You can harvest crops,
you can harvest organs, and you can harvest stamps. You do the last of these
when you have no interest in postmarks or postal history. Here’s an example of
what is left when you have harvested most of what you want:
Click on Images to Magnify
Originally, this was
quite an interesting item which shows that at the end of December 1918 it was
possible to send a Telegraphic Money Transfer from the small shtetl and town of
SOLOBKOVTSI [ now Ukrainian Solobkivtsi] in Podolia to Kiev. The franking was probably provided entirely by
Trident-overprinted adhesives. It looks like there were four rubel values and
one kopeck value on the front. They have all been peeled off.
Three stamps remain on
the reverse, all with punch holes, and in a pencilled note beside the bottom
one, John Bulat has identified them as Podolia tridents type XIbb
Someone has used the
back of the card to scribble notes about various stamps which may be ones which
were harvested from the front. Someone has also done a bit of crude repair
work, covering up two holes and a large tear with a bit of brown paper.
When I look at what I
am left with, it is tempting to go on harvesting: to cut out neatly a piece with
the three stamps, preserving Bulat’s note. It would show three strikes of a
scarce cancel. The remains of the body would then show one good strike of the
cancel and a Kiev cancel which might be worth 50 cents if I could find someone in search of the Podolian postmark. But should I deliver this coup de grace?
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:
