Help With Russia, 1905, 1,2,3,5,7k?

Both Zagorsky and Facit say that in 1920 the background of these stamps was altered, i.e., changed from what it had been in the previous issues of 1889 and 1902 (see scans below). The finished stamps, however, look very much the same. Can anyone explain how to recognize the 1905 series? Is the switch to vertically rather than horizontally laid paper relevant here?



PS The date 1920 in my first line above is a typing error. Should be 1905.

Hi EMaxim,

According to Stanley Gibbons, these two versions can only be distinguished when the main design or the background (burelage) is misplaced.

I've now spent ten minutes staring with my poor eyes and insufficient light and magnification and, yes, I can see the difference on some stamps. :)

Basically, I suggest you take your two Facit images for burelage I and II at face value.

Burelage I includes a circular frame in each corner and this was supposed to line up with the corresponding circle in the main design.

For example, if one of these stamps has burelage I displaced to the right relative to the main design, you should see the left hand side of the burelage circle encroaching within the circles at the left hand side of the main design.

I'm afraid I can't scan at the moment and it's getting late here but I hope this helps a little.

PS Thanks for raising this question as I've not noticed this before.

There's always something new to learn.

First, the date 1920 in both the subject line and the text of my OP is glaringly wrong: a typing error. The series I'm concerned about is that of 1905.

Response to Nigel: I was afraid it might be so, since without such a shift there'd be no good way to tell this 1905 series from the other two. Since, however, all the catalogues appear to agree that both the 1902 and the 1905 series were prepared on vertically laid paper, we need only look at stamps on that sort of paper, hoping to see the sort of shifts that you mention.

For each of the 1k, 2k, 3k and 7k values, Facit lists the following combinations:

P¹ I - horizontally laid paper - burelage I
P² I - vertically laid paper - burelage I
P² II - vertically laid paper - burelage II

The horizontally and vertically laid paper stamps are priced separately.

For the 5k value, Facit lists just one combination:

P² II - vertically laid paper - burelage II

This surprised me, as the 5k value was issued in Russia on both horizontally and vertically laid paper

Maybe 5k stamps weren't required in Finland until 1909 (the date given for delivery to the Finnish GPO)?

There wasn't a 5k value in the earlier ring design set.

A nice summation, Nigel. Facit does seem to provide the best account of the three different issues of this design. The 1909 date by the 5k entry there would, I agree, suggest that this value wasn't used in Finland till then, and so would necessarily have been burlage II on vertically laid paper (P2). My copy of Zagorsky separates all three issues very clearly (unlike most other catalogues) and makes plain the change in burlage for 1905. Unfortunately it deflects the question of paper types to "more specialized literature." Facit fills that lacuna. Now to gather up all my vertically laid examples of these five stamps and see whether there are visible shifts enough to separate 1905 from 1902. Thanks for your interest and help.
Eric

Here below is an example of what I believe to be stamps of 1905, i.e., vertically laid paper with Burelage II. A shift downward during the printing of the main design has allowed the dotted background to encroach into the white space of the numeral circles. You can also see a white space above the crown, showing again a downward shift of the printed design.


Oddly, I have not yet found a clear example of the 1902 series (vertically laid with Burelage I). Nigel, I think, provides above a good description of the sort of shift to look for: the printed circle frame encroaching into the white space of the circle. My stamps show so far only the burelage dots crossing over that circle frame and into the white circle. Online I see apparently knowledgeable sellers offering as stamps of 1902 what to my I look like stamps of 1905. Yet my copy of Zagorsky indicates that the stamps of these two series should be equally common.

Here's a scan that shows more clearly the white space above the crown.