"The early days of a better nation..."

23 years ago, philatelists were given a wonderful gift: the birth of 15 (or 16 or 17, depending on how you count) new nations when the USSR fell apart.
Yes, I know that's a grotesquely shallow way to look at an event that brought a lot of misery to a lot of people, but this is a philatelic blog, what do you expect me to write about, Sumerian grammar?
The new nations were faced with the giant task of constructing a functioning state out of the wreckage of the USSR. Some inherited structures were more hindrance than help - how many former Soviet republics found themselves saddled with a Soviet-oriented parliament?
Postally, the main ingredients were:

1. Outdated postal rates (7k letter rate of April 1991) which rose quickly after independence;
2. A large supply of USSR postal stationery, which was uprated - usually with overprints - on a massive scale;
3. A large supply of USSR stamps - mostly definitives - which were used without overprint, used with overprints and even used with manuscript revaluations;
4. Not much of a local logistical structure - new post-independence stamps had to be printed abroad quite often, and supplying stamps to the post offices was a continual headache, with stamp shortages the frequent result;
5. Sharply reduced control over postal operations, with speculators taking advantages of the chaos in many places.

This transitional period lasted anywhere from a few months (Russia) to several years (some Central Asian republics), and it gave us an almost infinite field of interesting things to collect. Whether the post-Soviet republics are indeed "better nations" is not for me to say, but speaking as a philatelist, YIPPEE!

Mysterious 1994 stamp booklets of Azerbaijan

Towards the end of 1994, Azerbaijan issued two topical sets: "Birds of prey" (5 stamps and a miniature sheet, issued 15 November 1994) and "Wild cats" (5 stamps and a miniature sheet, issued 14 December 1994). Both sets have since been spotted imperforate, but it is extremely doubtful that they were ever issued in Azerbaijan in that form.
A few years ago I became aware that both sets had also spawned stamp booklets. For both sets, a booklet was produced, with a block of 4 of the 20m value and a block of 4 of the 25m value. Both blocks are tied to the inside of the cover by the official First Day of Issue postmark. Here is the "Birds" booklet:

Note that the number on the outside is repeated on the inside, tying both blocks of stamps.

The "Cats" booklets exists in two subtypes. Low-numbered copies are in this format:

Copies with higher numbers are in a slightly smaller format:

I am not aware of any catalog that lists these booklets. I occasionally see them offered at fantastic prices (and they're certainly not common), but nobody collects Azerbaijan, he said bitterly. Print runs are guesswork only but I'd guess 2000 for the Birds booklet and 4000 for the Cats booklet? It's interesting that the two values used in the booklets had slightly higher print runs than the other stamps in the set, so perhaps this was a way of using up the extras.

I've heard some unsubstantiated rumors that these booklets were on sale at philatelic exhibitions where Azermarka had a stand, and that certainly makes sense to me. They look like official Azermarka productions, but they are not even listed in Azermarka's own catalogs...

The Ukrainian Trains of the 1920s

When the Kiryushkin & Robinson book on Imperial Russian Railway postmarks came out, many years ago, it was a huge step forward for all collectors of such postmarks, but for us who like looking beyond 1917, it wasn't much help. Soviet railway postmarks - particularly the postmarks of the 1920s - are mostly unexplored territory, and I don't know of any literature on the subject that is much help. (and if you, kind reader, do know of something, I'm all ears)
A few general trends are visible. The familiar oval postmarks stuck around for most of the 1920s, but more and more circular postmarks start appearing. In some of the union republics, bilingual postmarks come into being (I've seen Russian/Belarusian postmarks and no doubt others exist). And of course, route number assignations continue to change, just as they did in Imperial times. I have a list that attempts to extend the K&R list to 1945 but it's based on a spotty selection of postal lists so it's not very accurate.

Ukraine created a wholly new category of railways postmarks: the All-Ukrainian postmarks. These are postmarks that are wholly in Ukrainian, with not a sign of Russian, and they do not mention termini, being inscribed POSHT. (number) VAG. I've seen about half a dozen examples over the years - they're not common - from routes 47/48, 67/68 and 177/178. Here are a few examples:

Line 47 is also represented in a second group of odd postmarks. These are bilingual, Ukrainian/Russian, but their text is so sparse you don't really notice! Two examples:

I can't help but wonder if this was a uniquely Ukrainian way of sabotaging the imposition of Russian: reduce the postmark text so drastically that it becomes irrelevant if it's in Russian or Ukrainian.

All this is fun to collect, but they are really only small signs of a huge, bitter and lethal struggle going on in the Ukrainian SSR for the definition of what it meant to be a Ukrainian Soviet citizen: how much Ukrainian nationalism was allowed? People died over this, with the late-1920s purge of "nationalist deviationists" claiming thousands of victims.

But for a philatelist, it's fascinating!

Stories behind covers: Crimea 1918-1920

Sadly, the Crimea is in the news for all the wrong reasons at the moment. It's interesting to see because for years I felt I was the only person on the planet to be interested in the Crimea, but here we are... It makes me look at my Crimean covers with new eyes, I can tell you! Next month I'm exhibiting "Big trouble in little Crimea, 1918-1921" as a 1-framer at Westpex, so I'm in the middle of looking at, thinking about and describing of Crimean Civil war period covers. They're ALL interesting. Here's a 1918 example I really like:

July 1918, Sudak to Koreiz, via Yalta. Franked with the 25k rate that seems to have prevailed in Ukraine, the Crimea, Bessarabia, the Don Cossack area and the Kuban Cossack area, and probably a few more places I've forgotten. An internal cover from the middle of the Sul'kevich period, from one small place to another. Wonderful!

Here's a 1919 example that makes me smile:

April 1919, from Koreiz to Moscow, where it arrived on May 3. A very scarce sending from the short-lived Second Soviet Crimean period (April-June 1919), and sent during a brief-ish moment when mail to Moscow was possible. The 35k rate is a holdover from the previous, White administration: if these Crimean Soviets had been true Soviets it would have been sent post-free.

1920 is the really interesting year, mostly because 1920 mail from Crimea is so scarce. Here's one that continues to puzzle me:

There are three possible interpretations of this cover, depending on which postal rate you think was in force at the time. First, if you think the 70k letter rate was in force, this is either a 13-fold weight letter (13x70+70=9.80) or just a nonsense overfranking.

Second, if you think there was a short-lived 1-ruble rate in Crimea at this time (and I do believe that), then this is an 9-fold weight letter (9x1.00+1.00). 

Finally, if you think this letter belongs to the 5-ruble rate period, then this is simply a registered letter, correctly franked. However, I believe Alexander Epstein when he says this rate was introduced later, in June of 1920, and the postmark says April. 

There is a clue on the reverse:

A censor marking like this suggests Summer 1920 very strongly. So I'm inclined to think this is one of those cases where the date in the postmark is simply an error, and this letter was sent in June, July or even August 1920. Probably not much later since that 5R rate used up stamps quickly.

Is it any wonder I love the Civil War period of the Crimea?

Happy New Year!

And while we're at it, here are my resolutions for 2014:

1. Exhibiting. It's been quite awhile since I put together a serious exhibit. I'm working on two at the moment and I'm rediscovering how much fun it is. This will be an easy resolution to keep.
2. Writing. Working on a lengthy article on Soviet Special Post, and I'll probably do a few more. Some might even be on non-Russian subjects. *gasp*
3. Collecting: I need to put my Soviet Georgia in order. I have a ridiculous number of the handstamped surcharges and I have some ideas on how to analyze them. All it takes is time. Merging my collection with the (much smaller) Ashford collection of this area will also take some time, as Peter had organized his material according to the Kohl types.
4. Selling. I've been getting rid of a lot of stuff that I just owned without doing anything with it. I'll continue to do that this year. Besides, money.
5. Buying. If I can afford it I have some buying plans this year...we'll see.
6. Blogging. As and when, I'm afraid.

The VoA Correspondence 2: revaluations

Wading through a batch of 1200 covers from the former USSR, all sent to the USA in the first half of 1992, is a delight, as it gives you a very nice sample of what the postal system looked like in action in these early post-USSR days.
Manuscript revaluations were found on exactly 5 items, from 4 different locations. As an example, here a registered letter from Noginsk, Moscow province:

The three stamps of 1 ruble have been revalued to 2 rubles each, and a 1R TP marking brings the total franking to 7.50R, which is a recognizable rate. It's interesting that the 1R TP marking was used instead of another unrevalued 1R stamp...

Here's another example from Orel railway post office:

A postcard this time, unusually. 3 stamps of 50k have been turned into stamps of 1R each. Two stamps of 15k have been turned into 30k-stamps, and an old 10k stamp has been turned into another 30k stamp. Not sure if 3.30R makes sense as a rate, but it's interesting!

Even better, the batch contained a second example from the same office:

This time it was just the 2R stamp which was revalued, to 4R. This office seemed to like doubling the face value of the stamps. The fourth example is also a doubling:

The origin is ambiguous as the sender gives her location as Staraya Kupavna, but the postmark is Moscow. Three 35k stamps have been uprated to 70k stamps, although 2.60R makes little sense as a rate.

Finally, the most spectacular, probably from Togliatti:

Stamps of 5k were turned into 20k stamps. But the fun wasn't over yet. The reverse:

Three 35k commemorative stamps were turned into stamps of 70k each. Total franking: 3.55 which is close enough to 3.60 to be convincing.

Is ANYONE collecting and/or studying these wonderful examples of postal improvisation?

The Crimean "little" offices

As I may have mentioned once of twice, I like postmarks from the Crimea. After years of collecting and gathering information I've now recorded 230 postmarks from the Imperial period and 224 from the Soviet period (up to the final "ASSR" type), and I'm still finding new postmarks regularly.
Some postmarks are easier to find than others, of course. Railway postmarks (apart from Sevastopol' Vokzal) are pretty thin on the ground - I'm still looking for a Kerch' railway postmark for instance - and Volostnoe Pravlenie postmarks are downright rare. Seasonal offices are another group that's rarely seen.
Kerch' actually managed to cram 4 offices into its area: Kerch', Kerch' Railway, Kerch' Krepost and Kerchenskii Zavod. The latter is another office you'll rarely see:

Then there are the Town Sub-offices. Unsurprisingly, Sevastopol' and Simferopol' both had Town sub-offices, although examples are not easy to find. The one that really surprised me was Feodosiya:

By the way, both postmarks have a "1" at foot which I think implied that these were considered to be the 1st sub-office of the main post office. 

Town sub-offices are not listed in the invaluable Kiryushkin-Robinson list of Imperial Russian post offices, so each one that turns up is a surprise. I wonder how many more there are?