BeeSee

Langley, BC
30 Jan 2015
04:12:10pm

re: Help please! Russia or Poland?

I don't have my catalog here at the office, but those are listed under Latvia, as unissued stamps. There are many varieties that are not listed, and also forgeries.

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ChrisW

APS# 175366
05 Feb 2015
10:16:25am

re: Help please! Russia or Poland?

Just thought I'd post an update...

Thanks to Jim at his blog (bigblue1840-1940), these are unissued Latvia 1919 Western Russian Volunteer Army stamps.

No (active) numbers assigned in Scott, but ubiquitous in collections. These designs- both imperforate and perforate- were ordered in 1919 while the country was struggling with which government was going to rule Latvia. These stamps were prepared on order of Colonel Avalov Bermondt, commander of the Western Russian Volunteer Army. But, by the time the stamps arrived, the Latvians under Ulmanis had assumed control. So these stamps, which are considered "occupation" stamps, were never released, but did end up in the stamp market. In fact, a lot of them, as they are found in almost every collection. But Scott withdrew catalogue numbers for them a long time ago, as they were never postally used. Counterfeits exist.

Thanks Jim. Always enjoy when I can learn a bit of history from my stamps

 
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nigelc

06 Feb 2015
05:01:12am

re: Help please! Russia or Poland?

Hi Chris,

When I was at school I got excited by stories of the Russian Civil War but found it difficult to find out much about the white armies.

I was recommended a book called "The White Generals" which I found fascinating and it told many stories of these fragmented armies and their infighting.

There are useful biographies of these generals in Wikipedia.

Many of these leaders were military adventurers rather than than orthodox commanders and Avalov-Bermondt was a good example of this.

He was backed by Germany and the army essentially existed to support the Baltic German population and German political interests.

His army was supposed to be anti-bolshevik but it spent much of its effort in conflict with newly-independent Latvian forces rather than with the Red Army.

SG lists these eagle issues under "Western Army" which in turn it lists under North West Russia.

Stamps issued by parties in the three main theatres of the war are listed by SG under North West Russia, South Russia and Siberia. In SG Part 10, all three groups are listed together as Russian Civil War Issues.

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ChrisW

APS# 175366
06 Feb 2015
08:56:03am

re: Help please! Russia or Poland?

Thanks nigelc for the information...so much history one can delve into!

Thanks Michael, yes, I also learned how to distinguish between the forgeries and genuine stamps by this process and all of mine appear to be genuine.

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