Far Eastern Republic And Amur Province

Nice card BeeSee although it's not from the FER. It is from Vladivostok but the city was in the Priamur and Maritime Provinces at that time, after that area had broken away fom the FER in May 1921.

You are technically correct of course Nigel, but the stamp is inscribed Far Eastern Republic. I wonder what the official name of the Priamur and Maritime area was, since they were no longer a province of FER after separation. Or was it just a coup and were they claiming to be the "new" FER?

The state's official name was "Provisional Priamur Government":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provis...e_Government

These stamps are listed in SG under "Priamur and Maritime Privinces".

They were prepared for use by the FER but were only issued and used in the territory of the Provisional Priamur Government.

So you basically had stamps bearing the name of a communist-dominated state being used in an anti-communist one.

Thanks Nigel.

I just received this 2k Soviet overprinted issue with a few others other FER stamps for next to nothing. When I looked at the back, a saw a complete offset of the overprint which was not mentioned.

Here are two of my latest acquisitions, both with Vladivostok cancels:

The 30k is obviously dated 22 December 1922



The 5k has a blank; was 1922 too early, or 1923 too late for 1923? Also, any ideas what the first part of the cancel says - it does end in "Vladivostok".

Hello again, BeeSee,

you have a very interesting cancel on your second stamp. It is a cancel of a Travelling Post Office (TPO) along the eastern Trans-Siberian railway: that of the BOCHKAREVO-153-VLADIVOSTOK wagon.

Most of the TPO postmarks of the period are oval - this one, for some reason, is circular. Until some time in 1923 the TPO #153 run between Khabarovsk and Vladivostok and had an oval postmark. Apparently, when the one terminal station was transferred west to Bochkarevo, the shape of the postmark was also changed!

Kiryushkin & Robinson in their book "Russian Raiwlay Postmarks" mention February 1924 as the earliest date of use of this postmark, but they only show a serial "a" postmark. Your serial "k" postmark is really interesting. (I see if I can unearth some further information later).

Thanks Vasia, that is most interesting information. Too bad the year date is blocked out. Since the FER ended in 1922, 1924 would seem late usage of the stamp.

Information by experts (see here: http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00020235/00043/19j) appears to suggest that these stamps, denominated in gold kopecks, were used in eastern Siberia until early 1924. This post-FER use would explain the presence of your TPO postmark on this stamp.

Fascinating stuff,
great contribution vasia

Thanks for the link Vasia. The stamp was included in a group of 15 used FER stamps I found as a Buy It Now on ebay for $9.95.

BeeSee,

your cancel from TPO BOCHKAREVO-153-VLADIVOSTOK is interesting in, at least, two respects:

1. The relative short time span of use. Before 1924 the 153-154 TPO was assigned to the Khabarovsk-Vladivostok stretch. From 1927 onwards the Bochkarevo-Vladivostok line was assigned the 265-266 TPO (previously assigned to the Kharbin-Port Arthur line of the Chinese Eastern Raiway), while the 153-154 TPO was assigned to a totally different area of the Soviet Union (Roston on Don - Torgovaya).

2. The unusual serial "k", conceivably used on money order or parcel receipt forms (this is just a guess - I have no evidence).

The valuation rating assigned to this postmark by Kiryushkin & Robinson is an F (rating scale from B to G). This corresponds (1994 prices) to a price range of 10-40 GBP for "a loose stamp bearing a large part of a postmark".

This pair recently sold on ebay for $3, which I missed bidding.

It has a nice Vladivostok cancel which appears to be dated 21-4(?)-22.

There is some other handstamp below the cancel, I wonder what it is.

???
(1?)922 -1N8

Anyone with a translation on this cancel please?

Nice stamp and SON, BeeSee.

The cancel is from the railway station post-office at Nikolsk-Ussuriysk in the Far East, next to Vladivostok. It reads: NIKOLSK-USSURIYSKIY / VOKZ. (vokzal=station).