364 / März 2017

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT   March – October 1917 [ Old Style ] 18 March. Insured parcel card sent from Moscow to Helsingfors, franked with 9 x 20 / 14 kop Romanov issue and a single 10 / 7 kop Imperial Arms stamp. Interesting censor markings, front and back. The 1913 Romanov Tercentenary Issue was not officially invalidated until March 1920 but use after the Abdication of Nicholas II at the beginning of March 1917 rapidly diminishes.  

March & June. Two examples of the 5 kopek reduced Tariff available for letters addressed to soldiers at the front. Both covers headed “To the Active Army” followed by a full military address, one from Estland guberniya in March, the other from Samara in June. The normal Tariff would have been 10 kop. This reduced rate is rarely seen  

3 September. Official formular card used to send a Resolution from the Executive Committee of Piteevsk Volost, Solikamsk, Perm. Addressed to Alexander Kerensky, Chairman of the Provisional Government. The Volost denounces the activities of General Kornilov and calls on Kerensky to add only Socialists to the Provisional Government. Received in Petrograd    12 9 17 by the Office for Government Correspondence. Historically interesting document

24 October. Last day of the Provisional Government – the Bolshevik seizure of power in Petrograd began during the night of 24 – 25 October. Money letter for 500 roubles sent from Petrograd 2nd Exspeditsia to Stockholm, received there 13 November [New Style]. The franking includes the 1 rouble imperforate, only recently released in Petrograd – perhaps as late as the beginning of October

Accumulation of over 120 items of Inland mail from the period of the Provisional Government with Registered, Railway and Court mail and examples of local and concessionary tariffs. Typewritten English translations of some of the postcards provided, but otherwise not studied and a good basis for a specialised collection

BOLSHEVIK RUSSIA October 1917 – December 1921 Inland Mail until the end of 1918 Tariff of 15 September 1917 Four items from the Bolshevik period with single frankings on the front illustrating the basic rates for ordinary and registered cards and letters, the registered card from Moscow scarce and with interesting text about the political situation  

Tariff of 28 February 1918 [New Style] Five items with frankings on the front illustrating the basic rates of ordinary and registered cards and letters with two examples of the ordinary postcard rate. Filing damage to the Registered postcard which uses eleven adhesives to uprate a stationery card to the scarce 90 kop rate  

March – August 1918 Group 15 postcards all correctly franked at 20 kop but each one achieving the result by a different combination of adhesives, remarkable group illustrating how stamps in the post offices did not reflect needs created by Tariff changes  

April 1918 Kerensky 5 kop card uprated to the RSFSR 20 kop postcard rate sent from KHABAROVSK 4 4 18 addressed to Shanghai with Russian Shanghai censor mark in red and fine strike of SHANGHAI LOCAL POST plus other marks. Written in English and sent at a date when Khabarovsk was under the control of a Soviet headed by Alexander Krasnoshchyokov

Tariff of 15 September 1918 This Tariff applied until the end of 1918 but examples are very scarce, reflecting the impact of worsening Civil War conditions including the effects of cold, hunger and disease. Lot of three items with frankings on the front illustrates the ordinary postcard rate and the ordinary and Registered letter rates

November 1918 Electricity bill sent within Petrograd and franked at a concessionary Tariff of 5 kopeks. Rare

December 1918 Ordinary letter from PETROGRAD 24 12 18 sent to Selo Buiskii Zavod in Viatka, with local receiver cancellation, correctly franked at 25 kop. Violet boxed KONTROLL cachet on front. Interesting item ex Robert Taylor collection  

Mail with Germany and German Occupied Russia until its suspension at the end of 1918 Armistice Mail The Bolsheviks concluded an Armistice with Germany before the end of 1917 and it held until Germany launched Operation Faustschlag in February 1918. The Armistice provided for the exchange of cards and unsealed letters at designated points on the front line. Very little is known about such Armistice mail January 1918 Postgebiet Ob Ost 7 ½ Pf stationery card, outward half of a reply Paid card, sent from RIGA 2 1 18 [New Style], passed through the Russian Field Post on 29 12 17 [Old Style] and received in VLADIVOSTOK  in January 1918 (day unclear). An exceptional and very rare example of Armistice mail with appropriate despatch, transit and arrival marks  

January – February 1918 Two ordinary letters addressed to the mail exchange point on the German-Russian front line at Zastava Libeka on the Riga - Walk highway. Both in the same handwriting but one sent from RIGA 23 1 18 with German Ob Ost  20 Pf franking, the other from MOSKVA 14 2 18 [First day of the New Style calendar] with 15 kop franking but returned because written in Cyrillic rather than Latin script. It is unclear how to interpret these rare items other than to say that they relate to the exchange of mail authorised by the Armistice. Collector’s detailed notes included

Brest – Litovsk Treaty Mail The March 1918 Treaty with Soviet Russia provided for the resumption of mail services between Russia and Austria, Germany and Occupied areas of Russia, Ukraine and South Russia. The Foreign Tariff of 12 March 1918 was applied and caused some confusion because the Foreign rates were lower than the Domestic rates in force. June 1918 Registered cover from Moscow to German-occupied Lodz, correctly franked at 60 kop. Mocow and German censor marks on front. Re-addressed with paper slip to Sieradz with LODZ 18 6 18 and SIERADZ 21 6 18 receiver marks on reverse. Mail sent under the Treaty does not appear to start before May or June

July 1918 Registered cover from Nizhni-Novgorod to German-occupied Zyrardow with Moscow and German censor marks on front, correctly franked at 60 kop on reverse with ZYRARDOW 11 8 18 receiver mark

July 1918 Superb group of three picture postcards from YAROSLAVL to German-occupied Riga complying with the postal requirements for bi-lingual addressing and with the Foreign Tariff of 12 March 1918 which set the postcard rate at 12 kop (against the Inland rate of 20 kop). Dual censorship in Moscow and Riga ( R in circle) on each item. Postcards are less common than letters and are often wrongly franked at the Inland tariff

August 1918 Registered cover from Moscow to German-occupied Reval with Moscow and German censor marks on front, correctly franked at 60 kop  

July – September 1918 Six Registered covers to Germany, from Petrograd, Moscow and Vladimir, all at the correct 60 kop. rate, five with frankings on reverse, both private and commercial mail. Useful group to show the general character of Treaty mail

October 1918 German-occupied Minsk to Moscow, ordinary commercial letter with Warsaw and Moscow censors on front and 20 Pf Germania on reverse together with 60 Pf control stamp of the 10th Army both with Imperial Russian KOIDANOVO MINSK cancels further tied by Moscow machine cancel , very fine non-philatelic use on mail enabled by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk  

September 1918 Registered cover from Moscow to German-occupied Riga, with Moscow and Riga censor marks and Petrograd paper seal, correctly franked on the reverse at 60 kop. with RIGA 10 10 18 arrival mark  

October 1918 Ordinary and Registered covers from Petrograd to Germany, correctly franked at 30 kop and 60 kop. Franking and dual censorship on front, the boxed German censorship applied in Kȏnigsberg

November 1918 Mail abroad from Russia stops before the formal suspension on 1 January 1919. This Registered  commercial cover has one of the latest dates recorded for foreign mail in 1918, starting from PETROGRAD 11 11 18 – day of the Armistice between Germany and the Allied Powers – and arriving HAMBURG 23 11 18. Normal dual censorship, anomalously franked on reverse at 70 kop instead of 60 kop for no obvious reason, the two additional 5 kop stamps left uncancelled but tied by a censor mark

Other Foreign Mail until its suspension at the end of 1918 Mail to Belgium September 1917 Registered letter from a factory in Yuzovka addressed to a Lieutenant of the Belgian Army force in Russia, censored in Moscow with Moscow transit on reverse and presumably forwarded from there

Mail to Canada February 1918 Registered stamp dealer correspondence, with contents, from SARATOV 21 2 18 to Canada with Russian and Canadian censorship and HALIFAX AU 12 18 arrival mark. Correctly franked at 40 kop, Tariff of 1 September 1917. A scarce destination

Mail to China November 1917, two covers from SPASKOE PRIM to Shanghai with censor and receiver marks, one franked at 15 kop and the other approximately franked at 16 kop both to the same addressee, scarce items  

Mail to Denmark Two covers from Ekaterinoslav to Copenhagen, both correctly franked at 40 kop. The first sent on 20 10 17 routed via Odessa with Odessa censor cachet and transit marks and KJØBENHAVN 26 12 17 arrival mark; the second sent from EKATERINOSLAV VOKSAL 5 12 17 routed via Moscow with Moscow censor and KJØBENHAVN 17 1 18 arrival mark  

Mail to Finland 1918 cover to Finland, franked 70 kop and cancelled with a hammer and sickle seal reading in part PETROGR[ad] OBL[ast] UPRAVA.  Mss. markings front and back indicate arrival in Finland in October. Notable for a rare Finnish Censor mark on front used at the border point of Rajajoki after the end of the Finnish Civil War with maybe ten examples recorded

January 1918 Kerensky stationery card addressed tri-lingually to Helsinki uprated to 8 kop, the RSFSR foreign postcard rate at 31 1 18 when this card was cancelled in Odessa. However, the Ukrainian National Republic tariff of 10 kop for a postcard had been introduced on 28 January and so Postage Due of 4 kopeks was raised in Odessa. An unusual example of transition from Soviet to Ukrainian tariffs, with a long message on the back

1917 – 1918 Partly written up collection of mail to Finland with 50 items including Registered mail (covers and cards). The declaration of Finnish independence and the Civil War in Finland complicated postal relations with notable delays to mail. On the Russian side, both domestic and foreign tariffs are applied to mail to Finland seeming to follow no consistent pattern. A good opportunity here for expansion and further research  

Mail to France April 1917 – January 1918 Nine postcards, varied frankings, origins and destinations some with interesting messages  

June –November 1917 Three Registered postcards, two at the 14 kop Tariff from Petrograd to Paris with receiver cachets on reverse; one from Piatigorsk at the later 28 kop Tariff but underfranked by 1 kop, locally censored  

1st November 1917 (first week of Soviet power in Petrograd) card showing the Anichkin Palace sent via diplomatic mail from Petrograd to Paris with violet cachet of the MISSION MILITAIRE FRANÇAISE EN RUSSIE  

Mail from Great Britain January 1918 two ordinary letters sent to Petrograd from Plymouth and Moscow from London. Both opened by British censor and marked with a boxed SERVICE SUSPENDED cachet. One letter optimistically addressed to Prince Alexander Alexandrovich Dolgorukov at the Imperial Yacht Club  

Mail to Great Britain November 1917 ordinary postcard from Essentuki and December 1917 Registered postcard from Kisolovodsk, both to London. Sent by Mrs Amy Cox, a known member of the British community in Russia, to her daughter Ursula, a medical student. Petrograd censors on both cards since at this early post – Revolution date these North Caucasus resorts were not yet “White” areas

Mail to Netherlands May – November 1917 two Registered letters with British paper seal censorship, one from Saratov cancelled 25 10 17 [first day of Soviet power in Petrograd] and two postcards, one routed out of Odessa the other from Moscow again dated 25 10 17, a nice group to a relatively scarce destination (4 items)