Russia 1922 Charity

This issue of Charity stamps was a 'first' in Russian Philately as

it was a compulsory tax levied locally by the Narcomfin Executive in Rostov on Don for the benefit of those suffering under the famine.

The stamps included the word ”pochta” or ”post” in their design and had to be added to all registered letters, parcels, and money orders in addition to the regular postage. 

Receipts from the sale of these stamps went into the Fund for the Hungry . Therefore, this was one of the forms of local tax initiated by the Commissioner of the South East Region of the RSFSR and put into operation by the post office. 

It was obligated to sell these stamps to collect, in addition to the regular postage, 2000 rubles for registered letters, 4000 rubles for money orders, and 6000 rubles for parcels. Actually, these stamps should be considered as revenues or postal tax stamps.

They were lithographed from designs of philatelist A.L. Manerick and printed in two colors (red and green) in sheets of 133 stamps. The left two- thirds of the sheet was printed in green and had Scott numbers B30 and B33, while the right one-third of the sheet was printed in red and had Scott numbers B31 and B32.

They were printed on white unwatermarked paper and issued imperforate. The total printing was 740 sheets

These stamps were issued on April 19, 1922 and sold in Rostov on Don, Novocherkask, Millerov, Nakhichevan, and other cities of the South East region. 

B30 Genuine

size 57.5 X 47 mm.
1 & 1a, The left “P” is different than the right one and the same height as the other letters.
2. All the letter have a dot after them
3. Note the shape & direction of lines of hair strands
4. Note the shape of the collar
5. Note the lines on the arm and the sleeve
6. Note the shape of the boot and the rock on the ground
7. Circles are generally complete (I have seen some partial)
8. The top of the “A” is broken
9. The sickle is in front of the hammer and note the shape of the handle
10. The left “2” is wider and larger than the right one
11. Note the size of the top bar on the “T” and the dot afterwards
12. The stem on the right is larger than the one on the left

It is not uncommon to find these stamps as double and even triple error prints

Genuine with flaws; broken sickle & K

Genuine copy on very dark paper

 

B30 Forgeries

This forgery appears to have the most variations.

There is confusing and contradictory information on the types and numbers with authors mention only 2 and up to 4 "types".

I found it difficult to match them up so I am presenting some finds in no particular order.

The genuine is on the left.

This is probably the most accurate one and common forgery.

The main differences are:

The sickle is in the back of the hammer on the forgery

The boots of the right peasant are very different

In this forgery;

The circles on the sides of the hammer/sickle are open
The first P of each top word are shorter than the other letters

The A letter in the center is not dented

The hammer/sickle is different - note the handle

In this forgery;

The hair of the left peasant is different

The left 2t is missing the dot

The W shaped letter in the central word is lacking the downwards serif

In this forgery;

The paper is yellowish

The top P's are shorter

The left 2t has a short right bar

In this forgery;

The letters are thicker

The handle of the hammer is heavily shaded

The A is not dented

The shading and wrinkle in the right peasants sleeve is different

This might be a more modern forgery

Now the puzzle

In this forgery block on yellowish paper I call the Black Eyed Peasant we have many differences aside from the black and tiny eyebrow less eyes.

Note on the left top and bottom stamps, the sickle handles are different as are the boots on the right peasant.

All the stamps show varying degrees of shading on the right peasant.

B31 Genuine

1. Corner is complete

2. Arcs are visibly separated from the dome on both sides

3. The hand clearly shows 4 fingers

4. The fold is made up of two pleats that join at the bottom

5. The folds are distinct lines

6. The dot is visible but weak

7. These 2 dots appear in the blocks I have but I do not know if they are constant

B31 Forgeries

There is some confusion here also about the types.

Generally 2 forgery types are proposed and I found one to be abundant while the other was scarce.

B31 TI Forgery

1. The corner is broken

2. The folds comprise of one thick line

3. The folds are just a blob of color

4. The T and dot are prominent. All the bottom letters are thick.

5. There is an oblique appendage below the left leg of the A

B30 TII Forgery

1. The corner is complete but they tend to all have a bevelled edge rather than a sharp corner 

2. The curved line touches the dome

3. No fingers showing but there is a thin line across the palm

4. The lines are very distinct

5. The dot is almost invisible

B32 Genuine

1. The T's do not touch the circle frame line

2. The dots are evenly spaced

3. The sleeve clearly shows the lines

A genuine triple print

B32 Forgery

In the forgery;

The T touches the circle frame

The lines in the sleeve are a single shading

The hand and wrist has uneven dots

The cancel is probably a fake to greatly increase the value

A very crude overinked forgery

Miniature copies of Nos. 830-833 exist, taken from the 1933 Soviet catalogue.

B33 Forgeries

B33 Type I Forgery

This is the common forgery

1. Dots are missing

2. Hair is different and shaded

3. The bag has a protrusion or an added pleat

4. Large white area

5. A constant break here

Another type I with some top letter variations

B33 Type II Forgery

Some authors mention an uncommon very well executed forgery with the following features.

The first 2 letters CP are shorter than the others

There are some breaks in the outer frame

The basket weaving is defined and uniform

A genuine double print

Original Blocks

Multiples tend to be more often genuine

Genuine stamps on a cover

Cancels appear genuine but no guarantee

An unrelated agricultural label