1919 Georgia "Freak" stamps from the Peter Ashford collection

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In a collection of the 1919 - 21 St George and Tamara stamps of Georgia, Peter Ashford devoted a section to the so-called "Freak" varieties. These were deliberately created varieties which were inserted into just part of the total printing and were not released for postal use, though some of the sheets with varieties were later used for the National Guard and de Jure overprints. Normally, there is just one variety in a large sheet of 12 x 12 or 12 x 13. For the Tamara stamps, the 2 rouble variety is an inverted "2", for the 3 rouble an inverted "5", and for the 5r rouble "Tamara asleep" - this is the most popular of the Freaks.

In his collection, Ashford classifies some of the Freaks as Trials for the Freaks proper. I show his holding of these "Trials" above:

- on the left, 2 rouble with shield rotated to the right so that St George is charging downhill. I have enlarged this stamp

- next three stamps, shield still rotated on the 2 rouble and in addition the 3 rouble printed on the reverse with a variety, Diagonal Line below the number "3"

- final stamp, large white patch on Tamara's knee

Now, my question is this. I cannot recall seeing these "Trial" Freaks in large multiples whereas I have seen the standard Tamara Freaks in complete sheets - and have them in stock in sheets at this moment. Does any reader have these so-called "Trial" Freaks in large multiples, I wonder? 

As a small aside, the printing and paper quality on these "Trial" Freaks is poor whereas the regular Tamara Freaks are often well printed on gummed white paper .

September 1917: A Message to Kerensky

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It's September 8th 1917 in Piteevo village - a long way from Petrograd in the Solikamsk uezd of Perm guberniya. The village Volost executive committee has met and has decided to write to Kerensky himself, the Minister - President of the Provisional Government in Petrograd.

Over the signature of their Chairman, I. Sharayev, they express complete confidence in the Provisional Revolutionary Government and swear support. The counter-revolutionary activity of General Kornilov [ the "Kornilov Plot" of August 1917] has made them indignant and they demand the arrest of all counter-revolutionaries and their prompt and merciless judgement. They want to see the Government reinforced - and only with socialists.

Their Resolution reached Petrograd on 10 9 17 and was passed to the special branch for handling government mail - it's distinctive cancellation appears at the top of the card, dated 12 9 17.

The blue crayon on the reverse is typical of endorsements often seen on official correspondence but what does the "K ... K" mean? It could be a note made by Kerensky himself and initialled but perhaps it is an official's note meaning something like "For the information of K [erensky]" . Does anyone have an answer?

1912: Sir John Ernest Buttery Hotson visits Baku

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There is a detailed Wikipedia entry for Sir John Ernest Buttery Hotson (1877 - 1944) , a Scottish-educated naturalist and philatelist who spent his career in the Civil Service of British India. But Wikipedia does not tell you that in 1912 he visited Transcaucasia and, among other things, went to the post office in Baku and bought a selection of available stamps, pencilling in the margins "Baku May 1912". The stamps ended up in the collection of Peter Ashford, who was responsible for the album page shown above.

Hotson bought: a block of 25 of the 1 kopeck, 25 of the 2 kopeck, 6 x 3 kop, 8 x 4 kop, 10 x 7 kop, 8 x 10 kop, 4 x 14 kop, 4 x 15 kop, 4 x 20 kop, 2 x 25 kop, 1 x 35 kop and 1 x 50 kop - a total of 98 stamps which I will send to filateliapalvelu for auction. 

Really, it's only a curiosity - and a pity that he did not visit in another year - maybe May 1922 - when his naturalist's Specimens (beautifully preserved on Ashford's pages and most never hinged!) would probably have been rather more philatelically interesting!

Denikin Stamps and a common catalogue fallacy

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One of the most common catalogue errors is to value very old stamps on a New Issue basis. Low value stamps get low catalogue values and higher value stamps get higher ones. But this is often a very poor metric to use: in periods of inflation, for example, low value stamps have little postal utility and higher value stamps often get used in big multiples. This is true for several Russian Civil War issues, including the Denikin stamps of South Russia.

Michel 21010 / 2011 values used Denikin stamps as follows:

5 kop              0.20

10 kop            0.20

15 kop            0.20

    35 kop            0.20   

  70 kop            0.20 

1 r                   0.20

2 r                   1.50

3 r                   1.00

5 r                   1.20

7 r                   2.50

10 r                 1.70

In the Schmidt Collection (see previous Blog), a very old accumulation of Denikin Bundleware and Used Off Paper contained the following quantities of used stamps:

5 kop        17

10 kop      90

15 kop      91

35 kop    266

70 kop    337

1 r          176

2 r            83

3r            66

5r            64

7r              0

10r         220

Now, from experience, the 7 rouble is not a great rarity. It is simply missing from this old Lot - maybe it is in another cigar box. So I don't draw any conclusions from the fact there are no copies present. But look at the other figures. The concentration of  35 and 70 kop stamps reflects the fact that these were letter rates or the basis of letter rates ( 35 kop Ordinary / 70 kop Registered; later 70 kop and  1r 40 kop). The concentration of 10 rouble stamps reflects the fact that these were most needed for Money Transfer Forms and Parcel Cards.

I have illustrated the Denikin stamps with horizontal pairs. But for rouble values, vertical pairs and strips are more common - the space on Money Transfer forms and Parcel Cards allowed for stamps is a vertical strip. In contrast, horizontal pairs of 35 kop and 70 kop are common - they were used as letter seals.

Suppose I had the 7 rouble value. I estimate there would be 50 - 60 copies. So the constraint on making sets is provided by the 5 kopeck. I could only make 17 sets. (And the pair I have shown is the only pair I have ...) . A "Short Set" of used Denikins would exclude the 5 kop, not the 10 rouble!

One further comment: ALL the stamps in the accumulation I have studied are used in the period of "White" control of South Russia and Ukraine. Later dates which would represent Soviet use appear not to be present.  Such later use is most common on Parcel Cards. The low kopeck values would have been revalued x 100 in Spring 1920 and it may be that as a result the low values become more common in the Soviet period, but in my experience it is the higher values - especially the 10 rouble - which still dominate. 

The Joy of Bundleware

Kiloware, Bundleware, Used Off paper, Packet Making - these are things which only exist because of philately. From the very beginning, the hobby was dominated - and still is dominated - by stamp collecting. To service that hobby, a labour-intensive  industry developed which took archives and correspondences - not by the kilo but by the tonne - and turned them into saleable individual stamps. In the process, of course, irreplaceable postal history and historically valuable documents - once the stamps were removed - were turned into waste paper.

Sometimes the workshops were amateur and careless. At other times, material was more carefully graded. For example, clean covers with good cancellations on the stamps might be taken out and only covers with poor cancellations cut up and the stamps washed off the paper. I have been told that in some cases, workers were paid a bonus if they found errors or varieties - probably they were told what to look for.

Yesterday, I was looking through old Bundleware and "Used Off Paper" from the Philipp Schmidt collection - recently sold as the "Krim Sammlung" by the Bamberg auction house Arbeiter. This has been locked away for decades and was collected beginning in the 1930s - when an old glassine gives a dealer's address as "Adolf - Hitler - Str" it helps date the collection !  (Click on Image to Magnify)

I was looking through Russian  Civil War material.

First I looked through hundreds of used Shahiv stamps - the first general issue stamps of Ukraine, in use from mid-1918. Here I was looking at postmarks but I was really hoping to find local perforations. I found one, shown below, with a place name cancellation which is not familiar to me. (Click on Image to Magnify)

Then I looked at hundreds of used Denikins - all values. Here it was very noticeable that there were only a few copies of the 5 kopeck stamp. In periods of inflation,the lowest value is always hardest to find used. This is also true of the 10 Shahiv Ukraine stamp (and in another region, the Far East Republic definitives). 

Among the Denikins, I was hoping to find local perforations but did not. I did find a few examples of stamps printed on white paper - these are from a small printing and can also occasionally  be found mint with white gum, quite different from the thick brown gum and brown paper used for most of the issue.

And, I did find one rare item - a 70 kopeck block of four, cut into two pairs, with a central gutter. Now normally the printer's sheets were cut before use and it is really very unusual to find a used gutter pair. 

It is not much of a reward for a lot of work but I am pleased with these items. And, of course,there are also the postmarks ...

Soviet Union: Red Army Mail in the 1920s

For the Civil War period, ending 1921, it is possible to find mail endorsed "Red Army". This includes Free Frank mail from soldiers to their families and also franked Parcel Cards sent at reduced Red Army tariffs and originating from loot sent home by soldiers on active service.

But after the Civil War, I don't think I have seen 1920s Red Army mail until I came across these two stampless items.   The first is going from one military address  to another in Luga. There is a LUGA LENING[rad] receiver cancel of 23 7 25 on the reverse but also an interesting KRASNOARMENSKILAGER [ Red Army Camp] 21 7 25 cancel - I have enlarged this above. On the front there is an endorsement "Red Army" at top right and also on the front is a LENINGRAD 20 7 25 civilian cancel.

The second is family correspondence from a soldier, Pechatrikov, in Leningrad sent to Voronezh - on the reverse is a VORONEZH 25 10 25 receiver cancel. This letter is also endorsed "Red Army" top right and below it there is a violet Free Frank seal. The part cancel to the right with "36" at the base is almost certainly a regular Leningrad postmark.

Peter Ashford collection 7: Mountains of Ararat to Scotland 1857

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This letter was written in July 1857 "on the Russian side of the boundary between Russia and Turkey and about 19 miles from Mt. Ararat itself". The Crimean War had only recently ended and the writer's presence on the Russian side of the border is no doubt connected to Russia's defeat. The letter was probably taken by courier as far as one of the Ottoman Black Sea ports or maybe as far as Constantinople. Written on the 9th July, it was in London by 8th August 1857. This is the kind of letter which will probably repay intensive Googling!