a space to the left or to the right of the
proper row, thus getting the letters half a space
SFigure 8: Russian watermark in an entire sheet of paper.
In any case we are of the opinion that no
mistake was made in placing the letters on the
dandy roll, but that they had to be soldered on shown in that illustration would begin to be re-
slightly out of place owing to the number of peated. From that fact it follows that in one
serpentine lines not being divisible by four. We fourth of any given number of sheets the letters
conclude that the rows of letters were repeated would appear misplaced to the right; and an-
four times on the sheet, from very careful exam- other quarter, misplaced to the left; and in one
nation of the twenty-five Bulgarian sheets al- half all the letters would be vertically in line.
ready referred to. A complete turn of the dandy It is quite clear that the size of a sheet of
roll would cause the watermark to consist of six stamps bore no relation to the positions of the
more serpentine lines than are shown in illus- rows of letters in the watermark, but that the
traction 8, and on these the top row of letters paper as it was delivered was cut into sheets of

Rossica Journal Number 133 29
October 1999
October 1999

-iJ"

in line with each other.

a suitable size for printing; thus the rows of one another if a second row had been visible;
letters are found in all sorts of positions in the seven waved, serpentine lines were visible below
sheets of stamps. The rows of letters occur at the row of letters, so had the sheet belonged to
various heights in the sheets, generally twice, the group in which a row of letters was mis-
once at the top and once at the bottom. The placed, the upper portions of a second row of
nearer one row is to the middle of the sheet, the letters would have been just visible. As the let-
closer the other row approaches to one of the ters were not visible, it was evident that they oc-
edges, and when one row is seen in the bottom curred below the eighth waved line, and so we
row of the top half of the sheet, the lower row conclude that the letters in the two rows must
of letters will have entirely disappeared. In such have been placed vertically in line.
sheets only a single row of letters is visible, as in We would make it clear that many sheets of
illustration 9. In the case of such sheets it can stamps appeared to show no letters at all in the
only occasionally be determined whether they watermark, and that because the letters do not
belong to those in which similar letters are always come even with the edge of the sheet.2
placed vertically below one another, or to those The plate in these cases ends on both sides just
in which one row is misplaced sideways (or rath- outside the letters of the watermark, and on the
er would be misplaced if a second row showed); edges of the sheet we only see the ramifications
thus we cannot reckon sheets showing only one of the waved serpentine lines and the laid lines
row of letters in our analysis of groups. Of the of the paper. Of course, this can only occur
four sheets previously mentioned which were in when two rows of letters are placed one ver-
that condition, we were only able to determine tically in line with the other, or when there is
the group in the case of one sheet, in which the only one row of letters in the sheet.
letters would have been placed vertically below As we get reversed and inverted water-

30 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

marks, it is pretty obvious that the stamps were zontal, or eighteen sheets with vertical water-
not printed on an endless roll of paper, but that mark. But the use of a sheet of such dimensions
the latter was cut up into sheets; otherwise, in a is extremely unlikely, as printing machines are
small number of sheets we should not find the made to take sheets of paper which are wider
varieties already referred to, which would occur than they are long, so that if we accept sheets
in large quantities were our hypothesis not cor- measuring 95x147 cms., we must admit sheets
rect, owing to a whole roll of paper being in- measuring 190x147 cms.; and so far as we
correctly placed in the printing machine. We know, paper nearly two metres wide cannot be
may convince ourselves of the accuracy of our had watermarked! We wish that we had more
statement by referring back to earlier issues, in material to enable us to go deeper into this in-
which vertically laid paper is extremely rare, teresting question.
which certainly proves that the printing did not
take place on endless rolls of paper.
In all sheets showing vertical laid lines the Endnotes
rows of letters must also naturally appear ver- 1. The issue referred to is called the 1868-71
tically, as in the sheet mentioned previously, viz. issue in S. G.'s Catalogue, in which the
the one kopeck of the 1889 issue, which is heading reads: "Watermark wavy lines far
marked "A. 03. E" in the yellow color of the apart, small portions only showing on most
stamp in the upper left-hand margin, signifying stamps." The list is divided into stamps on
that the sheet was printed in 1903. horizontally and vertically laid paper.
In sheets showing the rows of letters placed 2. We presume from this that the letters do
vertically, it is equally possible that two such not run the whole way across the sheet of
rows should appear in one sheet; the width of a paper, but there is room for a sheet of
sheet is sufficient to accommodate eleven waved stamps to be printed at one side of the pa-
serpentine lines, and, as we see in illustration 10, per, or between two groups of letters. (ed.,
repetition of the letters requires only ten waved G.S.W.)
lines, even when the letters are exactly in line.
In the case of one row being misplaced, the oc- Translated from the Deutsche Briefmarken-Zeitung
currency of two rows of letters in a sheet would with the kind permission of the author and pub-
be still more likely. lisher, and originally printed in Gibbons Stamp
It remains to us to endeavor to put all our Weekly, volume 10 (21 August 1909): 184-186,
conclusions together in order to ascertain, if it and (28 August 1909): 202-204.
be possible, how a sheet of stamps was placed in
the printing machine. It is evident that the sheets
as printed must have been exceedingly large, and,
comparing sheets containing vertical rows of
letters with those containing horizontal rows, we
have sheets with a minimum width of 95 cms.,
from which could be cut four sheets with hori-
zontal rows of letters or three sheets with ver-
tical rows. According to the same proportion the
length of the sheet must have been 147 cms.,
from which could be cut five sheets with hori-
zontal or six with vertical watermark. Thus a full
sheet should measure 95x147 cms., from which
could be cut twenty sheets of stamps with hori-

Rossica Journal Number 133 31
October 1999

The Romanov Zemstvo Connection

by George G. Werbizky

Introduction quite awhile I ignored this question, but finally
Rabbi L. L. Tann has written extensively I have decided to explore it.
on the 1913 Romanov issues. Scott Catalogue Few examples have been found, even far
states that the seventeen stamps were issued "in fewer than I expected. First, let us look at the
commemoration of the tercentenary of the Romanov-zemstvo mixed franking items that
founding of the Romanov dynasty." There were were found after examining about three hundred
subsequent overprinted issues and the so-called zemstvo covers. Interestingly, in O. A. Fabergs's
money stamps. These issues are outside of this book Imperial Russia Zemstvo Post, there is not a
article's consideration, the aim of which is to single cover shown with a mix of zemstvo and
find zemstvo covers with both zemstvo and Romanov stamps, while the mix of arms-type
Romanov stamps. This idea belongs to Rabbi and zemstvo stamps is well represented.
Tann, who mentioned it to me either in private The following examples are arranged by
correspondence or in one of his articles. For denomination, one kopeck and higher.

> .

.--- -- - -.-< *-"-----

Figure 1: Ust sysol'sk 2-kopeck zemstvo stamp with 1-kopeck Romanov on a lettercard.

32 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999
October 1999

The next example is a three-kopeck Ro-
manov stamp on a postcard with a scarce
Bugul'ma zemstvo postage-due handstamp
dated 7 June 1914.

:^ ^ 9 ^- ^ ^ i'.i., .I,.-j .^.

M " tw, / ,-

,,fU 0 14

Figure 2: 3-kopeck Romanov stamp along with a Bugul'ma zemstvo postage-due handstamp.

Rossica Journal Number 133 33
OctoberFigure 2: 3-kopeck Romanov stamp along with a Bugu1999ma zemstvo postage-due handstamp.
Rossica Journal Number 133 33
October 1999

The seven-kopeck Romanov stamp is found
more frequently. This was the rate for a first-
class letter, and it is not surprising that three
covers were found, two with Ust'sysol'sk zem-
stvo stamps and one from Kamyshlov zemstvo.

4'-

Figure 3: 7-kopeck Romanov stamp on a cover from Ust'sysol'sk.
The cancel is a Riga-Tukkum railway handstamp nice!
The zemstvo stamp is on the back of the cover, shown above with the front of the same cover.

34 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

The next seven-kopeck example is a Ro-
manov stamped envelope. In general, any zem-
stvo or imperial stationery with zemstvo stamps
is scarce, and even more difficult to find with a
three-kopeck semi-postal stamp. Here again it is
the Ust'sysol'sk zemstvo that handled this
postal item.

an Ust'sysol'sk zemstvo stamp.
October 19
.I i- -I i

an st sysol 'sk zemstvo stamp.

Rossica Journal Number 133 35
October 1999

The ten-kopeck example is not a complete to St. Petersburg, to Fp (ap4) Count G. Vitte or
cover. The cover must have been interesting be- Witte. The Witte family was a faithful servant of
cause thirty (!) kopecks' worth of Romanov Russia. Sergei Witte was the Minister of Finance
stamps were used. It could have been a heavy (1892-1902), while S. Y. Witte was head of the
cover requiring higher franking, or maybe a reg- Council of Ministers in 1905. Anyone with in-
istered item. formation on G. Witte (see cancel date of 19
The cover on the next page is of special September 1913) is invited to send it to me, if
interest to me. It was sent from Shatsk zemstvo not the rest of us.

Im

Figure 5: 10-kopeck Romanov stamps along with an Irbit zemstvo 4-kopeck stamp.

36 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

SitI

October 1999
^ -- --- --------ff-- F- ---- :.,-

Figure 6: A registered cover from Shatsk zemstvo to St. Petersburg with a 14-kopeck Romanov stamp
and a pair of Shatsk zemstvo stamps.

Rossica Journal Number 133 37
October 1999

A final example of the Romanov-zemstvo along with a handstamp of Military Censor No.
connection is this cover mailed to England. The 602. The zemstvo connection is the round hand-
envelope was opened, resealed, and censored, as stamp on the back of the cover, which reads:
was the practice among all World War I "The committee of the South-Western Front,
participants. There are two censor's marks All-Russian Zemstvo Union, 27th Epidemi-
applied in St. Petersburg: No. 38 and a paper logical Detachment." This cover is in the
seal of the St. Petersburg Military Censorship, category of a "collateral zemstvo."

V_| IN
7..7

Figure 7: World War I cover mailed to England by the zemstvo auxiliary detachment, opened and censored.

38 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

Conclusion
Why are Romanov-zemstvo joint rankings stocked with arms stamps; they had no need for
scarce? The answer is reasonably straightforward. further supplies of similar value, and as they
By 1913, the need for zemstvo postal services were not part of the imperial postal system, I do
had significantly diminished because the imperial not think Romanov stamps were issued to them.
postal system, through its route expansion, ne- The occasional and, as we can see, scarce -
gated the need for the zemstvo post. Further, use of Romanov stamps with zemstvos was
many post offices, stocked with arms-type issues, caused by the sender having some of them with
used these stamps; it is not clear how wide was him/her at the time.
the distribution of the Romanov tercentenary I have seen two or three covers with Ro-
stamps. It certainly is of interest to have our manov-zemstvo rankings that were clearly phil-
readers report on the joint use of Romanov- atelic, although they had genuinely gone through
zemstvo stamp denominations not shown here. the mails. From the items shown here, we can
Rabbi Leonard Tann, after gratiously re- see that the period covered was not just a 'nar-
viewing this article, was kind enough to add row time-band' in 1913, but beyond into 1915
these comments: "I'm very glad that George or later. One might conjecture that there ought
Werbizky has as it were taken up my chal- to be more items of Romanov-zemstvo use. Let
lenge on this subject. True, by the time the us see if in the course of time they emerge.
Romanov stamps/stationery were issued, the im- I think, in its way this is a 'ground-breaking'
perial postal system was very highly developed, article. I do not recall anything in any of the
Further, in his conclusion, I think that our re- journals on the subject of Romanov-zemstvo
spected member George touches on an impor- use. From this collector at least, a warm thanks
tant point: the zemstvo post offices were well to George."

Freundeskreis der RuBlandphilatelisten in Deutschland
(German Circle of Russian Philately)

Wanted: Zemstvo Stamps and Covers

We are looking for good Air-Mail Covers from Russia and the USSR,
also "DERULUFT Envelopes"
(Send offer with photocopy)

Please contact: Peter Kaczinski
Kappelbergweg 16
D-71332 Waiblingen
GERMANY

Rossica Journal Number 133 39
October 1999

Russian Zemstvo Free-Frank
Paper Seals

by Bill Nickle

The zemstvo stamps and paper free-frank which details the thirty-three provincial (guber-
seals, which were used in rural Russia from niya) governments and the 165 stamp-issuing
1865 to 1917, are an interesting and compelling districts (uezd). In all, Speers listed four hundred
part of Russian philately. The number and vari- zemstvo districts, many of which, though non-
ety of these issues are surprising, with Chuchin stamp issuing, had official paper seals to move
(1984) listing more than three thousand stamps the mail. Marcovich presented seventy-nine non-
from 165 zemstvo districts. In addition, the zemstvo paper seals of various government agen-
zemstvos produced thousands of paper free-frank cies, war departments, ministries, state banks,
seals that were used to disseminate mail and pack- embassies, and other institutions. Murdoch
ages across the rural areas of European Russia. points out similarities between zemstvo stamps
These stamp-like seals and zemstvo stamps were and seals, and says that according to the dates on
used to supplement the official stamps issued by his covers, the seals reached their peak around
the imperial government. 1880. The 1878 date is common on my thirty-
As the volume of mail increased, the paper five covers, which agrees with his data. Wer-
seals were found to be easier to use. They re- bizky describes these seals as being an integral
placed the old wax seals and were affixed to the part of the free-frank mailing by various zemstvo
reverse sides of envelopes. The official mail of government officials and offices; he lists eighteen
the zemstvo administration was carried free of paper seals.
charge within the district but it was necessary to The purpose of this article is to document
identify it by sealing it with the official free- for future researchers some of the photocopyable
frank seal. An officially designated number, which paper seals and a few rubber-stamped seals from
identified the user, was prominently written on my collection. These include the seals used by
the front of the envelope along with the name some of the 165 stamp-issuing districts listed in
and address of the person to whom the letter or Chuchin, some of the thirty-three provincial
package was being sent. These seals were governments, some from the other non-stamp-
authorized for use by many government agencies issuing zemstvo districts, and a few other in-
and private enterprises. They come in all shapes, teresting seals. It is my hope that this will sup-
sizes, and colors. Some were simple and some plement Marcovitch's work and encourage
were elaborate. Covers during this period some- others to present their materials. Zemstvo free-
times had both official paper seals and a stamp of frank paper seals are not common and command
the imperial government. Near the end of the high prices, especially on cover, as this material
paper-seal era, we can find similar designs using was not saved by the rural population. Most of
a rubber stamp, often with lavender ink. the remaining seals are probably in large collec-
A review of the recent literature on zem- tions in Europe and Great Britain.
stvos and paper seals highlights the works of The following pages of seal material are
Speers (1960, 1964), Marcovich (1968), Mur- presented alphabetically. The color of the seal is
doch (1984), and Werbizky (1994). Speers' ex- also given. The black-and-white reproductions
cellent map of the zemstvo districts and prov- presented here do not do justice to these often
inces was complemented by his compilation, very colorful official-looking seals.

40 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

An analysis of the material presented shows Abbreviations
two hundred different paper free-frank seals dis. zem. bd. = district zemstvo board
from 114 zemstvo districts and nineteen provin- prov. zem. bd. = provincial zemstvo board
cial zemstvos, including seals from forty-two vol. ad. bd. = volost' administrative board
zemstvo districts and three provinces not listed
in Chuchin. I have also used thirty-two covers Captions
to help date the usage of seals. The 1878 date 1. Alatyr' dis. zem. bd. Red on white.
was common in this group of covers, as are the 2. Aleksandriya dis. zem. bd. of Kherson Prov-
imperial eagle, the town crest, and the word ince. White on red.
"packet". 3. Aleksandriya dis. zem. bd. of Kherson Prov-
I have presented a larger series of seals (fig- ince. Red on black.
ures 13-31) for the district of Balashov, which 4-6. Aleksandriya dis. zem. bd. of Kherson
in 1897 had a population of 12,000. Balashov Province. Blue on white.
had only two regular zemstvo postage stamps in 7. Aleksandrov dis. zem. bd. Black on white.
its stamp-issuing period from 1876 to 1880, but 8. Aleksinskoe dis. zem. bd. Blue on white.
it had more than twenty-five different free-frank Cover, 1874.
seals. One can see the variety of usages: courts, 9. Anan'ev dis. zem. bd. Black on red, also
schools, doctors, councils, treasurers, subdistricts, brown, also green.
etc. Consider also the small district of Ustyuzh- 10-11. Anan'ev dis. zem. bd. Blue on white.
na, Novgorod Province. Its population in 1900 12. Ardatov dis. zem. bd. Green on white.
was only five thousand residents. It is located in 13. Balashov dis. zem. bd. Black on white.
the north, near swampy tundra. Yet this district Cover, 1888.
produced twenty-three different (Chuchin num- 14. Balashov district school council. Black on
bered) stamps, and I have thirteen different seals gray.
from this district zemstvo board. The seal shown 15. Balashov district, head of 8th precinct, Sara-
in figure 177 can be found on eleven different tov Province. Black on white.
colored papers, which are the same as each of 16. Balashov district treasury. Red on white.
the major zemstvo stamp issues over the eight- 17. Balashov district zemstvo doctor, Saratov
year period of 1889-1897. Other small districts Province. Red on white.
had similar elaborate seals during the short life of 18. Balashov district, head of 6th precinct.
their zemstvo post. Notice should be taken of Black on rose.
the seals from the districts of Alatyr' (figure 1) 19. Balashov district, head of 2nd precinct.
and Toropets (figure 165), both of which had Black on orange.
short zemstvo postal histories. 20. Balashov district inspector of public schools,
As the reader can see, the zemstvo paper Saratov Province. Black on rose.
seals are a worthwhile part of the zemstvo mys- 21. Balashov, cityjudge. Black on bluish-green.
tique. I would like to correspond with other 22. Balashov district, Saratov Province.
collectors of zemstvos and zemstvo seals. Ol'ginsk volost court. Black on pink.
I am indebted to Leon Finik for providing 23. Balashov district, Cerkavksk vol. ad. bd.
much of the material presented; Dave Skipton Gold on black.
for help with some of the Russian; and Gary 24. Balashov district, Arkadask vol. ad. bd.
Combs and George Werbizky for reviewing the Black on yellow.
manuscript. 25. Balashov district, Police administration.
Black on white.
26. Balashov district, Krasno-Kalenskoe vol. ad.
bd. Black on rose.

Rossica Journal Number 133 41
October 1999

27. Balashov district, Meshcheryakovskoe vol. 57. Kaluga prov. zem. bd. Black on pink, also
ad. bd. Black on yellow, blue.
28. Balashov district, Trostyanskoe vol. ad. bd. 58. Kalyazin zemstvo, 4th precinct doctor.
Black on rose. Black on white.
29. Balashov district, Zav'yalovskoe vol. ad. 59. Kamyshin office of zemstvo hospital. Black
bd. Black on bluish-green, on white.
30. Balashov district, Andreevskoe vol. ad. bd. 60. Kamyshlov dis. zem. bd. Black on white.
Gold on yellow. Cover, 1878.
31. Balashov district, Rostashovskoe vol. ad. bd. 61. Kamyshlov dis. zem. bd. Black on red.
Gold on white, also blue, also peach. 62. Kazan dis. zem. bd. Red on white. Cover,
32. Bessarabian prov. zem. bd. Blue on white. 1878.
33. Byelozersk dis. zem. bd. White on orange. 63. Kazan prov. zem. bd. Blue on white.
34. Bolkhov dis. zem. bd. Blue on white. Cov- 64. Kazan dis. zem. bd. Blue on white.
er, 1875. 65. Kazan prov. zem. bd. Lavender on white.
35. Bolkhov dis. zem. bd. Red on white. Cov- Rubber stamp.
er, 1878. 66. Kazan' provincial zemstvo board, credit of-
36. Buinsk dis. zem. bd. Black on green. fice. Blue on white.
37. Buguruslan dis. zem. bd. Lavender on 67. Khar'kov dis. zem. bd. Blue on white.
white. Rubber stamp. 68. Khar'kov prov. zem. bd. Red on white.
38. Byeletsk dis. zem. bd. Purple on white. 69. Kherson dis. zem. bd. Red on white.
Rubber stamp. 70. Kherson zemstvo agricultural school. Black
39. Byelev dis. zem. bd. Blue on white. Cover, on green. Cover, 1877.
1878. 71. Kherson prov. zem. bd. Black on blue, also
40. Danilov dis. zem. bd. White on red. yellow, also orange, also green.
41. Dnyeprovsk dis. zem. bd. Blue on white. 72. Kholm dis. zem. bd. Black on slate blue.
42. Dnyeprovsk district, Dmitrievst vol. ad. bd. 73. Khvalynsk dis. zem. bd. Black on white.
Black on green. Cover, 1878.
43. Dmitrov dis. zem. bd., Moscow Province. 74. Khvalynsk dis. zem. bd. Black on green.
Black on white. 75. Knyaginin dis. zem. bd. Black on brown,
44. Dukhovshchina dis. zem. bd. Black on also blue. Cover, 1878.
green. 76. Konotop dis. zem. bd. Blue on white. Cov-
45. Elabuga dis. zem. bd. White on blue. er, 1878.
46. Elat 'ma dis. zem. bd. Black on white. 77. Korochansk dis. zem. bd. Black on white.
Cover, 1871. 78. Kostroma provincial district board. Blue on
47. Elat'ma dis. zem. bd. Black on slate blue. white.
Cover, 1879. 79. Kostroma prov. zem. bd. Blue on white.
48. Gadyach dis. zem. bd. Black on rose. 80. Kotel'nich dis. zem. bd. Black on green.
49. Gadyach district treasury, Poltava Province. 81. Kovrov dis. zem. bd. Black on white. Cov-
Black on peach, also green, er, 1878.
50--51. Gadyach dis. zem. bd. Black on red. 82. Kozmodem'yansk dis. zem. bd. White on red.
52. Gorbatov dis. zem. bd. Red on white. 83. Krasninsk dis. zem. bd. White on red.
53. Gorodishche dis. zem. bd. Black on green. 84. Krasninsk dis. zem. bd., Smolensk Province.
54. Gryazovets dis. zem. bd. Black on white. White on red.
55. Ivanovo zemstvo hospital. Black on red. 85. Krasninsk dis. zem. bd. Black on grey.
56. Kaluga prov. zem. bd. White on red. On 86. Kremenchug dis. zem. bd. Lavender on
piece, 1880. white. Rubber stamp.

42 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

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44 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

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87. Kursk prov. zem. bd. Lavender on white. 116. Ostrogozhsk dis. zem. bd. Blue on white.
Rubber stamp. Cover, 1878.
88. Kursk prov. zem. bd. Blue, also red, on 117. Pavlograd dis. zem. bd. Black on green.
white. Cover, 1889.
89. Kursk prov. zem. bd. Red on white. 118. Penza dis. zem. bd. Lavender on white.
90. Livny dis. zem. bd. Blue on white. Rubber stamp.
91. Lukoyanov dis. zem. bd. Blue on white. 119. Penza prov. zem. bd. White on lavender.
92. Makar'ev dis. zem. bd. Black on white. 120. Pereslavl' dis. zem. bd. Black on white.
Cover, 1878. 121-122. Pereyaslav dis. zem. bd. Black on white.
93-94. Maloarkhangel'sk dis. zem. bd. Black on 123. Pskov dis. zem. bd. Black on lavender.
white. 124. Pskov dis. zem. bd. Green on white.
95. Mamadyzh dis. zem. bd. Black on white. 125. Rybinsk dis. zem. bd. Black on white.
96. Morshansk dis. zem. bd. Red, white, laven- Cover, 1878.
der, and blue. 126. Rybinsk dis. zem. bd. Blue on white.
97. Morshansk dis. zem. bd. Black on white. 127. Romanov-Borisoglyebsk dis. zem. bd.
98. Morshansk, Ryanzensk vol. ad. bd. Black Blue on white. Cover, 1878.
on white. Wrapper. 128. Ryazan' dis. zem. bd. Black on lavender.
99. Moscow dis. zem. bd. Black on white. 129. Sapozhok dis. zem. bd. Black on green.
Cover. 130. Sarapul' dis. zem. bd. Blue on white.
100. Mozhaisk dis. zem. bd. Black on orange. 131. Sarapul' district board. Light blue on white.
101. Nizhnedyevitsk dis. zem. bd. Red on 132. Saratov dis. zem. bd. Black on rose.
black. 133. Saratov prov. zem. bd. Black on rose.
102. Nizhnii Novgorod dis. zem. bd. Blue on 134. Saratov district and province, chief of 5th
white. precinct. Black on rose.
103. Nizhnii Novgorod prov. zem. bd. Blue 135. Saratov provincial zemstvo veterinarian.
on white. Black on blue.
104. Nizhnii Novgorod prov. zem. bd. Red on 136. Serdobsk dis. zem. bd. Black on red.
white. 137. Serdobsk dis. zem. bd. Black on pink.
105. Nizhnii Novgorod prov. zem. bd. Blue 138. Shadrinsk dis. zem. bd. Black on white.
on white. 139. Shadrinsk dis. zem. bd. White on red.
106. Novosil' dis. zem. bd. Blue on white. Cover, 1875.
Cover, 1878. 140. Shatsk dis. zem. bd. Black on green.
107. Novomoskovsk dis. zem. bd. Black on red, 141. Shatsk dis. zem. bd. Lavender on white.
also gold on blue, also purple. 142. Shchigry zemstvo board. Lavender on
108. Novopokrovskoe district zemstvo medical white. Rubber stamp.
doctor. Gold on red. 143. Slavyanoserbsk dis. zem. bd. Black on
109. Novouzensk dis. zem. bd., Samara Prov- white.
ince. White on red. 144. Solikamsk dis. zem. bd. Black on white.
110. Odessa customs (not a zemstvo). White on 145. Solikamsk dis. zem. bd. Black on cream.
green. 146. Spassk dis. zem. bd. Black on white.
111. Orgyeev dis. zem. bd. Black on white. 147. Spassk dis. zem. bd., Ryazan Province.
112. Orel prov. zem. bd. White on blue. Blue on white.
113. Osa dis. zem. bd. Gold on red. 148. Starobyel'sk dis. zem. bd., Khar'kov
114. Ostrogozhsk dis. zem. bd. Blue on white. Province. Green on white.
115. Ostrogozhsk dis. zem. bd. Blue on white. 149. Stavropol' dis. zem. bd., Samara Prov-
Cover, 1876. ince. Blue on white.

46 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

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81 82 83 84 85

86 87 88 89 90

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101 102 103 104 105

105 107 108 109 110
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111 112 113 114 115

121 122 123 124 125

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131 132 133 134 135

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156 157 158 159 160

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150. St. Petersburg dis. zem. bd. White on 182-183. Verkhotur'e dis. zem. bd., Perm'
blue. Province. Black on white.
151. St. Petersburg prov. zem. bd. Blue on 184. Ves'egonsk dis. zem. bd. White on red.
white. 185. Vyatka dis. zem. bd. Blue on white.
152. Staraya Russa dis. zem. bd. Black on white. 186. Vladimir dis. zem. bd. Black on white.
153. Sudzha dis. zem. bd. Black on white. 187. Vladimir prov. zem. bd. Black on white.
154. Sumy dis. zem. bd. Red on white. 188. Voronezh dis. zem. bd. Red on white.
155-156. Syzran' dis. zem. bd., Simbirsk Prov- 189. Voronezh prov. zem. bd. Black on white.
ince. Gold on red. 190. Vyazniki dis. zem. bd. Black on white.
157. Syzran', chief of zemstvo 1st precinct. 191. Vyshnii Volochek dis. zem. bd. Red on
Gold on red. white.
158. Syzran' district zemstvo doctor's assistant. 192. Yarensk dis. zem. bd. Black on white.
Black on white. Cover, 1913. Cover, 1878.
159. Syzran' district Sosnovyi solonets zemstvo 193. Yaroslavl' prov. zem. bd. White on red,
hospital. Blue on white. Cover, 1909. also blue.
160. Tambov dis. zem. bd. Black on blue. 194. Ekaterinburg dis. zem. bd. Red. Cover,
161. Tambov provincial zemstvo doctor. Black 1871.
on pink. Cover, 1911. 195. Ekaterinburg dis. zem. bd. White on red.
162. Tauride prov. zem. bd. Blue on white. 196. Elisavetgrad dis. zem. bd. Blue on white.
163. Tetyushi dis. zem. bd., Kazan' Province. Cover, 1875.
Blue on white. Cover, 1878. 197. Zadonsk dis. zem. bd. Blue on white.
164. Tiraspol' dis. zem. bd., Kherson 198. Zen'kov dis. zem. bd. Blue on white.
Province. Blue on white. Cover, 1878.
165. Toropets dis. zem. bd. Black on lavender. 199-200. Zolotonosha dis. zem. bd. Black on
166. Tsaritsyn dis. zem. bd. Blue on white. white.
167. Tsivil'sk dis. zem. bd., Kazan' Province.
Black on grey.
168. Tula dis. zem. bd. Blue on white. References
169. Tver' dis. zem. bd. Blue on white. Chuchin, F. G. 1984. Russian Zemstvos. J.
170. Tver provincial board. Black on white. Barefoot Ltd. York, England. 92 pages (re-
Rubber stamp. print of 1925).
171. Tver' prov. zem. bd. Black on red. Marcovich. E. 1968. "Russian Paper Seals."
172. Ufa dis. zem. bd. Black on white. RossicaJournal 75: 82-91.
173. Ufa prov. zem. bd. White on red. Murdoch, G. 1984. "Some Thoughts on Zem-
174. Urzhum dis. zem. bd. Black on red. stvo Paper Seals." British Journal of Russian
175. Usman' dis. zem. bd. Black on white. Philately 61: 50-57.
176. Ustyuzhna dis. zem. bd. Black on yellow. Speers, F. W. 1964. The Zemstvo Gazetteer. Bil-
177. Ustyuzhna dis. zem. bd. Black on eleven lig's Philatelic Handbook 30: 9-97.
colors. Speers, F. W. and A. Roy. 1960. "The Zemstvo
178. Ust'sysol'sk zemstvo board, chairman. Map." Rossica journal 24: 58.
Black on cream. Werbizky, G. G. 1994. "Free-frank Mail in Im-
179. Valdai dis. zem. bd. White on red. perial Russia." RossicaJournal 122: 76-84.
180. Valk dis. zem. bd., chairman. Red on
white.
181. Vasil' dis. zem. bd. Lavender on white.
Rubber stamp.

50 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

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171 172 173 174 175

or &.

176 177 178 179 180

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186 187 188 189 190

191 192 193 194 195

II9 197 18 19
196 197 198 199 200

In Postmaster Gan'ko's Footsteps:
Lokhvitsa Zemstvo

by George G. Werbizky

This is a footnote to Terry Page's (Rossica were canceled on 28 January, one on 1 July, and
No. 130) and my articles (Rossica No. 127 and one on 6 November 1910. Clearly, these covers
131/132) dealing with the Poltava zemstvo. It were prepared for collectors, ready to go.
was alleged that the Lokhvitsa zemstvo followed In a way I'm glad that the Lokhvitsa post-
Poltava practices in surcharging existing stamps master prepared these items, even though no
with new denominations, needed or not. Re- postal needs were served. The beneficiaries of
cently I acquired six Lokhvitsa zemstvo covers, the described manipulations were and continue
all unaddressed, with surcharged stamps. Figure to be stamp collectors.
1 below shows one of these covers. Four covers

Figure 1: Unaddressed Lokhvitsa zemstvo cover.

52 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

International Collector Societies

by Gary Combs

J ,.i ,

III

Figure la: Front of postcard sent by Baron Rosen to California in 1907.
Note the "Please exchange Baron Rosen" at the bottom center.

A couple of years ago, I purchased the rem- shelf. What happened next and the information
nants of a postcard collection. Actually, the presented in this short article is the "rest of the
"Stick" had already paid for his trip to the exhi- story" and another aspect of our hobby.
bition and felt sorry for me sitting there in my The credentials presented for Baron Rosen:
tattered clothes with hunger in my eyes and an Baron Roman Romanovich Rosen (1849-
almost empty wallet. The number of cards was 1922). Graduate of the Imperial School of
small, but they all had one thing in common: Law; entered the section for civil affairs in
reference to a postcard society. For whatever the First Department of the Ministry of
reason, I put aside the collection until recently. Justice, 1868; in the Asiatic Department of
In interchanges with other philatelists, I the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1872;
asked if anyone had heard of a Baron Rosen Vice-Consul in Yokohama, 1875, and later
from Tula, and presented what I thought were secretary of the Russian Mission in Yeddo
his credentials. At the recent exhibition in (Tokyo), in which capacity he remained
Nirnberg, Philip Robinson remembered my in- until 1884; Consul-General in New York,
1884-1890; Minister to Mexico, 1890-
terests when he discovered a postcard from Bar- 1884-1890; Minister to Mexico, 1890-
1895, to Belgrade, 1895-1897, to Tokyo,
on Rosen. After examining the postcard, I re- 1897-1899, to Munich, 1900-1901, to A-
membered the lot that was gathering dust on the

Rossica Journal Number 133 53
October 1999

SAPOH'b PO1;H I ,I.
BCEMrP 1ll l ) ,'TOBThIi ('a. ,,. P({'L ;. :
H EH AFH E q~rF0tdq iBEaE H ,.1
0 mrm. M &LE.

.&1j Q e Je.- J

Figure lb: Reverse of postcard sent by Baron Rosen to California in 1907.
Note the eltall 2635" at the bottom, lower left.

when diplomatic relations were severed; a Miss Ingeborg Hansen in Copenhagen be-

Minister to the United States, 1905-1911; tween February 1911 and July 1912. On every
second plenipotentiary at the peace negoti- card, the sender lists a "Globe" number. Person-
ations at Portsmouth, 1905; member of the
aons a Porsmouh, 1905; member of the al correspondence with Chris Puttuck initially
State Council, 1911.
tate C 1911. stated there was such a society and they claimed
Figure 1 is the postcard that Philip Rob- a membership near 100,000. Additionally, they
inson found. This is a very nice piece and may advertised in local media for members.
indicate that the good baron was a collector. The limited sample I have yielded post-
Well, at least he perhaps collected postcards with marks from the following locations: Revel',
postmarks. The card was posted in Tula in 1907 Riga, St. Petersburg, Pavlovsk, Luga, Warsaw,
and sent to the United States. It bears a pair of Bakhchisarai, Kiev, Moscow, and Kaunus.
the 1-kopeck stamps of 1902-1905. On the Member numbers include a "21" either
front we see the manuscript "Please exchange normally offset by a comma (1128, 21) or in
Baron Rosen." On the reverse, lower left, we parenthesis (1128(21)). Numbers noted are: 638,
see the notation "Weltall 2635." Could this be 1128, 1175, 1825, 1866, 2430, 2473, 2487, 2550,
a membership number in a collector's society? 2551, 2676, 2742, 2788, 2840, 3126, 3159,
Now that I have a captive audience, let us 3176, 3285, 3426, 3539, 3592, 3607, and 3701.
quickly move into the second phase of this dis- There are other marks about which I can-
cussion. The postcard lot had several postcards not determine the exact meaning. On many of
bearing information about an "International Soci- the cards there appear names like "Adele,"

54 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

"Bertha," "Martha," "Genoveva," and "Doro- Maybe these are really zemstvo marks? Care to
thea." Perhaps this is a name or something else? guess?
Perhaps they are chapter names? Many of the There appear to be four methods by which
members also include letters, numbers, and sym- the sender indicates membership in the society:
bols that may also mean further subdivisions of manuscript, handstamp, label, or a combination
their collections. Maybe this is really prison or of any or all methods. Names noted are: Adele,
censored mail and Dave Skipton needs to look Bertha, Dorothea, Martha, Genoveva, and Hed-
at it? Perhaps it is encrypted and Dick Dallair wig. The letters/numbers noted are: any letter
needs to be recalled to service? Maybe John from the Latin alphabet from "a" to "z"; the
Briggs can get a Grand Reserve by exhibiting it? numbers "2" and "3"; symbols -, *, &, and .

Handstamps indicating member number

Globe No. 2840 Globe No. 3126
S%, 4,. -

JOMANNES LEPSON
REVRL mm RUSSIR
Kl. Balesnol-Strasse Ho. 4

Globe No. 1175 Globe No. 2290

Clobus No25501. 00"ONOmOR
*E 1A711] 4 / .:*
.- -

Kj__ ^.,, 1

/1 Pul lowsky SawdL
SNGlobus N 2676. Balesnol-S e oo.
Globe No. 26761175 GlobeNo. 2290No. 1828

.K fSty4 CST..pETERSSm /3.^

Gb o5Globe No. 2550 Globe No. 1828

Labels indicating member number

Manuscript indicating member number

..

!z w

-d4,'/ C:j: ,'.0 I ., ,,< ^ .,,,<

56 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999
^^-t x^ L/ /t(~C_ / 4 C .

Examples of postcards observed

BOCEMPH1il iO'TOBMI
UNION POSTAL UNIV
OTEPIITOE IHCIMO. E
(,ITia nxbcxa.. .

S... . .. .... ... ...... .. ..

i7dea2? 6*-1&5

Card 1: Manuscript. Globe No. 3592. Moscow. "Adele." Letters: a, b, i.

U -

Card 2: Handstamp. Globe No. 1175. Riga. "Bertha."

Rossica Journal Number 133 57
October 1999

I BCEMIPIhIfl nOTOBbll C0103'b. POCCU *
UNION POSTAL UNIVERSELLE RUSSIE.
SOTKPblTOE QlCbMO CARTE POSTAL

...-.. ..
E u^ r c7^ -----

Card 3: Manuscript. Globe No. 3176. Village of Shalovo, Luga. "Martha b."

-BCEMIPHhl OqTOBbl CO13'b. POCCIS.
UNMON POSTAL UNIVERSEll.E. RUSSIE.
99&BMff -RiMfPT64 .- (CARTE POSTALE.- POSTKARTE
o R c-r uv -sum

---t- .. ...... ...... .

PutIowSky Sawod
Globus W 2676. (t ,9l''ei
-.. .. ..... ...

Card 4: Handstamp. Globe No. 2676. St. Petersburg. Letters: a, h, ", u, 1, v, z.

58 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999
October 1999

EE rTHO Union Postale Universelle. :
ce DpuuH o hr b bift Colw3. Pocein.
Russie. Carte Postale. Po t fkr
(C Z IN ,uA.)

Card 5: Handsfmp. Globe No. 2290. Revel "Adele, Genoveva." L*tte : a, e, z, &, *.
;?2 f ^ ^17 17 ,

0j i: n--- ..........
C-

October 1999
REVAL See-Allee in Catharinenthal

Card 5: Handstamp. Globe No. 2290. Revel'. "Adele, Genoveva." Letters: a, e, z, &, *

October, 2 1999 .. "3.' 0....

S................... ...

Card 6: Handstamp. Globe No. 1828. St. Petersburg. "Franziska(?)." Letters: n, f.

Rossica Joumal Number 133 59
October 1999

CARTE P A I*T4WKA

rue

OTiPr e-Re M 0.
.-* .... ...,_ _*-- -

47.. -'.c..

S. *- .-

4iOj. Whidwulto K, WoJilyhskllo w WariaiW. '4

Card 7: Handstamp. Globe No. 3126. Warsaw. "Adele, Genoveva." Letters: a, e, h, m, o, u.

OTKPMTOE JIIICSMO. :

5 zOctober 1999
Crr. 8:Mnsr-pr. No. 27 Ree Ltae

Azm.. .0-o Tpan6epri as O........t. 18.

Card 9: Manuscript. Globe No. 3176. St. Petersburg. "Adele." Letters: a, c, *, /2. 3/.

fiIrm- Mo-rib. -p( M .
MI 1t# Le wnle.. crimiEx
I I II II I

Card 10: Manuscript. Globe No. 2487. Bakhchisarai. "Hedwig."

Rossica Journal Number 133 61
October 1999

i Dru Hsa

SOD
1SD0 0s 4 -5AA

Card 11: Label and handstamp. Globe No. 2840. Revel "Bertha."
Letters: ah,b, e, i, h, k u, w, &.

-E.MIPHItq IIOITOBbI 00108CO PO0
V-- UNION POSTAL UNIVERSELLE. RUSSIE.
-KP lEfC. MO. -. C-ARTE POST

^...................... ....

Card 12: Label. Globe No. 653. St. Petersburg. "Adele, Dorothea."

62 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999
^2.^ > T ^ ^ /.'*elo

-Ss s^,^^^

~~' 5'

Cad1:Lbl lb N .63 t eesur."dlD rte.

62~~~~~~0~ Rosc oralNme 3

Ocoer19

OTICPbTOE 0.

Sf i I 1 ,-: ...........

Card 13: Manuscript. Globe No. 2551. Revel'.

BCEMtIPHrII II TORBLII CO IIK VJ,.. nil
UNION POSTAL UNIVERSELVl4i I^ ^

-P D T n H' -
6 /s
^o0 ". 9 1-J:- m o %t^

Card 14: Handstamp. Globe No. 2840. Revel'. "Adele." Letters: a, b, c, e, f, h, k u, w, &.

Rossica Journal Number 133 63
October 1999

rucksache r1

| .. .- -.. m o e i............ ........

S Clobus N2550. I
I. Kulikowsky

.... .... ... --

VY .r,: I. von der Ley, Reval. Nr.M88

Card 15: Handstamp. Globe No. 2550. Revel'.

Now let us mix it up a bit. If I did not include illustrations show two individuals from Moscow who
something from Moscow, Uncle Vinny would surely pay indicate a membership (?) in a "CCC" and give a num-
me a visit. Since I treasure what I have, compliance is a ber. All correspondence noted to date has been to the
must. Sorry Leonard, no choo-choos here. The following United States.

A- BC0EM i o i COlO3b. POCCI5. i
UNION POSTAL UNIVERSELLE. RUSSIE. .j "

...... ..
SIn -*- v _^ _-

Card CCC-1: Manuscript. No. 6520. Moscow to United States.

64 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999
October 1999

Postkarte Carte postal Postcard
Correspondenzkarte Cartolina postage Levelezb-Lap Do
Brcfkort Briefkaart- Brevkort Dopisnica Karta Koresponder
Tarjeta postal OTKprrroe nIcbMO Aonucna KapTa Cartao
Koresp a t! -k Weltpostverein Union postal ni

r P^^ 'rk^ **-.-^

MOSCOW, (Russia)-T 4/ 4 _
HArt lIkolak! Pe ...4 4 A .

Card CCC-2: Handstamp. No. 2373. Moscow to United States.

IH UqTOBb C01031..

Card CCC-3: Handstamp. No. 2373. Moscow to United States.
UNION POST&LE UNIVERSELLE
r/: OTUPUTOE nMCbMO.- CAR &^ PO

+j -----^-- -
.. .. .

..... .... MOCKea Moscou
lWA.st=lKxK~ CHHOfanbwab THnorpa(tli
0S6oumsal Typographie du St. Synode.
Ha 9mod cmopouib nutluemm moibKO adpecs. C6te reserve exciustv, 00Z./Jlf ': 0.

Card CCC-3: Handstamp. No. 2373. Moscow to United States.
Inset from front of postcard indicates the recipient is [member] No. 2130.

Rossica Journal Number 133 65
October 1999

Vi i W ,
- "" "-""---- "=--" ---"

MOCKBa-KpeMnb Moscou-Kremlin .. apoKaR nnouab Place Imp6riale.
WWf W WISW09Aot. G.G.G. 2373. .-. -'-
MOSCOW. (bnssia). Arat, Hlikolsky per., JA i8 ,*^-

Card CCC-4: Handstamp. No. 2373. Moscow to United States. Note name and numbers to the right.

One last item. Pat Eppel has several labels a "celebration" of the first year of exist-
(example above enlarged) that indicate the exis- ence? If not, what else?
tence of a Moscow Society. According to Pat, 2. In his catalog, Marcovitch lists these labels
"These are commemorative labels of the 'Mos- in five colors: red, blue, violet-blue, green,
cow Society of Postage Stamp Collectors." and black. I understand they are also listed
However, these labels do lead to a few in one of the Michel catalogs and that some
questions: of the colors listed there do not match
1. The dates "1858-83-1907." 1858 and 1883 Marcovitch. To further complicate matters,
are no problem. But what happened in there were seven copies of this label in the
1907? Could that have been when this so- Marcovitch collection, which was sold in
city was founded? These labels then being 1998. Unfortunately, I have only a black

66 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

and white photo of the collection. Now, blue). Or, could these last two be Marcovitch's
since Marcovitch was not in the habit of violet-blue and blue?
mounting duplicate material in his collec- Any member with information about any of
tion, are there really seven colors of these these societies is hereby cordially invited to send
labels? And, if so, what are they? You will the information along with photocopies to the
also note that mine are red (no problem), author so we can give this little story a proper end-
blue (or deep blue), and aqua (maybe light ing. Until then, it will remain mostly a mystery.

Russian/Soviet Stamps at Auction
Saturday, September 25, 1999
Sheraton Suites, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
Bids by mail, Fax, phone or e-mail also welcome
Featuring -
More than 40 individual Russian/Soviet lots including errors, Scott #1 #2 #10
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Also: U.S. & foreign stamps & covers, including U.S. Duck
Stamps, Private Die Proprietary Proofs, Agriculture Advertising
Covers, Taxpaid Tinfoil Revenues, Flight Covers, C.S.A. Stamps
& Covers, Canada, France & Area, Germany, Worldwide Lots, etc.
Plus: our usual selection of Postcards, Stocks & Bonds, Currency,
Autographs, Americana, 14th-19th Century European Documents,
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Poster Stamps, Expos, Political items, Checks, Old West, etc. #22c #40 #23a
For our high quality, photo-filled catalog send $5 to:
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SMichel P O T9C

Rossica Journal Number 133 67
October 1999

The Russian Field Post in the
Caucasian World War I Theater-of-War:
Addenda & Corrigenda

by A. Epstein

*. ,,,. JJn= 5 nOLITOBAF KAPT 4

tr,," / .e,.( ..,' N .. ,/l

(, '.. *. '1 < > .

n .... 02 -C ",7
:' "I .

"" ( *- /';- .T- / '
.... ;;<*- ."' ".. **. / i. ._. .. . .._- ..
... (

'. ,..' A d, / ,

As mentioned in my original article (Rossica remained with it until the end of the war or, in
No. 128-129 [October 1997]: 160-191), there the case of disbandment, were transferred to an-
were two headquarters FPOs in the Caucasian other army headquarters together with the for-
theater-of-war designated by the cyrillic letters mer army headquarters staff (e.g., the 5th Army
"H" ("I") and "3" ("Z") and attached, respec- to the 12th Army and then to the North Front,
tively, to the headquarters of the Caucasian or the 13th Army to the 12th Army). However,
Army and Commander-in-Chief in the Caucasus it seems that this was not the case in the Caucasus.
(later, the Caucasian Front). This attachment is Figure 1 above shows a free-frank soldier's
confirmed by archival documents. When trying postcard mailed at HQ FPO "I" with postmark
to retrace the locations of these FPOs, I started serial "e" applied on 20 May 1916. There is also
from the fact that all Russian headquarter FPOs a light, barely legible cachet of some Red Cross
in the European theater-of-war were once unit or institution. The message in Estonian be-
attached to headquarters of a particular army and gins with the words "Sent from Persia." How-

68 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

ever, the Caucasian Army HQ was never lo- Corps (later, the 1st Caucasian Cavalry Corps);
cated in Persia. In this connection, I remem- consequently, a Corps FPO could be attached to
bered a note in the British Journal of Russian this unit.
Philately (no. 59 [1982]), in which a postcard It can be surmised that, again, no FPO was
from Hamadan, Persia, was mentioned that had available at that time. To solve the problem,
a postmark dated 6.7.16 with the alleged text HQ FPO "I" was detached temporarily from
"POL. POCh. KRA GL. KV. R. K.", serial the Caucasian Army HQ and transferred to Ha-
"b" (i.e., almost the same as in the postmark on madan. This hypothesis is based on the existence
the card in figure 1 or Type HQ2 (figure 7 in of the postcards from Persia mentioned above.
my original paper) except for the last two letters. There remain, however, other questions.
While the cyrillic letters "JI" "H" (L. I.) are The first is when did this act take place. It is
abbreviations for "Letter I", the letters "P.K." impossible to answer this question definitely
(R.C.) could be deciphered as "Russian Corps", without documents and based only on these few
so I thought initially that a postmark of the FPO pieces of mail. One may suppose that such a
attached to the Russian Expeditionary Corps in transference took place either soon after the
Persia had been found and described in the Russian forces occupied Hamadan (in January
BJRP. Later, I abandoned this opinion and de- 1916) or when the corps received its official
cided that, taking into account the complete status (in April or May 1916). The first date
similarity of the remaining text on both post- seems a little more realistic because at the end of
marks, the matter was merely an erroneous read- 1915 the Caucasian Army started a large-scale
ing of letters because of an unclear strike (i.e., all offensive, the first stage of which ended with the
these postmarks actually belong to FPO "I"). In capture of Erzerum on 3 February 1916. Cer-
this case, we have, at least, two items of mail tainly, it would have been easier to transfer the
from Persia postmarked at FPO "I" within the FPO to Hamadan from Karaurgan or Kars,
time interval from May to August 1916, and this where it had been located before the offensive,
cannot be a coincidence. than later from Erzerum.
Hamadan had been the location of the The second question is how long FPO "I"
Russian Expeditionary Corps Headquarters from stayed with the 1st Caucasian Cavalry Corps.
January to August 1916, when the town was Evidently, the need for this FPO continued until
abandoned to the Turks. This force, which the arrival of FPO No. 162, which was specially
under the command of General Baratov landed destined for the corps. However, we still do not
in Enzeli, Persia, in October 1915 and soon know exactly when this happened: soon after
after were concentrated in Kavzin, was not a abandoning Hamadan or later? In any case, we
regular corps but rather a large detachment. can now state with a great degree of certainty
Thus, at best it had the right only for a Reserve that this FPO was functioning in Hamadan and
FPO. However, there was evidently no free was temporarily attached to the 1st Caucasian
field-post establishment at the time. While its Cavalry (Expeditionary) Corps HQ, at least in
headquarters was in Kavzin, the unit was served the period from May to August 1916.
by the field-post office opened there at least a One more problem connected with these
year before the beginning of World War I for events is which particular FPO served the Cau-
the Russian detachment occupying this region of casian Army HQ during and after its advance
Persia. Yet, when the headquarters was trans- from Karaurgan via Hassan-kaleh to Erzerum if
ferred to Hamadan, the lack of an FPO attached FPO "I" had been transferred to Hamadan prior
to it probably became obvious. In April 1916, to the offensive. It may have been HQ FPO
the detachment was given the status of a regular "Z", but it would have been much simpler to
corps and designated as the Caucasian Cavalry send this FPO from Tiflis directly to Hamadan

Rossica Journal Number 133 69
October 1999

instead of FPO "I". A more logical explanation casian Cavalry Corps HQ in this period: while
is that during this period, the Caucasian Army some sources insist that the HQ continued to
HQ used the services of the nearest corps FPO, stay in Ave, other sources point to Hamadan.
namely FPO No. 29 of the 1st Caucasian Army Thus, FPO No. 162 could have been located at
Corps, which advanced directly to Erzerum, either Ave (or Kazvin) or Hamadan. There is
captured it, and whose HQ later remained for still no answer to this question.
some time in the town. It is known definitely On the other hand, there are now some
that both HQ FPOs "I" and "Z" were func- indications that Reserve FPO No. 115 was
tioning in Erzerum in April 1917. located in Melyazgert in 1916-1917 and that
However, there is one more possible expla- Line-of-Communications FPTB No. 250 was at
nation of the FPO "I" postmarks on the mail Station Sophali of the Maku Railway in 1917.
from Hamadan, namely that this FPO was tem- In my original article, I suggested connections
porarily divided and some of the officials went between Line-of-Communications FPTB No.
to Hamadan while the other group remained at 242 and the 1st Kuban Infantry Brigade, and
the Caucasian Army headquarters. This scenario between FPTB No. 243 and the 2nd Kuban
could be confirmed if mail items from Erzerum Infantry Brigade. Both brigades were evacuated
with postmarks of FPO "I" could be located in the summer of 1917 to their native Kuban via
from this same period. the port of Enzeli. So the FPTBs lost their at-
Returning now to the Expeditionary Corps, tachment and could have been placed at either
there remains the question about the location of location on a more permanent basis. There are
FPO No. 162 during the second occupation of also now indications that Station Keprikei of the
Hamadan by Russian troops beginning in April Erzerum Railway was the location of FPTB No.
1917. The literature sources give contradictory 242 during the second half of 1917.
information on the whereabouts of the 1st Cau-

70 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

Additional Notes on the
American Relief Administration Courier Service

by Raymond J. Pietruszka

Ha'iaHK en peat.ns *neoot- -noMBW FL-cennu ;J vM 'eui
*e 6oe '"n.o E a.a'r, nfPOAOBOlbCTBE'iiiMH. nlOCdAflAMi .

to professors at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

tion that has been reported to me since the City or a European capital. During Phase 3,
publication of my original article on the Ameri- which partially overlapped the early phase and- "
can Relief Administration (ARA) in Rossica No ran from mid-May to June 1922, cards were
T*E -- -

Figure 1: Front of a card from the Don University in Rostov-on-Don
to professors at McGill University in Montrea, Canada.
The February 1922 postcard rate of 6000 rubles is paid with two 300-ruble stamps revalued to 3000 rubles each.

This article documents additional informa- at the courier destination, usually New York
tion that has been reported to me since the City or a European capital. During Phase 3,
publication of my original article on the Ameri- which partially overlapped the early phase and
can relief Administration (ARA) in Rossica No. ran from mid-May to June 1922, cards were
129-130 (October 1997). Four items are dis- canceled in Moscow. Phase 4, afterJune 1922,
cussed here: a new group of cards; cancellations had cards that were sent through the normal
used in Moscow; an early usage; and a courier postal system.
cover to a third country.
In the previous article, four phases of the A New Group of Cards
mailing of ARA cards were identified. Phase 1 In response to the first article, I received
was from late 1921 to mid-March 1922, in three replies with information on fourteen addi-
which cards were mailed without cancels but tional cards and letters. These items help fill in
with the correct postage. In Phase 2, from mid- some of the missing details. The new cards show
March until June 1922, cards with Russian a far wider circulation than previously seen
stamps had additional postage and cancels added before. Cards were from Rostov-on-Don, Kiev,

Rossica Journal Number 133 71
October 1999

S" ",JA,, ...-.-- .r s"

Figure 2: The most common Moscow cancels:
on the left is the Moscow machine cancel and on the right is the Moscow 5th Dispatch Office cancel.

Saratov, and Minsk, just to name a few of the would make them a large enough group to be
different locations. These cards are still dated considered a separate group of Phase 3 (group 4).
mainly in the April-to-June time frame, and The key characteristics of group 4 would
they follow the pattern of Phase 3 (i.e., canceled be: mailed between mid-April to mid-June
with current stamps) but with a major differ- 1922, bearing current postage (see note on pos-
ence: many of these cards passed through the tal rates below), and canceled in the city of ori-
regular Soviet mails and were not couriered gin. They sometimes have additional postmarks
through Moscow by the ARA. such as the three-diamond postmark of Moscow
This implies that a number of these cards or a postmark from one of the other major tran-
were mailed at the source and traveled through sit point cities. A key point is that they would
the normal mails. Of the ten cards studied, four not have only a Moscow machine or 5th Dis-
traveled through the normal mails. I surmise that patch Office cancel.
these were mailed by the individual who had
received the food package instead of turning A Note on Cancellations
them over to the ARA to be filled in and An additional point about the Phase 3 cards:
posted (figure 1). Is it possible that the bulk of at least two types of cancels were used. The
ARA cards were filled in by ARA personnel be- most common is the Moscow machine cancel.
cause the majority of the people to whom they Less common but still not rare is the Moscow
were delivering food were either illiterate or too 5th Dispatch Office cancel (figure 2). In order of
poor to pay the postage to mail the cards back? frequency, I would rate the Moscow machine
Based on the dates of these four cards, they cancel very common, used on about sixty-five
traveled concurrently with the bulk movement percent of the cards; the Moscow 5th Dispatch
of cards through the ARA's Moscow office. Office cancel, common, on about thirty-five
When added to the previous cards recorded, the percent of cards; and non-Moscow cancels, un-
data indicate that about five percent of the cards common, about five percent. I would not con-
passed through the normal mail system. This sider any of these truly rare.

72 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

'".'"I..'- ANRELF ADMINI- /
Sdelivering- packages
l afoodsiuffs from its
houses in RUSSIA. Write
to the -

u~iiniv < P.Rcmnance orpartm 'n!.
"'-New-Vo4

^ (nce
.ith st .
eief Administr
', PACKAGES.
""WE ARE iN GREAT HEED ,f "AcrncaJi
CFF.OODIN RUSSIA- ELP ;
uR SS! -. -A. DX;" E3.,

Figure 3: Card from Bryansk to Chicago. Early mailing.
1 February 1922 registered postcard rate of 7000 rubles paid with a 5th Anniversary Issue and missing stamps.

A Very Early Card
A great find in this lot is a very early card. as a transit mark as well as a Uruguay receiving
It is a registered card from Bryansk, dated 18 mark! The transit dates were: 21 April Moscow,
February 1922 and sent to Chicago, passing 3 June New York, and 27 June Montevideo,
through the regular mail (figure 3). The card ap- Uruguay.
pears to be missing 6000 rubles in postage,
probably five additional 6000-ruble stamps of A Note on Postal Rates
the Anniversary issue. The rate was 2000 rubles ARA cards did not always follow the pub-
for the card and 5000 rubles for registration. lished postal rates of the period. There is the
previously reported 8000-ruble rate and other
A Courier Card to a Third Country inconsistencies. With ARA cards, it must be
Also included is a card that wonderfully understood that most of them did not travel
shows the courier system at its best. Figure 4 through the Russian mail system and so it did
shows a card that reentered the mail stream in not matter. But in viewing these additional
New York and then traveled to Uruguay with- cards, there were several cases in which cards
out any additional postage. This is a Phase 3, that did pass through the mail system did not
group 3 card. It has 8000 rubles in postage, a have the current rates. With these cards you see
Moscow machine cancel, and is addressed to the problems of inflation and the availability of
Montevideo, Uruguay. In addition, it has a Var- stamps. For example, the postcard rate is 18,000
ick Street Station postmark of New York City rubles but the card is franked with 20,000 rubles

Rossica Journal Number 133 73
October 1999

:4* "-" ..
T _

Figure 4: Couriered card to a third country: Odessa via Moscow to New York City by ARA courier.
Re-entered mail at New York and delivered to Montevideo, Uruguay.
Franked with the unofficial ARA rate of 8000 rubles.

in stamps, or 121,000 rubles for the 120,000- ARA. If anyone has one of these cards please
ruble rate. Most interesting is that the card was contact the author.
franked with 200,000 rubles to pay for the I would like to thank the following mem-
120,000-ruble rate. The letter rate was 200,000 bers for responding to the first article and pro-
rubles. In two of the cases when it was over- viding photocopies of cards in their collections:
paid, it appears to be the result of which stamps Robert Taylor, Mike Ercolini, and Asdrubal
were available: one of these cards has a single 2- Prado. It is their contributions that have made
kopeck stamp and the other card has two 10- this article possible.
kopeck stamps. A point to remember is that the
difference in value of 120,000 rubles versus
200,000 rubles was equivalent to less than 3
cents! Being 10,000 rubles off at the end of the
day most likely didn't matter much.
A final comment about the cards is that I
still have not seen a card postmarked after July
1922 that was used as designed. Cards have been
reported used after that date but as private
stationery, not as the food receipt cards of the

74 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

Revenue Stamps of Soviet Ukraine

by Ingert Kuzych and Viktor Mohylny

The 1918 documentary and theater fiscal
stamps of independent Ukraine have been thor-
oughly described in two articles by Val Zabijaka
(references 3 and 4). Far less well known, how-
ever, are the revenue stamps issued between
1919 and 1922 by the Soviet Ukrainian govern-
ment. Six of these values that we have been able
to document are described below. If you think
the "regular" revenue issues of 1918 are difficult
to track down, particularly used, the Soviet Uk-
rainian emissions present an even greater chal-
lenge. They are extremely rare.
All of the Soviet Ukrainian issues were pro- Figure 1: The first Soviet Ukrainian revenue stamps,
duced and released in Khar'kov (Kharkiv), the issued in 1919.
capital of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Repub-
lic' from 1920 to 1934. The first two stamps, Figure 2 shows a document dated 13 October
from 1919, are simple overprints on the myrtle 1922 with two pairs of 50-kopeck revenue
green 50-shahiv value of the documentary fiscal stamps. A number of other such fiscal docu-
issue released a year earlier by the independent ments are known; the earliest recorded date is
Ukrainian government. The first overprint was 11 October 1922. Figure 3 shows a mint 15-ko-
made with violet ink using a hand-held device, peck value from this set.
Two lines reading upward state: OAHH Py6 / 1 From 25 November 1920 to 1 April 1922
Py6 (One Rub./1 Rub.). The second overprint a period of runaway inflation revenue
was lithographed using black ink; it obliterates stamps were not used in the Ukrainian Socialist
the old value and underneath adds: PYB 40 JIEf Soviet Republic. It is quite probable that the
(RUB 40 LES) (figure 1).2 new set of revenue stamps was printed between
The remaining four stamps were printed as April and October 1922. However, it is also a
a set and date from 1922. They are listed in good possibility that this set was printed some-
Maksymczuk's 1962 catalog (page 31) as time in 1919-1920, but not released because
"Revenue Stamps of the People's Commissariat inflation would have rendered the issue useless.
of Finances USSR. Soviet Emblem. Inscription The abbreviation on the 1922 stamps is
in the Ukrainian language: 'Revenue Stamp'.'" actually incorrect for its time, as the initials read
1. 15 kop. red/yellow "YCCP" (USSR/Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Re-
2. 30 kop. raspberry/pink public in Russian). This Russian inscription is
3. 40 kop. blue/yellow also found on the coat of arms of Soviet Uk-
4. 50 kop. bronze/ochre raine in 1919, but three years later it should
have read "YCPP" (USRR, for Ukrainian So-
cialist Soviet Republic).

RossicaJournal Number 133 75
October 1999

".a" Y'- ,

1-2

Figure 2: A document with two pairs of 50-kopeck Ukrainian revenue stamps.
7fi~L CL K ;,, h/ j

76 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999
October 1999

Lindner T album pages
with preprinted stamps
pages DEM (US$)*
Russia
1918-1923 9 28.00 (16.47)
1923-1934 29 92.00 (54.12)
1935- 1944 45 144.00 (84.71)
1945-1949 57 182.00 (107.05)
1950- 1956 52 166.00 (97.65)
Figure 3: A 15-kopeck Ukrainian revenue stamp 1957 1960 55 176.00 (103.53)
of the 1923 issue. 1961 1963 47 150.50 (88.24)
1964-1966 55 176.00 (103.53)
1967-1969 47 150.00 (88.24)
Notes 1970- 1973 58 185.00 (108.82))
S. 1974- 1976 42 134.00 (78.82)
1. The Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic 1977-1979 47 150.00 (88.24)
was renamed the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist 1980- 1982 39 124.00 (72.92)
Republic in 1937. 1983- 1986 52 166.00 (97.65)
2. There is one more overprint on the 1918 1987- 1989 44 140.00 (82.35)
50-shahiv revenue stamp. It was made in
Rostov in 1919 and is properly classified as Ukraine
a Russian revenue stamp. Its violet, 1992- 1997 20 64.00 (37.64)
Russian-language inscription (made with a
in-n in iin iRingbinder 1104 (for about 50 pages) 48.00 (28.24)
handstamp) reads "Boop. CHJn IOra 1104 + slip case 814 73.00 (42.95)
PocciH" (Military Forces of South Russia). (burgund/blue/green/tan/black)
3. Maksymczuk's catalog incorrectly lists this Lump sum for surface postage
issue as having been released in 1923. and bankers fee 17.00 (10.00)
Michel catalogs
References EuropaEast 1998/99 59.80 (35.18)
Maksymczuk, Julian G. Catalog of Foreign Private Central & East Asia 1999 84.00 (49.41)
Stamps and Entires, Cancellations, Revenue Stamps, (incl. Asian countries of former USSR)
and Flap Seals Pertaining to Ukraine [in Ukrain- For surface postage I charge DEM 5.00 (USS3.00) per
STcatalog + DEM 5.00 (US$3.00) for bankers fee
ian.] (Chicago: Ukrainian Philatelic Library,
1962), pages 30, 31, plate 2. Further catalogs, country albums and supplies on
request
Mohylny, Viktor. "Enigmatic Revenue Stamps *(subject to an exchange rate of DEM 1.70/USS plus
Labelled 'USSR'" [in Ukrainian], Ukrainian minus 10%. Other currencies are accepted for actual
Philatelic Herald 40 (1996): 50-52. exchange rates)
Werner Zielniewicz
Zabijaka, Val. "Ukrainian Revenue Stamps," Frankenweg61
Ukrainian Philatelist 39 (1977): 6-9. 45665 Recklinghausen / Germany
APS no. 139105, FAX +49-2361-87487
Zabijaka, Val. "The Ukrainian Revenue Issues
of 1918: Documentary and Theater Tax
Stamps," Ukrainian Philatelist 76 (1996): 97-101.

Rossica Journal Number 133 77
October 1999

More Siberian Surprises:
Comments on the Article by Ivo Steyn
and Something Else

by A. Epstein

In the previous issue of the Rossica Journal Omsk. The new face values were 35k, 50k, 70k,
(no. 131-132), Ivo Steyn introduced us to his 1r, 3r, and 5 rubles." In this case, we have only
impressive new findings in the field of Siberian an assertion unsupported by any documented
stamps and postal history.' In the present notes, evidence. The above date of issue appears to be
I would like to present some additional V. Yudkin's invention.
information as well as propose my own theory The date of May 1919 proposed by Ivo
concerning the origin of the Kolchak stamps. Steyn as the earliest date of issue seems more
realistic. However, my theory is that there were
The Kolchak Issue: Date of Issue actually two separate issues of Kolchak stamps, and
Based on the article by V. Yudkin,2 Ivo the reasons for such an assumption are given
Steyn came to the conclusion that the date of below.
this issue was May-July(?) 1919. Actually, that First, we should remember the fact pointed
article deals generally with the first two sets of out by Steyn that while the 35- and 70-kopeck
postal rates of "White" Siberia, which were values were used in a large territory, including
documented by references to the corresponding West and East Siberia, the Far East, and the area
newspaper publications of that time. As a matter of the Chinese Eastern Railway, the rest of the
of fact, nowhere in his article did the author say stamps are found used only west of Lake Baikal.
that the announcement about the second set of This did not happen by coincidence. An ob-
rates introduced on 15 May 1919 also men- vious guess is that the 50-kop., 1-, 3-, and 5-
tioned the overprinted stamps that were to be ruble stamps simply could not be delivered
used for franking mail. Actually, the correspond- farther to the east than Irkutsk because of the
ing phrase was formulated as an author's con- chaotic conditions in Siberia after the defeats of
clusion (that seems rather wrong to me) and Kolchak's armies in the summer and autumn of
reads: 1919.
Another reason follows from studying the
... The issue of stamps overprinted postal rates. History shows that during a shortage
with new values was occasioned not so of postage stamps of particular values, the sur-
much by the change of postal rates as charges necessary for the most widespread kinds
by [a] shortage at the postal adminis- of mail are the first to be manufactured. Up to
tration of postage stamps of the all- 15 May 1919, former Soviet postal rates were
Russian pattern with the face values applied in "White" Siberia: 20 kop. for post-
35k, 50k, 70k, Ir, and 3r. cards, 35 kop. for inland letters, and 70 kop. as
the registration fee. It seems there was still an
Indeed, the 5-ruble value is omitted here. adequate supply of 20-kop. stamps to frank post-
However, Yudkin's article begins with the fol- cards, but stamps with values of 35 kop. and
lowing sentence: "In December 1918 stamps of higher were in short supply because they had
Russia were overprinted with [a] new value in been used to frank the corresponding mail dur-

78 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

OTrtPLiToE ICLINIo.
CAITCE PoSTALE.Is=

B.WIHl. rICTio 4.X.1 TCbMA. ICCTro A.4AI AAPECA.
:-7,. ^io -- Ccc^ ,I / ,'
.. .... ........ (f e. /
lb 0- 44-i /, 46e L. -., h
/7 .2'.2 ', ..-t v .'k/ *, 2 '"'\. 4

*.. ".*' *,".a- --
-_q
.- ....... '
-0I I .l ... I .......

OT1EPIIr 0 'CO.cARTE P0 JTAb

""." ...... .... .'..... ..... .

.... .. ... ...... ... .... ...
.... .. ... ..... ..... .... .. . ... .. .
OTEo. P

... .............. -.. ...

Figure 2: A postcard franked with a single perforate Kolchak 70/1-kop. stamp, dated 10.9.20.

Rossica Journal Number 133 79
October 1999
o~eL ~ ~~ ~

October 1999

Figure 3: A letter with a declared value of 5000 rubles sent from Irkutsk to Omsk on 25.1.21.

ing the earlier Soviet period. So it was logical to money transfers, and parcel cards. This time,
surcharge the stamps of the lowest face value (1 basic arms-type stamps of the higher face values
and 2 kopecks) for use in franking ordinary in- (3-, 4-, 7-, and 14-kops.) were used because
land letters and to prepay the registration fee. It they were now unusable with the new rates.
could be that the overprinted stamps were ready However, the issue of additional surcharges
as early as May, although the decision about could now have been ordered long before the
their manufacture was made earlier, introduction of the new rates, i.e., not earlier
However, after 15 May the domestic postal than May. Some time was required for preparing
rates changed. The registration fee remained 70 the plates and overprinting the stamps. There-
kopecks, but the ordinary letter rate was raised fore, it is quite probable that the additional issue
to 50 kopecks. Therefore this value now became was effected only in July, and there remained
the most necessary, and a decision was made to time just for delivering these stamps only as far
issue another set of overprinted stamps of this as Irkutsk. It is very probable that this was done
value as well as in the 1-, 3-, and 5-ruble values, already after the occupation of west and central
which could be used for franking heavy mail, Siberia by the Red Army at the end of 1919.

80 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999
October 1999

p ...... ...........
\,' LTOE .IICLMO. CARI .POST4LE., /.

Figure 4: A postcard sent from Omsk to Estonia post-free.

as a usual arms stamp (ignoring the surcharge). I
used east of Lake Baikal. I would also like to like to discuss in these notes.
tions on the Chinese Eastern Railway. It seems that in October 1919, the domestic

i 3l-s1p ;

L T

Figure 4: A postcard sent from Omsk to Estonia post-free.

At least to me, these values are known to have revalued 10,000 times were generally used in
been used only under the Soviet administration. Soviet Russia for franking purposes. Conse-
So, such is my theory. quently, the Kolchak stamp was used in this case
as a usual arms stamp (ignoring the surcharge). I
The Kolchak Issue: Dates and Area of Use also have a loose 50/3-kop. imperforate stamp
Concerning the area of use, I can only con- cancelled on 30.8.22 at a place that cannot be
firm Steyn's conclusions, adding that beside the deciphered from the strike.
ruble values, the 50/3-kop. stamps were never There are two more points that I would
used east of Lake Baikal. I would also like to like to discuss in these notes.
add the information from Tchilinghirian and
Stephen that the imperforate 70/1-kop. stamps The Domestic Rates of Siberia Following
were used at the Dzhalainor and Yaomyn sta- the First Two Sets
tions on the Chinese Eastern Railway. It seems that in October 1919, the domestic
However, I can extend the period of use to postal rates were raised again. This increase was
a much later date. Figure 1 shows a postcard decided, evidently, on the eve of the evacuation
franked with an imperforate 35/2-kop. stamp of Omsk by the Whites in the second week of
with a very indistinct cancellation (from a worn November. As of yet, there are no available
device) on which the placename is almost illegi- documents on this matter.
ble (probably Omsk), but the 25.7.22 date is Items of domestic mail passed through the
quite visible. At the time, the ordinary postcard post at the end of 1919 but later items from
rate was 20,000 old inflated rubles or 2 rubles of 1920 are rarely found and their franking shows
1922, and unsurcharged imperial arms stamps considerable scattering. However, one can de-

Rossica Journal Number 133 81
October 1999

duce from the available material that the rates 19. There is another, quite illegible arrival or
were raised on to average three times the rates transit postmark.
of 15 May. The most probable rates seem to be
70 kopecks for postcards, 1 ruble 50 kops. for How was it done in the FER, with the
ordinary inland letters, and 2 rubles for regis- capital in Chita, before the issuance of
tration (the two latter were already suggested by its own stamps?
Steyn3). Covers franked with the stamps of the Chita
The most intriguing thing is, however, that definitive issue and posted in 1923 (i.e., when
these rates, including ordinary mail, were ap- the Far Eastern Republic [FER] ceased to exist)
plied also under the Soviet administration for are not too scarce. Much rarer are such covers
rather a long time, while in Soviet Russia the from 1922, to say nothing of those used at the
ordinary mail was sent post-free. This fact itself end of 1921. Almost nothing is known, how-
is not surprising: the same situation occurred in ever, about how the FER's postal service func-
Soviet Russia, but there the former rates were tioned before the issue of these definitive in
applied for only two to three months. November/December 1921.4 The FER was of-
An ordinary postcard posted at Omsk Sta- ficially proclaimed in April 1920 in Verkhneu-
tion to Perm' is shown in figure 2. The card is dinsk, and in October its government was trans-
franked with a single perforated Kolchak 70/1- ferred to Chita when General (ataman) Semenov
kop. stamp and cancelled by an oval station was chased out of his capital. Initially, the auth-
postmark dated 10.9.20. ority of this government was extended only to
Figure 3 shows a letter with a declared the western part of the Transbaikal area, while
value of 5000 rubles sent from Irkutsk to Omsk its eastern part, including Chita, was under the
on 25.1.21. The franking consists of three 3 administration of General Semenov and protect-
rub./7-kop. Kolchak stamps and four 20 kop./ ed by Japan. In August 1920, Amur province,
14 kop.-arms stamps revalued to 20 kop. each, with its capital in Blagoveshchensk which had
but one stamp of unknown value is missing earlier been ruled independently by a commun-
from the cover. The current postal rate of the ist administration, agreed to subordinate itself to
RSFSR for letters with a declared value was 5 the FER. In December the same was done by
rubles per 15 grams for the weight, and 2 rubles the Maritime Province with its capital in Vladi-
for each 100 rubles declared (or part thereof). So vostok, but this arrangement remained actually
the missing stamp most probably was another 20 rather nominal and ended in April 1921 after
kop./14 kop., for a total of 112 rubles., i.e., Merkulov's coup d'etat.
only 2 rubles overfranking if the letter weighed The postal activities in the Maritime Prov-
between 15 and 30 grams. The conclusion from ince (of the FER with the capital in Vladi-
all that has been said above is that the general vostok) are rather well documented by the
postal rates of the RSFSR were not introduced existing postal history material.5'6 A few covers
in Soviet Siberia earlier than 1 December 1920 also exist from Amur oblast', where local stamps
or, more probably, on 1 January 1921. The were used for franking mail.7 But how was it in
postcard in figure 4 from Omsk, with the the Chita area?
message written on 28 January 1921, was sent to Figure 5 shows a cover with a declared
Verro (Voru), Estonia, post-free, although the value of 12,010 rubles sent to Omsk from Chita
foreign mail should have been franked with on 28.12.20. The franking consists of thirteen
stamps; however, no postage due seems to have 20-kop.-arms stamps revalued to 20 rub. each,
been collected. The postmark of Omsk from an for a total of 260 rubles. This amount is in
extremely worn device has the date 3.1.18 or complete conformity with the above-mentioned

82 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

Figure 5: A cover with a declared value of 12,010 rubles sent to Onsk from Chita, dated 28.12.20.

rates of the RSFSR if we ignore the weight done in Vladivostok.' According to the govern-
charge (a minimum of 5 rubles, i.e., about two mental decree of 25 July (supplemented on 1
percent of the total franking). The conclusions September), new stamps of the original design in
are that the same postal rates as in the RSFSR, gold currency were to be issued, which actually
(at least for letters with a declared value) were happened by the end of the year. The face
also applied in the FER, and the same imperial values of these stamps corresponded to the new
arms stamps were used for franking mail during postal rates apparently adopted in the summer of

value stamps, such as the 5 kop. (= 5 rubles), at The new stamps were not yet ready by this
the Chita post and telegraph office to prepay the time, when the postcard shown in figure 6 was
weight charge. posted. This postcard, sent from Blagovesh-
However, because of the shortage of pos- chensk on 17 October 1921 via Moscow (cen-
tage stamps, on 27 January 1921 the FER gov- scored there on 17.11.21, see the oval postmark,
ernment ordered that special handstamps be ap- also a transit postmark of Moscow dated
plied to covers to pay the rates for internal mail. 18.11.21 on the reverse) to Tallinn, Estonia
A currency reform introducing the gold ruble (arrived on 23 November) was franked with a
was carried out in the FER (Chita) on 16 May 4-kop.-arms stamp stuck on the card's reverse (as
1921, i.e., nine months after the same had been is usual for the Esperantists' correspondence)
Rossica Jounal Number 133 83

October 1999 coer ith a deca, dte
rates of the RSFSR if we ignortae weight done in Vladivostok.3 According to the govem-
charge (a minimum of 5 rubles, i.e., about two mental decree of 25 July (supplemented on 1
percent ofrde total ranking). The conclusions September), new stamps of the original design in
are that the same postal rates as in the RSFSR gold currency were to be issued, which actually
(at least for letters with a declared value) were happened by the end of the year. The face
also applied in the m ER, and the same imperial values of these stamps corresponded to the new
arms stamps were used for banking mail during postal rates apparently adopted in the summer of

However, because of the shortage of pos- chensk on 17 October 1921 via Moscow (cen-

October 1999

.OARTE 0"T jd"'R
,, r' OSTKARTE 1 ARTfO. f
v' OTICPbITOE IIHC

1Ai

V .

Figure 6: A postcard sent from Blagoveshchensk, on 17 October 1921, via Moscow to Tallinn.

in accordance with the foreign postcard rate in 2. V. Yudkin, "Pochtovye Tarify v Sibiri 1919
force. The stamp was not cancelled, however, g.," Filateliya 9 (1996): 49-56.
and there is a postage-due marking "T" with 3. Ivo Steyn, "Siberian Postal Rates: A Re-
the sum of 20,000 written by hand in black ink, construction," The Post Rider 25 (December
probably in Moscow; there is another manu- 1989): 9-16.
script "8 nk" in red added in Estonia. The 28 4. V. Balabanov, "Mar Dal'nevostochnoi Res-

January decree said nothing about foreign mail, publiki," Filateliya v SSSR 2 (1980): 14-15.
so it remains for us to guess whether the stamp 5. Ivo Steyn, "East of Russia, West of Japan:
on the reverse remained unnoticed or whether The Far Eastern Republic, an Overview,"
such a franking was not recognized as valid. The Post Rider 19 (November 1986): 6-20.
6. Ivo Steyn, "The Far Eastern Republic:
New Information," The Post Rider 20 (June
References 1987): 70-73.
1. Ivo Steyn, "Some Siberian Surprises," Ros- 7. Ivo Steyn, "The Blagoveshchensk Issue,"
sica 131-132 (October 1998-April 1999): British Journal of Russian Philately 69 (Sep-
110-115. member 1990): 22-25.

84 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

The North Pole Overprints
of 1955-1956

by Dave Waterman

This issue has always been confusing to me.
I knew there had to be more to it than I could Type 1 Type 2 Type 3
find in the several catalogs I was using. Some 13.7mm 14.2mm 15mm
serious research and the von Rolf Weinbrecht g c CCCP
catalog have given me an understanding that I Ce
would like to share... rse' .C. ten. 0 C
There are three major types of overprints as -
well as two perforate varieties of this issue:
12x12.5, the common perforation, and 12.5, the
rare variety. The three printing varieties can be
distinguished easily by the length of the first line
of the overprint. This is the same for both the Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3
1-ruble and 2-ruble values.
The obvious distinction is the space be-
tween the words. The words all appear to be
the same size, but are farther apart on each type.
When two types are side by side, the difference Type 3 Type 2 w/dash missing
is seen readily without a magnifying glass. The
variety with the dash missing only exists as Type C
2. There is also a variety on Type 1 that has a
small open "c" in "Mockba" that exists on the .c... nome .c.. -I1.*'
2-ruble value only. The perf. 12.5 only comes
on Types 2 and 3, and with the dash missing on
Type 2.
The original overprinting was made in 1955
as Type I. There was a reissue in 1956, when
Types 2 and 3 appeared. Both of these are CCCp "
found on the same sheet, and so vertical and
horizontal pairs can be found (figure 4).
There are two types of fake overprints to be IA,.- nca.e*
found. One seems to have originated in Ger-
many, and the other in the Soviet Union. When
placed side by side with a genuine stamp, both
fakes are easily recognized. On the German fake,
the cyrillic letter "10" appears as "10" and the
color is off. The Soviet fake has a first line of Type 2 Type 2
17mm long. This fake is seldom seen in the
United States.

Rossica Journal Number 133 85
October 1999

Soviet Intercosmos Issues '78-'87

by Jeff Dugdale

Following the first international flight phases, the first nine flights, averaging a week in
(Apollo-Soyuz in 1975), between the late 1970s length, being packed into the period March
and 1980s the U.S.S.R. flew a dozen guest re- 1978 (Czechoslovakia) to May 1981 (Romania)
searchers in Soyuz craft to orbiting space stations with the other three stretching over five years:
within its Intercosmos program initially for France (June 1982), India (April 1984) and Syria
Soviet-bloc countries, and for each issue pre- (July 1987).
pared a three-stamp set. Additionally several With the exception of the Bulgarian and
miniature sheets celebrating various stages of the Hungarian issues, which are in 6.5 x 3.3 cm
project were issued by the Soviet Union, for vertical format, all issues are in 5.2 x 3.7 cm
example 50-kopeck sheets marking international format, all but three in horizontal format. The
space research in 1978 and for Space Day in standard face value series is 6-15-32-kopeck,
1980 and 1983. although the final three have vary considerably:
All Soviet and most partner country stamps France (6-20-45), India (5-20-45), and the
in the series bore the red, blue, and gold circular Syrian issue curiously bears the face values
project emblem whose central soaring image is 5-10-15 kopecks. These last three issues were
reminiscent of the Moscow Space Obelisk. This also complemented by the issue of a 50-kopeck
image appears to make its debut (in different miniature sheet.
colors) on 15 October 1976 on the 20-kopeck A study of the design of these three dozen
issue (Scott 4493) within a five-issue set marking stamps allows one to draw some fascinating in-
international space cooperation, two of which ferences. First of all, only thirty-five of the thir-
celebrate ASTP. Its demise comes on the 1987 ty-six designs were put on sale, the 15-kopeck
Soviet issues to mark the Syrian flight (Scott value for the Bulgarian flight (April 1979) not
5580-83 + miniature sheet); the next interna- being issued presumably because the design
tional flight (Bulgaria in June 1988) bears the showed a Salyut interior while the actual flight
new Glavkosmos symbol (Scott 5674). failed to dock and lasted only two days.
At this point issuing policy changed and Of the twelve sets, the first nine and the last
further "guest in space" flights were celebrated are stylistically very similar but in fact the de-
by the issue of only one stamp, commencing signs were shared between two designers and
with that second Bulgarian flight in 1988 and surprisingly because to me the differences are
sometimes no stamp at all was produced (e.g., undetectable the first four (Czech-Bulgaria)
for French cosmonauts Tognini in 1992, Heig- are by G. Komlev with the rest by Yu. Levin-
nere in 1993, and Andr6-Deshays in 1996, and ovsky. (Komlev and Levinovsky, along with R.
for the flights of Germans Merbold and Reiter Strelnikov, have dominated space stamp design
in 1994 and 1995 respectively), for the Soviet Union in the last twenty-five
This article suggests that the first twelve years with occasional input by others including
Intercosmos flights themselves would be an cosmonauts Leonov and Dzhanibekov.) Komlev
interesting sub-theme in a collection or a display and Levinovsky are also the designers of several
topic because there are many related curious pre-stamped items of postal stationery within the
aspects. Intercosmos era. In particular, Komlev prepared
The group of twelve divides into two some special cacheted and canceled envelopes

86 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

The Story of A(ny) Mission

ME)KI HAPQUHbIE fIO/ETbI B KOCM OC )( AOfIl1bBxf
E)WYHAPOblE nOwlO blB KO MO a-'.H XO ,r

-^^^ ^ -mm u p --------------

medical testing, centrifuge endurance, bus to launchpad, entering Soyuz

MEIJIYHAPOiUIiE OIET M 8KOCMOC E)KfYHAPOAHbIM 0 KO W ETbl j KO--Mt --A -X-oC- -
IIKIOMAOm, naM BKoc M"

(*3 "I0 I YTf CCCP'l980

docking, adapting to weightlessness, experiments and exercise, re-entry ME)K/fyItAPOHWblE
OUMETb KOCMOC

MENHIYHAPOHNblE I/EThlr B KOCMM.rr

.A jroC'CC''."98o0

soft landing in Kazakhstan, traditional capsule marking, arriving in Moscow as heroes,
post-flight press conference

Rossica Journal Number 133 87
October 1999

and cards for some Intercosmos flights complete in space" indicates more research activities, joint
with flight crew signatures of which only 100 technical work, and exchange of information,
were made. (He has also designed space stamps while the second phrase just relates to "joint
for some African countries.) flights."
The French and the Indian issues stand out The design concept of each set requires an
as being stylistically different, the latter in in-flight scene on the middle value to be sand-
particular. (The Indian set is not really about wiched between a scene depicting mission
manned spaceflight at all.) However, if we exam- preparation and an end-of-flight scenario. So the
ine the other twenty-nine stamps we quickly 6-kopeck values depict such events as medical
conclude that if the country flag was removed testing and cosmonauts waiting to enter their
from each stamp almost all are entirely unspe- capsule; the 15-kopeck stamps show docking or
cific with regard to which mission they relate. cut away to let us see on-board activity; and the
In fact, the design content of the issues for highest value stamps show undocking, re-entry,
Czechoslovakia, Hungary (?), Vietnam, and Ro- and landing scenes.
mania is absolutely and totally interchangeable! Given this and the "pick-and-mix" nature
Where there is mission-specific data it is of most of the stamps it is possible to shuffle al-
minimal and related to one stamp only: the most all of the issues and create a display which
Polish 15-kopeck shows the "Syrena" one could call "The Story of A(ny) Mission" as
crystallization experiment on Soyuz 30 (which I have done on the previous page.
manufactured cadmium-tellurium-mercury semi- My overall impression of the twelve sets is
conductor materials); likewise the East German one of innocence and cuteness largely due to the
15-kopeck mentions "Raduga"; the Cuban 32- highly colorful drawings of the cosmonaut
kopeck shows the cosmonauts writing in chalk figures which remind me of comic cartoon-strip
by tradition on their capsule after landing, but characters. With the exception of the Indian
mutatis mutandis this could have related to any issue, I suspect that a very high percentage of
ITn.ssion; if you look very closely at the the designs (and others not used) were done as
Hungarian issues you can see that the guest a job-lot early and following each flight an
cos nonaut has a mustache, and Bertalan Farkas official picked out three from each of the be-
did have a mustache, but then so did the fore, during, and after-flight pools of designs and
Bulgarian and Syrian guests! The Mongolian 15- had the designers append the national emblems
kopeck is indeed particularly mission specific as and year date. This might explain why the Syr-
it shows Mongol citizens in native dress ian set reverts to type after the stylistic changes
watching details of the flights on television and in the French and Indian flight stamps.
the Syrian 10-kopeck shows data being sent Particularly in larger blocks, all sets are de-
down to the capitals of the two countries and a lightful and a display bringing them all together
building in Damascus. only underlines their color and ever-so-slightly
One other difference is that the French and naive designs!
Indian issues bear a different legend from all the
others: With thanks for help to Alexander Kapi-
COTPYAHHHECTBO B KOCMOCE tanov, Yuri Kvasnikov, Barry Smith, and Mik-
"cooperation in space" instead of "international hail Vorobyov.
space flights,"
ME)KAYHAPOIHbI E IIOETbI B KOCMOC This article is reprinted from the March 1997
which is used on the first nine sets and which issue of Orb; The Journal of the Astro Space
curiously re-appears on the final Syrian set after Stamp Society, by the kind permission of the
a six-year absence. The first term "cooperation editor.

88 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

STAMP DETAILS SCOTT ISSUE DATE SOYUZ LAUNCH DATE
Czechoslovakia 4645-47 10.3 1978 28 2 March 1978
Poland 4670-72 28.6-5.7 1978 30 27 June 1978
East Germany 4690-92 27.8-3.9 1978 31 26 August 1978
Bulgaria 4747-48 10-27.4 1979 33 10 April 1979
Hungary 4835-36 27.5-4.6 1980 36 26 May 1980
Vietnam 4849-51 24.7-1.8 1980 37 23 July 1980
Cuba 4865-67 19-27.9 1980 38 18 September 1980
Mongolia 4921-23 23-30.3 1981 39 22 March 1981
Romania 4940-42 15-23.5 1981 40 15 May 1981
France 5059-61 + MS 5062 24.6-2.7 1982 T-6 24 June 1982
India 5241-43 + MS 5244 3-5.4 1984 T-11 3 April 1984
Syria 5580-82 + MS 5583 22-30.7 1987 TM-3 22 July 1987

Comprehensive Stock of Russian Material:
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Rossica Journal Number 133 89
October 1999

"Historic Ukrainian Churches":
The Stamp-Production Process

by Ingert Kuzych and Val Zabijaka

Figure 1: A block with the four designs.

Artist Yuriy H. Lohvyn is one of the most leased the set of four stamps in what has re-
prominent artists in Ukraine today, and is also mained its most elaborate emission to date. Five
a prolific stamp designer. Since 1991 when different types of panes depicted these stamps:
Ukraine once again became an independent one containing nine blocks of all four stamps (in
postage-issuing entity, more stamps have entered a 3-block-by-3-block, or 6-stamp-by-6-stamp
circulation bearing Lohvyn's imprint than any configuration); and four panes each carrying
other artist. Ukrainian collectors have twice eighteen stamps of one of the four churches al-
awarded him the Heorhiy Narbut Prize for best ternating with eighteen descriptive labels, ar-
Ukrainian stamp design' and his definitive series ranged in a checkerboard pattern.2
"Ethnographic Scenes" continues to be the Over the past several months, the authors of
workhorse of the Ukrainian mail system. In all, this article have been able to obtain items repre-
by the end of 1997, Lohvyn was responsible for senting three distinct stages of the production
twenty-seven of Ukraine's stamp issues. process for these stamps: preliminary drawings
Although not a prizewinner, it is his 1996 (signed by the artist), final essays (also signed),
designs of "Historic Ukrainian Churches" that and proof printings. Together these materials
have garnered the most critical acclaim from portray the evolution of this postal issue and
Ukraine collectors worldwide. The vivid colors provide a fascinating glimpse into some of the
used and the dynamic cloud patterns make for steps pursued by the artist in his dealings with
an appealing and eye-catching postal commemo- Ukraine Post. Before presenting our detective
rative set. work, however, a bit of descriptive background
On 25 December 1996, Ukraine Post re- on the stamps of this issue is necessary.

90 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

1Tahe Imag2 psle it G syees as the na 1653 ppul of -
S...... st............ of.th... Ho. C cCyoesa me tA rpa
2 fip ...... .iW.. .af.y r..........a I :;

SP20C.. oai X1 ny A no a qrpp c p,' a0 ap,, rypTm7 ''

S : ItepKan Cairo lrOpa nrealAoma, y 17-177 pet We HooeaN ei
Ae monuments by the Church in Drohobych Lviv oblast ) surrounded
Ukrainian gepeeeovernment;a cea hurch is Ashown by orange-yellow autumn foliage. Although the
Apoin a ieren season o e ear. e ir ea age o s oon s s n
B JKoAuaMAepeaz'uiA itepKml
Ma YK81I HaaeMac Tax-' i ;.
MaA"oDaaHqoT rpua o6,08. Z

Figure 2: In an alternating format, each stamp was also presented with a descriptive label.

The Images style; it serves as the final resting place of het-
The four stamps of the "Historic Churches" man Bohdan Khmelnytsky.
release depict places of worhip that have been The third stamp presents St. George's
designated as architectural monuments by the Church in Drohobych (Lviv oblast ) surrounded
Ukrainian government; each church is shown by orange-yellow autumn foliage. Although the
during a different season of the year. The first exact age of this wooden structure is unknown,
stamp is of Ukraine's most famous church, the it has stood for at least five hundred years. No
St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, which has now other Ukrainian wooden church displays such a
been designated a United Nations World Heri- high degree of artistic construction.
tage Site. Built during the eleventh century and The final stamp depicts the Trinity Cathe-
transformed during the baroque era, it is shown dral of Novomoskovsk (Dnipropetrovsk oblast ')
in a springtime setting. The darker (reddish- in winter. Completed in the late eighteenth cen-
brown) areas of the cathedral facade reveal some tury, it represents the apex of Ukrainian wooden
of the original medieval brickwork underneath construction.
the white, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century
overlay of stucco and whitewash. The sepulcher Preliminary Sketches
of Grand Prince Yaroslav "the Wise" is housed The design work for the "Historic Chur-
in this structure. ches" apparently began in 1995 because the pre-
The next stamp shows St. Elijah's Church in liminary drawings all carry that year. The artist
Subotiv (Cherkasy oblast') during the summer, already had a good idea of how he wanted to
This seventeenth-century building is the archi- present the churches by means of watercolor:
tectural prototype for the "cossack baroque" he elected to show them in the various seasons

Rossica Journal Number 133 91
October 1999

yI KHOHBI
XI,-XVII, XVIII

1995

Figure 3: The original watercolor sketch of St. Sophia's (186mm x 129mm).
The artist's signature is in the lower right-hand comer along with the date 1995.
Illustration courtesy of Karen Lemiski.

and with the country name in bold lettering Essays -
(both in Cyrillic and Latin) along a side of each By the latter part of 1995, Lohvyn's basic
design. The two left-sided-text designs (St. So- designs had been approved by Ukraine Post, but
phia and St. George) and two right-sided-text decisions were still needed on what values
designs (St. Elijah and the Trinity Cathedral) would be assigned to these stamps and which
help give a frame impression when the images type style would be used for the church descrip-
are viewed together as a block of four. The pre- tions. The essays, which are slightly more than
liminary artworks each picture averages 186 half the size (140 x 97 mm) of the preliminary
by 129 mm in size do not display any value paintings, show more structural details in each of
designations. Rather, they were used to present the buildings. While one essay still displays a
the overall design concept and color scheme. 1995 date, the others carry 1996, but it is pos-
The descriptions of the churches were indicated sible to see that the "6" had previously been
using the same cyrillic-type style as the country a "5". Additionally, the 50,000 [karbovanets]
name, but in a smaller size (figure 3). value first assigned to each of the stamps was

92 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

y KMIEBI
XI. XVII, XVIII cT.

-.-k

--- O- -.

Figure 4: The essay of St. Sophia's, including the denomination and the date 1995 (140 x 97mm).

changed to 20,000 for three of the designs. A roof and cupolas needs to be more intense."
final ruling on what type style to use to describe The third change, added later in blue ink, in-
the churches had still not been made. Three of structs "change values to 20 k[opiyky]." This
the illustrations display a block-type print while was done to accommodate an impending cur-
the fourth uses an italic style (figure 4). rency adjustment.3

Approved Designs Final Printing
By about the middle of 1996, the final Additional changes made before the final
approved designs which did not differ greatly printing included using the simpler block-style
from the essays were ready to be converted print for the descriptive text, which was deemed
into stamps. Figure 5 shows part of a proof pane more appropriate than the italicized version. A
of the St. Sophia Cathedral issue: a block with decision was also made to print these stamps in
three stamps, a corer label, and production no- different formats: panes with blocks of all four
stations. Immediately to the right of the illustra- stamp designs and panes of each design with
tions is the statement "For the II [second] descriptive labels. Apparently, the original inten-
Proof" and two signatures, both dated 9 August tion (as seen on the proof) was to use only labels
1996. Below are two alteration statements by in each comer of a 6 by 6 format, similar to
the artist and his signature, all in black ink. The what had been done three months earlier with
instructions are: "shadows on the building re- the "Antonov Aviation" release. Subsequently,
quire more ultramarine," and "green color on someone at Ukraine Post decided to be different

Rossica Journal Number 133 93
October 1999

Figure 5: The proof pane of St. Sophia's.

and create a new pattern, alternating eighteen 2. Two other Ukrainian emissions, the 1996
stamps with eighteen labels on every pane. "Antonov Aviation" set of four and the 1997
Eventually 100,000 copies of each stamp "Folk Art" set of four, were also released in
were printed by "Derzhznak" in Kyiv: 200,000 elaborate formats, but these were not quite as
on panes with blocks and 200,000 on panes with complex as the "Historic Churches" issue. The
labels. The 13.75 perforation remained the same "Antonov Aviation" issue was made with four
regardless of production format. different panes: one with nine blocks of four and
three panes each depicting one of the Antonov
airplane stamps. Descriptive labels only appeared
Notes in the four corner positions of these three panes,
1. Initiated as an "annual popularity compe- resulting in 32 stamps on each pane. The four
tuition the Heorhiy Narbut Prize was created in "Folk Art" stamps were released on separate
1992 by Ingert Kuzych in conjunction with the panes of 36 (without any descriptive labels) and
Ukrainian Philatelic and Numismatic Society in block form on a vertical miniature sheetlet of
(UPNS). Voting for the award is open to any- eight stamps (one block atop the other).
one willing to submit a ballot, selecting the artist
who has designed the most attractive stamp or 3. On 2 September 1996, Ukraine introduced
stamp set of the previous year. In 1994, Lohvyn the hryvnia as its new main currency unit; it is
received the award for his "75th Anniversary of composed of 100 kopiyky. By decree, 100,000 of
Ukraine's First Postage Stamps" and in 1996 for the old karbovantsiv equaled one new hryvnia.
the "Hetmen of Ukraine" series.

94 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

Philatelic Books:
Printing, Publishing, and Plagiarism

by P. E. Robinson

In recent years, improvements in printing and it happens. In 1986, my Siberia book had
technology have led to a large increase in the hardly been published before photocopied "edi-
number of books published in small print runs tions" began to be offered for sale in the former
for specialist readers. Apart from stamp cata- USSR. In financial terms the losses must have
logues and a few introductory handbooks, most been minimal, and I can quite understand that
philatelic books are printed in small numbers, the average Russian collector would otherwise
250 to 500 copies being typical for a specialist have had difficulty obtaining the book. In fact,
handbook. the book sold out, was reprinted, and sold out
At one time, such a book would have been again, and so I was not unduly worried by this
printed using traditional letterpress or lithogra- samizdat publishing trade. However, the speed
phic equipment, and the "setting-up" cost (that with which the "pirate" copies began to appear
is, the cost of preparing type, plates, etc.) was was an indication of how things had moved on
the largest single factor contributing to the total since the days when printing was an expensive
cost of printing a book. The setting-up cost process.
could be the same for a 100-copy print run as In more recent years, the Internet has
for a 5,000 copy run, and so the books that begun to play a larger part in our lives or at
were published tended to be either those for least for those of us with access to it. In order to
which there was likely to be a strong demand, "publish" printed material, it is no longer neces-
or short-run books whose publication was sub- sary even to go to the expense of printing or
sidized. In regard to specialized philatelic books, photocopying: the material can be scanned and
it is a sad fact that many manuscripts never saw made available to anyone with a computer and
the light of day. At best, they would be lodged modem. Also, philatelic works are beginning to
in a philatelic library (which may or not have be published in non-printed forms, on CD-
been easily accessible to researchers) while at ROMs and other discs. This makes it even eas-
worst, the results of patient research would be ier for the published information to be dissemi-
lost. nated beyond the control of the original author
This situation began to change with the or publisher.
development of short-run lithographic machines In legal terms, copyright exists and can be
using paper masters (as opposed to metal plates), defended, but the high legal costs mean that
but the new opportunities for publishing short- lawsuits regarding philatelic books are rare
run books increased with computerized typeset- (though they have occurred, the main winners
ting, desk-top publishing, and low-cost, high- usually being the lawyers). Copyright law does,
quality photocopiers. For example, both editions of course, vary from country to country. In the
of my Siberia book' were printed by a xerogra- United Kingdom, for example, copyright does
phic process. not have to be registered: it exists as of right,
As the cost of printing books has become while in some countries a registration system is
decreased, the problem of plagiarism has become in place. However, in regard to philatelic books,
more acute. Anyone can use a photocopier to we are often concerned more with fairness than
reproduce books and sell them for a profit with legal considerations.

Rossica Journal Number 133 95
October 1999

Without resorting to expensive legal mat- summarily expelled from a specialist philatelic
ters, an author or publisher can at first request society.
the person illegally copying his work to desist, I doubt if any author would object to single
and if this does not work, can report the matter copies of books being copied for private use,
to a philatelic body. The people plagiarizing especially when the books are out of print. In-
other people's work, or selling copies of books in deed, in some countries this is not illegal anyway.
breach of copyright, are often members of phi- But the publication of "pirate" editions for prof-
latelic societies, and the societies are able to play it is another matter, and is to be condemned by
an important part in discouraging plagiarism. philatelists in general and by organized philately
For example, a number of pages from my in particular. It is just another form of forgery.
Siberia book, and much of the content of a
book by another author, were photocopied and Endnote
included in a philatelic book with neither per- 1. P. E. Robinson, Siberia: Postmarks and Postal
mission nor acknowledgment. When the culprit History of the Russian Empire Period. Sheffield,
refused to admit to any wrongdoing, he was 1986. ISBN: 0-9511603-1-1.

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E-mail: m.holmsten@rurik-acn.inet.fi

96 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

From the President

Where has the time gone? It seems like just We have very strong and energetic Journal
yesterday that I had to prepare my last message. and Bulletin editors. Both positions are ap-
A lot has happened during the last year and I pointed by the president and technically are
would like to share some of it with you. not voting members of the "politburo." I
We continue to be a very strong society feel they should be part of the decision-
with a membership of over four hundred peo- making process and make every effort to in-
ple. This may not seem like a lot, but compared clude them in all discussions.
to some other organizations, it is a lot. Now if We have a very strong and capable librar-
I can only get people to communicate. ... ian. This is something we have not had for
The response was positive from the mem- many years. Use of the library is up as a di-
bership regarding the officers not having to pay rect result. Our library is one of the largest
annual dues. Starting with the year 2000, elected in the western world on the subject. Ged
officers and those appointed officers selected by has some fantastic ideas and I would like to
the president will not have to pay annual dues. encourage all our members to work with
Currently, the appointed officers who will not him as he takes us forward in that area.
have to pay annual dues are the Bulletin and We continue to be a prominent and well-
Journal editors. This is but a small token of respected society in Russian philately no
appreciation from the society. -matter how many subscription services start
One of our strongest points is publishing and end or individual attempts at slander.
philatelic research literature. Unfortunately, the Our cumulative knowledge is treated as valu-
cost of doing business, coupled with lower than able by the philatelic community at large.
anticipated demands for the literature, have put Our Journal is widely accepted throughout
us in a position requiring a modest increase in the world as a very good research publi-
dues to help continue our publications. The cation. True, it does not have glossy pages
dues have remained stable for over a decade, al- or color centerfolds, but then it doesn't cost
though the cost of everything has continued to as much to publish and the quality ofinfor-
rise. The officers voted at the annual meeting in mation continues to be exceptional.
August 1999 to raise the dues starting in 2000 We offer more philatelic literature for sale
from $20 to $25 with a $5 discount, if paid than any other society or subscription ser-
before 31 December 1999. [The former ten vice. There are more to come as well. We
percent discount is no longer valid.] Members are leading the way among English-speaking
who have paid several years in advance are not collectors in making material available. We
affected by this increase. recently published a CD ROM version of
The Constitution has been revamped to the work Noel Warr and I have been re-
better reflect who we are today. The revised searching for years as Part One of the Mos-
copy has been included with this Journal issue, cow study. It will be available on paper
for your ratification. Please vote! The Consti- within a few months as well. We now offer
tution governs our activities, a reproduction of Peter Michalove's book
We have many strong points and these need on maps, etc., on CD ROM. The Prigara
to be emphasized more than the majority of my and Bazilevich books will soon be available
perceived negative issues, on CD ROM. Additionally, we have been

Rossica Journal Number 133 97
October 1999

approached to publish what promises to be Radcliffe is our webmaster and eagerly
an outstanding book by Arnold Levin on wants to hear from all the members.
the World War I mutes. This work will We published, as far as I know, the first
appear in both paper and CD ROM ver- Bulletin (or equivalent) over the Internet
sions. More to follow, about Russian philately thanks to the superb
Our presence on the Internet is unrivaled efforts of our Bulletin editor. Ed Laveroni
by any other western society with the same (Northern California Chapter) published the
collecting interests. Jay Guberman, Rainer first Chapter Newsletter using the same me-
Fuchs, Jeff Radcliffe, and Anatoly Kiryush- dium. Actually, Ed did it before we sent the
kin are leading the way down this road and Bulletin.
we are very well represented at each site We have a Rossica email list maintained by
and step of the way. It seems the Rossica Alex Safonoff, although it is woefully un-
membership isn't ready for this yet since the derutilized. Nearly forty percent of our
sites are not visited frequently. The three members have Internet access and email
sites can be roughly described as follows: capabilities.
Jay Guberman's site deals with all things
Jay Guberman's site deals with all things That's what Rossica has done in the past year.
philatelic regarding the former Soviet
c r g te f S Some things I would like to see during the
Union's breakup. He has postal rates, ex- f
final year of this presidency:
change rates, new issues, and more. It is
worth a visit! Since the site is maintained More awareness of what the society is, what
on Delphi, you will need to become a it has to offer, and where to find informa-
member. It is free. tion. The questionnaires of the past have
- Rainer Fuchs is trying to approach the col- not been a failure, but they also have not
lecting of zemstvo stamps from a novice's been the envisioned gold mine of infor-
viewpoint. It is not his intention to show mation. It seems everyone is a "generalist"
all the rarities of this aspect, but rather to with no particular areas of expertise.
familiarize the collector with the subject. Fifty-four people this year claim they
- Anatoly Kiryushkin's site is a very com- either: a) did not receive a dues notice, b)
prehensive and fantastic site for all areas of had no idea how much dues are, c) did not
Russian philately. Although it has been know where to mail them. All this is spite
around only since February, the amount of of the fact each person got a notice with
information already residing at the site is the OctoberJournal and, if overdue, a letter
beyond belief. This site belongs to the in January, a letter in April, and a dismissal
Worldwide Society of Russian Philately and notice in May. If the member lives over-
as such has a membership fee. This fee, $10 seas, s/he also received a personal letter in
to Rossica members, is less than what some October.
of us waste at a bourse before we realize we Many people have told me they did not
have paid too much for an item. The site know that information about the society,
recently won a 3-star rating (out of 5) from along with an application blank, is on the
an FIP competition. It is well worth a visit Internet. Believe it or not, I have had sev-
if you collect stamps or postal history. eral people tell me they were not aware we
There are other sites, but there is not had a library much less who was librarian.
enough room to list them all here. All of Many members are not aware that we
these sites have links to the Rossica site. If have anything to sell.
you have not visited our site recently, More member participation in local meet-
please do so at: http://www.rossica.org. Jeff ings, no matter how small. If we offer food

98 Rossica Journal Number 133
October 1999

	Cover
	The Rossica society of Russian...
	Table of Contents
	From the editor's desk
	A classification of the stamps...
	"Thar she blows": Nineteenth-century...
	Notes on the Russian watermarks,...
	The Romanov - Zemstvo connection,...
	Russian Zemstvo free-Frank paper...
	In postmaster Gan'ko's footsteps:...
	International collector societies,...
	The Russian field post in the Caucasian...
	Additional notes on the American...
	Revenue stamps of Soviet Ukraine,...
	More Siberian surprises: Comments...
	The North Pole overprints of 1955-1956,...
	Soviet intercosmos issues '78-'87,...
	"Historic Ukrainian churches":...
	Philatelic books: Printing, publishing,...
	From the president
	Library notes
	Member-to-member adlets
	Dealer-member ads, expertizati...
	Society publications for sale
	New Rossica publications
	Reviews of philatelic publicat...
	News from the former Soviet...
	Advertising

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