Russie ? Control Couleur Bleu

Any good history story for these ?

Russian revenues of Crete,Russian administration.November 1898 Rethymnon sector.Values written in French.

It's a local cretan tax stamp with the russian control cancel over it. manosp is in greece so maybe a translation ?
Just translated this :"CHARGING TAX IS RECOVERED" ?

hey perf12, it writes creta tax stamp collected. Exactly "#967;#945;#961;#964;#959;#963;#951;#956;#959;#957;¨" means revenue stamp. I found this in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russi...ces_in_Crete but doesnt explain a lot.

thanks floortrader.

The Russian control mark is the same one that was used on the first postage stamps of the Russian Administration in Crete.

It reads in Russian:

"Russian Expeditionary Army - Crete".

There were six values in this set with face values from 4 paras to 6 piastres.

hey Nigelc, whats the difference between the 2 piastres and the 20 paras revenue stamp ?. Do you have any references ?

The only design difference is in the handwritten values.

As floortrader has said the stamps have the face value in French at the bottom.

They also have the values in numerals at the top, "XX" for the 20 paras and "2" for the 2 piastres.

My main reference is the excellent Crete handbook by Rienk Feenstra as quoted in the Wikipedia article:

Feenstra, Rienk M. (2001). Crete: Postal History, Postage and Revenue Stamps, Coins & Banknotes. Athens: Collectio. pp. 65–90. ISBN 960-85275-6-2.

You fellows are looking for more info --here it is .

There are three different revenue sets for Russian's in Crete . The first set is a negative seal issued around October of 1898 it has five values 20p. to 6 P all violet or blue. The second set issued around November 1898 Made by applying a Russian Eagle control cachet to labels bearing the rectangle handstamp of the Autonomous Crete administration. Your is interesting because it doesn't looked clipped to show usage . Normally once used they clip off a corner . So any stamp cut into or a piece missing is usually a sign that it is used .This was done to show usaged and prevent re-use . There are 6 stamps in this set from 4p. to 6P.. Your two are from this middle set .

The third set April 1899 there are 5 stamps in this set 4p. to 6P. with two major variaties . It has a typo. frame with a handstamp of KRHTH . Then the round blue Russian control cachet added on top

Hope this helps ....this lasted until 1908 when the Cretan Revolutionary Assembly proclaimed union with Greece .

Hi floortrader,

My used Russian Crete revenues don't have clipped corners.

I suspect those that that do have just been treated roughly.

I do see two examples tied to documents in Feenstra's book where the corner or side is cut away. However, the other examples are complete.

However, I see no need for this to have been done deliberately before applying them to their documents.

These revenues were cancelled with a handstamp or in manuscript or both.

The example at the top left has clearly been cancelled at the bottom.

I suspect the other example is unused but I can't see it clearly enough to tell if this is the case.

Ok ,maybe it was done both ways ,my guess is that a lot of the clip corners were trashed over the years by people not understanding what the clerks were doing .

Thanks for the history trip, nigelc and floortrader !

I post a more clear picture. Nigelc on your book does it have price values for these ?

I Don't know. The same type without a Russian marking- asking price was £75..


Is yours for sale?

thanks perf12! not at the moment.