tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67022949281453742762024-03-13T09:55:31.666-07:00Trevor Pateman's Philately BlogThis Blog is now closed but you can still contact me at patemantrevor@gmail.com. Ukraine-related posts have been edited into a book "Philatelic Case Studies from Ukraine's First Independence Period" edited by Glenn Stefanovics and available in the USA from amazon.com and in Europe from me. The Russia-related posts have been typeset for hard-copy publication but there are currently no plans to publish them. trevor patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01843120497490896242noreply@blogger.comBlogger555125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-68612815961739417592022-02-27T03:29:00.000-08:002022-02-27T03:29:11.055-08:00HET BOЙHE<p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-size: 72.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">HET <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-size: 72.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">BOЙHE</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #002060; font-size: 72.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><br /><p></p>Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-34343317330019727382021-07-13T01:42:00.002-07:002021-07-13T01:42:44.482-07:00Joseph Geyfman, Local Stamps Provisionals - New Edition announced<p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;">This advertisement is reproduced with the author's permission and will be of interest to Blog readers: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z_75Cc-F708/YO1ROoAZ1cI/AAAAAAAAA9s/v-qx5vViwxQ6BXeDV4e5NZiFS9YcFQlHACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/geyfman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1583" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z_75Cc-F708/YO1ROoAZ1cI/AAAAAAAAA9s/v-qx5vViwxQ6BXeDV4e5NZiFS9YcFQlHACLcBGAsYHQ/w494-h640/geyfman.jpg" width="494" /></a></div><p></p>Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-66898823701045345932021-06-18T00:10:00.001-07:002021-06-18T00:10:22.693-07:00Local Modifications of Central Stamp Issues<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Stamp catalogues are
not entirely consistent in what they do and don’t list. This is especially the
case in relation to what I shall call <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">local
modifications.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Our paradigm for a
stamp issuing authority is a central government department which distributes standardised
stamps to post offices under its control. A limiting case is the micro-state
which has only one post office but we can safely ignore that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In general, local post
offices are supposed to use the stamps they receive in the ways intended by the
centre. But quite often they do things to stamps before selling them, most
commonly:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Perforating imperforate stamps<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Bisecting stamps<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Changing the face value of stamps
invisibly<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Changing the face value and showing the
change with an overprint or manuscript note<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Authenticating stamps at point of sale
with a postmaster signature<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Pre-cancelling stamps<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Defacing stamps - for example, obscuring
the face of a former national leader<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This list is not
exhaustive. In addition, stamps may be distributed not only to post offices but
direct to government organisations or departments and they may mark the stamps
in some way to prevent their theft and private use by employees. The marks are
intended to ensure that the stamps are only used for official business. Quite
often, the stamps will already be overprinted OFFICIAL or SERVICE when they
arrive but, if not, local initiative might supply the necessary markings. This
happened in India before 1900 though the stamps are quite rare unlike the
regular <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">On H M S</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Service</b> stamps.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In relation to any and
every such modification, a central authority may require it, suggest it,
tolerate it, forbid it. The actual situation may be unclear: when in 1920 the
People’s Commissariat of Posts and Telegraphs instructed Russian post offices
to sell Imperial kopek value stamps at x 100 face value, some regional stamp
distribution offices and some local postmasters took this to mean that they
should mark the stamps in some way to indicate the change. But many didn’t and
re-valued the stamps invisibly. In contrast, when in the early 1990s
Lithuania’s postal authorities instructed post offices to revalue stamps I
don’t think any of them marked the change - the revaluation was always invisible.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When the stamps leave
the post office some buyers may modify them before use. Common practices
include:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Perforating imperforate stamps<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Punching the stamps with company
initials as a security device to protect against theft [Perfins]. In Imperial Russia, the practice was rare and, in practice, it is only stamps of the Russian Levant which are occasionally found with company perfins.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Overprinting or handstamping the stamps
with a company name or logo likewise to protect against theft. In India, this
was common until the practice was banned around 1900. At least one organisation
- the Bombay Education Society Press - then responded by handstamping the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gummed side </i>of its stamps with its
acronym <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">B.E.S.P. </b>So it was still the
case that no employee could safely walk out of the office with mint stamps! Nineteenth century stamps from other British colonies (Ceylon, Hong Kong, Straits Settlements notably) are frequently overprinted with company cachets but in Imperial Russia it is rare and the cachets were normally applied <i>after </i>the stamp had been applied to the cover. Here, the motive seems to be to prove that a stamp was on the cover when posted, since if it is removed then the removal will be visible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[Possibly - I have no examples] Gumming
ungummed stamps in sheets to have them ready for use rather than using a glue
pot at point of application to a letter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Catalogue makers
generally exclude these private modifications. As for the official or
semi-official modifications, these are not treated uniformly though there may
be some logic to the choice. Thus, the Departmental overprints of South
Australia are listed in outline by Stanley Gibbons because the overprints were
all done by the central authority. But the very similar Departmental overprints
of India are not listed because they were local initiatives. When it comes to
bisects, catalogue makers may try to distinguish those where official
permission was granted to a postmaster (or an instruction given to all
postmasters) and those where the postmaster took the initiative. If you had no
phone or telegraph and had run out of stamps you needed, it made no sense to
wait for a permission which might take a week or two weeks (or more) to arrive.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From a philatelic point of view, that
kind of unauthorised bisect is probably as interesting as the authorised one.
It is only problematic if one suspects that the postmaster had been signed up
by the local stamp dealer to create a scarce variety, as indeed has often been
the case. In the Soviet Union by the 1930s and after, central control was very
effective and local modifications by post offices very, very rare.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There is one
interesting category which is not often noticed. Central authorities may damage
stamps deliberately before issuing them, or may instruct postmasters to do the
job. I know of two examples: in Hungary in the 1920s, sheets of stamps intended
for post offices had some of the stamps in each sheet perforated <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">before distribution</i> with three small
punch holes. The idea was to protect the revenues of the (hard currency?)
philatelic department by making it unattractive to buy sheets of stamps at
regular post office counters. Similarly, in the 1990s to protect a commercial monopoly
of mint sales to dealers and collectors, the stamps sold at Turkmenistan’s post
offices had perforations trimmed off on one side before sale. This has the
curious consequence that you can only collect genuine postally used Turkmen
stamps (rare in themselves!) if you are willing to collect damaged ones …<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Locally modified stamps
all have their specialist collectors and study groups; general catalogues could
help by at least noting some of the more prominent local modifications. For
example, postmaster and private perforations on the early stamp issues of
Estonia and Latvia are common enough for copies to appear fairly frequently in
old collections and on covers, often philatelic. The same is true for the 1917
imperforate issues of Russian Imperial Arms stamps. But in the case of the
first post-1991 stamps of Lithuania, local perforations exist but are much less
common and I guess many collectors would be surprised to learn that they do.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-69069275719234404202021-04-11T05:41:00.001-07:002021-04-11T05:41:53.246-07:00Archangel, Odessa, Vladivostok: Stamp Dealers and Maritime Mail<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The recent April 2021 sale
(by Corinphila Veilingen) of Dick Scheper’s fine collection of Siberian postal
history during the 1917-24 period made me realise how important Russia’s major
ports were to stamp collectors and dealers in the Civil War and early Soviet
period. Proximity to ships which could carry mail had two major advantages.
First, it avoided sending mail overland in territory which might be subject to
banditry or Red versus White fighting - or both. The Trans-Siberian railway,
for example, ceased to be a reliable routing for mail from Siberia to western
Europe and ship mail replaced it. Second, though it did not entirely avoid
censorship and customs control, it may have been the case that local censors
and customs officers in the ports - even when under Red control - were more
sympathetic to private enterprise than their counterparts in Petrograd and
later Moscow. And if not more sympathetic, at least more easily bribed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Thus, for example, when
in March 1922 - well into the Soviet period - the well-known Vladivostok stamp
dealer Pappadopulo wants to write to his opposite number in Archangel, the
equally well-known Tarasoff, he writes his postcard in Roman script and
endorses it “via America”. The journey takes seven weeks but the postcard gets
there, as the receiver mark of Archangel attests. [Lot 139 in the Scheper sale].
Pappadopolu uses the same endorsement for a card to Bulgaria [Lot 133] in July
1921 and to Iceland [!] in January 1921 [Lot 131]. Times were clearly harder at
this earlier date - Pappadopolu is reduced to using indelible pencil, and only
later has ink for his pen. In all three cases, he is writing from the
Soviet-allied though not fully-Bolshevik Far Eastern Republic.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As late as August 1923
I can see a Registered cover going to New York from Vladivostok via Japan [Lot
218] and in February 1924 via Seattle [Lot 226]. I assume that at some point
all foreign mail had to be routed through the centralised censorship of Moscow,
but I don’t have a date.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Tarasoff’s overseas
mail often went by ship via the Norwegian port of Vardø [see my long Blog about
Tarasoff 11 March 2015]. Ship mail from Odessa went to Constantinople, Genoa,
and Marseilles - and no doubt other ports. Dealers - like Trachtenberg -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and collectors would have been able to take
advantage of this in the period of Ukrainian independence but also into the
early Soviet period. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Illustrations to follow
but right now the Scheper material can still be seen on line as
www.corinphila.nl<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-32321734519848770432021-01-22T06:52:00.001-08:002021-01-22T09:46:37.311-08:00Romanian Occupation of Pokutia: A Puzzling set of stamps<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LHp832eKNRo/YArl0Z3x3VI/AAAAAAAAA4A/iHTr97_nSRA9uoicVG4za6qTxvvKpfXRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s679/FIg%2B33%2BHigh-value%2BCMT.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="679" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LHp832eKNRo/YArl0Z3x3VI/AAAAAAAAA4A/iHTr97_nSRA9uoicVG4za6qTxvvKpfXRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/FIg%2B33%2BHigh-value%2BCMT.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Ingert Kuzych has sent me the above scan of five puzzling stamps. Below I reproduce his thoughts about them. But he would like to know more - if anyone now knows. If you do, please email him directly at ingert@verizon.net</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(242, 242, 242); border: none; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #0070c0;">A “High-Value C.M.T.” Issue<u></u><u></u></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(242, 242, 242); border: none; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #0070c0;"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(242, 242, 242); border: none; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #0070c0;">A different type of “C.M.T.” issue exists, this time with a black-ink overprint of "C.M.T. Roman POCUTIA" on five high-value Austrian stamps and surcharged with new, higher values as follows: K. 1.20 on 1-Krone, K. 1.20 on 2-Kronen, K. 1.20 on 3-Kronen, K. 4 on 4-Kronen, and K. 4 on 10-Kronen (Figure 33). Two different handstamps were used in creating these stamps, the overprint design of which is far more refined than the simple one found on the regular “C.M.T.” occupational stamps. A double-lined frame surrounds the four-line overprint text, which is composed of three different fonts.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(242, 242, 242); border: none; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #0070c0;"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(242, 242, 242); border: none; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #0070c0;">Very few of these “High-Value C.M.T.”<b> </b>stamps exist; they were supposedly also prepared for the 1919 Romanian occupation but never issued. The ‘K. 1.20 h.’ values match the ‘1 K. 20 h.’ values of the regular “C.M.T.” Issue; the ‘K. 4.’ values would have served to pay for telegram services. However, the exact reason for their manufacture – legitimate need versus speculative creation – remains unclear. A set of the five unissued values is apparently quite rare, with one expertizer claiming to only know of two complete sets ever assembled.</span></p>Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-11720565924523751832020-11-25T10:14:00.002-08:002021-01-24T07:45:27.775-08:00A V Vinner and Soviet Philately<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I am looking for information
about A V Vinner, a Russian philatelist who occasionally signed stamps using a
small boxed handstamp with that name in Cyrillic. He was probably born around
1900; probably lived in Moscow in the 1920s but may have had links to
Transcaucasia or Central Asia; may be the same person as published a Russian <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>technical book on mosaics in 1953; may have
been a friend or colleague of Dr Paul D Krynine. His first name and patronymic are unknown
to me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">If you have any stamps
signed by him, then scans of front and back would be most welcome at patemantrevor@gmail.com<o:p></o:p></span></p>Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-42691564235889209592020-07-31T00:37:00.001-07:002020-08-25T10:44:55.022-07:00 Russian Mail to Mont Athos before 1870<br />
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<span face="" style="line-height: 150%;">From early in the 19<sup>th</sup>
century, the Imperial Russian government was actively involved - financially
and diplomatically - in expanding the Russian presence on Mont Athos. By 1912,
the majority of monks on Athos were Russian though in 1913 the Imperial
government sent gunboats to Athos to arrest and deport about 800 of the 2000
Russian monks. They were accused of heresy, tried in Odessa, and internally
exiled. For every two or three monks there was probably one servant
and many or most of those were Russian too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span face="" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span face="" style="line-height: 150%;">The major developments
in Russification took place after 1850 and at some point a ROPiT
postal agency was established on Athos. But any ingoing or outgoing mail before
1870 is very rarely seen and I cannot find on the internet any example of ROPiT
postmarks for Mont Athos before the 1890s, though inward mail in the form of
Money Letters is common from about 1875 onwards. It always has Odessa transits but only in the 1890s do Athos marks appear and then only on occasional items which were sent outside bags sealed in Odessa.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span face="" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span face="" style="line-height: 150%;">In previous Blogs I
have illustrated the use of Free Frank privilege to send mail from mainland
Russia to Athos, always via Odessa. I can now illustrate an early item on which
I would welcome comment. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span face="" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span face="" style="line-height: 150%;">Sent in 1869 from Novgorod under a Free Frank seal and
Registry number it has no post office markings apart from the Novgorod despatch.
On later mail, an Odessa transit is universally applied. In addition, the
routing on this official item appears to identify a named individual at Odessa who
is then meant to ensure the onward transmission to Athos. If this is the
correct reading, then this item may indicate that even as late as 1869, the
arrangements for sending mail to Athos were in a rather provisional state. Since this entire letter came from an Athos archive (ex Christou collection), it clearly arrived and the sender seems to have been clear about what they were doing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span face="" style="line-height: 150%;">Comments and scans
please!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span face="" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span face="" style="line-height: 150%;">Here's the first Comment from Howard Weinert:</span><br />
<span face="" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span face="" style="line-height: 150%;"><span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: justify;">This document was issued by the bookkeeping office of the Novgorod administrative board, part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, on 29 Oct. 1869. Sent to the New Russian hermitage of St. Andrew the First Called in Mount Athos, in care of an Odessa merchant. The message says that the five rubles sent by the hermitage on 10 Jan. 1869 to pay for the official publication "Provincial News" was received in Novgorod on 25 April and noted in the account book.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;" /><span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: justify;">I have seen many covers from the 1870s addressed to merchant Grigory Mikhailovich Butovich in Odessa for transmission to Athos. (This is not the person named on the Novgorod letter).</span></span></div>
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<br />Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-90931101197919280002020-07-30T10:02:00.000-07:002020-07-31T09:46:37.518-07:00The ROPiT Post office on Mont Athos 1915 - 1917<br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A post office can
continue to provide foreign mail services provided only a few conditions are
met:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It has premises and staff and at least
some office equipment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It has an income to pay the bills.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It has partners willing to deliver
incoming mail for distribution and take away mail for onward transmission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">No one forcibly closes it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In their 1958 book on the
Russian Levant post offices, Tchilingirian and Stephen speculated that the
ROPiT post office on Mont Athos closed on 31 December 1914, as a consequence of
the outbreak of World War One. It didn’t. It operated at least until the end of
1917. Mont Athos passed from Ottoman to Greek control at the end of 1912 when
Greek forces occupied the territory. Greece’s legal sovereignty was not
finalised until after World War One, mainly because of Imperial Russian
objections aimed at increasing Russian control over Athos. Those ceased with
the Bolshevik Revolution. The ROPiT office was exclusively concerned with
incoming and outgoing mail; like the Ottoman post office (and
presumably the successor Greek post office) , it never operated an internal mail
service on Mont Athos which was provided by monastic couriers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Athos was occupied by
both French and Russian troops during World War One and there were British
forces in nearby Salonica [Thessaloniki]. Even if the traditional route into
Athos from Odessa was closed, mail could arrive and be taken away by friendly
ships. It does seem likely that mail would most often have been routed via
Salonica, a major military hub, but that only meant that some local boat had to
ply the Athos-Salonica route. The ROPiT office handled mail overwhelmingly
arriving from Russia and going there. Though it could not now route through
Odessa, the alternatives via Genoa or Marseille or London or Kronstadt were
reasonably practical. There might be an issue about who paid for what but
clearly some arrangements were arrived at.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">However, I can’t
illustrate any mail which successfully made the journey after the start of
World War One and I would be pleased to be shown some.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I do have receipts for registered letters
issued by the ROPiT Mont Athos agency and handed over to the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>senders - the Russian Andreevski Skete
[monastery], the Russian Kellion [Cell] of Ioanna Zlatousta. These receipts
show a new canceller being used, listed by Tchilingirian and Stephen as Type 5 (Figure 791) in the Supplement included in Part Six of <i>Stamps of the Russian Empire Used Abroad</i>. It came into use in 1912 (Earliest date I have 1 VIII 1912) and continued in apparently exclusive use until the end of 1917 (latest I have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> 6 </span>XI 1917). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I illustrate here a
receipt from end 1915 for a letter destined for Odessa; from end 1916 addressed
to Petrograd; from August 1917 addressed to the Russian Consulate in Soluni [Salonica]; and a November 1917 receipt with an address I can’t read. Though I have about
80 receipts for 1915 and 1916 combined, I have only five for 1917. They are
numbered by an enumerator on the reverse and the number sequence suggests that
possibly only one book of 1000 receipts was used through 1917: early February,
receipt 7; late February, 139; July, 691, August, 730 ; November, 822. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Where the sender is identified as "P.A.C." this is Cyrillic for the Russian Andreevksi Skete. It's likely that all the receipts were issued to the P.A.C. but the clerk saved effort by not always writing that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Before 1915 the volume
of mail was much greater and in the 1890s when receipts were numbered
continuously from January to December by hand, it is clear that at least 12 000
registered letters left Athos every year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-6558836549492936072020-07-30T05:59:00.001-07:002020-07-30T06:06:33.796-07:00A Conversation with the Ottoman Postmaster of Mont Athos, 1883<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Athelstan Riley and a
friend, both from the University of Oxford,
visited Mont Athos for six weeks in 1883. Riley published a travelogue, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Athos or the Mountain of the Monks</i> in
1887. At one point, he and his friend Arthur Owen visit the Ottoman post office
in what was then and still is the small administrative centre of Karyes. This
is Riley’s narrative:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“So we had breakfast
and about noon sallied forth towards the town. First we went to the post
office, where by good luck the postmaster spoke French and several other
languages besides. We sat and talked to him for more than an hour, smoked his
cigarettes, and consumed rahatlakoum and coffee. He was a very intelligent
young Greek who had been sent here from Constantinople to take charge of the
post station, and very dull he found it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">‘I have not a soul to
speak to’, he complained, ‘there are no educated people in Caryes [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sic]</i> except a few monks, and I soon get
tired of them. And no women of any kind. Ah, c’est affreux, messieurs, c’est
affreux!’ [<i>Ah, it's awful, gentlemen, it's awful!</i>]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And the poor fellow
begged us to sit and talk to him a little longer. This we did, and amused ourselves
by sending a telegram to the telegraph clerk at Salonica, wishing him a very
good day, a wire having recently been laid from that place to Caryes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">‘For’, said our friend,
‘we may just as well use it, for nobody else does. Perhaps fifty telegrams are
sent in the course of the year, chiefly about the steamers which call here, for
who would want to telegraph to Athos? So when I feel very dull I just ring up
the clerk at Salonica and ask how the world is going on’. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This passage is in chapter XV</i>]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I suspect that over
time telegraph traffic did increase and became more varied. Here, for example,
is a 2 May 1888 telegram from St Petersburg to Athos routed through Salonique [ see top
left annotation <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Salq</i>.]. The word
count is 15 [ though I count 16] because the address counts and takes six words, rendered by
the clerk on the reverse as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Monaster
Andreé, Superieur Theoklitos,Mont Athos</i> - the Monaster is in fact the
Russian Andreevski Skete, located close to Karyes. As for the message, I can't quite resolve whether the Family Z or L asks for 30 roubles to be sent to pay
for the distribution of Easter Eggs, or whether 30 roubles has been sent to pay
for such distribution. The latter seems more likely. The Athos receiving officer has signed his name at top left [
besides <i>L’Employé</i>], but whether he is the postmaster who welcomed Riley and Owen, I don't know. But note that he writes in a confident Roman script.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-90191583148982542962020-07-12T03:36:00.001-07:002020-07-30T04:47:18.195-07:00The Multi-Lingual Ottoman Levant<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I am one of those lucky
people whose mother tongue is English, a language in which I can expect to be
understood world-wide. I have only one other language into which I can confidently
switch (French) and a couple in which I can order restaurant meals and check
in at a hotel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Everyone probably knows
that the old Ottoman Levant was a multilingual society. Not only that, it was a
multi-script society. Look at this wonderful 1891 Invoice and try to identify
the different scripts and languages mobilised by the Constantinople printer
whose identity is provided on the right-hand side. But I doubt Angelidos Frères
have achieved a world-record: I can’t find English anywhere on the Invoice…..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Multi-lingualism on
this scale does pose problems. A large business can probably find staff to
cover all the necessary languages; a small business or office might struggle.
And a lot of time will be spent translating and not quite getting it right. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">On the invoice the scripts I can see are Roman, Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew, Greek, Armenian, Russian Cyrillic. Yes?</span></div>
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<br />Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-68561430529681514582020-07-10T08:20:00.003-07:002020-07-23T14:19:20.996-07:00ROPiT agency on Mont Athos in the Imperial Russian period.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The ROPiT cachet or cancellation illustrated on
these two items is not listed by Tchilingirian and his collaborators, either in
the original 1958 handbook or the later additions. Nor can I find it
illustrated on the internet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The ROPiT agencies on Mont Athos were probably
housed together though they would have been very busy and there would have been
separate counters for matters relating to goods shipped by ROPiT and mail which
ROPiT ships also carried. Though this large oval cachet is in a standard design
found cancelling mail from other offices, it may be that this Mont Athos one
was most frequently used on paperwork of one kind or another. But it should be
possible to find it on mail or, at least, loose stamps. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The 1892 document shows the cachet in an early
state, the letters crisp. Interestingly, the notepaper has an English
papermaker’s watermark with Crown over ORIGINAL ROYAL MILL.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The 1911 printed ROPiT form in Russian and French
relates to a shipment of oil (“Huile”) arriving from Odessa. It is interesting
because the Turkish fiscal shows that goods arriving in or leaving Athos were
subject to Ottoman taxation. In contrast, it seems that mail went in and out
without Ottoman involvement unless it had been routed via Constantinople rather
than arriving directly by ROPiT ship into Athos.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have only these two examples of the cachet and I
guess from the absence of Google images that it is rare. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-23223249154195677942020-06-02T13:34:00.000-07:002020-06-02T23:11:25.652-07:00Auctions in the Time of Coronavirus<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As regular readers of
this Blog will know, I sometimes do work as a describer for the Wiesbaden
auction house of Heinrich Koehler. So I was pleased when I learnt that their
next auction will go ahead on 23 - 27 June with viewing and room bidding. But I
was curious to know how it would be different after coronavirus and I asked Tobias
Huylmans, one of the two Koehler managing directors, to explain it to me. In
response, he sent me a nine page document setting out all the new arrangements
Koehler will have in place. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">These arrangements had been agreed with the local
health authority and the document he sent me has already been distributed to
all the staff at Koehler so that they fully understand what is required later
this month.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As you might expect,
the new arrangements are based on both legal requirements and models of good
practice which have developed in the past few months. I will summarise them here
using the Koehler in-house document and add a few comments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">First,
the total number of people inside the Koehler offices will be controlled at all
times</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">, with an Entry, Exit, and Pass system. Basically,
anyone who wants to view or bid in person will need to make a prior appointment
and be issued a Pass on arrival. Anyone who arrives early for their appointment
may have to wait outside in the kind of regulated queue we are all now familiar
with from supermarkets. Exit will be through a different door from Entrance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Second,
once inside everything that can be done to ensure distancing will be done. </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Viewing
places and auction seats will be arranged to ensure the minimum 1.5m distance
required by German law.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Third,
as an additional layer of protection</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">, Koehler will install
plexiglass screens to separate staff from clients, and clients from clients, at
appropriate points.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Fourth,
use of personal protection will be expected of everyone</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">.
So expect to wear a mask and expect to use hand sanitiser (Koehler will supply
both but won’t object if you have them in your pocket already!). Koehler will
also be using enhanced cleaning of their premises and disinfecting viewing
tables between clients.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Fifth,
as a backstop which it is hoped will not be used</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">,
if you appear to be unwell you may be asked to leave.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In short, it’s a
thorough plan and it’s been approved. I am sure other auction houses will be
developing similar arrangements and in time I suspect we will all get used to
them. Part of the challenge for Koehler is that they are going to be one of the
first to hold an auction under these conditions. Inevitably, some will grumble
a bit. Other will be pleased that a serious company takes the health of its
staff and its clients seriously. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-1068388467394509102020-05-08T03:46:00.001-07:002020-05-08T03:48:05.766-07:00 Assessing Cancellations from Internal Evidence<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">How can you tell if a cancellation is a fake when
you don’t have examples to compare it with which you know to be genuine?
Sometimes a cancellation just looks wrong - wrong <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">style</i>, or the ink isn’t like the ink you would expect to see, and
so on. But these are not decisive considerations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However, sometime you can tell that a cancellation
is bad by something internal to it - something which stares you in the face and
tells you it must be wrong. Look at these two cards. To my eye they have FAKE
written all over them. But right now I don’t have enough reference material to
prove that. But then I notice something which settles the matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Look at the two receiver marks, one for KAMENETS
POD. and one for KHARKOV in different styles - letters close together on
KAMENETS, spaced well apart on KHARKOV, and so on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then look at the date lines. Look at the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">7</b>. It’s identical in both date lines.
Then look at the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">7</b> in relation to
the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">6</b> and the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">10. </b>It’s slightly raised - lay a ruler across and it will pick it
up. Then look at the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">23</b>. The two
versions are identical - the<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> 3</b>
slightly raised in relation to the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2 </b>and
rather weak.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In other words, the same device has been used to add
the date line to the Kamenets cancel and to the Kharkov cancel. That seems to me
fairly decisive….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The next step, if someone wanted to take it, would be to lift the stamps. Sometimes there will be the trace of an old Imperial small-sized stamp which has been removed - in the past, my understanding is that people went around flea markets looking for cards where the stamp hadn't been cancelled or had only a bit of a cancel which could be covered up with a larger replacement stamp. Better still would be a card which had been written but not sent through the post. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sometimes a replacement stamp when lifted will show a hinge remainder. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">But in the present case it's not necessary to make such investigations; it would only be out of curiosity that someone might do so.</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My
thanks to Bruce Jarvis for allowing me to reproduce the two cards he sent me
for my opinion<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-58015622104845698622020-04-22T04:46:00.001-07:002020-04-28T14:33:31.271-07:00Just Published: Trevor Pateman, Philatelic Case Studies from Ukraine's First Independence Period<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4667px;">Now available as a full-colour paperback:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4667px;">Philatelic Case Studies from Ukraine’s First Independence Period<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4667px;">by Trevor Pateman<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4667px;">ISBN <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>978 1 734 52222 0 4<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4667px;">Glenn Stefanovics in Connecticut has edited my Blog posts about Ukrainian philately into a beautiful 140 page full-colour book with all my original illustrations and an Index which makes it much more readily useable than this Blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is now available. The book has been printed in the USA and will be distributed from there though I will service individual orders for some countries in order to reduce postage costs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4667px;">The book is priced at $20 plus postage.To obtain a copy for despatch within the USA or to Canada email Glenn at <a href="mailto:veldes1@hotmail.com">veldes1@hotmail.com</a> giving your name and address. You will be able to pay by bank to bank transfer, by PayPal, or in the USA by cheque. He will quote you the postage charge, currently $8.40.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">To order a copy for despatch within the UK, Europe or Australasia, email me at patemantrevor@gmail.com. I will quote you a price based on actual postage costs and offer the choice of paying into a UK sterling or German €uro denominated bank account. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">For all other destinations, contact Glenn for a quote.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4667px;">The book is published by Glenn’s Morea Research Group and with an ISBN - which ensures that copies can appear on Amazon. It is already available in the USA on amazon.com</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4667px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4667px;">Glenn plans to recycle revenues from sales of this Ukraine volume into the production of a second volume assembling some of my Blog posts about Russian philately.</span></div>
Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-56744316129405776122020-03-08T06:19:00.000-07:002020-03-08T06:19:41.279-07:00Quarantine<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I need hardly tell my
readers that Quarantine is in the news….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In the nineteenth
century, quarantine was always in the news. All travel involved risks and in
areas like the Mediterranean and Black Sea where large movements of people were
part of everyday commercial life, authorities monitored people and ships constantly. Letters
going from A to B were disinfected on the way if it was believed that A was in the
grip of some outbreak of infectious disease. Ships could only enter port when
granted certification that they ware disease-free. And so on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In the forthcoming sale
of the Christou collection at Heinrich Koehler Wiesbaden there are a large
number of lots which relate to quarantine, notably certificates issued under
the denomination of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Patente de Santé. </i>Some
are issued by Russian authorities and some by Ottoman, some are in Russian and Arabic, some in French. Here are a few examples:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AUHq_osAJHw/XmTv7jxnPWI/AAAAAAAAAro/jtGrFGw9bP4JSVJhG-eIl19VWLCZn_RtgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/2020-03-08_131332.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1013" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AUHq_osAJHw/XmTv7jxnPWI/AAAAAAAAAro/jtGrFGw9bP4JSVJhG-eIl19VWLCZn_RtgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-03-08_131332.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><i>Click on Image to Enlarge</i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Of course, you may be
quarantined and unable to view these lots in Wiesbaden. But fortunately there
is no quarantine on viewing online or bidding online …. All the lots are
illustrated at the link below:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<a href="https://www.heinrich-koehler.de/en/373rd-auction?f%5B0%5D=field_catalogue_part%3A3802">https://www.heinrich-koehler.de/en/373rd-auction?f%5B0%5D=field_catalogue_part%3A3802</a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-54961451830994480932020-03-05T07:36:00.000-08:002020-03-05T07:38:42.427-08:00Advice to Collectors: Don't Ignore the Yellow Pages!<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Many auction houses
produce catalogues which have separate sections for “Single Lots” and “Collections”.
I think the general idea is to point collectors towards the single lots and
dealers to the collections. In Germany, the distinction is also marked by
different colour paper: single lots [<i>Einzellosen</i>]
are listed on white pages and collections [<i>Sammlungen</i>]
on yellow pages - <i>Gelbeseiten. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In the past, material on yellow pages would be sold on the same day, convenient for dealers who wanted to (and in the past, did) bid in person.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">My advice now to both
collectors and dealers is to ignore the Single Lot/ Collections system. It is never used consistently
- you can find “Single Lots” containing ten items and “Collections” containing
two. And it often involves putting “collector” material into dealer sections,
though perhaps less so <i>vice versa.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I was reminded of this
today when I received my latest and very interesting Heinrich Koehler<i> Hauptkatalog</i> [Main Catalogue]. Most of
the white pages describe lots in English, though Austria, Switzerland and
the very big Germany section are in German. <b>All
</b>of the yellow pages describe lots using German, as if they might only be of
interest to German dealers who will all turn up on the appointed day as they always have done .... <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Collectors will easily miss out if they ignore the Yellow Pages. I will pick a couple of examples where I am
familiar with the material because I am the vendor </span><span style="font-family: "wingdings"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">J</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "wingdings"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For Russia and the
Soviet Union, there are over eighty yellow page lots (Los Nr 4281 - 4308). Most
are indeed album collections and quite big cover lots and many will not
interest a collector who already has a collection and a clear collecting theme.
But then look at Los Nr 4307:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">1920 2 Paketkarten und eine Zahlunsanweisung im
neuen sowjetischen Druck, selten aus dieser fruehen Periode Ausruf 100€<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Well, this is accurate
and translates as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">1920
2 Parcel Cards and one Money Transfer Form in new Soviet printings, scarce from
this early period. Start price 100€<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">BUT this small lot is
unlikely to excite a Yellow Page-focussed dealer; it is very specialised and
will I think only excite a collector who understands a bit about Russian formulars and
maybe guesses that these post-Imperial formulars will (for example) not show the Imperial coat of
arms. Three examples of new post-revolutionary designs is not going to be too many for a serous
collector to want to see or own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Here’s another example.
There are two lots for Iran. The first (4408) is a duplicated collection for
the whole period 1876-1956. Good yellow page stuff. But the second item (
4409) is rather different:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">1886 18 Ganzsachenauschnitte 5 Ch auf Briefstuecken
mit Stempeln von 14 verschiedenen Orten auf Beschrifteter Albumseite Ausruf 200€<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">which translates as<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">1886
18 Postal Stationery cut outs of 5 Ch on pieces with postmarks of 14 different
places, on a written-up album page
Start price 200 €<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Now this might interest
a dealer who thinks they can sell these 18 items one-by-one. After all, they are catalogued as an issue. Equally, what is
being described is really just one specialist item: its evidence that the
officially-authorised stationery cut outs - used as provisionals during a stamp
shortage - can be found used from at least these 14 places. If I was a classic Persia
collector and did not already have a similar album page I would jump at this lot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So take my advice, if
you are a collector don’t ignore the yellow pages even if you need a dictionary
to help you out. There are many more interesting items where I found these two .... Happy hunting!</span>Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-14484608287395459542020-02-16T04:36:00.002-08:002020-03-26T00:23:55.018-07:00From Odessa to Constantinople and Mont Athos: the Christou Collection<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
text which follows is my Introduction to the Christou Collection which will be
sold at Heinrich Koehler, Wiesbaden,in June</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> 2020 as Lots 507 - 643. To view
the Lots go to</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.heinrich-koehler.de/en/373rd-heinrich-k%C3%B6hler-auction?f%5B0%5D=field_catalogue_part%3A3802&f%5B1%5D=field_catalogue_part%3A3473&f%5B2%5D=field_item_type%3Asingle">https://www.heinrich-koehler.de/en/373rd-heinrich-k%C3%B6hler-auction?f%5B0%5D=field_catalogue_part%3A3802&f%5B1%5D=field_catalogue_part%3A3473&f%5B2%5D=field_item_type%3Asingle</a></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There has been a
Russian Orthodox religious presence on Mont Athos for a thousand years, of
which the great monastery of St Panteleimon was and remains the centre. But in
the nineteenth century, especially from the 1840s onwards, successive Tsarist
governments supported financially and diplomatically the creation and expansion
of newer institutions, technically inferior to monasteries but in practice
coming to exceed in the size of their estates and the number of monks they
housed the old ruling monasteries. Three institutions stand out: the<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> Skete [ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">monastic community</i>] of the Prophet Elijah</b> (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ilinski Sikt</i>), a dependency of the Greek Orthodox monastery of
Pantokrator but housing first Ukrainian and then Russian monks; the<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> Kellion [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cell</i>] of St John Chrysostomom </b>(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ioanna Zlatousta</i>), a dependency of the Serbian Orthodox monastery
of Hilandar; and the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Skete of St Andrew</b>
(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Andreeveski Sikt </i>and sometimes
called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Serail</i>), a dependency of the
Greek Orthodox monastery of Vatopedi. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Until 1912, Mont Athos
was part of the Ottoman Empire with a Turkish governor in residence and Ottoman
customs, immigration and postal agencies located in the port of Daphne and the
small administrative town of Karyes. In addition, and as elsewhere in the Levant,
the Russian company ROPiT maintained a shipping agency and a post office on
Athos with significant autonomy from Turkish control. For example, mail from
Russia could travel by ROPiT ship from Odessa direct to Athos and be distributed
to the Russian communities by Russian postal officials. But Russian mail could
also be transferred to the Ottoman system in Constantinople for onward
transmission, and some was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Spiritual <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>authority over the monasteries rested (and
still rests) with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. When secular
authority over Athos passed to Greece in 1912, the spiritual arrangements
remained unchanged. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">From 1912 on, the
Russian Orthodox communities suffered a succession of blows from which they did
not recover.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">First, in 1913 the Imperial Russian government
responded to perceived heretical tendencies among the monastic communities by
sending in gunboats and troops and, after violet clashes, forcibly deporting
about eight hundred monks who were returned to Russia, tried, defrocked and
internally exiled. The number of monks was thereby reduced by somewhere between
a third and a half. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Second, the First World
War led to a reduction in contacts and financing from Russia. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Third, the
Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 cut the remaining contacts almost to nil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The Russian communities
went into long term decline and by the 1960s the few remaining elderly monks
were completely unable to maintain the vast properties which they occupied. The
significant library of the Andreevski Skete was destroyed by fire in 1958; the
last<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>monk there died in 1971 and the
Andreevski estate reverted to the Greek monastery of Vatopedi. Even though it
was re-occupied by Greek monks in the 1990s, modern photographs show the
skete’s original pharmacy, candle factory and photographic studio untouched
except by the mice and the weather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
recently as 2017, online photographs of the Kellion of St John show a ruined
building with administrative offices from which furniture has been removed but
where the paperwork has been left in heaps to rot on the floors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">At some point in the
1970s, in an attempt to raise funds, monks on Mont Athos packed up old and
unwanted administrative papers into suitcases and travelled to Thessaloniki and
elsewhere attempting to sell them to collectors and dealers. They had only
limited success and most of the old paperwork was left to rot (as shown by the
St John photographs already mentioned) or was used for fire lighting in
communities which still had no access to electricity. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Just one collector
appears to have taken a serious interest in what the monks were offering, the
late Stavros Christou, and it is his collection of Athos-related material which
is offered in this sale. The collection includes material from many other sources,
but at its core is what was offered to Mr Christou in the 1970s. It is
dominated by material from the period 1840s - 1913 which was the hey-day of Russian
monasticism on Mont Athos when ships arrived almost daily, mail came in
sackfuls, and goods needed by the monastic communities arrived not only from
Odessa but from suppliers across Russia.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-46747185724824686892020-01-25T01:40:00.000-08:002020-01-25T01:40:14.911-08:00Brave Philatelists: Zbigniew Bokiewicz and Giulio Bolaffi<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I can’t think of a
novel in which a philatelist appears as a positive character, and certainly not
a brave one. If you can think of any, please let me know by sending me an email at </span><a href="mailto:patemantrevor@gmail.com"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">patemantrevor@gmail.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><img alt="" class="img-fluid" src="https://f.1944.pl/Archive/4/0/0/4002bd1d38e9d554a8be0b926da11e37-5aa0e-fill-240-240.jpg" style="background-color: white; border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1c1c; font-family: Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif; height: auto; max-width: 100%; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle; width: 240px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When I started stamp
dealing in the 1990s, one of the first dealers I met was Zbigniew Bokiewicz who
had a shop in London’s Strand, directly opposite Stanley Gibbons in what was
called The Strand Stamp Centre. He was born in Warsaw in 1923, so he was around
seventy when I met him, very white haired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was happy to talk but was always very modest and quiet in his manner. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Later, after he stopped trading in the Strand, I visited him at his home in
Chiswick, met his wife, and bought material from his stock which he was now
selling off. Later still, he used to come to what was called the Strand Stamp
Fair, which was held monthly but no longer in the Strand - by then it had moved
to a hotel just off Russell Square. He continued to sell me small quantities of
material which he brought to the stamp fair in a small, battered briefcase. By
this time, he had bought an apartment in Warsaw; eventually he
moved back to the city where he was born. On one of the last occasions when I
met him he showed me a photograph, recently taken, in which he was receiving an
award from the Polish president. He died in 2016.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In 1939, Mr Bokiewicz
(as he was always called) was a sixteen year old schoolboy and boy scout. His academically
prestigious school was shut down early in the period of German occupation
(Poles were to be limited to primary and technical schooling) and Bokiewicz
turned to black market dealing and then, with friends, opened a stamp shop in
Warsaw. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">At the same time as he
ran the stamp shop, he was a member of the Polish Home Army, received military
training, used the stamp shop as a contact point, and by the time of the Warsaw
Uprising had officer status which meant that when captured, he was sent to an
officer prisoner of war camp, Oflag VIIA - Murnau. By the time the camp was
liberated by American forces, Bokiewciz’s weight had dropped to 42 kilos. But
he went on to join the army of General Anders and was sent to fight in Italy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the end of the war, he <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was able to make his home in England. His
knowledge of languages (Polish, German, Italian, French) helped him get a job
with Thomas Cook, the travel agents, but in due course he established
Continental Stamp Supplies Ltd.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">If you Google “Zbigniew
Bokiewicz” you will find many records of interviews that he gave late in life
in both Polish and English. There are video recordings, a sound recording for
the Imperial War Museum but very late in his life (2014) and less informative
than the interviews transcribed into various books, for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>example this one which appears unabridged on
Google:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_2S-ZAkAy7EC&pg=PT32&lpg=PT32&dq=%22zbigniew+bokiewicz%22&source=bl&ots=gWkKBi3XgW&sig=ACfU3U1n_LkO9Fk5qNcv8qDeDKJ_tHAIqg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiSopmfk4rnAhX1tHEKHeB3CWwQ6AEwBHoECAoQAQ">https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_2S-ZAkAy7EC&pg=PT32&lpg=PT32&dq=%22zbigniew+bokiewicz%22&source=bl&ots=gWkKBi3XgW&sig=ACfU3U1n_LkO9Fk5qNcv8qDeDKJ_tHAIqg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiSopmfk4rnAhX1tHEKHeB3CWwQ6AEwBHoECAoQAQ#</a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a class="main_image" href="https://www.infocenters.co.il/gfh/multimedia/Photos/Idea/21852.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #328cbc; font-family: "Open Sans", Rubik-Regular; font-size: 12.672px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank"><img alt="21852.tif - Enlarge image with lightbox" src="https://www.infocenters.co.il/gfh/media_to_thumbnail.asp?media_full_path=multimedia/Photos/Idea/21852.jpg&thumbnail_width=304&thumbnail_height=&thumbnail_extra=" style="border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; margin: 20px 0px; max-width: 90%; padding: 0px;" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #393e44; font-family: "Open Sans", Rubik-Regular; font-size: 14.08px;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Every year in Italy
since 1989, a marathon takes place in honour of Giulio Bolaffi (1902- 1987).
But it is not because he was an internationally famous philatelist. The
marathon follows a path in the Valle de Susa, east of Torino and close to the French border. The path was once used
by Italian partisans in the Second World War who belonged to division IV GL, the
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stellina</i>, commanded by Bolaffi.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Stellina</i>
eventually grew to number six hundred partisans (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">partigiani</i>) and Bolaffi<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>led
them until June 1945, when he returned to civilian life. The website of today’s
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bolaffi company shows Giulio in partisan
uniform:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.bolaffi.it/chi-siamo/">https://www.bolaffi.it/chi-siamo/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Bolaffi was Jewish. Confronted
by Italian racial laws which progressively limited the activities of Jewish
businesses, Giulio’s brothers Dante and Roberto emigrated. Giulio stayed and
left his family behind to join the resistance. His wife died in 1943 during his
absence but his children Stella (hence <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stellina</i>)
and Alberto (named after Giulio’s father) survived the war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There is a summary of Giulio
Bolaffi’s career on Wikipedia. Notably, Bolaffi kept nine war diaries and these
have been published in a 500 page book:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulio_Bolaffi">https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulio_Bolaffi</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.ibs.it/partigiani-in-val-di-susa-libro-giulio-bolaffi/e/9788891705594">https://www.ibs.it/partigiani-in-val-di-susa-libro-giulio-bolaffi/e/9788891705594</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Acknowledgement:</i> For research assistance with Bolaffi's career, I am
grateful to Giada Santana)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-43627681352769752232020-01-12T04:16:00.001-08:002020-01-12T04:19:52.244-08:00Free Frank mail from Imperial Russia to Mont Athos<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This is a continuation
of the Blog post of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>27 December 2019<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I illustrate here two
Free Frank letters sent from Russia to Mont Athos. They require explanation,
not least because they are going outside the territory of Imperial Russia into
the territory of the Ottoman Empire, though a part which enjoyed internal administrative
autonomy. Nonetheless, there was an international frontier at the port of
Daphne, the harbour of Mont Athos , and it was under Ottoman control until
1912-13 when control passed to Greece.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Free Frank privileges
are common enough and have always been subject to abuse. In Great Britain,
Members of Parliament enjoyed Free Frank privileges and thoroughly abused them
before the advent of Penny Postage. With postage rates maybe ten or twenty times
greater than one penny, you could do favours by posting other people’s mail -
and all that was required of you was your signature on the outside of the
letter and use of the House of Commons mail box.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In Imperial Russia,
Free Frank privileges were extensive but subject to requirements designed to
enable accounting and reduce fraud. So on the front of a letter a cachet and a
number was required - the number entered into an accounting book. And on the
back a seal was required which asserted the right to the Free Frank privilege.
The seal could be wax, paper or the impression of another rubber or metal handstamp.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">But Free Frank privilege
cannot normally extend beyond the frontier unless as part of some convention or
agreement with another state or within an Empire - in the British Empire, Free
Frank privilege could carry an O H M S letter from a colony to London.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So how did these Free
Frank letters get from Russia to Ottoman Athos without any charge being raised?
The simple answer is that they travelled to their destination without passing
out of Russian hands. At Odessa, Russian postal officials handed over them to
Russian agents of the R O P i T shipping line. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The R O P i T boat sailed to Athos where
the Russian ship was subject to Ottoman quarantine rules. But the bags of mail
were handed directly to agents of the R O P i T post office on Mont Athos without
Ottoman intervention. The post office then handed them to monks from the
appropriate monasteries - the bags were I believe already pre-sorted by monastery. There
were really only four possible destinations, two of them represented by my
letters: the skete of St Andrew and the skete of the Prophet Elijah. (The other
destinations were the monastery of Panteleimon and the Kellion of St John
Chrystostom).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">These Free Frank
letters are not common but more will be on offer in the Heinrich Koehler sale
of a large collection of Mont Athos material, scheduled for March 2020.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<br />Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-83806862889608717212019-12-27T03:15:00.001-08:002019-12-27T11:21:22.165-08:00Imperial Russian Money Letters to Mont Athos<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Any collector of
Imperial Russian postal history who has gone through dealer boxes will at some
point have come across money letters from Russia to Mont Athos, one of the
peninsulas south of Thessaloniki and at the time part of the Ottoman Empire.
They will be dated between the early 1870s and the early 1900s, after which the
postal money transfer (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Perevod</i>)
method replaced them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The money letters will
be addressed to three possible destinations: the skete [monastery] of St Andrew
(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Andreeveski Sikt/Skete</i>), the kellion
[cell] of St John Chrystostomos [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kellio
St. Ioanna Zlatousta</i>], and perhaps less frequently to the skete of the
Prophet Elijah [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ilinksi Sikt/skete</i>].
These were all Russian Orthodox establishments, recently created with
extensive support from the Imperial Russian government. It is unlikely that any
money letters will be found addressed to the centuries-older Panteleimon
Monastery, also Russian Orthodox. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The reason is simple: the first three
institutions closed in the 1960s and 1970s as the last monks died off. The
Panteleimon still exists and in recent years has been restored and expanded
with fairly massive support from the Russian government and Russian oligarchs.
Mont Athos has been part of Greece since 1912-13 but still enjoys considerable
autonomy; for example, it is exempt from EU free movement rules and if you want
to visit you need a visa and to get a visa you need to be, at least, male. Access
is by boat from Thessaloniki; there is no land route and that has always been
the case. There is a small port (Daphne) and landing facilities at the Panteleimon
monastery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When the three other
monasteries finally closed after decades of decline, monks from the senior
monasteries on which they depended (The Greek Orthodox Vatopedi, the Serbian Hilandar) tried to raise funds by selling off secular archive material. Documents and
objects of religious significance were removed to other monasteries, but secular papers were taken by the sackful or suitcase full to Thessaloniki and Athens.
The task was not easy - there were no roads only paths on Athos, no
electricity, and moving stuff around wasn’t easy. The monks eventually
gave up on the project. Here is a link to photographs of the administrative offices of one
of the three Russian institutions, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>taken
in the past five years by a visitor to Mont Athos. They show the remains of an
archive in a room which is now open to both winds and rain; just keep scrolling down through the images<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://athosweblog.com/2017/07/01/1929-kapsala-the-ruined-kellion-of-st-john-chrysostomos-the-interior/">https://athosweblog.com/2017/07/01/1929-kapsala-the-ruined-kellion-of-st-john-chrysostomos-the-interior/</a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><v:shapetype coordsize="21600,21600" filled="f" id="_x0000_t75" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" stroked="f">
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The money letters
themselves look like this and I want to propose two theories about them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zyht8YEzkjc/XgXlfGpRR4I/AAAAAAAAAm0/_VF22M40a7kLosZQeQrcx8KBiyW8Z2xKQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/athos1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zyht8YEzkjc/XgXlfGpRR4I/AAAAAAAAAm0/_VF22M40a7kLosZQeQrcx8KBiyW8Z2xKQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/athos1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yf4-YrjR8qs/XgXllJGaplI/AAAAAAAAAm4/A8pQ9QPgiJs4R63fzM0D_NU7kTAiSbW5ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/athos2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1007" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yf4-YrjR8qs/XgXllJGaplI/AAAAAAAAAm4/A8pQ9QPgiJs4R63fzM0D_NU7kTAiSbW5ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/athos2.jpg" width="201" /></a></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i>Click on Images to Enlarge</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">First
theory. </span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The letters normally have a despatch cancel and a
transit cancel of Odessa. The long and complicated addresses nearly always
contain a routing “via Odessa”. But only in a very, very small number of cases
is there an arrival mark. There was a Russian ROPIT post office on Athos, mail
arrived in Russian ROPIT boats and given the nature of the letters, one would
expect to see an arrival mark. So why is it normally missing?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> My theory is
this. When the very numerous money letters arrived in Odessa, they were sorted
according to their final destinations, of which there were in reality only four
likely ones. So a bag would be created for St Andrew, another for St John, and
so on. Then the bags would be sealed and would arrive sealed in Athos where the
ROPIT post office would simply hand them over to monks from the monasteries
whose job it was to collect their mail. The very small number of letters with
ROPIT AFON arrival marks would have been those put in a late bag, unsorted, or
put into it because they had unclear addresses. In addition, some may have been
later handed back to the ROPIT office on Athos by monastery monks because they
had been mis-sorted in Odessa.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">The system of making up
the bags in Odessa may help explain why the routing “via Odessa” appears to be
obligatory. But there may be another reason:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Second
theory:</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> a lot of money got sent to Mont Athos in the sixty
years from the 1840s to 1914. It was always accompanied by some kind of letter
indicating what the money was for: prayers, candles, and so on. But on Athos
itself the money was fairly useless. The monks had to import most of what they
needed for both secular and religious purposes. They grew some food locally and
had pharmacies, printing presses, candle making factories, and even
photographic studios - but all the equipment and raw material had to be
imported: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from Odessa, from Taganrog,
from Kerch, from Constantinople. That generated a very large number of bills to
be paid. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In the March 2020
Heinrich Koehler Wiesbaden auction, many hundreds of invoices addressed to Mont
Athos will be included in the sale of a large collection of Athos material. How
were those invoices paid? There are several possibilities: monks went down to
the port of Daphne with a sack of money and paid the captain of the boat which
was making a delivery; monks travelled to Odessa and so on with cash in a bag
and went around paying bills; the monks sent money letters out from Mont Athos
to all the firms to which they owed money. And so on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There is another
possibility. The money letters were opened in the Odessa post office and the
money removed, under the supervision of local agents of the Athos monasteries.
The money was then banked locally and bills were settled via the banking system
or by monks who came to Odessa and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>took
money from the bank there and then went around paying bills. The amount of
money removed was carefully noted and the money letter envelopes were sent on
to Athos with the letters inside which indicated the uses for which the money
was intended: the prayers and candles and so on. Other material in the Koehler auction indicates that the
monasteries were involved in major use of the banking system in Odessa and
Constantinople. Someone may be able to test my very speculative theory by
piecing together the history. An obvious alternative theory would say that the money really did go to Athos and that monks there were then tasked with taking it off Athos to Odessa and Constantinople and banking it there for future use in paying bills.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<i>Added 27 December 2019:</i> Howard Weinert provides the following very interesting information:<br />
<br />
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">
The following excerpt is from the official government newspaper <i>Pravitelstvenny Vestnik.</i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">
<br /></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">
Issue of 13 August 1894: According to the old ROPiT treaty of 1872, money and declared value packets addressed to Afon were opened at the Odessa post office, and the enclosed money was handed over to a ROPiT agent for transmission to Afon by ROPiT ship. The addressee had to pay a fee on delivery. According to the new ROPiT treaty effective 1 Sept. 1894, all fees will be collected when the mail is posted and no mail will be opened.</div>
Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-39234330412345388852019-12-04T06:10:00.001-08:002019-12-04T06:10:20.977-08:00Review: Edward Klempka, Foreign Military Activity in the Russian Civil War 1917-1923<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hNQCwvnmKw0/Xee6VGkXyZI/AAAAAAAAAmI/x55Gm2GxaIwryPhaNAIV-flGQDvVOArfACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/2019-12-04_135136.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1133" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hNQCwvnmKw0/Xee6VGkXyZI/AAAAAAAAAmI/x55Gm2GxaIwryPhaNAIV-flGQDvVOArfACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2019-12-04_135136.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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<i>Click on Image to Enlarge</i></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
This impressive 380 page, full colour book is jointly published by the auction house David Feldman (Geneva) and the British Society of Russian Philately. The well-known collector, Edward Klempka, illustrates material from more foreign forces than most of us supposed existed. So we not only have the Americans and the British, the French and the Germans but also Italians and Poles, Turks and Yugoslavs. And ten more in addition.The profuse illustrations include many of rare and unexpected items. Any collector who is puzzled over an item which looks as if it might have to do with some foreign intervention in Russia could turn to this book and expect enlightenment.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The book has an ISBN and on the website of bsrp.org is priced at £50 plus postage. For more information follow the link:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://www.bsrp.org/news/foreign-military-activity-in-the-russian-civil-war-1917-1923/">https://www.bsrp.org/news/foreign-military-activity-in-the-russian-civil-war-1917-1923/</a></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-64981375780170891522019-08-12T08:18:00.002-07:002020-02-17T10:00:50.117-08:00Ukraine Trident Overprints: Inverted Varieties<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Most 1918 Ukraine
Trident overprints were applied by hand. Machine printed Tridents were applied to
make Kiev/Kyiv type 3 and Odessa/Odesa types 1, 2 and 3. Since Ukraine was a
big country even in 1918 (population between 25 and 30 million) dozens of
clerks were kept busy overprinting sheets of Imperial stamps. It must have been
very boring, the boredom perhaps relieved by alcohol when it could be obtained
or at least tea and tobacco.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">But inverted overprints
from handstamps are really very uncommon. This is surprising. I think there may
be three explanations:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">If a clerk started overprinting with the
handstamp held upside down, he (always <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">he,</i>
I suspect) would probably notice and correct the error. It would require real
carelessness to work through a whole sheet using the handstamp upside down. It’s
true that in poor light, some stamps don’t obviously self-identify as the right
way up, so if <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the sheet</i> , not the
handstamp, was upside down this might be missed. The pale yellow of 1 kopek is
the most obvious example of a stamp which does not shout out when it is the
wrong way up and it’s true that inverted overprints on the 1 kopek are generally
more common than on other values.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The work of individual clerks was
supervised and checked. This may explain the use of “correcting handstamps”
applied over poor examples of a trident overprint or onto stamps which had
somehow missed an overprint. Correcting handstamps are found, for example, on
stamps of Poltava.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Dealers and speculators of the time no
doubt <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wanted</i> to have inverted overprints
to sell at a premium. Asked for such varieties, postal officials may not have
been as co-operative as they sometimes are. The Trident was a symbol of new
independence and national pride. To apply it upside down at this early stage of
a political revolution may have been thought disloyal or, at least, lacking in
seriousness. In contrast, varying the colour of the ink may have been more
acceptable. So-called Svenson varieties on things like Kiev 2gg are ink
varieties; inverted overprints are still not common on these varieties. Only for
Odessa/Odesa ( a very Russian city) do you get lots of inverted overprints, clearly
made to order. In addition, it may be that handstamps were taken away from post
office premises and used by dealers like Trachtenberg who did their own work
and created their own varieties.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Catalogue listings of
the inverted overprints are not systematic. Dr Seichter tends to give a general
guide, suggesting premiums on the normal valuation. Bulat lists some inverts
but not others, as I was reminded when I looked up this little group of Kharkov/Kharkiv
I. Bulat lists several values with inverted overprints but not this one, even
though these postally-used stamps (ex the Schmidt collection) have very old UPV
guarantee marks. It seems likely that they are all from the same sheet and with cancellations of what I read as BOGODUKHOV KHARK - now the small Ukrainian town of Bohodukhiv. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rUt45x2pN-8/XVGBuEcj40I/AAAAAAAAAjY/I4sC2BOwIPo5g32qPp4X48-sB6WDPqIZgCLcBGAs/s1600/kharkiv%2Btridents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="886" data-original-width="1279" height="221" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rUt45x2pN-8/XVGBuEcj40I/AAAAAAAAAjY/I4sC2BOwIPo5g32qPp4X48-sB6WDPqIZgCLcBGAs/s320/kharkiv%2Btridents.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Added
February 2020: Most of my Ukraine-related Blog posts are now available in full
colour book form. To find out more follow the link:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html">http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html</a><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br />Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-18402630563955804952019-07-18T01:48:00.001-07:002019-08-21T10:31:54.163-07:00A Rarity from 1923 Georgia<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eJNAcGQTeP8/XTAxq3Q_2EI/AAAAAAAAAh8/kUSyVgPDSQMHXp5oFVhY6F8fQ6fl3H85QCLcBGAs/s1600/trevor-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1235" data-original-width="1600" height="246" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eJNAcGQTeP8/XTAxq3Q_2EI/AAAAAAAAAh8/kUSyVgPDSQMHXp5oFVhY6F8fQ6fl3H85QCLcBGAs/s320/trevor-1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Click on Images to Enlarge</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Most collectors have
the experience of never seeing a stamp which is listed in the catalogue they
are using - not a RRRR stamp but a stamp which might be catalogued at 1
or 10<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>or 20 or 100. Sometimes, the
problem is simply a typographical error in the catalogue - it says 3 cents red
but should say 5 cents red. Sometimes, it is because of some unreliable
information the catalogue editor was given either by a collector or a
speculator. This is why editors of the better catalogues insist on seeing any
stamp before they list it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Over the years, I have
handled thousands of stamps of Georgia for the period 1919 - 1923. They are
well-studied and not very complex, except for some of the handstamp surcharges.
But I had never seen one particular stamp, listed in the main catalogues: the
1923 machine overprint with Soviet arms and numeral of value, 300 000 on 20
kopek Imperial Arms perforated, but the overprint in <i>blue</i> instead of <i>black</i>. I
did look carefully - blue and black are sometimes hard to distinguish on a blue
stamp and maybe my eyes aren’t so good now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I never found a blue overprint.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Then last week I was
viewing the Dr Hans Grigoleit collection of Transcaucasia and there it was. Not
only the stamp but on cover. The stamp exists and is not some philatelic
variety - here are two copies on a clearly commercial cover from Suram / Surami
to Tiflis / Tbilisi with a manuscript Registration cachet and a Tiflis / Tbilisi
receiver (Ashford type 15). The letter is addressed in Georgian script and both
despatch and arrival cancels are in Georgian, but the registration cachet has
been written in Cyrillic as SURAM - the Georgian name is Surami.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So if you don’t have
the blue overprint variety in your collection, keep on looking. It exists. As
for this cover, it will be included in the Heinrich Koehler auction of Dr
Grigoleit’s collection in September 2019. (I am grateful to Heinrich Koehler
for letting me preview it here)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">To view Lots in the September 2019 Koehler auction, it is easiest to view by country at</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://www.philasearch.com/en/country_topic.html?set_anbieter=35&set_auktionnr=5207" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"><b>https://www.philasearch.com/en/country_topic.html?set_anbieter=35&set_auktionnr=5207</b></a></span></div>
<br />Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-31256151476396504102019-06-28T12:54:00.001-07:002019-06-28T12:59:29.041-07:00Salvage Philately 3: Problems with Roulettes<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4O5NPGsP2hY/XRZuzc9WBBI/AAAAAAAAAhA/-AlER2EmLLE4Zbqg8D6jlej9RVBhfolZwCLcBGAs/s1600/afinland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="325" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4O5NPGsP2hY/XRZuzc9WBBI/AAAAAAAAAhA/-AlER2EmLLE4Zbqg8D6jlej9RVBhfolZwCLcBGAs/s320/afinland.jpg" width="280" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There is a good rule to
follow when collecting rouletted stamps: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Don’t<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I apologise to
collectors of classic Finland, but I am sure they will understand why I say
that. Rouletting, whether of the fancy Finnish kind or the regular straight cut
kind, may be all right for raffle tickets, cloakroom tickets, printed on thin
paper without gum and where only rough separation is needed. But for small size
stamps on paper thickened by gum, rouletting does not work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Here are some of the
problems we have inherited:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Post office clerks who tried and failed to
separate rouletted stamps cleanly often gave up and started to use scissors.
Many classic rouletted issues were supposed to be an improvement on previous
imperforate stamps, but the clerks decided otherwise. This creates confusion
now because some rouletted stamps will look like imperforate ones thanks to
what the clerks did at the time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Collectors in the past thought that the
rouletted stamps they were soaking off covers looked untidy, so they tidied
them up by trimming off the roulettes. Where scarce imperforate versions of the
rouletted stamps existed, they sometimes cut down a rouletted stamp to produce
a spacefiller and a fake imperforate. Dealers also did this and the result now is
that the world is full of faked imperforate stamps which were originally
rouletted stamps.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Though catalogues confidently give
spacing sizes for roulettes ( roul 8,roul 11, and so on), it is very hard to
measure roulettes unless you have a multiple which makes things easier. Indeed,
if you insist on collecting roulettes, my suggestion is that you collect
multiples.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">South Australia is
notorious for both poorly perforated and poorly rouletted stamps. It would seem
that the workers who did the job had access to unlimited quantities of rum. The
work was so unsatisfactory that some rouletted stamps were subsequently
perforated in order to try to get a better result. Badly perforated sheets were also removed from post office stocks for overprinting to make what are known as "Departmentals", an interesting group of stamps used on Official mail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Between 1855 and 1868,
the first design for South Australian stamps appeared imperforate, rouletted,
perforated, perforated over roulette, and perforated x rouletted. So a serious
collector has to try to illustrate all these possibilities, as well as shades.
Fortunately the watermark remains constant. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Take a look at this
group of 2d stamps in a variety of shades. All have traces of roulettes even the one which looks as if it has been seriously cut down. But then ask, Which copies here are good
examples of South Australian rouletting? Some are clearly better than others
but compared to the kind of clarity which perforation usually permits, none of
these stand out as just what a collector needs …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Most of the stamps here
are almost certainly SG 25 and 26 and so have a catalogue value of only two or
three pounds each. For purposes of writing this Blog post, I have washed them
but would not otherwise have bothered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702294928145374276.post-43012700227582835952019-06-28T05:24:00.000-07:002019-06-28T05:24:37.757-07:00Salvage Philately 2: Stamp or Cover? That Is The Question ...<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1erEQTWYIX4/XRYGBcIAw7I/AAAAAAAAAgo/S-wBBxvLs9Myr9fXF3ItKke2osSKNoJmACLcBGAs/s1600/asalvage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="858" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1erEQTWYIX4/XRYGBcIAw7I/AAAAAAAAAgo/S-wBBxvLs9Myr9fXF3ItKke2osSKNoJmACLcBGAs/s320/asalvage.jpg" width="171" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Unless the UK descends
into complete chaos or the grim reaper decides that my time is up,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will be at the LONDON 2020 international
stamp exhibition in May 2020. I have booked two stands: on one, I will sit with
my specialist stocks; on the other, I will try to sell off all the bin ends,
bits and pieces, mistakes, and so on from my time as a dealer. There will be
just two prices on this second stand: £5 and £2, and the aim is to offer good
value for those prices. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As a dealer, I try to
use my time well but like many dealers I fail. The simple pricing system
- either it goes in a £5 box or into a £2 box - does save time, but only if I
don’t think too much about what I am doing. In relation to stamps, it most
definitely does not make sense to check perforations or watermarks or even
postmarks unless they are very obviously significant. Nor does it make sense to
clean up used stamps by soaking off old hinges and so on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Collectors have a
different set of problems. Take a look at the fragment of a cover illustrated
above. It actually shows a lot of information of interest to a postal
historian: (1) dated Sydney despatch cancel for 27 March 1868; (2) dated London
arrival marks for 21 May 1868, as a result of which we know the total journey
time taken by what was this letter; (3) a one shilling stamp which could have
been the entire franking - I don’t know what the tariff was but a specialist
will and will thus know if the franking is still complete.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">BUT<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The fragment - though
it is without pencil notes or hinges - has been badly affected by water and
quite possibly by water which was not very clean when it encountered the cover.
The stamp has been affected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A stamp collector might
look at this fragment and decide to wash the stamp off . There will
be no hinges on the back of the stamp, no thins, and when thoroughly washed the
overall appearance might be really quite good and it will be easier to verify
which stamp is actually on this piece. I measure the perforations at 13 and so
the stamp is either SG 168 (rose-carmine, cat £8) or 169 (carmine, cat £8.50). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Well, at those values
it is hardly worth the effort - you could buy a better looking loose stamp from
a dealer for half cat. or less.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">SO<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">My decision as a dealer
is to leave the stamp on the piece and put the piece in my £5 box without comment.
If it doesn’t sell there, then in due course it can go down to the £2 box. Of course, I made the decision in two seconds - and before I started to study the fragment to write this Blog post.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Oh, and I forgot
something: for the social philatelist there is a lot more information on this
fragment: “…Woodward Esq<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>8 Parliament St <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>London” is enough to Google with even if
you have to play around a bit to get results (there are results).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Trevor Patemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01734478357185117445noreply@blogger.com0