Russia 1922 Charity Issue

 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.

Forgeries

Because of the great demand for these stamps, they were extensively counterfeited. The largest number of these counterfeits were made in 1924 by Kull who used zinc cuts (line etching) . 

These forgeries are well executed but contain muddy imprints of the fine lines. 

The paper of the originals is smooth, while the forgeries were printed on paper with a high wood content and they have a slightly yellowish tint. 

Apparently a second batch was produced in Russia in 1969

B30

Genuine Issue

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

Genuine on dark paper

Forgeries

Type I Forgery

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

The boots of the right peasant are very different

Note: The "A" is indented as in the genuine

Type II Forgery

The "A" is not dented

The circles on the sides of the hammer/sickle are open

The first "P" of the first top word is shorter than the other letters

The "A" letter in the center is not dented

The hammer/sickle is different - note the handle 

The handle on the wrong side as in the Type I

The paper is a cream color

Type III Forgery

This forgery has the dented "A"

No stops after the top left "RSFR"

No stops after "2t"s"

Sickle handle has no shading

Type IV Forgery

Good copy with the broken "A"

All the dots on "RSFR" but weak

Printed on light buff paper

Collar and sleeve on the right peasant different than original

The right peasant pants have noticeably wider white stripes

Always found with a bogus cancel

With fake cancel on dark brown paper

Forgery on dark paper

B31

Genuine Issue

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

Forgeries

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

B31 Type II 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

Forgery with fake cancel on dark brown paper

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

Genuine triple

Forgeries

Type II forgery

1. Left T touches frame

2. Arm shading shows irregular dots

3. Right sleeve shading completely filled in

Forgery on dark brown paper

Forgery with fake cancel on dark paper

very crude forgery

Crude group of forgeries

B34

Genuine

Pay close attention to the seed bag and the lines in the soil.

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 her

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

Forgery with fake cancel on dark paper

Miniatures

Miniatures

These are seldom offered on auctions.

They are imperf. and without gum. These miniatures came from the Soviet Catalogue of 1924. In this catalogue a miniature version of the complete sheet was printed in the back of the catalogue on newsprint somewhat similar to that used for some of the original printings. 

They were cut out and sold as some "rare special printing"

All four designs in the two colours are printed on the same sheet in the same manner as the original issue.

A closer examination shows that they have many "flaws" that resemble some of the full size forgeries. As they were then readily available, they may have been the basis for future forgeries.

Genuine rare cover

Genuine blocks

Biography

l. Soviet Stamps of Pomgol (llelp for the Hungry) by A. Kolesnikov

Soviet Collector, 1966 No. 4. (Russian)

2. O>eck to the Forgers, translated from Gennan by F.H. Kreuter,

Philadelphia, 1935.

3. Handbook for Expertising Soviet Postage Stamps, Y.N. Vovin, Moscow 1972

4. Postage Stamps of USSR, 1958 (lwssian) (lwssian)

5. Enigmatic Cover, V. Karlinsky,"Philately,USSR",1967,No.3. (RussiM)

6. Soviet Postage Stamps,1917-4l,V. Karlinsky,''Philately ,USSR" 1968 No.4