Ukraine Tridents - The Importance of Raritan Catalogs

Back in 2011, I prepared the late Ron Zelonka's Ukraine collection for sale by Corinphila, Zurich. It was so vast that, inevitably, much material was sold in large lots which were unillustrated both in the catalogue of the sale and on line.

The sale did not tempt any Ukraine collectors from USA to Zurich, but it did tempt Raritan Stamps of Dayton, New Jersey who bought significant sections of the collection. In its regular auctions, Raritan now offers single items or small groups of items from the material it bought - and it illustrates them, in colour, in its catalogues.

This is important. The Zelonka collection included rare items from the Dr Seichter collection and the John Bulat collection which have never been illustrated or only inadequately illustrated in black and white. This is true for example of many local Trident overprints.

Now they can be seen in the Raritan illustrations and used for reference purposes. For example, here in the latest catalogue is a picture of the Hanebne local trident on 1 kopeck imperforate stamps (Bulat #2355), ex Dr Seichter. It may not look very impressive but it provides the basis to evaluate other examples of the much-forged Hanebne Trident and to distinguish this trident from the very similar Konstantynohrad trident:

Click on Image to Magnify

The current catalog for Auction # 64 also allows me for the first time to compare a copy of a rare stamp in my stock with another example of the same stamp.

Though Odessa type 1 tridents were printed from a lithographic plate of 100 positions suitable for overprinting Imperial kopeck stamps, both Dr Seichter and John Bulat list the overprint on the 3 rouble 50 imperforate (Bulat 1078, unpriced). This overprint canot have been produced from the lithographic plate and must have been made either by a handstamp based on the design for Type 1 Tridents or by a fresh lithographic plate. Given the rarity of the stamp, the latter seems unlikely. Below I illustrate my copy (ex Schmidt) with a punch hole and blue crayon strongly suggesting use on a formular card and with an ODESSA cancel of 10 10 18 and Raritan's Lot 1262 which has a different Odessa cancel for 3 10 18. Interestingly, in both cases the Trident is tilted to the left which suggests to me a handstamp rather than a plate. Raritan have an Estimate of $750 on their copy, which seems reasonable for a very rare stamp, despite the unwillingness of most Ukraine collectors to contemplate such a price:

Click on Image to Magnify

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

A Unique West Ukraine Item

In his Illustrated Postage Stamp History of Western Ukrainian Republic 1918 - 1919 (1973), John Bulat shows this Proof sheet of the overprint setting for the Fourth Stanyslaviv Issue, second set on high value Austrian Postage Dues (pp 83 - 84). In his later Catalogue, these overprints become the Eighth Stanyslaviv set (Bulat 104-105; pages 168-69).

The Proof sheet passed from Bulat to Ron Zelonka and was offered in the Corinphila sale of his collection, but was only sold after the Auction. It is now in my stock.

As far as I know, it is the only Proof sheet of any of the West Ukraine overprints. If I am wrong I would be pleased for someone to tell me!

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

Ukraine Tridents: Different Kinds of Rarity

In English, two things which are opposites are sometimes called "chalk and cheese".

Here are two very different kinds of Ukraine Trident rarity, chalk and cheese:

On the left, a Parcel Card fragment with badly clipped stamp cancelled ODESSA 2 10 18. The overprint is Odesa VIb. Go to Bulat and it is number 1369 valued at $275 mint and unknown used. Go to Dr Seichter and it is valued at 450 DM mint but, again, is unknown used.

So here is a stamp which, from the catalogues, you will probably think a philatelic production and yet here is a copy used in the most non-philatelic way possible at an appropriate date. The stamp was even torn before it was used(* see footnote). Maybe it is the "only known" used [part of a] copy. It was in the Ron Zelonka collection.

So what is it worth?

On the right, a 5 rouble Romanov overprinted with Kyiv I Broken Trident and cancelled KIEV 20 7 19 at which time Kyiv may have been under Red control. Anyway, go to Bulat and this stamp is unlisted; go to Dr Seichter and it is unlisted. Dr Zelonka signed it for me back in 2006. It's 100% genuine and 100% philatelic and may be the "only known" copy. It came from the Iwan Bobyn collection, part of which was sold at auction a few years ago.

So what is it worth?

Which of these two items would you rather have in your collection, the chalk or the cheese? Both are for sale.

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* The fact that is torn may be a clue: suppose this stamp was produced for sale to a philatelist like Trachtenberg. Suppose it got torn by accident so could not be sold to him. Then maybe it was put into counter stock to be used up without causing an accounting problem.

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

Kharkiv Tridents and Dzenis Reprints

Click on Images to enlarge

Most Trident collectors have heard of "Dzenis" Reprints and they are separately listed in Bulat's catalog. Dzenis was a Riga stamp dealer who, I guess, was able to travel to Bolshevik Kharkiv during the Bolshevik occupation of Riga in 1919. The reprints made for him had postal validity.

Sometimes Dzenis reprints are on different basic stamps from original Trident overprints and so are easily distinguished. But when they are on the same basic stamps, they are not always easy to distinguish - but Bulat catalog values are often very different.

In Dr Seichter's 1960 pamphlet "Bezirk Charkiw" he discusses how to distinguish originals and reprints.

He also illustrates [ Tafel VII, #16] the irregular block illustrated above. It is believed that this Kharkiv III overprint made from a single handstamp was applied to 2 kopeck imperforate stamps intended to uprate 3 kopeck postal stationery cards. The ink on this block is very black, uneven, and oily: it penetrates to the back of the stamps. This is typical of Original printings. This stamp is Bulat 753, catalogued at $100 each

Also in Dr Seichter's collection was the quarter sheet with a typed note attached. Unfortunately, we do not know to what "gleicher Art" refers but I guess it means "Reprint" - and on the back of this block, Ron Zelonka has pencilled "ND" [Neudruck = Reprint]. So this is Bulat 769 catalogued at $10. The ink is matt, greyish and does not penetrate to the back of the stamps. This is typical of most Reprints but not all. As important in this case, the Handstamp used is not the same as the IIIg used on the originals. And the shade of the basic stamp is different.

Ukraine Tridents By District: some interesting data from the Zelonka Collection

When I did the lotting for Corinphila's sale of Dr Ron Zelonka's Ukraine collection, I avoided creating "Mixed Lots" (some existed as such in the collection and I left them like that). Instead, I grouped material by Issue and District. As a result, it is possible to see some philatelically-relevant patterns just from the Lots.

For example, I grouped nearly all the non-philatelic Trident covers and cards into a few large Lots. This is what they looked like:

Podillia over 250 items [Lot 115 Start 5000 Swiss francs Hammer 12500]
Kyiv over 175 items [Lot 74 Start 4000 Hammer 6500]
Odesa over 90 items [Lot 104 Start 3000 Hammer 4400] (the Trachtenberg covers went into a separate Lot 107 Start 900 Hammer 1900)
Katerynoslav over 60 items with no ENAKIEVO EKAT stuff [Lot 93 Start 3000 Hammer 4400]
Kharkiv over 40 items [Lot 86 Start 2000 Hammer 2600] I bought this Lot
Poltava over 40 items [Lot 99 Start 1500 Hammer 3400]

My guess is that this ordering tells us something about the relative volume of mail in the different Districts during the period of Ukrainian independence. If anything, I would expect Podillia's lead to be greater than shown here. That is because the Zelonka collection did not appear to include much from the enormous Vyrovyj collection which was auctioned after Dr Seichter's death and therefore not incorporated in any way into Seichter's collection - which formed a large part of Ron Zelonka's postal history holding.

Kyiv includes uses in Chernihiv and Zhitomir postal districts - their own issues are scarce othe than philatelically used.

Just 40 items from Kharkiv seems small in relation to the size of the city but it was an area of intense conflict and early Sovietisation.

Of course, all these Lots showed stamps used outside of their District of issue. Indeed, it is sometimes remarkable to observe just how much movement of stamps between Districts there was and a study could be made of out-of-district uses. For Podillia, for example, you can find the issues of Kyiv, Odesa and Kharkiv. I think I have even seen Poltava used non-philatelically in Podillia.

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

Dr Ron Zelonka Ukraine: a million dollar collection

The bare facts are these: on 6 September, Corinphila of Zurich, offered Dr Ron Zelonka's Ukraine collection in 400 lots. It took five hours to sell, the pace slowed by competition for most lots. Start prices totalling just under 400 000 CHF turned into hammer prices of 900 000 CHF with only 10% of lots unsold. Many of those were bought immediately after the sale at the start prices. Add Corinphila's commission to the hammer prices and you have a sale comfortably in excess of a million US dollars.

The sale was important for Ukrainian philately in a number of ways.

Ron Zelonka's was probably the largest Ukraine collection ever formed. It was larger than Dr Seichter's since Zelonka bought Seichter's collection (it was unsold in a 1990s Swiss auction)and incorporated it into his own, except for some of the duplicated material which Ron Zelonka sold to me.

For a major international auction house to take on the Zelonka collection and offer it for sale, broken down into 400 lots, was a considerable risk. With no real precedents to rely on, it was simply not known if the buyers existed to absorb such a large offering at prices which were, at a minimum, sensible.

Of course, it was known that Carpatho-Ukraine is popular and likewise Western Ukraine. But it was also known that Tridents were not popular and the Tridents were central to the collection. And the collection was so big ...

The risk paid off for the auction house. From their perspective, to achieve in total over double your start prices with virtually everything sold is a good result when - as in this case - the total achieved is on the scale which you expect for an afternoon's work (see footnote *). And this has been achieved in a difficult economic climate and amidst uncertainty about currency exchange rates,

This auction will help boost Ukraine as a serious collecting area. There is now a respectable auction record for a single stamp (CHF 44 000 hammer for the rarest stamp of Western Ukraine). There are also prices right through the auction results which begin to recognise just how rare are some of the stamps and postal history of Ukraine. Take a look at the Corinphila on-line auction catalogue while there is still a chance to see all the illustrations (many more than in the paper catalogue) along with the hammer prices.

There are still areas where collectors hesitate. For example, the sale contained some of the finest available examples of local Tridents on cover and, more often, transfer cards. Yet a superb Cernihiv transfer form (Lot 121) did not sell until after the auction and the splendid Konstantynohrad form (Lot 126) sold at the start price of 1000 CHF.

The auction catalogue tried to draw attention to the rich historical and political context of the available philatelic material. I wrote about 80% of the catalogue descriptions, and I wrote hoping it would encourage more collectors to think about putting together not only private collections but exhibits for national and international shows. If those exhibits start to appear in future years, some of the finest items will be marked "Ex Zelonka".

It remains to be seen whether the material just sold now reappears, broken down further, in other auction sales or whether it has gone straight into collections. It will also be interesting to see if other Ukraine collections now come on to the market, rather in the way that Zemstvos suddenly appeared after the successful 1999 Corinphila sale of Faberge's collection. But even if they do, I am sure they will not match the quality of the Zelonka collection
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*Corinphila normally has one auction a year, lasting one week. That auction has to generate enough to cover the cost of everything, not only catalogues and publicity, but also the year-round operations of the company, including salaries of permanent staff.

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