John Bulat on the First General Issue of Ukraine 1918

An article by Roman Procyk in the latest Ukrainian Philatelist (# 112, "Shahivky and Perforations: 50 Years after Ian Baillie's Pioneering study") reminded me of one of the stupidest remarks I have ever read in a stamp catalogue.

In his much-used book of Ukrainian Philately,John Bulat lists the First General Issue of Ukraine, including what he regards as the officially perforated varieties (which command a premium on the imperforates) and then adds, "Privately rouletted perforations and rough perforations have also been reported but these command no premium" (p 3).

Really? Since when have postmaster provisional perforations or perforations made privately for use in the mail rooms of large companies not had a philatelic interest? And when you come across them - which in the case of the First General Issue of Ukraine is rarely -  do you sell them to your chums at "no premium"?

I don't think I have seen the "Official" perforations postally used on cover, but at some point I acquired a stock of Cancelled to Order multiples of the 50 Shahiv, all cancelled KIEV 23 10 18, as on the block of 4 with full gum shown below, which may provide reliable information about when and where they were issued:

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Perforations or roulettes ordered up by local postmasters are, at this period, likely to show up on Money Transfer Forms or Parcel Cards. I forget where they came from, but I once had quite a stock of 20 Shahiv stamps crudely perforated - sometimes only vertically - and clearly used on formular cards in vertical strips. They were all cancelled TROSTYANETS and in the case of those that remain with me they are dated 27 10 18. The stamps had been soaked from the formular cards after those had been pierced with punch holes: see the two strips below where the punch hole damage is visible on the reverse. Curiously, other values do not appear to have been perforated at Trostyanets, or at least that is true of this multiple cancelled 11 10 18:

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In 1918, Ukraine's economy was more active than Russia's and it would have made sense for banks or other businesses with busy mailing rooms to perforate imperforate stamps. There was already a precedent: the Imperial Arms imperforates of Russia issued from 1917 on had already been subject to private perforating, most frequently on the 5 kopeck. But I cannot show a cover which would link a perforation to a particular company. As loose stamps, like the one below, private perforations cannot be fully assessed. But note that once again it has an October 1918 date:

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The Zelonka collection contained quite a number of private perforations and roulettes on the Shahiv stamps, some of which were in Lot 50 at the 2011 Corinphila sale (Start 3000 CHF; sold 6000 CHF)

Get past John Bulat's stupid remark and a specialised but rewarding area of collecting opens up, as Roman Procyk illustrates in his interesting article

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:

http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html

Denikin stamps with local perforations

Back on 6 August, I blogged about a Denikin stamp with Postmaster Provisional perforations. To my surprise, I find a few similar items in the Civil War part of the Schmidt Collection, about which I blogged yesterday. Here are five loose stamps (two were once a pair) with a local perforation - this is not the "regular" Denikin perforation. They are all the same type and the legible cancellations read ROSTOV NA DON 25 10 19.

Of course, it would be much better to have these on cover or Formular. But you can see how a demand may have built up from such improvisations to have Denikin stamps perforated officially at source.

The stamps were in an old Auswahlheft (Approval Book) and were not distinguished, by price or otherwise, from the normal stamps around them. We are lucky that the perforations were not cut off to make the stamps look nicer - this is what sometimes happens to these messy local perforations.

Russia and Ukraine 1917 - 23: Private and Postmaster Perforations

Local perforations are usually neglected. There are two main reasons, I think. First, they are usually rare - an exception would be local perforations on stamps of Estonia 1918 - 1920. Second, partly because of this, it is often difficult to establish whether a perforation was the work of a post office (a "Postmaster provisional perforation") or the work of a private company (which wanted to speed up work in its post room) or the work of an enterprising philatelist who saw the chance of creating a variety.

The perforated Denikin stamp shown on the Money Transfer Form above is likely to remain a puzzle. It is being used in the Soviet period, revalued x 100 times. It has a heavy strike of the postmark of VOZNESENSK - RUDNIK, EKAT [erinoslav] 8 6 20, tying it to the card in such a way that it rules out any kind of manipulation of the stamp after use.

It is being used in an area of Ukraine occupied by Denikin's forces, so is a stamp left behind and now used as a Trophy stamp. The card is addressed outside Ukraine to Ivan, Orlovsk where it did indeed arrive 15 6 20.

It is perforated 9.5 - 10, so not the gauge used for officially perforated rouble value Denikins.

So who did it? The postmaster in this small office? It seems unlikely. But who else?

The only way to begin to solve the puzzle is to find more examples of low value Denikins perforated like this and maybe cancelled from the same office. Out there, such stamps probably exist, since when you perforate stamps you perforate sheets of them.

(This Money Transfer Form was in the Robert Taylor collection)

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:

http://www.armeniazemstvo.com/2020/02/just-published-trevor-pateman.html

Postmaster or Philatelist Provisionals?

The imperforate Russian Imperial Arms stamps issued by the Kerensky [Provisional] government in 1917 were occasionally perforated locally by postmasters, private companies or by philatelists. Unfortunately, you probably need several examples to establish to what category a perforation belongs, though if you have a Money Transfer Form or Parcel Card it is almost certain that you are looking at a Postmaster Perforation. Normally, it's not that easy.

Above is an ordinary letter from ZOLOTONOSHA [ Polatava Gub.] 26 8 17 addressed to Petropavlosk in Akmolisnk Guberniya - there is a weak receiver cancellation on the reverse dated 3 9 17. The 7 kopeck stationery envelope has been uprated with a strip of 3 imperforate 1 kopeck stamps which have been neatly perforated 11.5 [line perf I think]. It is impossible to say who did this in the absence of more examples.

What is perhaps most surprising is that if this perforation was done locally, then someone had a very good perforating machine out in mainly rural and poor Poltava guberniya. Perhaps a printer of Zemstvo stamps had one ...