Eternal Values
THE STAMP HAS SURVIVED ITS JUBILEE
The first Russian stamp is interesting not only from the philately history point of view, but also due to its exclusively high quality of execution
Celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Russian stamp has extended over two years. The official date of the first postage stamp appearance in Russia is assumed to be January 1, 1858. But the Russian stamp actually has two birthdates. Besides January 1, 1858, November 12, 1857, when the stamp was confirmed for production, can also be called its birthdate.
In December of the same year the Postal Department published a circular letter about the introduction since January 1, 1858 of “special postage stamps which in the form of an obley with an image according to the confirmed design are glued to ordinary plain envelopes, and even, without an envelope, are glued right on the folded letter”. Since that moment one could not send letters “to all places of the Empire, Kingdom of Poland and The Grand Duchy of Finland” without “application of a postage stamp correspondent to the letter weight”. In Siberia, in the Caucasus and Transcaucasia postage stamps were to be used since March 1, 1858.
How the stamps appeared
The more actively the production sector developed at the beginning of the 19th century, the more sweepingly the migration of the population from villages to towns took place — the more intensive the correspondence between people became. And consequently the demand for post services grew.
The payment for post services in all countries of the world was quite high. Thus, in England an ordinary letter for the distance of up to 100 miles (about 160 kilometers) cost from 4 to 9 pence and one more penny for every additional 100 miles. The distance was calculated not along the direct line but according to the factual way, which was much longer. There arose a necessity to simplify and cheapen the post services.
For hundreds of years there remained the question, who should pay for the service — the sender or the addressee. Different countries decided differently, but in most countries the recipient, or the addressee, paid all the expenses. It was the same in England — the homeland of the first stamp.
There are a few versions of the legend how it appeared. Here is one of them. An official of the post office Rowland Hill apparently saw how a postman tried to give a letter to an old innkeeper who had to pay two shillings for its delivery. The innkeeper refused to pay, it was too expensive for her.
Hill paid for the correspondence, but it turned out to be useless — the envelope was empty. The cunning innkeeper had agreed with her son in advance, and the envelope meant that her son was in good health and remembered his mother.
Rowland Hill calculated the losses of the post for its services unpaid, and decided that the sender should pay for the letter. On January 6, 1837 he published his project “Post Office Reform: its Importance and Practicability”. Hill proposed to unify the postage fees in the whole country and introduce the payment — 1 pence per letter independently of its destination. The post reformer planned to charge the payment from the sender with the help of “small pieces of paper enough to put a postage stamp on them and covered with glue on one side allowing to stick them after they are dampened”. “The piece of paper” was called a postage sticker in England.
On May 6, 1840 two stamps were put into circulation at the London Post Office — 1 penny (“black penny”) and a blue stamp of 2 pence. These stamps became the forebears of all postage stamps.
The postage charge marks introduction immediately affected the growth of number of mailing pieces. If in 1839 about 75 million letters were sent in England, in 1840 their number ran up to 168 million.
Thus with Rowland Hill’s help the question about who should pay the postage charges was settled. And, most importantly, in what way it should be done.
The national stamp peculiarities
The English stamps remained the only ones for three years. In 1843 they appeared in Switzerland, then in Brazil. In the United States they were confirmed in 1847, and in France they were issued in 1849.
In Russia the first stamp was put into circulation on January 1, 1858.
As a rule, the royal persons were depicted on the postage stamps. Similarly to the stamps of other countries, the portrait of Alexander II might have appeared on the first Russian stamp, which was printed at the Expedition of Storing State Papers. But it didn’t happen. The State Coat of Arms of Russia was depicted on the first Russian stamp. It remained on the stamps for a few decades, only the decoration of the stamps changed. The Expedition printed 100 stamps per sheet, which was divided into four sections. Between the sections there were x-shaped margins for punched holes perforation. According to F. M. Kepler’s project, it was planned to put a white gibbous image of an eagle against the blue background in the center of the stamp. During the first operation an embossed impression of the State Coat of Arms was applied to the paper, besides, the oval and the central part of the stamp were printed with blue ink. Afterwards the rest of the design was printed with brown ink. The Post Office Emblem — two crossed horns — was printed under the Coat of Arms. Around the central part of the design in an oval frame the inscriptions “postage stamp” and “10 kopeks per lot” were printed. Lot was a Russian weight measure used before the metric system introduction, it amounted to 12.797 gram. For descriptive reasons we should mention that the modern envelop and six pages of paper from a copybook weigh approximately the same. In the bottom under the mantle topped with a crown, which embraces the medallion, the inscription “10 kopeks per lot” was repeated, in bigger letters. The white figure 10 was printed in all the corners of the stamp.
In order to protect the paper from counterfeiting, it was made with the watermark. The specialists of the Expedition found a very original solution: figure “1” was used as the watermark on the first Russian stamps. It was possible to define that it was the very first Russian stamp just by having a look at it in the transmitted light! A layer of glue was applied to the paper before printing.
The first English stamps did not have teeth, therefore the post officers cut them out with the help of scissors; it created certain difficulties. The stamp perforation began only in 1854, after the idea was offered by Henry Archer, an Irishman.
The first Russian postage stamps were also printed without teeth. It happened due to the reason that the perforating machine ordered in Austria was delivered to the Expedition in the out-of-commission status and required heavy docking.
To provide the stamp issuing in a timely manner (till January 1, 1858) the stamps were printed imperforated — without the teeth. 3 million of such stamps were printed. In spite of the large circulation, nowadays the Russian postage stamp No. 1 is a great rarity. It is interesting not only from the philately point of view, but due to its exclusively high performance quality as well.
According to the circular letter dated December 10, 1857, the postage stamps were to be cancelled with the help of a quill (writing ink), but this cancellation method was not used for a long time — until February 28, 1858.
The jubilee season
Goznak, the successor of the Expedition of Storing State Papers, could not keep out of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the first Russian stamp, naturally. In 2007 the Saint-Petersburg Paper Mill — Branch of Goznak produced chalk overlay gummed paper for printing the jubilee souvenir sheet dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the postage stamp. The jubilee souvenir sheets were printed at the Moscow Printing Factory — Branch of Goznak under the order of Publishing and Trading Centre “Marka”.
At the beginning of 2008 another stamp — dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the first Russian stamp emission — was issued. Also in January the Bank of Russia issued a commemorative coin dedicated to the jubilee of the first Russian stamp.
To the philatelists’ joy, the portrait of Franz Michel Kepler, Engraver of the Expedition of Storing State Papers and the author of the first Russian stamp project, was found for the jubilee. Philatelists had looked for this portrait for many years; it was found as a result of a scientific investigation carried out at the Saint-Petersburg Paper Mill. It was published in The Watermark for the first time.
Olga VOROBIEVA
