Finland "Protest" Stamps
Bud's Big BlueBud's Observations
The Tsar’s 1900 russification plan abolished the use of
Finland’s 19th century stamps, but protests flourished. Finland’s
senate voiced disapproval, but that didn’t change matters. A “mourning” stamp (see
above) was privately created for placing on mail along with the Russian-mandated
stamps. It came in two varieties; the “1” on the back has either a concave or a
straight head serif (also above). Profits from sales surged and went to support
education. A forgery, slightly different from the original, appeared. Then,
Imperial Russia banned the use of such propaganda. If one of these pops up in your
feeder album, you’ll notice it.
Scans often show problems that went undetected beforehand.
Two Russian interlopers have displaced two Finnish stamps (see lines for
1891-92 below). These, too, have been banned and replaced, even though they
resemble the Russian-approved Finnish stamps, because they lack the circled dot
motif.
Census: 160 in BB spaces, 13 tip-ins, 19 on supplement page.
Discovery of the Russian interlopers led me to overhaul the
Finland pages since the scans were made. Changes include: shifting all 20th
century definitive issues for which BB does not provide space to the supplement
pages; placing Scott #110 (as Jim suggests) in the blank space on page two, end
of line five, instead of what’s shown on the scan; and adding Finland’s only classical
era airmail stamp, a 1930 zeppelin overprint on Scott #178. Changes and
additions resulted in 68 being currently on supplement pages.
Jim's Observations
The Finnish "Imperial Arms of Russia" era is a Finnish-Russian identification minefield for collectors. I found even carefully put together collections of Finland with Russian interlopers on the album page, so clearly these designs can be an identification problem for the general classic WW collector.
Scott states: Finnish stamps have "dot in circle" devices or are inscribed "Markka", "Markkaa", "Pen", or "Pennia". A good thing to heed. !!
Finland Blog Post 1856-1917
Finland Blog Post 1917-1940 & Checklist
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Supplements
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Comments appreciated!
Finland's stamps continue to fascinate me. Since the above scans were made, I've added several. The census now is: 160 in BB spaces, 15 tip-ins, 69 on the supplement page. Particularly interesting are the early saw-tooth perf issues; finding them without dental problems presents a challenge.
ReplyDeleteI remember inquiring about the saw-tooths with a Scandinavian dealer, and he asked me how many teeth I wanted. ;-)
ReplyDelete