FOCUS ON PHILATELY: Ukraine's first stamp issues, 1918-1920 (02/14/99)

FOCUS ON PHILATELY

by Ingert Kuzych

Ukraine's first stamp issues, 1918-1920

When a nation begins to issue its own stamps and currency, it announces to its neighbors and to the world that it has arrived. These pieces of paper provide tangible evidence that a new independent state has began to function and is attempting to set up a viable economy. Such was the case during the Ukrainian National Republic's (UNR) first years following the declaration of independence from imperial Russia on January 22, 1918. Unfortunately, the new country was not given a proper chance to develop in peace. Three times Bolshevik armies advanced into Ukraine; finally, as 1920 drew to a close, the occupation was complete.

Despite almost continuous harassment from unsympathetic neighbors, successive Ukrainian governments continuously strove to keep open their communications links, which at this time consisted mostly of the posts and telegraphs. A separate ministry was set up to oversee these forms of communication. Finally, in July of 1918, Ukraine's first stamps were released, a set of five shahy values (Nos. 1-5). They were made from the same plates that had printed perforated cardboard money tokens for the government three months earlier; however, this issue was printed on thin paper and was imperforate (Figure 1). Although the shahy stamps saw widespread and prolonged use, they were insufficient for all postal needs.

On August 20, 1918, an order went out to overprint all Russian stamps - then still widely in use - with the Ukrainian trident emblem. This action helped minimize Russian influence, provided stamps of more denominations, and generated funds for the treasury. (Up until then large quantities of Russian stamps were being brought into Ukraine through private channels. Overprinting with a trident "Ukrainianized" the stamps and protected the Ukrainian treasury from further losses).

After October 1, 1918, all old Russian stamps became invalid without such an overprint. Available for overprinting at that time were 38 different values of the Russian Imperial Coat of Arms Issue, as well as three values of Postal Savings Bank stamps.

Since overprinting could not be done centrally due to ongoing military movements, it was carried out in the six postal regions and at many local post offices. Because the initial directive did not specify how the tridents were to look, postal officials produced designs of their own choosing. So, although only 41 stamp values were ever used (Nos. 6-46), dozens of different trident types were created, resulting in hundreds of unique trident overprinted stamps, some even made by hand (Figure 2). The study and collection of these "classic" trident overprints remains an active area of Ukrainian philately.

On January 20, 1919, an additional stamp was released, a 20-hryvnia high value (No. 47) to be used mostly on postal money transfers (Figure 3). Over the next year and a half, the turbulent conditions in Ukraine did not permit the UNR government to produce any further issues.

By August of 1920 the Ukrainian government found itself operating from the Polish city of Tarnow; it had been driven from Ukraine by Bolshevik armies only a few weeks earlier and in subsequent weeks would undertake a new offensive to regain Ukrainian territories. During this interval, the Ukrainian Ministry for Posts and Telegraphs took stock of its situation and the meager holdings it was able to secure. The most pressing need was for military communication that could be used by servicemen in the forthcoming planned offensive. On August 26, 1920, a field post service was created and new stamp production authorized. Some 13,000 field post stamps were prepared by overprinting the old shahy stamps that the ministry had available: all five shahy stamps received new values of either 10, 20 or 40 hryvni (Nos. 47-62, see Figure 4). Additionally, the 20-hryvnia stamp of 1919 was overprinted to 40 hryvni (No. 63). Only 15 of this latter field post stamp were created (Figure 5) and only two are known to have survived (one used on an envelope and another unused). These two stamps are the rarest in Ukrainian philately.

On the following day, August 27, the Postal Ministry authorized the production of an entirely new stamp series - the first commemorative issue of Ukraine. This series would replace the mishmash of stamps then in use on Ukrainian territories. Thus was born what would come to be known as the Vienna Issue (Nos. 64-77), after the Austrian capital where it was printed. This beautiful stamp set, the last issued by an independent Ukrainian government until 1992, will be the subject of next month's installment of "Focus on Philately."

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