Finland/Austria - Help To ID Please!

This one is in pretty grungy condition, but I'd still like to know what it is. Is it from Finland?



Speaking of Finland, are imperf stamps making a comeback there?



Last, I acquired a whole bunch of these Austrian stamps recently. Does anyone know what it was used for?

Your Austria is a postage due from 1919.

I believe the first stamp is from Russia, the 8k from 1875. Pretty sure I see the Cyrillic version of "kop" in the value...

Thanks for the info, Cjd! I'm surprised to learn that because I thought Austrian postage dues always read 'Porto.'

First stamp is definitely Russia, not Finland.

Though Finland and Russia shared common stamp design from 1890's to Finnish independence 1917 , these can be identified easily by the facts that

a)Finnish design has rings/circles in design that the Russians don't have (see picture below):


b) or that the nominal value is in Finnish currency (see picture below)





They've been issued in increasing numbers since 1990s. A lot of modern Finnish stamps are (more or less soakable) cut-to-shape (imperf) self-adhesives. The number of old fashioned sheet stamps is so low that it makes me want to cry.

Thanks for the info, scb. I recently bought a large lot of Finnish stamps and this was the only imperf in it, so it incited my curiosity.

While I have your ear, do know you know how I could learn to tell the difference between the various Finnish stamps with Russian designs? I have about 30 of these, but I don't know how to distinguish the various issues.

On those matching Finnish/Russian stamps, look for 2 things:

1. Stamps valued in pennia/markka will be Finland.
2. If the stamps are valued in kopeck/ruble, then look for the "dot in a circle" symbols. They usually appear in a symmetric pattern. Some examples are circled in red below: