Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
" I assume that the line management was strictly controlled and formalised, and would have been the same for any issue. But how close will we ever get to what actually happened?"
Well, since then we have come slightly closer to what actually happened, by discovering the link between the Ministry of Communications and the printing factory at Goznak. This was the Directorate for Publication and Forwarding Postage Stamps, known as DIEZPO. This is what Russian Wikipedia has to say:
"DIEZPO collated applications from the Party and public organizations as well as individual stamp collectors to issue postage stamps, postal stationery, postcards and special cancellation stamps. Thousands of applications were received; they were processed for one to one and a half years prior to the date of issue. After pre-selection in accordance with the traditional sections of the plan the most relevant proposals were put before an Editorial Artistic Committee.
As a result of a positive decision DIEZPO ordered the production of stamp designs by graphic artists. Meetings of the Editorial Artistic Committee were held monthly, composed of representatives of the Ministry of Communications of the USSR, the Union of Artists, the All-Union Society of philatelists, the Arts Fund, trade organizations and manufacturers. At these meetings the concept and design of stamps was established, and then DIEZPO ordered the printing of the stamps.
The Minister of Communications authorised the final plan for stamp issues for the coming year."
I should say that these paragraphs have undergone a double conversion from Russian to English, first by Google Translate (which can do Russian word for word), and then by myself (who can only tidy up the English and thus may have introduced inaccuracies).
There are some tantalising omissions, such as where the Goznak Head Artist appears in all this. Wikipedia reveals only that in 1970 the top man at DIEZPO was L.M.Sharov, who was certainly a Goznak artist-designer. My supposition is that the Goznak designers and engravers would have worked closely with DIEZPO, and may have comprised a major part of the 'Editorial Artistic Committee'.
What surprises me is how closely the workings of this committee mirror our own (whether in the USA or the UK) today. It sounds unwieldy, with all those submissions and represented organisations, and they could certainly process a set of stamps well within the eighteen months indicated. But we are getting closer to knowing how and why the stamps in our collection got there.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
A couple of weeks ago I speculated on the precise line of management of any given set of Russian stamps. I concluded with this plaintive query:
" I assume that the line management was strictly controlled and formalised, and would have been the same for any issue. But how close will we ever get to what actually happened?"
Well, since then we have come slightly closer to what actually happened, by discovering the link between the Ministry of Communications and the printing factory at Goznak. This was the Directorate for Publication and Forwarding Postage Stamps, known as DIEZPO. This is what Russian Wikipedia has to say:
"DIEZPO collated applications from the Party and public organizations as well as individual stamp collectors to issue postage stamps, postal stationery, postcards and special cancellation stamps. Thousands of applications were received; they were processed for one to one and a half years prior to the date of issue. After pre-selection in accordance with the traditional sections of the plan the most relevant proposals were put before an Editorial Artistic Committee.
As a result of a positive decision DIEZPO ordered the production of stamp designs by graphic artists. Meetings of the Editorial Artistic Committee were held monthly, composed of representatives of the Ministry of Communications of the USSR, the Union of Artists, the All-Union Society of philatelists, the Arts Fund, trade organizations and manufacturers. At these meetings the concept and design of stamps was established, and then DIEZPO ordered the printing of the stamps.
The Minister of Communications authorised the final plan for stamp issues for the coming year."
I should say that these paragraphs have undergone a double conversion from Russian to English, first by Google Translate (which can do Russian word for word), and then by myself (who can only tidy up the English and thus may have introduced inaccuracies).
There are some tantalising omissions, such as where the Goznak Head Artist appears in all this. Wikipedia reveals only that in 1970 the top man at DIEZPO was L.M.Sharov, who was certainly a Goznak artist-designer. My supposition is that the Goznak designers and engravers would have worked closely with DIEZPO, and may have comprised a major part of the 'Editorial Artistic Committee'.
What surprises me is how closely the workings of this committee mirror our own (whether in the USA or the UK) today. It sounds unwieldy, with all those submissions and represented organisations, and they could certainly process a set of stamps well within the eighteen months indicated. But we are getting closer to knowing how and why the stamps in our collection got there.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.