FOCUS ON PHILATELY: Noteworthy commemorative covers of the North American diaspora (11/06/05)

FOCUS ON PHILATELY

by Ingert Kuzych

Noteworthy commemorative covers of the North American diaspora

It's not always easy to come up with fresh philatelic topics for these "Focus on Philately" submissions. So, I did appreciate it recently when I received a letter from Michael W. Bohdan of Union, N.J., in which he enclosed a little gift (a commemorative envelope from a Ukrainian festival) that ended up inspiring this month's piece.

What I'd like to highlight in this article, then, are various interesting special envelopes that were prepared in North America for significant Ukrainian events during roughly four decades between the early 1950s and early 1990s. Since these items received appropriate postage and were cancelled (and in some instances passed through the mail stream) they are considered to be commemorative covers. (Many other commemorative items were also fabricated in other Ukrainian communities in Europe, Australia, or South America, but they will not be addressed here because of space considerations.)

Before going on to describe some of these covers, however, I should mention that interest in creating and collecting them has fallen off somewhat in the past decade. The reason for this trend is fairly straightforward. In the years before Ukraine's independence it was considered patriotic and important to come up with official commemorations of various prominent occasions. However, with Marka Ukrainy (the Ukrainian stamp production firm) now issuing gorgeous first day covers (Figure 1) and just plain envelopes (Figure 2), attention to the often less colorful issues of the diaspora has waned. Nonetheless, these earlier covers do help recall many outstanding occasions or anniversaries of Ukraine's past, or of the Ukrainian community's activities, and so should not be overlooked as salient collectibles.

The first cover I'd like to describe is a special postcard prepared by the newly formed Society of Ukrainian Philatelists_1_ on the occasion of their very first philatelic exhibit, held in New York on December 2, 1951 (Figure 3). Postcard rates in those days were only a penny, but several other "stamps" were affixed to this card. The "stamps" were actually seals (similar to Christmas seals) of the Ukrainian Underground Post (Pidpilna Poshta Ukrainy) issued to raise funds for Ukrainian freedom fighters. The seals on the card, showing Roman Shukhevych (a.k.a. Taras Chuprynka) and Symon Petliura, were themselves cancelled with a special blue-ink device commemorating the exhibition.

One of the diaspora's longest-running Ukrainian festivals is the Canadian National Ukrainian Festival held every summer in Dauphin, Manitoba. For several decades this event set up a special booth where commemorative covers could be purchased and cancelled with distinctive Ukraina, Manitobam cancels. Figures 4 and 5 show covers, respectively, from the very first such show in 1966 (with a special boxed cancel) and from 1980.

Commemorative envelopes

One of the finest commemorative envelope designers of the diaspora was Fedir Iskalo of Buffalo, N.Y. Between 1967 and 1988 he released 10 multicolored envelopes that became highly sought after by collectors the world over.

Figure 6 shows one of these covers that was mailed back to Mr. Iskalo from Japan in 1968. Depicted on the commemorative (cachet) portion is Mr. Iskalo's tribute to the 50th anniversary of Ukraine's independence.

Figure 7 presents the very last decorated-envelope designed by Mr. Iskalo. Originally printed in 1988, it was reused five years later when 80 envelopes received an added inscription to mark 75 years of Ukrainian postage stamps. This transformation was carried out at the behest of the Ukrainian Philatelic and Numismatic Society (UPNS) in order that the envelopes could be used for its Ukrainpex stamp show held in Chicago in October of 1993. The show organizers were also able to obtain an appropriate U.S. Postal Service cancellation.

Figure 8 is a cover marking a special event for Calgary's Ukrainian community - the unveiling of a bust of composer Alexander Koshetz in 1975. Issued by the Canadian Ukrainian Committee on the centennial of the choirmaster's birth (and also on the centennial of the city), the item shows a view of the sculpture and the city skyline, and bears an apropos five-line, English-French cancel inscription produced by Canada Post.

We now come to the special cover sent to me by Mr. Bohdan (Figure 9). Created for the Ukrainian Festival at Holmdel, N.J., held June 13, 1981, it features a beautiful multi-colored cachet design by Christine Yurkiw and a violet Ukrainian Art Festival cancel with a prominent trident and the inscription "Ukraine: A Proud Heritage That Will Never Die." Covers of this sort were prepared at a field post office set up at the event. According to notes supplied by Mr. Bohdan, the design on the cachet reproduces the actual poster advertising the festival.

The final cover in this brief overview was again a product of the UPNS (Figure 10) and it marks a milestone in Ukrainian aviation history - the first flight of Air Ukraine.

It was created through the effort of member Borys Fessak, who managed to get stamped envelopes cancelled at JFK Airport in New York and then transported aboard Air Ukraine's inaugural flight back to Kyiv on June 11, 1991. There the covers received arrival cancels at Boryspil Airport.

Once back in the U.S., an appropriate commemorative cachet was printed onto what had until then been blank envelopes, and a very delightful, limited-edition collectible was created. (Although 50 stamped envelopes were sent on the flight to Ukraine, only 41 were returned. Some light-fingered airline collectors apparently absconded with the remainder.)

1. The organization became the Ukrainian Philatelic and Numismatic Society (UPNS) in 1972. UPNS is now the largest Ukrainian collectors' organization outside of Ukraine; see the website at www.upns.org. [Back to Text]

Dr. Ingert Kuzych may be reached at P.O. Box 3, Springfield, VA 22150, or at [email protected]. He requests, however, that inquiries about obtaining various covers described in this article not be sent to him since he does not have any extras. These items do turn up occasionally at different meets or conventions held by the UPNS.

| Home Page |