Recycling in the RSFSR

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Here is a March 1923 commercial registered cover from Petrograd to Berlin, the stamps cancelled with an oval railway station  PETROGRAD NIKOL. VOKS. 3 3 23. But the Registration label - in French, for foreign mail - is  pre-First World War, reading S.PETERSBOURG gare Nicolas.

I have seen this before - but possibly it was this cover that I saw. It shows - if you like - how relaxed Soviet authorities were about using up old Imperial paper stocks.

The cover is correctly franked to 10 roubles in 1923 new currency (each stamp revalued to 1% of its former value) or 10 000 000 roubles in the immediately preceding currency period - it is probably some "collector"  who has written the "10,000,000 Rubel" at the bottom of the cover back, underlining it twice in case we miss the point.

The real challenge is to find a 1924 cover which manages to have postal markings or labels showing all three possibilities: St Petersburg, Petrograd and the new Leningrad ...

Galicia Court Delivery Stamps (Gerichts-Zustellungsmarken)

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I just noticed an anomaly in the Michel catalogue:

Under Austria, Michel lists the special stamps issued for the Court Delivery service which developed in Galicia - supposedly to overcome the inefficiencies of the regular K u K  postal service: people would receive their Summons to attend Court after the date of the Court hearing, and so on. Michel lists three basic stamps issued between 1898 and 1908. 

This local Court Delivery system survived the end of the Austrian Empire and Poland issued special stamps for Galicia. But these are to be found in catalogues of Revenue stamps. Michel does not list them. But if they were postage stamps during the Austrian period, surely they were also postage stamps in the Polish period?

That this may be the right way to look at things is supported by the fact that the first Polish Court Delivery stamps were the old Austrian stamps, used with manuscript or handstamped revaluations. Above I show the old 10 heller stamp revalued in red to 2 Marks with a handstamp and used at Przemysl in 1920 and /or 1921 (see the annotation 509 / 20 to the left of the stamp and the note top left 8 / 3 921)

This stamp is scarce as are the Manuscript revaluations to 2 Marks.

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

Polish Fiscal Stamps for Kolomyi /Kolomyja

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Here are some Polish Municipal Revenue stamps for Kolomyja, from the collection of the late Alan Blunt who dates them to 1925

.I haven't seen them before - and I am surprised to see them mint (and ** too). Fiscals are most often found in used condition.

I wonder if Dr Czerniawski - the local lawyer who was involved in the production of the West Ukraine Registration stamps and the C.M.T. overprints - was involved in this issue too. 

Perhaps one of my readers knows more about this issue ....

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