MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

No. 30 Copyright, 1954, by Edwin Mueller MAY, 1954

EUROPEAN CLASSICS

The Mercury Stamp Journal is sent reg·ul/lrly to friends lind customers of theMERCURY STAMP COMPANY I,•• ofcI~arge. Others may obtain four consecu­tive numbers upon payment of $1.00.

Bound Volumes 1 /lnd II (Nos. I to 24)$10.00. Volume 1 (Nos. I to 12) alone

$5.00, beck numbers {available Nos. I. b,

8, 9. 11.14, Ib.19, 21-24, 2b-29} 25c each.

westward and settled about 1500 RC. onthe Volga, where it remained until drivennorthwards in the 7th century A.D., eventu·ally to settle in the "Land of ThousandLakes" which now became known as Fin·land. This name is derived from the Ger·manic word "Fennen" which means marshor swamp; "Suomi" has a similar meaningin Finnish. The 'wild Finns soon became theterror of the Baltic, the)' harassed not onlythe merchant ships trading between Swedenand the German States but, from time totime, they also attacked the coasts of theseconntries. This led eventually to the dispatchof a Swedish army which landed in Finlandand conquered part of it in 1157. The popu­lation slowly was converted to Christianitybut additional expeditions were required un­til in 1293 the country was completely paci­fied and as "Oesterland" became a Swedishpl·ovince. '!'he Swedish rule, which lasted formore than 500 years, was not oppressive. In1306, the country was ruled by a SwecUshGo\'ernor General and had been divided intothree districts, ruled by governors. In 1347the population received all privileges whichwerc enjoyed by the population of Swedenproper. In 1528, King Gustavus Vasa intra·duced Lutheranism and in 1560 King JohanIII made the country a Duchy and in 1581a Grand Duchy of the Swedish Crown. Al·though Sweden did not suppress the use ofthe Pinnish language-belonging to theLral-Altaic family of languages, which can·

XI. FINLANDli'inland, or Suomi as the nati,-c Finnish

population calls it, is one of the smallerstates in N arthern Europe. During theclassic stamp period, it was a Grand Duchyunder Russian sovereignty, but enjoyed al­most complete autonomy. The ruler of Russia,who was also Grand Duke of Finland andruled through a Governor General and aSenate of 16 appointed members, had to takean oath to uphold the constitution, the lawsand the privileges of the country. Exceptfor foreign affairs, which were handled byRussia, all government activities were inthe bands of Finnish representatives, di­rected by a "Diet" of 251 members. Situatedbetween the Baltie Sea and the Arctic Ocean,Finland is bounded on the north by theArctic Ocean as well as the Finnmark and'l'roms provinces of Norway, ou the east bythe Norbottell province of Sweden and theGulf of Botlmia, on the south by the Gulfof Finland and on the west by the Russianprovinces of Arkhangelsk and Olonetz. TheAland Islands, at the entrance to the Gulfof Bothnia, also belonged to Finland. Itstotal territory, which was divided into eightdistricts, covered about 145,000 square miles,of which over 110% was water area, con­sistulg of more than 60,000 lakes. Finlandwas, and still is, a sparsely populated COW1­

try. The population was only 1,637,000 in1850, 1,747,000 in 1870 and 1,880,000 in1875, of which about 80% were Finns and20% Swedes, the latter concentrated mainlyUl the larger towns. The capital Helsingfora(Helsinki), which was founded in 1550, hadin 1855 a population of about 16,000 and ofover 32,000 in 1870, of which more thantwo·thirds were Swedes.

The history of Finland is a comparativelyyOWlg one. The territory was first, at theend of the 8th century A.D., inhabited bythe Finns, an Asiatic tribe which had moved

Published periodically by the MERCURY STAMP COMPANY522 Fifth Ave., New York 36, N. Y.

Edited by Edwin Mueller

'>

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL 121

tains also Manchu, Mongol, Samoyede, Mag·yar and Turkish-it remained mainly thelanguage of the peasants, while the officiallanguage and that of the educated classeswas Swedish. Toward the end of the 15thcentury the first signs of Russian expansionin the direction of Finland became notice­able and this led to several wars betweenSweden and Russia, during Wllieh Finlandfrequently became a battleground. Duringthe 18th century, there was almost constantfighting between Sweden and Russia. Thewars of 1743 and 1790 were especially dis·astrous for Sweden and led to the loss ofsmall slices of Finnish territory. EventUally,after the destruction of the Swedish armyin the war of 1808-09, in the peace treatyof Fredriksham of 1809, Finland was cededto Russia. Czar Alexander I now becameGrand Duke of Finland and swore to upholdthe constitution and the laws of the country.This promise was faithfully kept by Alex­ander I, as "ell as by his successors, Nich­olas I (1825-1855) and Alexander II, whoruled from 1855 to 1881. Finnish andSwedish remained the official languages andthe use of the Russian language was re­stricted to matters related to Russia. Forpractical reasons, the Russian currency grad­ually replaced Swedish money and iu severalother respects, for example, in units ofmeasurement, a similar development oc·curred. But during the whole classic stampperiod Finland acted as an autonomouscountry, with little or no interference, ex·cept in respect to foreign relations Whiellwere handled by Russia. The capital hadbeen Abo in 1809, but the seat of the gov­ernment was transferred in 1817 to HelBing­fors, which in 1821 definitely became thecapital of Finland.

Finland's postal history is closely eon·nected with tllat of Sweden, which hadorganized a general postal senice in 1636.Only two years later, in 1638/ the servicewas extended to Finland and the first mailroutes, through Finland to the Baltic prov·inces, commenced operations. Seven postoffices were opened on Finnish territoryand the mail service was organized in thesame way as in Sweden proper. The servicedeveloped during the following years andthe number of post offices increased to 22in 1710. When the country came under Rus·sian sovereignty in 1809, there existed 39post offices. The Russian influence soon

122

made itself felt, but the Swedish regula­tions generally continued in force and theSwedish influence on the postal service re­maUled obvious during all of Finland'sclassic stamp period. Despite this two-foldinfluence, Finland conducted its postal serv­ice during that time rather independentlyand in some respect was ahead of its neigh­bors, for example, in respect to the intro­duction of stamped envelopes. As far as themall service with foreign countries was con­cerned, Finland had to depend upon itsneighbors; all such mail during the classicstamp period went in transit either throughRussia or Sweden, and special postal treatiesregulated this service. In 1875, when theUniversal Postal Union was created, Fin­land was represented by Russia and in thisway became, as part of the Russian Empire,a founding member, effective July 1, 1875.

The postal service, although well organ·ized, suffered from the low density of thepopulation and its mainly agricultural oc­cupation, which was not favorable to letterwriting. 'rhe number of post offices did notrucrC:lse from 1809 until the end of thepre-stamp period; it was only 36 on Jan.1, 1845, and 37 ou March 1, 1856. Onlythen did a slow but steady developmentstart. Iu 1869, the number of post officeswas 58 and at the end of 1875 had increasedto 82. Prior to 1856 there were no letterboxes outside of the post offices and duringthe whole classic stamp period there was nodelivery service and no rural mail service.Mail had to be deli\Tered and picked up atthe post offices. Private mail services, whichserved city as well as rural mail and madeuse of steamboat lines for collecting anddelivering mail in outlying part of thecountry, in some way supplemented thegovernmental postal service."bue to the ad­\'erse conditions, the number of pieces ofmail was small. Only 150,000 letters werehandled in 1849, an average of about onlya dozen letters a day by each post office.This figure increased considerably only afterlower letter rates were introduced in 1850,but in 1874 still only 1,741,000 pieces ofmail were handled, of which 197,000 wentoutside of the country. Mail was carriedby runners, mail coaches, in winter timeby sleighs, along the Baltic coast and acrossthe lakes by boats and ships. The first rail­road of the country, from Helsingfors toTavastebus, was opened in 1862 and im-

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAl

j

mediately was used for carrying mail. Thefirst travelling post offices on railroadtrains werc introduced in 1870. No postoffices on board of ships existed during theclassic stamp period. The postal service wasdirected by a General Post Direction atHelsingfors which was supervised by theFinnish Scnate.

The failure of the governmental postalservice to provide a rural mail service aswell as the non-existence of a deliveryservice in the cities during the classic stampperiod led to the creation of a number ofpriva"temail services. Such ventures eitheracted as feeders to the existing post offi·ces from villages and smaller towns whichlw.d no post office, or they provided, inthe larger cities, a city mail service as wellas a feeder service between the governmentpost office and the outlying parts andsuburbs of the city. Only few of theseprivate mail services were properly organ­ized commercial enterprises, the others beinga sideline of steamship companies whichhad, as their main business, the transporta·tion of passengers and goods. During theclassic stamp period, only four private mailservices issued their own postage stamps.The oldest such service was the Hel!!ingforsCity Post, which served the city of Hels­ingfors and its suburbs. It started opera­tions on March 1, 1866. The TammerforsLocal Post operated in close connection withthe Tammerfors government post office, itsmain job being the delivery to and thepick-up from the post office for the outerparts of the town and for the neighboringvillages. This supplementary postal servicewhich had a semi-official character, becauseit was operated by the postmaster of Tam­merfors, existed long before the governmentpostage stamps .were introduced. Until theissuance of its own stamps, the TammerforsLocal Post collected its fees in cash. Twoof the ship lines, which plied the coast andinland waterways from Helsingfors and fora fcc also carried private mail to the townsand villages along their route, which had nopost offices, also issued stamps before 1875.The first was the Wanajavesi Angbats­bolag, also called Tavastehus & HemingforsSteam Packet Co., which operated a shipservice from Helsingfors to the inland townsof Tammerfors and Tavastehus, the second,the S7ciirgards Trafi7c Aktiebolaget, whichcollaberated partly with the Helsingfors

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

City Post, operated a number of smallships along the coast from Helsingfors. Allthese mail services, except that of the Wana­javesi Angbatsbolag, which must have ceasedoperating not later than 1875, remained ac­tive long after the end of the classic stampperiod, until the introduction of govern­mental mail service in the cities and thecreation of a rural mail service forced themout of business, the last ones vanishing onlyat the turn of the century. While the Hels­ingfors City Post was a flourishing businessand handled a rather large amount of mailbefore the decline began-we only know thefigure for the first day of business, 418letters-, the other private mail serviceswere of much less importance and, as theyhandled mail only as a sideline, were con­tent with that. So for example, the Tam·mersfors Local Post handled not more than1400 letters a year or less tnan four lettersa day. It seems surprising that it paid atall to keep such a service going and evento pl'int stamps for it. In later years, ofcourse, the purchases of stamps: by stampcollectors and dealers seem to have providedthese small private mail services with muchmore revenue than the obviously unprofit­able collecting and delivering of mail.

There was only insufficient parcel postservice, therefore parcels could also be sentby private means, especially by the variousship lines. After 1862, the railroads organ­ized the shipment of parcels within thecountry and also to neighboring Russia andSweden. During the classic stamp period,only the government owned railroads, the"Statsjernviijarne i Finland" issued specialstamps for the parcel service.

When postal envelopes and stamps wereintroduced in?inland, the currency used inthe postal service was the Russian, 1 rubledivided into 100 kopeks. By an Imperialdecree of April 4, 1860, a separate Finnishcurrcncy was created. It was used in thepostal service from Jan. 1, 1866. The newcurrency, 1 ~ark (markka) equal to 100penni (pennia), was on the one hand at·tached to the Latin monetary union andtherefore related to the French franc, 1mark being equal to 1 gold franc, while onthe other hand a fixed relation was main·tained to the Russian ruble, 25 silver ko­peks or 30 paper kopeks being equivalentto 1 mark. The unit of weight was thepound (Finnish "naula"), divided into 32

123

loth ("luoti"), 1 loth being equivalent toabout % ounce. Distances were measuredb;r the Russian unit, the verst, which wasequivalent to about two thirds of a mile.

For the purpose of this monograph, wehave confined the classic stamp period tothe time before thc introduction of perf·orated stamps in a new design during theyear 1875. Thel'eforc1 the last issue whichwe will deal with is the 1866 issue ofpostage stamps and all postal stationerywith stamps of the same design.

Finland was one of the few countrieswhich issued regular postal stationery aheadof postal adhesives. On Jan. 1, 1845, Envel.­opes were issued and, in 1850, also LetttrShuts, although the latter on private orderonly. On March 1, 1856, tile first adhesives,Postage Stamps, followed by more thanelC\'en years the first envelopes. No otherkinds of adhesives were introduced duringthe classic period, 0111y several other kindsof stationery, 113mely Postal Cards as wellas R.eturn Receipts on Oct. 1, 1871, andPostal Ca1·ds wit7~ attached Reply Card onJuly 1, 1875.

Of the private mail services, the Hel.s·ingtol's City Post, started to usc PostageStamps from M3rch 1, 1866 and LetterCards from May 1, 1874. 'rhe 7'ammerjorsLocal Post issued its first Postage Stampson July 1, 1866. The Wanajavesi .t1nghats­holag introduced Postage Stamps on May 1,1867 and the S"kiirgards Trati1c .t1ktiebolagetin May 1874. The first Railroad ParcelStamps of the "Statsjern:vagar'1l.e" wereissued in 1871.

Finland's postal rates were simple. It hadrather early a uniform letter rate for thewhole country. Following the example ofRussia, which had started to use one yearearlier a uniform letter rate of 10k, thesame rate of 10k for each loth, withoutregard to distance, was introduced in Fin­land on Jan. 1, 1845, for all domesticletters, simUltaneously with the introduc­tion of tJle first envelopes. This rate, toohigh for a small country, led to a consider­able reduction of the number of lettersmailed and, in turn, to a loss of revenue.The result was a return to different ratesaccording to distance :md reduced rates forshorter distances, beginning Jan. 1, 1850.Domestic letters nOw paid 5k for the first1% loth and for each additional loth up to125 verst dist311CC, and 10k for the first

124

1% 10th and for each additional loth beyond125 verst distance. Letters to Russia werenow charged the higher fee, regardless ofthe distance. When the change of currencyin the postal service took place on Jan. 1,1866, the rates were again changed. Nowletters paid 20p for the first 1~ loth andeach additional loth up to 200 verst dis­tance, 40p beyond 200 .erst distance andto Russia. For domestic printed matter, 51'was the lowest rate. The registration feewas 201', the fcc for return receipts 101'.When postal cards wcre in troduced on Oct.1, 1871, the rate was fixed at 81' for do­mestic cards, from Dec. 1, 1872, also forcards to Russia. On July 1, 1875, new uni­form rates, again ,vithout regard to thedistance, were introduced. Domestic lettersnow pnid 20p up to 1 loth, 401' over 1 lothup to ':1 loth and 60p over ':1 loth up to 8loth. Letters o.er 8 loth paid 1m for eachpoune} or part of it. The printed matterfcc remained 51' for the first ':1 loth. Postalcards now were lOp, the fee for registra­tion remained 201' and for a return receipt101'. Mail to foreign cOlUltries originallypaid varied fees, depending how the letterwas forwarded, with the Russian or Swedishfees for the specific destination added tothe Finnish domestic fee, in some cases in3ddition to a transit fee. To Russia, reducedrates were charged, usually not higher thanthe top domestie fees_ There was no reoduced fee for printed matter, neitller toHussia nor to foreign countries, the fullletter rate being required. From July 1,1875, when the uniform rates of the Uni­versal Postal Union became effective, theletter rate to all foreign countries includingRussia was fixed at 321' for each 15 grams.Printed matter now paid 8p for each 50grams and postal cards 16p.

The private mail services also had simplerates. The Helsingfors City Post and theTammerfQrs Local Post charged a uniformrate for letters and parcels, regardless ofdistance and weight, the first lOp, thelatter originally 3kJ then 12p. The mail­servici.ng steamship companies had lOp asletter rate, but charged higher fees forparcels. All private mail services had greatlyreduced rates for bulk mail, printed matterand other items to be deli.ered in quantity.'l'he Helsingfors City Post, for example,sold its stamps at a 20% discount per hun·dred and charged only 5m for the delivery

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

, .

." ... .,..

;

!

of 200 circulars and 501) for each additionalhundred. Tho rates for parcels, charged bythe railroads and steamship companies, de­pended upon weight and distance.

'),ho denominati011S of the postage stampsand euvc.1opcs first eo.ered only the mostnecessary letter rates. The two values ofthe first om"clope issue, of Jan. 1, 1845,were 10k and 20k, these being the rates forsingle and double letters within Finland.The three values of the envelope issue ofJail. 1, 1850 werc for the new rates, whichwerc introduced on that day, 5k for singleletters up to a distance of 125 verst withinFinland, 10k for single letters over 125 verstwithin Finland and to Russia, aml 20k forheavier letters. 'rile last denominatiou provedrather ultnccessar:r n.ncl whell the first ad­hesives were introduced on March 1, 1856,they as well as the envelopes were reducedto two values, 5k and 10k, which valueswere also maintained for the sccond issueof postage stamps and envelopes of Jan. 1,1860. 'When the new Finnish currency wasintroduced in the postal service on Jan. 1.1866, aside from the two values of 20p and40p, which were equivalent to the 5k and10k of the previous issues, new values of51} and lOp were introduced for printedmatter a.nd as additional values fOI' foreignmail. The envelopes were coutinued in twovalues ollly, 20p and 40p. For foreign mail,two more values of the postage stampsbecame necessary, an 8p as additional value,especially for mail to Russia, and an 1mfor the high amounts frequently needed onletters to foreign countries. The formerwas issued in December, 1866, the latter inMay, 1867. No other denominations of post­age stamps and ell\Telopes were issued dur­ing the classic stamp period. Of tlle postalcards, only oue value, 8p, for domestic mailand from 1872, also to Russia, was issued onOct. 1, 1871. The rate ehanges of July 1,1875, resulted in two new values in the oldstamp design, lOp for domestic cards and8p+8p (=16p) for cards to Russia. '1'hedomestic Iwstal cards with attached replycard, issued the same day, llad a lOp stampprinted on each card. Only one denomina·tion existed of the return receipts, lOp,issued fil'st 011 Oct. 1, 1871.

The private mail services, due to theuniform letter rate, required only olle valueof postage stamps, lOp in Holsiugfors­where also a letter·card ill the same denomi-

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

nation was issued-and l2p in 'rammerfors.The steamship companies issued for theirmail service several values, the WanajavesiAngbatsbolag lOp, 20p and 25p, the Skar­gards Trafik Aktiebolaget lOp, 25p and 50p,the last two only from February 1875. Itseems that only the lOp stamps were usedfor letters, while the higher valucs wcre forparcels. The railroad parcel stamps wereissued in Finnish as well as in R.ussiancurrency, the latter for parcels to and viaRussia. The denominations were lOp, 20p,25p, 50p and 70p, as well as 3k, 5k, 8k,15k and 20k.

The 1MC of posbge stamps and envelopesin Finland did not become immediately obli­gatory. During the use of stamped cnvel­opes, from Jan. I, 1845 to Feb. 28, 1856,it remained at the discretion of the senderto use a stamped envelope or to pa)' thepostage in cash at the post office, at thesame rates. The envelopes were onlJO per·mitted for domestic letters and could notbe used for registered letters nor for printedmatter, for both of which the fees )l3.d tobe paid in cash. Unpaid or insufficientlypaid mail was not accepted and, when foundin mail boxes, was held for the sender. FromJ all. 1, 1850, t1Lis was changed in regardto insufficiently paid domestic letters, whichwere fonvnrded and the deficienc)' collectedfrom thc addressee. The envelopes hcnce­forth could also be used for letters to Russia.·When the first adhesives were introducedon Murch 1, 1856, the regulations remainedthe same, but HOW stamps and envelopescould also be used on mail to all foreigncountries. '1'he nse of stamps and cll\'e!opeswas still voluntary. Only a decree of June16, 1862, madc their use obligatory on do­mestic mail nnd fixed a.dditional postagedne to be collected for unpaid or part·paidmail. From J::m. 1, 1866, the use of stampson IHinted matter and on registered letters,for which thc fees until then had to be paidin cash, became obligatory; on Oct. 1, 1871,likewise on return receipts. '1'he use ofstamped postal cards was obligatory fromOct. I, 1871, the day on which this kind ofmail was introduced. For foreign mail, theuse. of postage stamps remained voluntaryuntil the end of the classic stamp period.

The pri vatc mail services all permittedpayment of the fees in cash and the nse ofstamps seems uover to have been made ob·ligatory. The fees on mailings ill bUlk,

125

printed matter, etc., for which reduced feeswere charged or quantity discounts granted,had to be paid in cash anyway, because nostamps cxisted for these reduced fees.

The early issues were withdrawn and de­1110netized simultaneously with the issuanceof new envclopes or adhesives replacingthem. The 1845 envclope issue was with­drawn and demonetized 011 Dec. 31, 1850.'J'he 1850 en\'elopcs, together with the 1856issue of adhesives and envelopes, were with­drawn and demonetized Oil Dec. 31, 1859;the claim of several authors, that they wercnot demonetized but remained valid is er­roneous, a fact ,vhich cannot be changed bythe rare occasional use of a few 1856 stampsor ellvelopes in 1860, which slipped through.The 1860 issue of adhesives was not 'with­drawll but was used up when the new issueof Jan. 1, 1866, made its appearance. Wecan find copies used until the end of 1866.'1'he 1860 issue of euvelopes was retajnedand llew printings made until 1871, whenthese envelopes were withdrawn in April1871 and replaced by envelopes in Pennicurrency. Of the 1866 issue of n.dhesives,only the 40p adhesives were withdrawn onJune 30, 1875, because there was llO use fOl·

them at tho lIew rn.tes of July 1, 1875. 'rhoother values were withdrl.l\vII when the cor­responding values of the uew 1875 issuewere issued, which took until Jan. 1, 1877,when the new 1m was introduced. Shortlyafterwards, on Jan. 15, 1877, all adhesivesof the 1866 issue woro demonetized. Thoenvelopes, postal cards and return receiptsof the 1866 issue were not withdrawn­except the 8p postal card which lHul becomeuseless :.tfter June 30, 1875-alld remainedvalid even after tho adhesives of the 1866issue wero demonetized. They lost theirvaUdit)' only on Dec. 31, 1900, whcn allstamps and stationery in Mark and Pennicurrcncy wcre demonetized, due to the re­introduction of the Russian currency onJan. 1, 1901.

Finland was the only country which djdnot create a special aesig1t for its first ad­hcsives, but used the design of envelopestamps, which had been in use for sevcral)'ears, for this purpose. All Finlallcl stamps,without exception, sliow the coat of armsof the country - a. sword~carr)"illg lion,standing ou a snbre, on vertically linedground, surrounded by se\-en (later eight)stars, with the ducal crown above it. On

126

the 1845 envelope stamps, the arms were inan upright oval, flanked on each side by allOsthorn, with the inscription "PORTOSTEMPEL" at top anel the value indication,"10. KOPEK." or "20. KOPEK." attachedill a hand at the bottom. For the issue ofJail. 1, 1850, the n.rms were in an oval,with two posthorns below alld valuo indica­tions at left and Tight.

Wilen aclhesive postage stamps were in­troduced in 1856, the same design wn.s usedfor the new stamps and continued for theenvelopes, but slllall distinctive marks added,namely circles of about 3J4mm. diameter("peads") in each of the two posthorns andalso a similar "pead"-but which is ofsomewhat "diamond" shape on the 5k­inserted between crown and shield of arms.These "secret marks", as they were offi·cially cn.lled, wcre included to llrevcntfraudulent use of cut squn.re envelope stampsof the 1850 issuo, because the ellvclopestamps had until then been left ullcancelledwhen the C1l\'elopes were used. The 1860 and1866 issues show the arms again in an up­right oml, as central fen.ture of an nprightJ'eet.angul:n frame, with value indicationsat top and bottom, while a meander-typedesign forms the frn.me at left and right.Yertical waxy lines fill the spaee betweenthe oval with the :lrlllS n.nd the frame. The1m value has the arms in au upright rec­tangle with rounded corners, the frameshows the figure of value in all four cornersand value indications on all four sides.In the coat of arms of the 1845, 1850 and1856 issue, as well as the first dies of the1860 issue, there arc 7 stars in the shield.On the second dies of the 1860 issue, createdin 1865, another star was added above thehead of the lion, making it eiglit stn.rs,supposed to represent the 8 districts of thocountry. The 1866 issue also shows thiseight-star coat of n.rms, except the 8p ad­ltesL\'e, which is derived from a first die oftho 1860 issue and therefore shows these\·en-star coat of n.rms. It is also the onlystamp with a double frame line all around;the 1m has n. double frame line at left andright, while all other values, inclU<ling the8p stamps on postal cards, have onl~y asingle frame line.

Of the postal stationery, the postn.l cardsand return receipts had printed text. Thepostal eards had n. meander-type frame onthe face, from 1872 also on the reverse side,

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

.-

r

'..•.

the latter includillg tri-lingual inscriptions.The text on the face of the postal cardsunderwent several changes. Ou the earlycal'ds, with Swedish text only, the wordKORRESPONDANSKORT was curved, onthe tri-lingual cards of 1872 and latcr itwas in a straight line and from 1873 it readKORR,ESPONDENSKORT, on the lOp cardof 1875 BREFKORT. 'rhe foot note receivedadditional words in 1873, which were againl'emoved on the lOp card of 1875. The re­verse side of the cards had printed lines,which first were dotted, frOlll late in 1871solid. There arc also slight differences inthe spelling of some words, ·which charac­tedze cel'tain printings. The return receipts,·which had printing on both sides, first hadthe word "Retour Recepisse" without hy­phen, from 1872 with a double-line hyphen.'rhe stamps were on the envelopes first inthe bottom left cOrller on the face (1845issue), then on the top flap on the back(1850 and 1856 issues) and eventually inthe top left corner on the face. On thepostal cards and return receipts, tlle stampwas first in the top left corner, only onthe lOp card of 1875 alld the lOp returnreceipt of 1876 in the top right corner.

The lliscriptions on the stamps and thetext of all postal stationery were influencedconsiderably by the language problem. Noneof the stamps show the name of the conn­try. Except for the 1845 envelope stamps,which have the Swedish inscription "PORTOSTEMPEL", none of the stamps have anyinscription aside from value indications.These value indications were in Swedish onlyOil the 1845 envelope stamps, while on allother issues - except the 1m of 1866­Rnssian was used together with abbrevia­tions, which were valid for Finnish as wellas for Swedish. The 1850 and 1856 issuehad the value indication "KOP." at the leftand the same in Cyrillic letters at the right.'l'he 1860 issue had "KOP." at bottom andthe equivalent Cyrillic inscription at top,while this was reversed for the 1866 issue,"PEN." being at the top and the Russianequivalent in Cyril]jc letters at the bottom.The 1m of 1866 had trl-liugual value indi­cations, Swedish twice, at top and bottom,Finnish at right and Russian, in Cyrilliclotters, at left. Of the stationery, the en­velopes had no printing except for thestamps. On the postal cards, the text wasfirst (1871) Swedish only, from 1872 tri-

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

lingual, S·wedish, FilU1ish and Russian. 'I.'hereturn }'eceipts had Swedish text on the faceand Finnish text on the reverse side. Onthe stamps of the private mail services,the Helsingfors City Post used Swedish andFinnish-but the letter-card had the textexclusively in Swedish-while the Tammer·fors Local Post used Swedish only. Theship companies as well as the railroad hadonly Swedish inscriptions on their stamps.

The dies of all issues) adhesives as wellas stationcry, were cut in steel. For theenvelope issue 1845, the oval design was cutonly once and the ribbons with the valuellldicatiolls "10.KOPEK." and "20.KOPEK."cut separately. They were scrcwcd to thebottom of the oval die whenever the specificvaluc had to be printed. For the 1850 issueof envelope stamps, the dies were cut sep­arately for each value, complete with allinscriptions. As dies for the 1856 issue ofstamps and envelopes, working dies takenfrom the dies of the 1850 envelope stamps(5k and 10k only) were used and the"secret marks" inserted, with a new 5k diemade in the same way in 1858 for thelarger "secret marks". For the 1860 issueof stamps and envelopes, the new designwas cut for each value (5k, 10k) separately(Type IL but in 1865, new dies for bothvalues were cut (Type II), -which had thecoat of arms improved, now with 8 insteadof 7 stal"S, by inserting an additional starabove the head of the lion, and the shieldless heavily shaded, with 13 vel'tical linesinstead of 22 (5k) and 17 instead of 20(10k). 'I'he ncw dies originally were notused for adhesives, only for envelopes, butwhen tho 1866 issue was introduced, insteadof preparing new cUes1 these 5k and 10kdics in Typo II were used as a basis. Work­ing dies were made from both dies, the topand bottom labels cut off and replaced bynew]:r cut labels, now with the value indi­cation in Latin letters at top and in Cyrilliclettel's at bottom. For tIle new 5p and lOpthe 10k die was used, for 20p and 40p the5k die. '1.'110 new labels with the value indi­cations wel'e attached very carefully andonly sligllt breaks in the frame lines whichare in some cases visible at left anel/or atright show how it was clone. Therefore, ex­cept 'for the top and bottom parts of theframe with the value indication and lorsome nnimportant l'etonching, the design ofthe 5p and lOp adhesives of 1866 is identi-

127

cal to that of the 10k envelope stamps of1860, Type II, and the design of the 20pand 40p adhesives and envelope stamps of1866 identical to that of the 5k ellvelopestamps of 1860, TJpc II. When llew valueswere introduced in 1866-67, for the 1mvalue a complete ncw die was cut in stcel,uut for the 8p the same method was useelas for the other values_ 'l'his time, the dieof the 5k' of 1860, T.rpc I, was used byc-\':changing top and bottom labels in aworking die. An adclitioual outer frame linewas added in this case, without apparentreason. 'l'here£ol'e, except for this outerframe line, the design of the 8p adhesiveis idelltie.'ll to that of the 5k adhesives andcm-elope stamps of 1860, Type I, nud showsthe arms in the old fashion, with 7 stars andlleavy shading in the shield of arms. Curi­ously enough, when 8p and lOp stampsstarted to be printed on post cards and re·tum receipts, beginning 1871 and 1875 re­spectively, the dies made for the adhesivesof these values were not used to supply thecliches, but new dies were made, again withthe help of the dies of the 1860 issue iuType II. Now for the lOp the clie of the5k, 'I'ype II, was used and for the 8p thedie of the 10k, Type II, ill the same wayas for the dies of the 1866 adhesives, le­placiJ.lg the top and bottom parts of theframes by newly cut parts with the neededvalue indications. Thel'efol·c, the design­aside from these two PU-l'ts-o£ the 8ppostal card stumps is identical to that ofthe 10k ol1\'elope st:lmps of 1860, Type II,and of the lOp postal carel stamps andlOp return receipt stamps is identical tothat of the 5k cnl'elope stamps oj: 1860,'rype II. This procedure of procuring nowelies by Changing old ones was in line withthe general teudenc)' of the period, to savecxpensi,·c material if this could be done bythe employment of morc labor, wllich wasclleap. All original clies were the work ofthe engra'\er C. M. Mellgren.

All Finland adhesive stamps and stamps011 stationery were printed frOIl! t,ypograpbeddies or settings. For the postage stamps of1856 al:i ,,"ell ns the stnmps OIl all envelopes,postal cards alld returu receipts, single diesor eliehes were used, while the 1860 and1866 postage stamps were printed from set­tings, assembled from single cliches. '1'heframes as well as the text of the postalc:uds aud the text of the return receipts

128

were typc·set.For the early issues, the printing ·material

was rather easily obtained, due to the factt1wt until 1860 the stamps on the envel·opes were printed singly and the 1856 ad­hesi ....e8 were also printed singly. Therefore,printiJlg could be clone either with theoriginal clies or with duplicates of theseelies, obtained by stereotyping. It seems cer­tain that the 1845 em-elopes were priJltedfrom the original die and that the samewas the case for the 1850 issue of envel­opes. For the 1856 issue of envelopes and:ldhesives, the illclusion of the "secret marks"ill the design probably has been made byway of matrices and stereotypes and recentresearch claims that four stereot,rped clichesof each value were used for the printing.POl' the 1860 issue, settings of 40 cliches(5 horizontal rows of 8) were used, thecliches being copper electrotypes taken fromthe original clies in '£ype I. The spacingbetween the cliches was origiually about101ll111., hOl'izontally as well as vertically.After eucll printing, the settings were takenapart, the cliches cleaned alld reassembled,wheu a new printing had to be made. From1864, new settings had wider spacing. Be­tween horizontal 1'O\\'s, the spacing now wasgenerally about 201111ll., while bet\vecn vcr·tic:lI columns no such uniformit;y seems tohave existed as we can find spacings ofabout 10mm. and about 20mm. in thesame setting. Even some il'l'egulal' ,videI'spacing, up to 30111111., can be found inexceptional cases. It seems that the spacingwas madc gcnerall)T wider to pro,'ide morespace for the !'ouletting. Por the 1866 issue,settillgs of 50 eoppet' electrot,ypes (5 hori­zontal rows of 10), taken from the dies ofe.keh ....alue, werc used. Again the settiJlgswcre dismantled aftcr each printing, thecliches cleaned and reassembled for a newpriJltil1g. The sp.acillg was about 2}4:mm.lJetwecll horizontal rows as well as vertica.lcolumns, with slight ....ariations.

'1'he usc of settings of single cliches forthis issue led to several plate errors whichoccurred ill early printings. In one settingof the [ip, a cliche of the lOp was cr­roneously insertecl and "ice vorsa a 5p clicheill one setting of the lOp. These mistakesresulted in two errors, 5p in the color andOil the paper of the lOp, alld lOp in thecolor 1.111<1 on the papor of the 5p. Of theforUler, obviously onl)" one rather sma.1l

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

~.

Fig. 47

Fig. 46

anlilable printcd sheets and the desbuctiollof the withdrawn errors in 1869 and 1870.We ha\'e some doubts that this was actuallythe case, because almost all known copies ofthe lOp cnor arc used in 1869 alld 1870,which contradicts the above story. The exist­ence of a number of unusetl lOp errors alsosuggests tliat some collectors and dealerscould still secure copies 0,£ the error afterthe detection was made. We are inclinedto belicve that the casting out of the errorswas done only on the sheets still in thehands 0,£ t.he post.al administration and thatt.he sheets already delivered to the post of­fices remained ulltouched. A few of thecast out errors may also have found theirway into the llalHls of influential con­temporal'y philatelists.

There also exist a number of rather con­spicuous plate flaws of the 1860 and 1866issue, which were partly constant and there­fore can be found on stamps from variousprintings. Some of these flaws were causeclby damage to certain cliches, but the mostob\'ious ones-as for example "PFN" in·stead of "PEN" and a corresponding flawin the Russian value indication and"MARKK" instead of ":MARKKA"-werecaused by hardened ink which had filledrecessed parts of some cliches and escaped

Fig. 45

pl'inting on thick laid paper was made in1867 alld about a dozen copies of the error,all used, have survived, 'while of the latterbvo printings, on thick and thin laid paper,were made in 1867 and 1868, of which aboutfifty copies of the error seem to have sur­vived" '1'he 5p error we know in a pair withthe regular lOp, 'while we kno\v of the lOperror two pairs together with l'egul:J.r 5pstamps, namely a horizontal tete beche pair,5p+10p errOl" (Fig. 45), and a vertical pairin regular position, 5p above the lOp error(Fig. 46). There also exist tete beche pairs5p+5p from the same printings as the lOperror (Fig. 47), which enables us to cometo conclusions about the composition ofthe setting in \vhich the lOp error occurrcd.Considerhlg that 've know more than halfa dozen tete beche pairs 5p+5p, but OIlly Oiletete beche pail' 5p+lOp error, it can beassumed that there were several clicJlCsinvCI'ted in the paI,ticulal" setting of the 5p:md it seems a good guess that eitlier acomplete vertical column of five cliches,including one lOp, ·was inverted, or partof the setting, possibly one half of 25 (5x5)cliches, with the lOp cliche in the row toucll­ing the other part, was inverted, both pos­sibilities resulting in four 5p+5p tete bechesand one 5p+lOp error tete beche in eachprinted sheet. While the 5p error remainedundetected for several decades) the lOpenor ",,,as discovel"ed as early as 1868 by anobservant Hamburg stamp dealer. It is re­ported, that Ilis request to the post officeat I-Ielsingfors for a supply of such errorsnot only led to the removal of the wrongcliches from the settings but also to thecasting out of the errors from the still

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL 129

remo-.al during the cleaning of the cliches.The sheets of all issues had no margin print.

While the stamps on the postal stationerywere printed from single cliches, the type­set frame and text of the postal cards wastransferred to a lithographic stone, whichprobably cOlltained six or eight units. 'rhetext was reset several tinles, partly to makewanted changes, and the resulting differ­ences in the text permit distinguishing ofthe various printings. The type-setting ofthe return receipts was done by the Kar­tasigiJIata E:ontoret at Helsi.ngfors, whichalso manufactured the cliches of the 1860issue. The frame and text for the postalcnrds were type-set by the Zi11iacus Print·ing Works of Wiborg. TIle cliches uscd forthc settings used for the 1866 issue weremade by the Finnish Mint at Helsingfors.

'1'he print'ing of the first envelopes wasdone in the Kartsigillata Kontoret, theprinting office for government obligationsat Helsingfol's, in a rather primitive way.For the ]845 issue, the die was inked, placedin the correct position face down on tllCenvelope and bit with a hammer, whichprocedure transferred the design to the en­,"elope and also providcd a more or lessllcavy embossing. ]j'or the 1850 and 1856issues, a hand-operated lever press was used,which printed the design Oil the opened flapof the enyelopes, which were singly in·serted into the press. The same hand­operated leyer press was also used for thefirst issue of adhesives in 1856. The stampswere printed singly ou a sheet of paper,one after the other, first a horizontal rowof ten, then the sheet turned around andanother row of tCil printed in the samewa.y. Therefore, each sheet consisted oftwen1)- stamps, in two horizontal rows often, which were in tete beche position toeach other, creating tell vertical tete bechepairs. Lever presses had been used previous.ly for stamps, but only for embossed issues(Great Britain from 1847, Portugal from1853) and Finland was the first countrywhich used this printing method for regulartypographed stamps. Only one other country,Romania (Moldavia and Molda,'ia-Walachia)followed this example, in printing its issuesfrom 1858 to 1863 with haud-operated leverpresses. 'I'he primitive way of printing whichwas used for all printings of tlle 1856 issueresulted in very uneven spacing between thestamps, which averages about 4mm., but in

130

extreme eases is known up to I1mm., whileon the other hand stamps are known ,,->itlloUtany space between :lnd even some slightlyoverlapping. Tho two rows of dcsigns weresometimes printed so that the stamps ofone row were exactly above the stamps ofthe other row. Other times the stamps of onerow were more or less shifted and evellahove the spaces between the stamps ofthe other row, to that tete beche pairs hadto be cut obliquely. Due to the lland opera·tioll of the press, the design is often moreor less embossed, in which case the ink issometimes squeezed to the borders of thelines of the design. Uneven inking or press­UI'C l'atllCr frequently produced unevenlyprinted stamps and generally the aspect ofthe stamps varies greatly, depending uponthe care the worker took to obtain a goodproduct. 'I'he 1860 and 1866 issues, a(l­hesives as well as stamps on statlollery,wero printed on the letter press, by theKartasigillata Kontor at Helsingfors. It isclaimed that the settings were printed twice,one above the other on each sbeet, leavinga gutter of varying width between the twopanes. This is confirmed by the fact thatvertical gutter pairs are known of severalvalues of the 1866 issue. The frames andtext of the postal cards were printed on alithographic press by the Zilliacus PrintingWorks of Wiborg.

The printing of adhesives and stationerywas not too careful and poorly inked as wellas overillked prints are frequent, especiallyof the stamps ou stationery. Of major print­illg 1:arieties, only double prints of the 10k1860 ancl of the 20p 1866 are reported, butwe have not seen them and therefore wecannot eonfirm their existencc; maybe theyarc only shift8--of which we have seen sev·CI·al examples-but not real double prints.There exist copies of the 20p 1866, whichare printed on both sides, with the design ofa 40p in blue on the b3.ck. Several copiesof this rare variety are kno",'1l, all used inLovisa in 1870. Of the envelopes, we know aused 10k of the 1850 issue which has thestamp in a. distinct double print, one of themcolorless. The 8p 1873 postal card, with theadditional Russian note printed in black,is known with this note twice, at the leftupwards and at the right downwards. Thefirst lOp return receipt of 1871 exists as aprinting error with the stamp on the sidewith Finnish text instead on that with Swed~

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

,

ish text.'.rhe paper used for the early stamps and

envelopes came from different sources. Thisis not onl)' proved by the rMher differenttexture 3l1d qua.lity of the papers, but alsoby the ,'arious papermakcr's watermarkswhich can be found. For tllC 1845 om'olopes,hand-made papers, wove as well 3S severalkinds of laid, all of .ariou5 thickness (0.09to O.17mm.), wcrc used, white, often withgrayish or yellowish tint. On the laid paper,the lines usually Tun diagonally, but en­velopes with vertical or horizontal Ii ncs oc­casionall)' also call be found. Nine differentpapcrmakcr's watermarks arc knOWlI 011 theseenvelopes, consisting of double-lined lettersas well as ontamclltal designs (bee hive ina flower wreath, tree trunk, vase withflowers). 'rhe 10k and 20k envelopes areknown Oil laid paper, both with and withoutwatermtlrk (tile 10k with all 9 differentkinds. the 20k with one only). the 10k alsoon wove paper (WitllOut watermark and withone kind of watermark). For the 1850 en­velopes, with olle exception onl.y wove paperof various textures was used for all threevalues, white with ;yellowish or greyish tint.First the ptlper was hand-made. rough. oftenof a parchment-like character. later machine­made and smoothed, all of various thick­nesses. The 10k is also known Oil diagonallylaid paper. with or without papermaker'swatermark "1855". The letter-sheets of the1850 issue, which were printed 011 privateorder. are known on various kinds of paper,because the papel' WtlS provided by the partywho ordered them. White, yellowish and blu­ish ptlper, as well as blue pelure paper areknown. For the 1856 issue of adhesives andenvelopes also "arious kinds of paper wereused. hand-made laid paper as well :lS

machine-made wo"o and laid paper. Themachine-made wo,-e paper of the a<lhesi'Teswas white or slightly bluish, first rather thin(0.05 to O.075mm.), shortly becoming some­what thicker (0.075 to O.lmm.) and eventu­ally. in 1858. partly really thick (0.1 to0.13mm.). Two kinds of laid paper wereused for this issuc, one (early in 1858) wasmachine-made, the other (late in 1859) hand­made. The watermark lines of tho laid paperalways run vertically and there arc 12 to13 lines in n width of 2cm_ On tlle machine­made laid paper, the "mtermark lines areabout Imm. wide and on the lland-madelaid paper about l,0:mm. wide. At least

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

part of the paper for the adhesives seemsto have como from the Tervakoski papermill, becausc stamps on wove paper as well.as Oil hand-m::tde laid paper are known withparts of the Ten-akoski papermaker's water­marks. The 5k in both types and the 10kcome regularly on wo,e paper. They aremuch rarer on laid paper. The 5k with smallpearl and the 10k are known on the machine­made laid Impel', the former as a greatrarity. of which only a few copies werefoull<l rather recently. On the hand-madelaid paper, the 5k with large pearl and the10k are known, the former as a rarity, ofwhich less than a dozen copies seem to lmvesurvived. For t.he 1856 envelopes, the samepapers as for the contemporary adhesiveswere used, but the envelopes on laid papersare regular items 1I0t much rarer than thoseon wove paper. The laid papers of tho en­Yelopes on which the lines run always diag­oually, come with and without two kinds ofpaperma.ker's wa.termarks of the Tcrvakoskipaper mill, a lilly or "TERVAKOSKI 1855"in double-lined Roman capitals. Tho 1860and 1866 issues of adhesives were printedon machine-made papers without waterma.rkwhich were colored through_ For the 1860issue, the paper was pale blue for the 5kand pa.le rose for the 10k, with slight shades.Generallj" the paper was rather thin, butVCf)' thick papel' can be found as au ex­ception for both valucs. The 10k is knownin the 1860 t.o 1862 printings on paperwhich shows thin Ilorizontal shiny lines onthe face, less frequently 011 the back, spacedabout 8mm. j thm'efore there usually ::Ircthree such lines on a stamp. It seems thatthese lines were applied after the pl'inting,as a protection against re-use of the stamps.They usuall.}' disappear when the stamps,He soaked, but sometimes remain, showingas watermark lincs. The 5k has also beenreported on such paper but we bave neverseen it. The 10k on thiek white paper isclaimed to be the result of discolorationbut this has been disputed and the acciden­tal use of white paper for a small printingin 1865 suggested. For the 1866 issue ofadJlCsi,'es, similar colored papers as for theprevious issue were used. The 20p and 40ptook ovcr the pale blue and pale rose paperof tlle 5k and 10k of the 1860 issue. Thepaper used for the 5p was lilac, for the8p green and for the lOp buff. all withmtller distinct shades. The 1m was printed

131

on white paper. For the 40p, from 1873the same lilac paper was used on whichpaper until then only the 5p had beenprinted. The colored papers were wove;only for t1Ie 5p and lOp vertically laidpapers, which had about 13 lines on a2cm. width and OM horizontal crossing lineevery 27 to 28mm., wero first used. '1'he8elaid papers were first thick, later thiDller.Beginning in 1870, for 5p nnd lOp wovepapers as for the othcr ..alues were used.All wove papers were of rather uneventhickness, 0.04 to 0.09mm., but occasionallyalso very thick paper can be found. Forthe 8p and 40p, from 1872 paper with afine vertical ribbing was used. As it scornsthat this ribbing was applied after thestamps were printed, it was probably an­other device to protect used sU1mps fromcleaning 3.lld re-use. Paper with one sh.inyvertical line, which also appears as water­mark line and can be found on one printingof the 20p, must have had a similar pur­pose. 'White paper on values other than the1m is claimed to be the product of dis­coloration. The paper of the 1860 envelopeissue was of various thicknesscs, white, oftenwith grayish or yellowish tint. Wove aswell as diagonally laid maclIine-made papercan be found, the former only on the 10k,Type II, envelopes. The laid paper can befound with or without papermaker's water­mark, of the latter the same two kinds ason the 1856 envelope issue. Of the 1866envelope issue, both values come ou woveas well as diagonally laid paper, similar tothe previous issue, but no papermaker'swatermark has been found on them. Thethin colored cardboard used for the postalcards cousisted until 1872 of several layerspressed-together, of which only the outsidela)'er or la)'ers wel'e colored. The first cardswere buff-also with a dark blue center]ayer-, )'e11ow, I'eddish, straw, light brown,greonisll, partly strongly smoothed or glazed.From 1872 only regular buff and brownishcardboard was used. The return receiptswere printed on yellowish white thin paper.

Of paper 1Jarieties, only stitch watermarkswhich can be found on the lnacbine-madepapers, are remarkable. On tho 1856 ad­hesives, they always run hol'izol1tally.

'rhe envelopes came in vadous sizes, butonly the 10k, Type II, of 1860, and the lOpof 1866 come in two different sizes,145x114.mm. and 145x80mm. All other en..elopes

132

as well as the postal cards and return re­ceipts exist in one size only, with smallyariations. The postal cards ""ith attachedreply card had c.xactly the same prilltingand other features as the single cards. Theywere joined at the left and when separatedcannot be distinguished from single cards.

'fhe color scheme for the adhesives andstamps on envelopcs was a ratller simple oneand underwent few changes. For the firstcnvelopes of 1845, black was used for the10k and rose for the 20k. This was re·versed for the 1850 envelopes, now the 10kwas rosc, the 20k black ancl the new 5kvalue blue. The samc colors, blue for 5kand l'ose for 10k, were continued for theadhesives and envelope stamps of 1856 nud1860, the latter being printed on coloredpapers in tints similar to the colorl,!l of therespective printings. The adhesives of the1866 issue also were printed on colored pa·pers, the colors remaining the same forthe corresponding values in the new cur·rency, blue for the 20p and rose for the40p, on blue and rose papel' respectively.The new values were brown on lilac (5p)and blaek on buff (lOp). Of the additionalvalues of 1867, the 8p was black on green,the 1m :rellow brown on white. On the en­..elopes, the 20p and 40p were printed inthe same colors as the adhesives. On the8p postal cards, not the black color of theadhesives, but green was used for the stamp.')'he lOp stamps on the postal cards werelilac, while the lOp stamps on the returnreceipts '.\'ere first rose, after a. few monthsbecamc brown and eventually also lilac.

The inks used for the printing were ofvarious kinds. While there were only in­significant shades 011 the 1845 envelopes,mainly caused by insufficient or overinking

l

the 1850 envelopes already show more ob­vious differences, the 5k from light blueto dark bluc, tIle 10k from light rose tocarmine, the latter with a tendency tobrownish tints, probably as result of oxida­tion of the ink. Of the 1856 issue of ad­hesi\'es and em'elopes, the 5k can be foundin all sllades from light blue to dark blue,sometimes with a slight greenish tint, whilethe 10k nms from pale rose to dark carmine.'rhe adhesives of the 1860 issue show muchless distinctive shades than the eontempor~

ary el1\'elope stamps, especially the 5k onthe provisional el1\'elopes. The 5k adhesiverUllS from light blue to dark blue, with

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

(

_ I

}...•

..., .

greenish and gra)'ish tints, while the stampson the ollvelopes also show distinct prussianblue and lilac blue shades. The 10k rUllSfrom rose to dark carmine on adhesives undcm'elope st.'l.mps. The greatest variation ofcolors can be fOllild on the adhesives ofthe 1866 issue. Thc 5p comcs in variousshndes of bl'OWll, rcd brown and lilac brown,the 201' runs from light blue to dark blue,with greenish shades, the 40p from lightrose to carmine, with brownish shades, andthe 1m in yery slight yariatiolls of yellowbrowu. It is claimed that the brownishshades of the 40p arc errors clue to ac­cidental rnLxing of the ink with that of the5p but we belicve that it is rather a matterof oxidation. The black ink of 8p and lOpis rather unifonll, with slight grayish shades,caused by insufficient inking. On the en­velopes, the 20p and 40p show only slightshades of blue and rose, but ou the }lostalcards, the 8p comes in mallY slmdes, lightto dark green, with strong yellowish, bluishan(l olive shades. 'rhe lilac color of the lOpon postnl cnrds as well as the rose and liln.ocolors on the return receipts are e\'en, whileon the latter the brown comes in blackishand redd.ish shades. 'fhe "color errors" of the1866 adhesives, 5p black on buff and lOpbrown on lilac, were caused by the insertionof cliches of a wrong vnlue iu the platesaud therefore are plate varieties, not errorsof color.

'1'he glWt used for adhesives and stationery(envelopes on the flap, return receipts 011

one side) was of various origin and 'taryingmaterials. But until 1858, the adhesives wereissued ungummed and the em'elopes had nogum on the top flap. Only the last printingsof the 1856 aud all 1860 and 1866 adhesiveswere issued gummed and the enyelopes ofthe 1860 and 1866 issue also had tIle topflap gummed. The return receipts weregummed on one side, first at the left, fromlate 1871 at the right.

The 1856 issue of adhesives was issuedi1nper{orate, while for tho 1860 and 1866issues rouletting was used as a meallS ofseparation. The rouletting was done with awheel which bad a sharpened wavy-line edge.It wns applied by hand for each row ofroulettes separatel.y, first in one then in theother direction, so that for the 1860 issue15, for the 1866 issue 17 operations werenecessary to roulette a full sheet of 40 and50 stnmps respcctively. Despite this primi·

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

tive kind of rouletting, the job was donorather aceur~ltely and relativel,y few varie·tics ha\-e been found. Double wav~y line rou­lettes can occasionally be fonnd, also copieswhich show o\'erlapping or broken roulettinglines. ])ue to the application b.y hand, thespacing between the roulett.ing lines wasmore or less une\'cn and conspicuously smallor large stamps can be found. The latterarc the reasoll that occasionally found un­roulotted stmnps are treated with suspicionalthough some of them have such widemargins (Fig. 48) that it seems very uu·likely that they call 1)0 trimmed roulettedcopies. No completely un rouletted multiplesseem to exist, but a few })nrt rouletted mul·tiples al'e knowll rtnd thcrc can be no doubtthat a small numiJer of part rouletted sheetswere issued. Of the 1860 issue, we know the5k, un rouletted vertically. Four values ofthe 1866 issue e:\.--ist pal'! rouletted, eitherunrouletted 'tcrticnlly, 5p lald--.of which astrip of 6 is knowll, which is rouletted atthe extreme left side only-, 20p and 40p,0" unrouletted horizontally, 5p, 8p (Fig.49), 20p and 401'. In a few cases, onJy thelll:lrgin roulette was omitted, creathlg stampsWllich :ne rouletted 011 three sides and havepart of the unroulettecl sheet margin 011 thefourth.

During the usc of roulettino as a meansof separation, several rouletting wheels wereused which differ from each other consid·erubly, mainly in the steepness all(I depthof the wavy lines. For the 1860 issue, fourdifferent whecls were used, of which threewcro so simil:n, that they have to be groupedtogether, therefore leu\'ing two roulette va­rieties, Roulette I, 7~ to 8 indentations on2cm. width, 1.1 to 1.5mm. deep, and Roulettv11, which was used from 1864 on]y, 7~ toiY.t indentations 011 2cm. width, 1.6 to1.8nllll. deep. Both \'alues come with bothkinds of roulette. When the 1866 issue cameiuto use, two wheels in Roulette I continuedto be employed for a short period, in 1866only; they werc again put in use for a fewmonths in 1873, together with another llewwheel, which applied the same kind of ron­Jette. 'rhe one wheel of Roulette II anel asecond olle of the sn.me kind, introduced in1867, were used until 1870 and then ag3infrom ] 872 to 1875. In 1807 twd 1868 twomore lIew wheels came into use, Wllich np­plied a new kind, Roulette Ill, 7 to 7%iudentatiolls on 2cm. width, 1.9 to 2.5mm.

133

.,,

Fig. 51Fig. 50

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

was detected by the control and the missingroulette applied with another roulettingwheel, which often differed from the oneol·iginally used for the particular sheet. Weknow such mixed roulettes of Roulette I"ith Roulettes II, III .aud IV, RouletteII with Roulettes I, III, IV and V, Rou­lette III with Roulettes I and II, and Rou­lette IV with Roulettes I, II and III. All"alues of the 1860 ::md 1866 issue, exceptthe 1m, are known in such mixed roulettes,hut we know mixture with Roulette IVonly of the 20p and 40p, with Roulette Vonly of tile 40p_

Finland issued se"eral provisional itemsduring the classlc period but they all con­cern postal st.ationery only. First, in 1860,when the envelopes of the 1856 issue werewithdrawn and demonctized on Dee. 31,1859, to use up the rather large remainders,on a qU:11ltit~· of such clIvelopes-5k withsmall and large pearls, as well as 10k­the envelope stamp was pasted over with a­lIew 5k adhesi,-e of the 1860 issue andsuch provisional new envelopes again puton sale at the post offices. But this wasstopped after a few days, because peoplesoaked the st.amps off and used tllem onother correspondence, making use of thepermission to exchange the old envelopesagainst new olles, thus defrauding the postoffice of 5k or 10k. Actually used copiesarc vcry rare. From the overpaste<} envel­opes of this kind, after they were withdrawnfrom the post offices, the stamps weresoaked off again and, together with theother remainders of the 1856 envelopes, re­issued in the middle of 1864, after a 5kstamp of the Ilew 1860 issue was printedin the top left corner on the face of theenvelopes. These provisional envelopes there­forA have two stamps printed on them, oneon the flap in the (lesign of the demonetized1856 issue-5k with small or large pearls,as well as 10k-, the other on the face,a 5k in the design of the 1860 issue, whichalone W:lS valid for postage. These provision·als are also reported on envelopes of the

Fig. 48

134

deep. Both were used until 1875. All valuesof the 1866 issue exist with Roulettes I,II and III except the 1m, which comes onl:)'with Roulettes II and III. Aside from thesethree roulettes which were regularly usedfor the 1866 issue, two more kinds of rou­lettes arc 1010wn on this issue, these havingbeen used only occasionally. '1'wo wheels3pplied RQulette IV, which was very similarto Roulette I, having 7~ indentations on2em. width, about l.4mm. deep, but havingindentations more in tlle shape of a spade.It was used regularly from 1865 fol' revenuestamps and only during short periods, inthe .}'ears 1866 to 1868 and 1873-74, alsofor postage stamps. The 20p and 40p ofthe 1806 issue are kllOwn, they are scarce,especially the latter. The 8p lias been alsoreported in Roulette IV, but we have neverseen it. Roulette V differed cOlliliderablyfrom the other roulettes, because it had100 to 10j4 indentatiOllS on 2cm. width,1.6 to 2mm. deep. It js usually called apri,ate roulette because it is claimed thatit was applied to un rouletted or part­l'ouletted sheets which C3me into privatell:lnds. 'I'his seems ycry unlikely and it isOur considered opiuion that this rouletteis just at official as the four others andthat stamps with Roulette V were regularlysold at post offices. The wbeels which ap­plied this roulette were obviously usedgener3JI)' for other purposes-for example,from 1874 for the stamps of the Skiirgardsrrrafik Aktiebolaget-and onl)' as an ex­ceptioH, in 1867, also for postage stamps.We know only the 8p with this roulette aUaround (Fig. 50), while we ha,ye seen iton the 40p-,,,ith fine vertical ribbing­only horizolltnl in combination with anotherroulette (Pig. 51). AlI are rarities. Mixedroulettes arc generally not "Yery rare, butusuall.}" they arc irregular, only the rou­lette Oil one siele differing from the rou­lette ou the other three sides. 'l'his factsuggests that the main source of these mixe<lroulettes were sllccts, on which one line ofroulettes was erroneously omitted, whiell

1

· .

1850 issue, 5k and 10k without pearls, butwe Ilavo never seen undoubtedly genuinecopies and must doubt their e"..:istence. '1'105k stamp of 1860 was first in Type I, butfor an a.dditional printing in 1865, a clic.hein 'fj'pe II was employed, which type wasotherwise not used, neither for adhesivesnor for envelopes. Two further provisionalsoccurred on the postal cards. First, in 1872,au additional note Oil the cards, concerningthe use of Cyrillic letters in ad<lresses allcards to Russia was considered so urgent,that a three-line black overprint was placed"crticall,r on the cards, which otherwisewero printed in green, before the adclitionalnote was incorporated in 1873 in the textof the regular cards. When, due to the Dew

rates to Russi.a, on July 1, 1875, a 16ppostal c,'l.rd becnme necessary, the regulardomestic 8p card obta,ined an ndditional 8pstnmp printed below the original stamp,creating a provisional, which onJy se.cralmontlls later was replaced by new 16p c3.rds,alreadJ' in the design of the 1875 issue.

'l'hc stamps of the privl.temail scru-icesWCI'C a rather colorful lot. Those of theHelsingfors City Post, of the TammerforsLocal Post and of the Sklirgards TrafikAktiebolaget were all bi-colored and litho­graphcd, those of the \Vanajavesl Angbats­bolag lithographed and punched to ovalshape. All have, except in regard to theseparation, little in common with the gov­erllmental postage stamps.

'l'he first stumps of the lIclsingfors OityPost had an oval design, "KAUPUNGINPOS'l'I" at top, "llELSINGJj"ORS" at bot­tom, "10 PENNIA" at left and "10 PEN­NI" at right. The center had an ol'llamentedbackground with the colorless figure "10"'nscrted twice, at top left and bottoml'ight, amI was crossed by a colorless band,in which a bnr with wavy-lined border, con­taining the word "STADSPOST" was in­serted in a second color. The first issue wasgrcen, later yellow green, with "STADS­POST" imprinted in shades of red to car­mine. In 1868, the colors were changed,the stamps were now brown, in grayish orolive shades, and "ST.A.DSPOST" was in­serted in various shades of blue, later ul­tramarine. In January 1871, a new rec­tangular design was introduced, which 113.da large colorless "10" in the center, sur­rounded by a double oval, with "10 PEX­NI" at top and "10 PE~r..TJ.A." at bottom.

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

The also double-lined rectangular outerfl·amc had a Roman "X" in each corner,"IIELSINGFORS" at the left, "STADS­POS'!''' at the top, "KAUPUNGIN POSTI"at the bottom and "HELSINGISSA" at theright. 'l'he use of two colors for the printingwas arranged in the way as was dOlle oneJ'car latcr for the Irs stamp of Sweden. Thedesign W3S (li3gonnlly divided~from bottomleft to top right-into two part-s and eachpart, forming a triangle, printed in a dif­ferent color. In t1tis case, the color combina­tion returned to that of the first issue, thetop left part was red, the bottom rightpart grcen. 1.\1I stamps were printed fromstolles of unknown composition, on white\\"O\'e paper. They were issued with a ser­pentine roulette similar to Roulette V ofthe go\"ernment stamps but with shorterteeth, first 12 (more accurately llt':t) on2cm. width, latcr--during the usc of thebrownjblue stnmps~l1 (10f:4)' From 1875they were issued perforated, in conformitywith the government stamps. The lettercard, issued on May 1, 1874, had the nu­Iller:d design of the 1871 adhesives, but waslithogl'nphed in one color only, green, to­gethcl' with the text, on tIrin white card.

The l'M/l,merfors Loca.l Post also used ano\'al design which llad the arms of Tam­merfors in its center, crossed by a diagonalcolm'less band from bottom left to topl'ight, in which :l. bar ·with colorless inscrip­tion "12 Pellni" wus imprinted in a.notllercolor, 'l'IlO fmme contains "'l'AMMERFORS":1t tho top, "LOKALPOST" at the bottom,the figul'e of value "12" a.t the left and att.he right, as well as below "TAMMER­pons". 'fhe stamps were printed fromstonos of unknown size, in various shaclesof groon, with blue bar, on white wove paper:mel ~lre jmperforn.te.

'fhe rcctnngular stamps of the SkargardsTrafil.; .tH;t'iebolaget, which were issued in]8,4, haye a large shaded (lOp, 25p) orcolorless (50p) figure, crossed by ''PEN­:SI", in a double circle, with "SKARGARDSTRAFIK" at the top and "AKTIE BOLA­GET" at the bottom. In the frame is"ANGBATSPOS'l'." at the top and "XTIO PE 'KI X," "TJT;GUFE:'J PENNI"or "50 PE~NI 50" at the bottom. Thestamps were printed in two colors, but byo\'crlapping of the two colors a tri-colored('ffect w:ts obtained in parts of the design_The lOp is blue and yellow brown, the

135

of the MERCURYis scheduled for Sep-

25p-which has the frame diagonall)' di­vided as on the 1871 adhesivc of the TIels­ingfors Cit~}' Post-Jellow brown and blue,and the 50p blue and green. 'rhe stampswere printed from stones of unknown sizeon white paper and wel'e scrpentine rou­letted 100 with Roulettc "V, the same kinclwhich was also uscd as an cxception forgovernment postage stamps. AJI three \'alnesalso exist unrouletted but were never issuedin that condition. After 1875, tho)' wereissued perforated.

Little is known concerning the stampsof the Wauajavesi ,A1,gbatsbolag which wer('issued on :May 1, 1867. They show in anoblong oval, eo[0l'les8 on solid ground, anold-fashioned steamship, "WANAJAVESIA GBATSBOLAG" at the top and "10PENNI", "20 PEN~n" or "25 PENKI" atthe bottom. 'rhey wore pl'illtod from stonesof unknown size in brick red on whitepaper, and punched to size before dclivt"r)'.

The parcel sta'mps of tile governmC'nt rail·Toad, wllich were issued in 18il, were ob­long rectangles (lOp, 20p; 3k, 5k), orsquares (25p, 50p, 70p; 8k, 15k, 20k), withthe figure of value in the center, surroundedby "STA'l'SJER~--VAGARNEi FINLA~-n".The cOITesponelillg valucs in thc two cur­rencics were printed in the same color,10p/3k gra)'ish brown, 20p/5k black, 25p/Skcarmine, 50p/15k blue and 70p/20k orange.'1'lIe first prilltings were imperforate, fromthe middle of 1874 line pCl'fol'ation 13 wasintroduced.

All Finland stamps were issued to thepost·offices in ullscpal'atc<l sheets. The onlyexception was tile 1856 issue, of which thesheets wel'e first-for a short period only­cut up into single stamps anel distributedto the post offices in boxes of 100 each.The sheets of all issues were issued withsheet margins intact, but )lwrgin 01' cornercopies are scarce to rarc, especially of tllerouletted stamps.

(To be continued)

OUR OFFICE

will be closed

from July 6 lo 31, 1954

and on all Saturdays

during June, July and August

Ilb

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS

• Tlw 1lext f88ueSTilJIP JOURNilLtember 1954.• Nos..15, 20 MId 25 of the Mercury StampJ ol/Tlwl arc out of pri-ll t, as are Illost issuesof Volume I. A number of readers have ro­turllc(l surplus copies to us and we wantto tliank them here for their kindness. Butwe lleod lllore copies, especially of Nos.15, 20 and 25, to complcte volumes and tosatisfy the requests of collectors who missedthese numbers :md want to complete theirvolumes. Retul'lI of the above three issuesas well as all surplus copies of Nos. 1 to12 will be greatly appreciated.• Dlt1'i1tg t7le Slt-11t1l/er '1Ilonths, our office·will be closed all S(ttwrclays from June 1unt.il Labor Day and will remain open },fon­day through Frida)' from 10 A.){. to 5 P.M.- Due to vacations of the stalf and the:l bsence of the partners of the firm, ouroffice will be closed from July 6 to 31,195:1. No busincss can be trllnsacted and nomail will be answered during that period.• The E1tropean trip of o1tr editor will starton June 5, 1954 and will include the Nether­lands, Belgium, Austria, Switzcrland, Italy,Western Germ:J.IlY, F":Ince :Illd England. Un­til Juuc 25, mail can be addrcssed to Edwin)fuellcr, Hotel Regina, Waehringerstr. 1,'ViclI L, Austl'ia; afterwtu'ds until July10 c/o L. Varga, 9 Rue Gounod, ParisXVIL, }"'raneej and until July 24 c/o F.Pollak, Ann's Cottage, Brook Farm Road,Cobham, Surrey, Ellgland. Return to NewYork Oll July 31, 1954.• The Friedl Expert Committee will holdits last meeting before the summer on May·26, 195.J. During June and July, 110 meet4

iugs arc scheduled and material receivedfor an opinion will be held for the firstmeeting after tlle summer recess, on A.·ugust4, 1954.• Interna"lional Philatelic Exhibitions willbe quite numerous iu the coming years.While in 1954 only one such e..-xhibition, theBrapex III at Sao Pmtlo (Brazil), is sched·nled, for the following years two exhibitionseach arc sponsored by the Federation In­ternationale de Philatelic, namely 1955 inOslo .and StockJlOl11t, 1956 in Helsingforsand B1tCnOs .Aires. 1955 will also haxe anIntemational Exhibition a.t A.1tckland (New

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

EUROPEAN CLASSICSXL FINLAND ---

Of the stamlls and postal stationery,whi.cu. were issued on fixed dates, first (laycancellations and covel'S arc possible butouly a few such items arc actually knowJl,all being rarities. Last d(~y cancellationsare somewhat easier to obtain, but tbeyarc also rare to \"cry rare.

While of tlie adhesives oilly so\-eral var­J'ictics-·laid papers of the 1856 issue aswell as the 5p and lOp Ol'rors, tlie tetebaches and the rare roulettes of the 1866issue-belong partly ill the category ofgreat rarities, Finland can boast of SOme

of the rarest postul stationery HOllis. Oft.he 1845 om'elope issue, the 20k is known:ls entire in two unused und SL"": used copiesollIy, while of the 20k envelopo of. 1850 onlytwo copies, both used, one of which is nowin the collection of the Finuish Postal Mu­seum, arc recorded. It is oue of the nucstcll\"eloj}es of the world.

There were no remainders of classic }'in­Jand stamps or stationery of auy importance;mel tllcl'cfol'c all-except for a few itemsof the stationcry-al'C cOllsidctably l'arerunused than used. While of tue 1860 and1866 st.amps and st3.tioner~r unused stulIlI)8are somewhat more plentiful, due to smallpUl'chases b)r old-time dealers during theirperiod of usc, the earlier issucs of tIIC ad­hesives and cllveJopes, as well as somepostul cards, urc rare to "cry l";Ue ill un­used con<lition. Of the laid paper varietiesof the 185G stamps no undoubtedly unusedcopies are recorded, and the same is trueof some other yaricties and of tbe :rareroulettes of the 1866 issue. Of the errorsof the 1866 issue, a few unused copies ofthe lOp onol' only arc k.l1oWII, but llOlleof the 5p error. Of the C1welopes, only twoullused entiJ·cs of the 20k of 1845 areknown, while no unused entire of the 20kof 1850 seems to cxist, Some other unusedenti..res, such as the 10k em·clope of 1845,5k and 10k ellvclopes of 1850, all 1856 en­vclopes, the 5k ellvelope of 1860 and mostof the pl'ovisiOJlUI 5k envclopes of 1864,:llso beJong among" the rarities_ 'The end)"Sp postal cards, the provisional Sp+Sppostal card and the lOp posta.l cards areyer)' rare uuused. On thc other band, tJlere

* CQnclu(led {1'Qln l)(tge 136.

150

sooms to c.xist no reguhtrlJ used COP)' ofthe 10k p·ostal card of 1875 with uttaclledrcplr curel and the provisional 8p+8p postalC1\l"el of 1875 is even rurer uacel tha,n unused.

Ah~ltiplc8 of all Finland issues arc un­common and all blocks arc rare to veryrare. Unllsed we know of the 1856 issue,wO"e paper, blocks of 5k with small pearlsl.lud 10k (Fig. 52, 53), the hugest beingblocks of 4 of the 5k und blocks of 6 oftile 10k. No full sheet of 20 seoms to havcsun·ived. No unused block is known of the5k with large pearls. Of the 5k with smullpeads and of the 10k wc know pairs, hori­zont:tll ...- and, not much se..1.reer, tete beche'·crticuU)·, but we do not know au)" largerships. Neither pULl'S nOr strips seem to existof the 5k with lUl"gc pcads. No unusedIllultiples arc known of the laid paper vn.­rieties, of wl.tich not even undoubtedly uu­used singles seem to exist. Of the 1860issue, which ·was eompletel)" used up, weknow 110 unused mulliples larger than pail's~lll(l we doubt tha.t unused blocks c.xist.'l'he 1866 issue call be found with UllUscelblocks of all ndues except the 1m, but theyarc all rare to ,cry rare. Of the errorsalld the rare roulettes, of wldch no unusedsingles seem to exist, no unused llluitiplesare knowll. Of the 5p+5p tete beche of1866, :.lIso 110 larger UJlits seem to exist.

As far ns 1/sed mUltiples rHe concerned,of the 1856 issue we know only the 10k ill~~ block of 4. Of both 5k we know no largerllluitillles [ts strips of 5, of the 10k a stripof 7. Of course, 311 three come in used'-ertica! lele beche pairs. '1'he laid paper"aricties arc recorded used in no largerunits than pairs, hOI'izoutal for the 10k alld5k ·with large pearls (l"'jg. 54), vertical forthe 10k ollly, thc last two clrlimed to beunique. )[0 multiples of the l:.lid 5k withsmall pearls are knOWIl. "C"sed multiples ofthe 1860 issue are scarce. We know onlythc 5k in a used blo<:k, 1I0t the 10k, and thelargest ships we kllOw of both '·aIues arcstrips of four. In this ..md the followingissue, almost nil pajrs and strips are hori­zont:.t1 and \"ertical p:lirs and strips 3rellIuch SCHrcer. Of the 186G issue, used pairsand strips arc not too rare for ,·nlnes upto lOp, but scarce for 20p, 40p a.nd 1m.Blocks :.He rare, \"er)" I'Hre of 1m aoel stillrarer-although not as "alu3ble-of 20p

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

1•

[\,nd 40p. Of thc clTers, the Gp is knOW]lill about a dozcn used singlcs and in oneused pair with tho regular lOp, 'which seemsto be unique. The lOp elTor, which is muchloss 1":'11"0, exists i..u used singles and pairswith the regular 5p_ Only two such pairsare kllown, horizontal tete beclJ0 (Fig. 45)and vel,tical (Fig. 46). Of the tete beche5p+5p (Fig, 47) mOt'e than half a dozenused p8ir8 but no larger milts seem toexist. The rare roulettes come only insingles, except the 40p rouletted VxII, ofwhich a used pair exists.

all ent.ires, :l!'inlalJd stamps are compara­tively not much rarer than off COYOl"; therearc no roal cover l'arities_ Of course, stampson cover are much mOl-O desired by special­ists and therefore are sold at a ratherhigh premiuJJl, especially all scarce varie­ties, the 1m of 1866 ana, of course the 5p

Fig. 54

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

Fig. 53

and lOp elTors as well as the 5p tete becheof the same issue. High frankillgs, as wellas interesting combinations are scarce andare sought for, for example 5k+l0k of1856-58, which combination is vory rarc.Of the 1866 issue, t.he 8p was used asadditional ,alne only and is not knownalone on clltire. The 5p and lOp are alsollluch scarcer alone on cntires than in com­bination with other values. Mixed frallkings·woro rcgul:1l'ly only possible bctwccn theissues 1860 and 1866; they al'e not l"are.TIIC sallle is the case for combLllations be­tween the issues 1866 and 1875. There existalso a fe\\' combinations between 1856 and1860, but they are irregular because botlJissucs were lIOt "alid concurrently and the1856 stamps were either llOt l'ocognized ormorely slipped tlll'ongh. The stamps of theLJriyato mail sorvices are all scarce on Oll­tircs, some C\'ell being great raritics or 110tknown at aU Oil cutire::>. The small }Jumbcrof covers with these local stamps whichha\'e survi\"ccl js in fcw cOllCCtiOllS alidCOVcl'S very nu'ely arc offered, in whichcase Ycry high premiums are paid comparedwith copies off cover. Only the lOp and12p values cun l'egul::trly be found on cover::>,the usc of higher values-which were lll'tcnded for use on parcels-was p1'obablyphilatclically inspired.

151

There exist few Ctn6,-gC1lCy Irmth1lgs, ofwhich only the bisects undoubtedly desenethis desigllalion. 'rhe 10k of 1860 is known,used for Ule 5k rate, :.md tho 20p of 1866,used for the lOp rate. While of the lattel'only an uncollvincing copy OIl piece is known,of the former a number of copies (with thehorizontal shiny lines), diagonally cut, exist.Several such bisects are known on coyer andare undoubtedly all right, being rarities.Of the stamps of t.he private mail scn'iccs,the 50p of the Skii;rgards Trafik Aktiebola­got st:unps is also known bisected, used Oll

cover. It is cluimed that such use~on coversllluiJed in the Eightjes~was not an crner­gene,)' measure but philatelically inspiredand the fCatures of the CO\'crs with suchbisects seem to support that claim_ Of tJleclt'vclope out squares, used for postuge, afcw may ]lave been used fot' lack of stampsas an emcrgency measurc, but most of themoriginated in the dcsire to UlILke good useof the stamps OIl spoiled envelopes. 'l'he uscof envelope cut squares for postage wasspecifie.1.11,r permitted, a rather natural llIellS­ul'e, beca.use such cut squares, pasted oncO\'e1'S wCl'e undistinguishable from a<lhe­si Yes. Of the 18;'5G issuc, both 5k a.na the10k arc known used ill suc.h way. A c.uriouskind of franking which may ha\'c beencaused by an emcrgCl1(~Y is rcported of the]856 issue but we have not seen it, Some­Que h3,<l only 10k cllvelopes n.,nd 5k stamps,so for lettcrs which required 5k postage,JlC cut out the 10k stamp of the envelope[lnd past.ed a 5k stamp in its place, probablyusing the cut-out ] Ok em-elope stamp laterto pay postllge on another letter, Aside froUlt.he 1856 ellvelope cut squares, which arcall rare 011 cover, we occasionally also find5k und 10k cut squares of the 1850 issue(without pearls), nsed for postage ill 1856und later. Such use was not )ennitted, be­cause before March 1, 1856, the cnvelopestamps wcrc not calloelled. The use of suchcut squares therefore is usually a fraudulentolle, because the stumps were cut frompreviously used envelopes, but ne.erthelessthey slipped through in some cases.

}"'inlaml started to use poshlwrks ratherl:tte. No postm1.ll"ks arc 'known from theperiod of Swedish rule, although letlerswith manuscript rate markings aud othernotations exist. As in Sweclen, feathcrswere attaehed to mgent letters, to be de­livcr'ed b.y special Illcsscllgel's and thesc

152

"feather letters'l arc 1Jlleresting documents ofthe primith'e but well working postal ser­vice of those times. Only under Russian rule,following the eX:lmple of Russia. proper, thefirst postmtlJ'ks were illtt-oduccd in 1812_They showed II. strong Russian influel1ce, inbeillg stl':'Iight lines with the town llameonly, in Swedish spelling but in Cyrillicletters_ OnI.r two towns, Abo and \Viborg,had simillu postmarks, but in Latin scriptlette.-s_ The 'Viborg postmark hlld tho spel­ling 'Vilmrg, indieut,ing tho Sb'Ollg Gcn1l1.l1ljllfluCllCC in the postal service of that time,which is also e\-ident hi the spelling of

some other posbnrll-ks, The strnight linesill Cyrillic letters were centrally manuf'lC­tured and used :It :\J1 37 post offices, l>.'\rtlyfor 1110re than 35 years, The)' were the onlypostmarks in usc at the end of the pre­shImp pel'iod all Dec. 31, 1844. Only ill1847, they were l'elll;'tced by rectangularboxes, which show the town mime in Swedishspelling, but now in Latin lellers, withthe date---<la~-, month (in letters) and ~'ear

(in full)-below, 1'his t,rpc of postmarkwas also cenb':'llir m:wuf:1cturcd :J.nd useduy Hlmost all post offices. Prom 1852, alIC\\' type of postllHll'k, similm' to the typeof 1847, WflS introduced und given to newpost offices as wen as l1ecessluy replace­ments to other post offices_ These postmnrksarc also rectangular boxes, hut generallyhigher .and narrower, with the tOWll lH1meill Swedish spelling ~lnd the date-no\\' withtho day nod mont.llS in figurcs, insert.ed illthe middle of the yeaI' date, .fa" example"18'-'i53"-below_ This particular kind of<late indication W"lS copied from SwedishpOStlll3.l·ks 3.lId also is clmractcristic forall l:1ter types of Filluish l}Ostmarks duringthe cktssic period.

\Vltell ntlhcsivcs were jnb'otluC'ed on ~:f:HCh

1, 1856, tllere were 0111,\- two l,ind of townpostmlll'ks in usC', !l:lmely the two typesof reetangul:tr boxes introduced in 1847:llId 1852 respceti\cly_ The CyriJlic straightlines were withdrawn about 1847 .and there­fore can be found only on the earliestcnvclopes, but not on letters wit.l! adhesi,'cs.Durillg Ihe use of thc 1856 postage stamps,tlle distribution of postmarks in the ] 852type of the rcef311g'uJ..'1r boxes was continuedonly Ht three post offices; in 1856 a newtype, lUI'go single circles of :tbout 29mm.dia.meter, came into usc. Shortly after the1860 post::tge stamps werc introduced, :l.

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

'.

•

•

L

new t)"pe of small single circle postmarksof 19 to 22mm. diameter gradually wasintroducc<l at a.hnost 311 post offices anel'tcmaillC(l in use until n.fter the end of theehlssic period. In 1870, 3. new type of post­markdoublc circles of about 24.mlU. diam­eter, w:J.sint.ooduced, but only few postoffices obt3incd this type during the classicperiod. Aside from these regula\' t~rpes ofpostmarks, a few post offices used stl'ujglltlitle markings, showing the town lHtJ1lC only,01' d.ate at.amps without to\\"n name, forcX:l.Inplc "]8074". It seems that only smansubordinated post offices used these unusualkinds of postmarks. An odd kind of can­celling dc\-icc was used ~lt Christinestad;instead of using pOll ':Hld ink for the regularmanuscript e:l1Iccliations, the postDl::1sterused a. special canceller consisting of ::138mm. long line of about 0mm. thickness,.'lpplying it in the same milllller as a penstroke, on the 18:'50 issuc.

From ]870, the travelling' post officeson railroad trains used postmnrks of uni­form type. The:r were double circles ofnbout 28mm., similar to the new type oftown postmarks introduce<1 in the sa.meyear. The inscription re.'l.d FINSKA JERN­VAGEKS POST KUPE EATED. betweenthe two circles, in the center there was anumber on top, ilHlicating the train or trip,then the post office number, preceded by"No." and below the date in the peculiararrangmcnt, for exmnple "18%72". As tlle1'Cwere 110 trfJ,velling post offices 011 ships,110 special ship markings existed during theclassic period. But a. Swedish arrival mark·ing of Stoekholm, .a single circle STOCK­HOLMS K. K. WWI date, was frequentlyused on ship letters from Finland, and eml befound occasion..'llly also on Finnish st.'1mps.

Few additional markings were used, al­most all of them introduced after 1845. Forp:l.id letters, each post office had a markingFRANKO or FRANCO, also abbl'e,-iatedFR.KO, straigllt line or in v:uious boxesOr ovals, for unpaid letters a similnl'PORTO or PRTO marking. To registeredletters a-nd money letters markings BE·KOMD. and WARDE were applied. Specialarrival markings were used by all postoffices, showiug ANK. and the date (dayand month in figurcs) in a small rect::tng­ular box. TIley were usually applied to thefront or, as an exception, to tlle l)ack of3uhing lctters.

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

The ink used for all Finnish postmarkswas exelusi\'cly bl:lck during the l)rc-stampperiod. Only after tlle introduction ofadhesi"es, a few post offices used blueink. Red ink was sometimes, rather as anexception, uscd for tlle additional markings,FRANKO :111(1 the ANK. arrh'31 Dl3rkings.During the usc of the ]860 and 1806 issues,the use of COl01'cd ink bee:l.llIc more frequelltand after 1800 blue amI black ink were ofabout eflun1 frequency. Red ink C:l.n also befound. hut its usc remained a 1':11'0 exception.

'1'1Ie st.:lmps of the envclopes, until ad­hl'si\-es werl' introduced in 1856J werenot, cancelled, but the town postmark wasst:unpf'd in one of the t.op corncrs on tIleaddress side. The postmarks of the pre­stn.IllP period- first the Cyrillic straightlines, tllCn the two kinds of rectangularboxes - werc now used for that purpose.·Wilen :l.dhcsh·es were introduced 0\1 M.arch1, 1.850, these regulations had to be changed,to prevent. t,ho frnudulent 11se for postageof stamps, cut out of used envelopes, becausethey loo'ked just like tIle 3dhcsiyos. The newregulations provided that tho town post·m•.'1rks were 110W to be used :IS cancellersfor the envelope stnmps as well 38 for theadhcsi.es. But due to misunderstood in·struetions or for other unknown reasons,quite a number of post offices e:lncelleclthe staml}S with manuscript ink lines orCrOsses 3nd put the post,mark ..alongside thesl:amps Oil tllC letters. During this earlyperiod, t.hc post. offices lInd to recol'll allmailed letters on a. ]jst with consccutivenumbers 311C1 this number h3d to l)e writtenin the top right corner of the addressside of the letters. When .a stnmp occupiedthis place, whieh was often the C3se, thenumber was usuall:' written on the stamp,as sole C3ncelltl.tion or in addition to :J

postmark. III 1858, :J cJlange in the regu­lations took place and doublc e:lncellationof all stamps, with postm~Il'k plus penstrokes, was ordel·ed. But many post offices,even large olles, continued to usc pen strokesOllly and placed their postmark alongsideof the stamps on the cover, Only after theintroduction of the 1860 issue, the use ofpen cancellatious gradually ceased 3nd theuse of the postmarks alone as cancellersbecame more and more frequent, so that onthe 1866 issue pen c.-'l.llccll:ltions arc ratherSC3rce exceptiolls. The town postmark whichwas used as c:lllc{'ller was repeated hy ma.ny

153

post offices 310ngsidc of the stamp, 01)­

,'iously n relic from the pcdod of 1)cnc..'lllCCl13tion.

The 1856 issue can bc found prcc1omin­:lIltly with pen cancellation only or withpostmnrk plus pen canccllntion_ St..'lmps withpostm:H'l\ c:lIlcell:ltioll alonc arc much scar­CCI', cspecinlly or the 5k with large ])0<'l,risand the st,amps on htic1 paper, which wCI'eall issucd in 1858, from whi('h time on pOllcancellation, nlolle or in comhinntion witha postm~ll'k w3s the rule. The reglllnY post­marks-tJIC t.wo types of l'eetnngulnl' hoxesas well' as the lnl'gc single circles-('an hcfound equally frequent, in blnek or, ,crymuch r.arer, in bluc. As rnro exception, 1hcboxed ANK. m:nking is known used asc:wcellm', On the 1860 issue, the snme threekinds of town postm:ll'ks nl'e l'nther fl'C­qucnt, but tho)' wcro J'eplnced more nilc1more b)' the small circles of 1860 whichpredomill;1.te on the last printings. In thefirst yenr pen plus postmnl'k c::mcellationscan be found I'nther frcquently, while man­llscript ennccllntions alone arc somewJI3tse:trcer. The ink used for the postmarks"':IS first bl:lek, hlter to :In increasingdegree also blue. Aside from tllC townpostmarks, oWll FRANCO, struight lineFRA).l{O and boxed }"R..KO as well 3Stlle boxed ANK. arrh'nl mnrkings e...'l.ll befound used oce.nsionally ns cnncellcrs_ OntllC 1866 issue, only few of the rectaugnhnllOxcs can still be found and they nrc ratherse::lrec, ::IS arc tllC lar~e single circles. About95% of ::In stamps or this issue show smallcircle postm:lrJ,;s of thc 1860 type 3S can­cellers, of which in the later 1860's alsosome ·with s:lns-serif tOWJl nnmes were in­troduced. Tlle now double circles of 1870,of town and trn,elling post offices, :}renot ,cr)' frequcnt :111(1 cnn be founc1 onInter printings only. Straig'ht line town ordate postm::nks arc searce, [IS is tllC oe­c:lsiollal use of FRANCO, FR.ANKO, FR.KO or PRTO and the A.i\TK. arrival mark­ings as cancellers. Blue cancellations on thisissue are as frequent a-s black ones, greenor' violet ones are scarce, 1't'hile red caneella.tions are rare exceptions.

Of the private mail services, the ReIsing­fors Cit)' Post aIHI the Sklirgarc1s TrafikAkticbolnget lmd theil' own e:mcel1ing de­yiecs. The former used a type of postmnl'k,wJlicli W:JS VCI',\' similnr to the smnll cit'olelllarking'S of the govcl'Illllent mail service

15+

but was flflttened at the bottom. It "I\asapplied ill black or blue. The latte!' used nn0"n1 c::lllccller of .five b:1I's, with STAB :incentcr, ~\Iso in black Or blue. ~I'he 'r:unmer­fors Loe~ll Post, which worked in closecoJJnhoratiou with the post office, used thesn"W11l circle town postmnrk of. thnt officcn1so ns callcellor forit~ OWll stnmps. Butonly :t sm:)ll pel'cellt...lgc of the used st::unps,f'specinlly iu the earl)' period, :is caneeJle<lwith a postmark, most of them show penllI:lI'ks of \':lrious kinds ns callceUatioll. ThestnlllPS of the 'Vnnajtwcsi Angbiitsbolng arcknown un('~llcellcd only.

]l(']J)-illfS we I'e made of n11 clnssic stamps:l.n<l stationery of Finl:lnd. There were fourl)l·il\tin~!'l of sueh l'eprillls, in 1862, 18il,1881 and 1892. Ollly the fil'st t.hree wel'emnclc ·with the help of the original c1ii.'s,while for the Inst 011e, of l89~, new dieswere cut and b:lJIsferre<l to lithographicst01les. 'fhese lithogl'nphed fepl·juts of 1892thcrcfore nctunl1,r nrc not real reprints butofficial illlitntiollK But ns the "I'eprints"of tllC stntioncl'y in penni c\ll...enc~· werestill ynlid for postnge in 1892 ~llld Wf'reindeed ill SODle cases used nud recognizedfor thc payment of postagc-;"Ilthou~h suchuse W;"lS nlways philatclic.nlly inspil'ecl-tlloimitntiol1s of the l866 stationery nrC nct­uS:llly re-issues and therefore ha,e a con­sidernbl.\- higher shln<1ing thn.n re,ll re­prints. rl'hf' first reprints, of 1862, weremade fol' thc dealcr, J. R. Mocns of Brus­sels, who wantcd to ha"e a quantity of cutsquares of all issued em·elopes. TheJ' weremnc1e from original <lies on the s..'l.me ]eyerpress on which the ol'iginal stamps of the1850 an(l 1856 envelopes anc1 thc 1856.'l(lhesives \\"ere printed, ill sheets of 20,two tete heche rows of tell, just as the 1856:l.dhcsi"'es werc printe<l, hut generally withwider sp~lcing, nll(l were not gummed. Re­winted were the two vallle~ of the 1845onvelopcs-but cl'l'oneollsly in 1'everscd col­ors-the 10k red and 20k black-, the 20kof the 1850 en't'elopes, as well as the 5kwith large pearls and the 10k of 1856. Dueto the printing in tete beche rows, all thesereprints exist in tete beehe pairs, verticalfor the 1856 ,'alues, but horizontnl for the1845 envelope stamps. Two kinds of papersW('l'e used for this reprint. woye paper, ofUllevell thieknf'RS with yellowish tint, nndlaid p:1pel'-hol'izonfnl for tlie 1845 stmnpsnnd vertical for the OthCI'S-wIJich shows 17

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

<-

-,

Hnes on 2cm. width. The second reprint wasmade in 1871, mainly to satisfy requestsof fOI'cign postal administrations for col­lections of nll Finnish stumps. The sameyalues as in 1862 were reprinted and in thesame way, on white wove smoothed papor,the ] 845 issue in reversed colors as in 18G2,hut also ill correct colors. 'rhe third l'cprilltwas manufncturcd 111 1881, for unknownreasons. Again tllC sumc five values as in1862 worc repJ'lllted, but the 1845 shlmpsin correct colol's only, on white wovesmoothed paper, the 5k with large poa;rlsnJld 10k of 1856 also 011 light blue paper,obviously to simulate cut squares of tllO1850 lettcl' sllcets. 'l'his third reprint seemsto have been printed in a different ·wayfrom the two previous ones because 110 tete­Leches .are known and the prillting showsrather heav,)' embossing, suggcsthlg singleh::mdstampillg. 'Vhile the first three reprilltswm"e manufactured in unknown but cer"tain1y small quantities, the repl'int-or bet­tel' the official imitation-of 1892 W;lSprinted in larger quantities, officially givenas 1000 copies of each, but probn,blyconsiderably larger. It consisted of ad­hesives-5k with large ])earls and 10k of1856, Loth values of the 1860 a nd all sixvalues of tile ] 866 issue, all gummed-as·well as, fOl' the first time, of elltires. Bothvalues of the 1845 envelopes, all three valuesof the 1850 envelopes and the two values ofthe 1850 letter sheets, the 5k with largepearls and the 10k of the 1856 envelo])es,ns well as both values each of the 1860and 1871 envelopes, were printed. Of the1864 provisional envelopes, all possible com·billatiolls between 5k und 10k of 1860 ont,ile one halld, and 5k and 10k 1850, 5k withlarge pearls and ]Ok 185(-j on the other hand,se\'cral of them llOt known as originals,were manuf.actul"cd, fm"thermore the 8ppostal cards of J 871 and 1872, the provi­sional postal canl 8p+8p, t,hc lOp postalcard and the lO+lOp postal card withattached reply card of 1875, as \vell as thelOp return receipts of 1871 and 1872. Ascan be seen, .all classic stamps and stationerywere imitated ill this reprint, except the5k with small pearls, adhesive as 'well asenvelope, Wllich also was JlOt reprinted inthe three previous reprints a11(l of whichtller'eiore 110 ]'epl'illts exist at nIl. 'Vhileof some of tile entil'es the same quantityof 1000 rpIHints was llHlllufactw'ed, of otllers

'MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

only smaner quantities were made, it beingclaimed that tlrerc were only 15 copies eachof some of tlJe 1864 provisiollals. As statcdpreviously, the stamps of this reprillt arclithogr.nplled i t}IO imitations of the ndhe­sives ·werc printed in sheets of 20, fourllOl'izontnl 1'O\\'S of 5 (1856 issue) OJ" of 10,two horizontal rows of 5 (1860 and 1866issuc). The 1860 Hnd 18G6 issue imitationswere rouletted witl) l'oulette IV, whidl onlyoccasioll3.11y had beell used for the originals(20p awl 40p only), but several valuesare also known imperforate. The repl'intsin the same color of tiro 1860 [\11(1 1866 is­suea-5k and 20p, 10k and 40p-seem tollayc been printed 011 the same sheet anelsheets of the 10k and 40p }'eprints \verefound se-tew:lllt. Of the envclopes, asidefrom regular sizes and colors, also someitems were ma.de of this reprint, wllicll donot exist as origilJals, for example 115x7Gmm. size envelope,;; on blue paper of 5kand 10k 1850 a.nd J5lx75mm. size envelopeson blue paper of 5k and 10k 18;'56. In 1928,a special repri nt was made from the (lieof the 5k with large pearls, 1856 issue, inblue Oll thick paper, to adorne the programof the Philatelic ExJlibition lIClcl at tha.t.yea]' in Helsinki. ~l'he first three }'cprintscan be recognized by tllC pape1's and tllCcolors; tllCy are dark blue, reel and g"ayblack, while tllC orighw,ls arc usually blue,}'ose 11,11(1 black. ~l'hc reprints of the 1856issue also can be spotted by colored (lots inthe cross above t.he crown. The 1892 l'eprintscaH be r~'lther easily distinguished by thedifferent printing met.hod and small dif·feJ'cncea in the designs, due to the fact thattlJey are clerived from new dies. The thickpapcrs .and the colors, wl1ieh are generallymuch brighter, also give them away. Forthe en'Velopes, di.fferent lmives and in partpupers with waterm':l1'ks, which cannot befound on origimlls, were used, and the textfor the postal cards and l'ct.urn receipt wasre-set .and thoreforo varies in many details.

Of the stamps for the private mail services,-almost all' classic issues were reprintedseveral times, due to philatelic demand,partly shortI;r after they became obsolete.-Therefore, it is in some cases very difficultto distinguish between }'cmaindcrs and re­prints. Generally, all varieties and "printings,whicJ] are not known on commercial coversfrom tIle conect period, must be considered}'epri nts and canf'elled copies tl.S cancelled

155

to order after the originals had becomeobsolete. 'I'his is true for various vtl.l·ieticsof the 1866, 1868 and 1871 st:l.lUpS of theHelsingfol's City Post-roulet.ted, pCl'for­tltecl and imperfoNltc-, of tl10 TanullcrforsLooal Post 1866 issue, and of the Wana­javcsi Angbiit..sbolag ship stamps of 1867.Generall,v all printings which come fromnew stones-fwd therefOl'e differ ill smalldet.'lils from the origiun.lly issued st,mups-must llC considered reprints, such newstones h:willg been used for the reprint.sof TIolsingfors City Post :md '.L'ammcdoI'SLocal Post stnmps.

Of all Finland ]Jostnl stamps and sta­tionery, rather numerous forgeries andfa"tes arc known. Complete imitations areknowll of all adhesives .'lnd of n.1I el1\'elopestamps, but, most of them arC cl"urlc andc:m deceive onl)' a yery naive collector wholH1S 11e,Ter seen genuine copies. But dan­gerous fOl'gcries exist too, especially ofthe 1856 adhesives (both 5k n.nd the 10k),ns well tUI of the 5p, lOp, 1m and of tlletwo errors, 5p ::Illd 101' in reversec1 colors,of 1866, The two errors as well as the 5ptete beche exist genuine onl:r on laid paperand .all copies on wove pnl)er are forgeries,some of them so dangerous that until notlong ago the lOp error on wove papel' wasconsidered genuine and listed by severalcntalogs, including the spcei::tlized Finlandcatalog .'In(l the Kohl Handbook. TIleforgeries of the envclope sttllllllS existalmost exclusively in cut S(lUal'es j espcci:lllythe great rarities, 20k of 1845 tln(1 thestill rnrer 20k of 1850, h:}\'c been extensivelyimitated. Forgeries of somc of the vri,atestamps ~'l-re also known, especitllly of thoI-Ielsillgfol's City Post 18G6 :lncl 1868, aswell as of the Wanaja\'esi Angb1itsbolag1867 issuc, tl1is later frequently beingmislca<Ungly offered tlS a reprint. VeryJllImerOllS arc the fakes. In this categorylllUst be includcd cut squares of the 1856envelopes offered as adhcsi,es_ Suchcut squares from wove paper envelopesare sometimes difficult to distinguish, be­cause envelopes and adhesives were printedwith the same cliches and partly all thesame papers. But the texture of the paperoften gi,-es a sure indicntiou, bec:lUse thepores on the :ldhesivcs run parallel to oneof the sides, while all the om-elope cutsquar~s they alwnys run diagonally, LaidpapCl' cut squarcs ::Ire much easier to spot,

;156

because the lines on the aahesi~es run,-ertically, on the eut squ:ues a.lways cU­agon..:l1ly. Actual fnkes, proc1ueed hy challgesapplicd to genuillc items, arc sometimesquite dangel·ous. This is eSllecially true formanipulate<l cut squares or reprillts, aswell 11S for ftlked cancellations all rcprintscspecia11y of the 1856 adhesi vos, severalollvelopes and 011 some stamps o,f the pl'ivatomail serdces, faked bid p..'lpcrs :"Iud fa.kesof rare roulettes_ Less dangerous arc colorcIw,ngeli..ngs tr~\-ing to simulate the 1866 5p311C1 lOp errOrs in reversed colors, 01' stampsSUl)posec1 to be impcdol-atc, but, actuall~'

produced from rouletted st.'lmps by clippingthc roulettes, sometimes adding new widemargins to make the ftlkcs more convineing.The 40p of 1866, perforated 120 as theissue ] 875, which was ]l!'eviously c011siderecla legitimnt.e variet:,.., lws also bccn pl'ovento be faked. An industry in itselI is tllercmo\·.'ll of pen cancellations on the 1856ac1hesi\'es and many good stamps lu\\"c beenspoiled by sueh manipulations. Copies, which\Vel'C pen cancelled only, after removal oftIle ]len strokes witll a suitable chcmieal

1arc

either sold .'lS unused or a faked postmarkis applied as cancellation. Of copies whichwe/'e cancelled with pOll strokes lllns post­mal'k, the pen st.rokes al'e removed and theitems offered as the much more desired('opies with postmark cancellation on]y, The«rep:lir mon" .also Jlavc a rewarding field,by supplying tIle missing m::lrgins on cut­to-s11ape stllmps of the 1856 issue and theyalso like to do some "dollta1" work for the1860 and 1866 issues b:r aelding the missingteetJl to crca te "perfect" copies. All togetller,collcctors of Finland stamps havo beenquito h':ll'nssec1 by tlle fm'ge/'s nnel fnkers;they J13\'e to be alert when pUl'chnsing moreexpensive items to avoiel future disallpoint­ments,

For the collector who is particular aboutcondition, Finlul1c1 is n rather difficultcountry. Tho imperforate stamps can hehad with sufficient margins, due to theusually wide spacing, but the difficultiesbegin when the collector wants to have allstamps cancelled by a postmark only andrejccts pen cancelled copies, e,Ten when thepen enncellation is in addition to thopostma.rk canccllntion. Some \"arietics nreconsiderably rarer with postmnrk onl~- ::Iudtherefore rightfully sell at consielcl'nblylligher pl"ices than those with pcn cancelkJ.-

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

,-

,.

tion or pen plus postmark cancellation. Thespecialized Finland catnlogs value sta,mpswith pen plus postmark cancellation 50%to 80%, only with postmark cancellation200% to 350% higher than tlJe same stampswith pen C::Lncellnt.ion only. Most collectorsfire so antagonistic to\v31'ds pell-cancelledstamps-a remainder of the old-time beliefthat every pen-cancelle(l stam]) was fiscallyused-tllat gelletal collectors do not liketo ll.'lve such st.:tmps 'in theil' colledions(wen Wl1Cll tllCy lmow that such st:J mps,a.t least in the case of Fil1land, come fl'omlegitimate postal use on mail. Therefore,even those stamps for which pen cancelledcopies fOl'lll a small minority-the 1800issue ,and especially the 18G(j issue--never­tJlCless pen-cnncelled sell considerably cheap­er tlHw postlll:ll'kec1. Quite a percentage ofthe imperforate stamps were cut to s1l.alleand such stamps, although of some intereston covel' or piece, arc quite unpopulal' offcover and sell for llOt more than one tenthof tllC price of rcctangularly cut copies.But, compared with the difficulties thecondition-minded collector has with theroulctted issues, those encountered for thcimperforate stamps facIe nway. The primi­tive rouletting "procedure made it almostimpossible to separate the stamps in away that kept int.act all teetll created bythe rouletting. Tllis is especially tl'ue fortIle l'oulcttes with longcr teeth, HI undespecially V, while the thrce others some­what easier ca,l be found in satisfactorycondition. Avcmge copies with roulette Vhave threc to fivc teeth shm'tened, withroulette III two 01' threc, while for theother roulettes the figure is one or two.Pl'ices in the general catalogs :ll'e foraverage copics as described in thc "pI'cccdingsentcncc. Stamps which havc all tecth intactm'e exceptions and sevcral of thc roulct.terarities arc not known in such excepti0l1alcouditioll. The specialized Finland catalogshave separate price columns fOl' "one toothmissing" and for "complete roulette". Theproportion between average, oue tooth mis­sing and perfect copies is generally 1 to10 to 5, and the gap between average andperfect copies is steadily \\-idening, theformer selIillg at a fraction of catalog whilethe latter fetch considerably more thanfull catalog. Even collecting postal station­ery of ]Pinlau(l has its pHfn,lls for tJlCcondition-conscious colIcctol', because the

.MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

1850 al1d 1856 envelopes had thc stamp onthe flap which was often torn when theenvelope was opelled and the stamp marcor Jess (ktmagcd.

When we forget the condition troubles,Finland is a mther easy country for thegeneral collector. Scott lists 17 main )lum­bors of tllC classic stamps but of these sixaTC paper or roulette varieties wlJich lutveacquired a llw,in catalog number althoug!1Uey do not desel've 011e by accepted cat­aloguing principles. This leaves only 11stamps to be consiclcl'cd, W11ich are all pricedunused lligher tklJ1 usecl. The ]wiccs oftllese 11 stamps add up for ullusc(l to littlemore than $680, wh:ile used-the 1856 issuepen cancelled-they cost n, little more than$150, amI thel'ofore :ne witlJin t.he renchof most collectors of oven sman means. Theprice for used is more t,han doubled to over$315 wJlen postma.l"lwcl copies of tJle 1856issue are substit.uted for pen-cancelled ones.Finh:l1ld has 110 very c1H:-ap classic stamps:tllC cheapest used is listed $1.00 find unuscrl$4.00, hut ::llso there are no great raritiesamong the regular stamps, the Jlighest Scottquotation being $45 for used and $225 forunuscd. ]i'inlanrl bccomcs considerably moreexpensive when varietics are consiclered.The six varieties, listed in Scott as mainlluml)ers, are priced used at 110 Jess than$261.0, and UlJUsccl three of them are notpr·iced at all; tl](~re are otJwr varietieswhich belong in the same price class. Buta real field fOl" the collectors of greatml'itics is ]<'inlan(l's postal stationery. Thereis practically 110 c1l::mco evel· to get 3,11

main lJUmbers together in entil-os, llecauseonly two copies ::nc known of tllC 20kem'clopc of ]850, onc of tllCm jn the Fin­1~isl1 Postal Museum, the ot.l1er fOl'merlyowne(l by AgatllOll Faberge. Of tlle 20kcm·clope of 1845, also only a few entil'es:11'e in "private collections .and of some ~om­

binat.iOllS of the 1864 pl'ovisiolHtl envelopesonly 011C or two copics seem to llave sur­vived, Fortunately in this case, the numberof stationery collectors is much smaller thanthose \vho collect stamps only, which makesother rare stationery items-still in thereal rarity class, considering the number inexistCllee--mucll more readily obtainablethan equally rare adhesives. Tllis ma.y besome inducement to get interested ill tIleattractive fichl of Fill1antl envelopes, whichpreceded tile .adhesives for ll}3 years. COll-

157

sidcrcd all in all, Finland is a ratherinexpensi,c field for the geneml collectorof stamps only, but :l. specialized collectionof st.'lmps and statiouerr will not get Yer~'

far without a subsbllltial amount of lIardcash. A collecto" J who docs llOt insist upouassembling a gold medal collcction, cauhaxe real fun with the roulettes ana can·ccl1:l.tiolls fOJ" much less monoy, ospocial1~­

if he is satisficd wi til m-ernge copies" Hewill find collecting Finl!ll1rl 110 less l"eWlnc1­ing t11:lJl the wc:tlthy collector who cannffonl to as!<emble fllc grent l'nrities ofndhosi\'cs and ol1\'elopes.

There is no dcarth of p11ilatelic litera,luredenling with Finhtllfl. In the e:lrly years ofphilatelic writing, Finl:'\IHl was a faxorite,lIot so much in rcg3nl to its stamps butmo.·c in respect to its postal stationer)',pro"Wing m3ny problems whieh wero mostlysoh-od onl,y cady in this contur)', Tho mostimport.ant and woll (locumented monographwas by L. Hanci:)u "The Post,nl Issues of:E'illlflUd", first. published in "Gibbons Month­ly Journal" (1905-07), which WflS translatedinto German (nlso publislled ns a broclmrein ]909) and Swedish. This monogrnpl, dealswith :1dhesiYes tiS well as stationery. '1'helatter part WtlS pnrtly based on a book byR, Grnnbcrg "Die Gallzs<lchen yon Fillnhtll(l"(1903, German). In these two books thebest. :wnilable (bta are compiled and theyare still valuable, bec<luse latel' research isscat.tered in mng:.lzille articles. ']'he l'OSUltSof: this rese:)I'clt WNe used in n llumber ofpublications by tl,c ITelsingfors FrimUl'ks·s:linln.I'c }'"'orening, which orgll.1lizntioll notollly Il3s prm-ided excellent catalogs butalso has published continuously llCW rcsetlrchin their magnzinc and occasionally in otherpublic-ations. 'l'hc catalogs are in GermannlHI fleal with the stamps (6th edition,1934)J the postal stntionerr (1923) :uHlthe locals of TIclsingfors and Tnmmer.fors(1923); other puhlications 31'0 partly hISwedish OJ' Finnish. 'L'hc Finlnnd part ofthe Kohl Hmldbook, in Volume II, is moreelaborate than the monographs of othercountries in earlier parts and the classicissues fill 25 pages plus a one-l)age supple­ment; it is mainly based upon the publi­cntions mentioned before and must be

considered olle or tlle weaker parts of tlleHandbook, without .uny importn.nt newfindings and outdated in some respect b~'

later research. No ElIglish trallslatioll h.as

158

been published. Of other publicnt.ions, a.326-page book by P. Grosfils·Berger "Fin­lande" (1947, French) is useful for the!'ceording of the known copies of ther3rities, Illultiples, etc" but it is maiuly acompilator.. job and cont.'1ins quite anumber of onulnted or erroneous st3tements,takell o"er fl'om olCler literature. The onlyl"eerllt book in Ellglish, "Postal Issues ofFinlnllcl" by C, B, Pelander (1040), willbe IlcTpful in providing the basic c1Ma fors:pecializing. :So book exists about tile post.­m:ll'ks of Finland :)lId information is scat­tered in magazine literature. Conccrningpost... ! history, 3 1ll01mmental tllroo·,olullle"8uoll1el1 Postilaitoksen Historia ]6:'l8-1938"w~"I.S published in ]938, but unfortunately itis written in Finnish and therefore is usefulfOI' only a smnll percentage of ])hilatelists.All togcther, therc is plenty of guidnllce forthe collectol' who wants information aboutthe st:lmps nnd statiollery of Fill1:l.1HI nndno olle should h.nvc much difficulty inestflblishillg correct fnets on which to basespc<,ialization or research.

l<'"'in]nnd is a pleasant and interestingcountry to collect, The attructi,'c stnmps.and em'clopes are a lligblight of e,erygelleral collection and u fine specializedcolleC'tioli of Finland will he admired bynll connoisseurs of classic stamps. In regardto philatelic research, Jlluch good work basl)een done, hut when wc comparc liter.::ttureonly n few decades oM with our presentknowledge, we sec how lllallY "f:lets" pre­viously considered correct have been foundllot to he f:H~ts at nll but merely wtongl'onclusions Ol' misunderstandings. 'rhere arestill a number of fe:'ltures of the stamps~'1Ilc1 envelopes where the empirical findingsC:In be notably improved; we tire confidenttlmt philatelic res<.>urch will }Jrodde stillfurther surprises in tlle field of theclassic stamps llnd statioller~- of Finland,One of tIle most difficult jobs still to be(}olle is the reconstruction of the settingsof the 1860 and 1866 issues, which has beenattempted several times, Due to the flex·ibility of the settings of single cliches, ofwhich several must have existed for mostniluesJ the separation of the different set­tings offers almost insurmountable diffi­culties. 'l'here is still .'1 field for nmbitiouscolleetors who like to tackle jobs whichseem hopeless at the st:lrt.

(Nt'xt: XII. France)

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL