Zemstvo postage stamp

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A Zemstvo postage stamp from the Belozersk administrative district .

A Zemstvo postage stamp was a local Russian postage stamp and was widely used in rural areas from 1865 onwards. It is named after the self-governing districts of the same name ( Russian Земство ), which were created in Russia in 1864 . Around the time of the Russian October Revolution of 1917, the stamps went out of use.

background information

In the nineteenth century, the Russian state had the postal monopoly, which it exercised through the Tsarist Post. However, most of the state post offices were in the cities and many rural areas were far from the nearest post office. In 1864, initially unofficially, the Zemstvo Post (or rural post) was introduced to secure the postal service in these areas. With the passing of a corresponding law, this institution was formalized in 1870. It says: "The rural postal service is authorized to carry normal correspondence, including magazines, circulars, money shipments, registered and other mail from the post town to all relatively distant areas of the administrative district that would otherwise be denied access to the postal service."

Furthermore, the law stipulated “that the rural postal service is entitled to use special postage stamps , whereby it is expressly pointed out that their design must be completely different from that of the Tsarist post”. The postmen were not allowed to use the symbol of the post horn of the Tsarist Post on their bags.

The first Zemstvo post office was set up in Wetluga in 1864 , but did not yet use its own stamps.

Postage stamps

According Tschutschin catalog ( English Chuchin's catalog ) issued a total of more than 3,000 different Zemstvo stamps and it is assumed numerous are further discovered that in the future.

The output of the first Zemstvo stamp took place in September 1865 in Schlüsselburg . According to Tschuchin, there were 36 Zemstvo administrations with 371 districts in 1864, and postage stamps were used in 162 of them. In 1892 there was a Zemstvo post in 150 districts, but not all of them issued postage stamps. In some, the mail was delivered free of charge.

Collect

A Zemstvo postage stamp from Kungur County .

A number of catalogs were printed in Germany and Russia prior to the revolution , but some are sketchy and others were published before this postal service was discontinued and thus do not fully reflect the history of the stamps. Recently, new catalogs in Russian are being published as the collecting of Zemstvo stamps is gaining popularity.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Edwards, Fred W. Stamps of the Russian Empire in Stamp Collectors' Fortnightly, September 1910.
  2. ↑ Quoted in "Russian unorthodoxy" by Charles & Francis Kiddle, Stamp Magazine , January 2008, pp. 80-81
  3. ↑ a b c Chuchin, FG Russia Zemstvos . Revised edition. (The Zemstvo Postage Stamps of Russia. Revised Edition) Ed. J. Barefoot. York, England: J. Barefoot Ltd., 1988, p. 6

literature

  • Artuchow A. Zemstvo Postage stamps of Imperial Russia (The Zemstvo postage stamps of the Russian Empire).
  • Tschutschin, FG Catalog of the Russian Rural Postage Stamps. First edition. Moscow: Commissioner for Philately and Tokens of the USSR, 1925.
  • Tschuchin, FG Russia Zemstvos. Revised edition (The Zemstvo postage stamps of Russia. Revised edition). Ed. J. Barefoot. York, England: J. Barefoot Ltd., 1988. ISBN 0-906845-28-9
  • Rowell, David. Zemstvo Values ​​(values ​​from Zemstvo postage stamps). Redmond, Washington: 2004.

Web links

Commons : Zemstvo postage stamps  - collection of images, videos and audio files