At first, the stamps were produced only as they were actually needed. Then, when collectors began to take an interest in them—people not shy about paying large sums for rare stamps—the issuance of these stamps gradually began to be adapted not to the zemstvo’s needs, but to collectors’ demand. As a result, an entire trade in zemstvo stamps emerged, monopolized by the brother of the former chairman, P.P. Ganko, who did not abandon this profitable occupation even after he himself took the chairman’s seat.
To give zemstvo stamps special value in the eyes of collectors, the stamps were produced in relatively small quantities—far below the actual need for them—so that their stock would quickly run out and they would become a rarity.
The price of such rare stamps rose to fabulous amounts: for a 3-kopeck stamp, enthusiasts paid 100 rubles. Sometimes the chairman of the board used a “brilliant” trick: he would order stamp issues with some exceptional feature distinguishing them from the rest of the order (an inverted numeral, a different color, no perforations, etc.), and moreover in limited quantity. He would buy the entire issue at face value into his personal ownership, and then sell it at a high price.
Alongside this, even those stamp issues ordered by the board for the needs of the zemstvo post were often produced with certain peculiarities to attract still greater attention from collectors.
Stamp dealings were conducted by the chairman of the board, P.P. Ganko, on an enormous scale. He published a stamp catalog in which some specimens (of one kopeck) are priced at 40 rubles. A complete set of various specimens of zemstvo stamps, printed with all manner of artificial combinations—postmarks turned upside down, absence of perforations, color changes, etc.—is sold by him, except for those that have already become the rarest and are valued at hundreds of rubles each, for 476 rubles 10 kopecks, whereas he himself acquired these stamps from his own board for 5 rubles 75 kopecks.
Among other things, in one foreign magazine these operations are advertised with an illustration of the “seal for packets of the Poltava zemstvo board.”
Citing a number of characteristic examples of the activities of the “collector-monopolist” P.P. Ganko, the audit commission says that the atmosphere in the zemstvo has become intolerable, having a demoralizing effect on the zemstvo service staff.
One of the members of the audit commission of the Poltava district zemstvo, Mr. Bykov, learned about Mr. Ganko’s trade by chance while abroad. It turns out that among foreign collectors the modest name of the chairman of the Poltava district zemstvo board is widely known. Major Russian collectors are also well acquainted with Mr. Ganko’s “business.”
The audit commission’s report provoked heated debate.
Called to account, Mr. Ganko denied self-interested aims in his trade.
“I was a collector, like many others,” he declared.
The audit commission proposed that the assembly recognize P.P. Ganko’s actions as not befitting the dignity of the chairman of the board. The assembly adopted this resolution by secret ballot.
The “Ardatov type” stamp is the philatelic name for the fifth design type used by EZGB for issuing zemstvo postage stamps from 1902. According to the literature, the name was assigned after Ardatov Uyezd, for whose stamps it was first used for printing. Third edition.
On March 1, 1903, the zemstvo post of Poltava Uyezd (Poltava Governorate) was opened. Mail was dispatched twice a week from the district center, the city of Poltava, to 17 volosts of the uyezd. Zemstvo postage stamps were used to pay for private correspondence: ordinary letters were paid with 3-kopeck stamps, and registered letters with 6-kopeck stamps. They are very diverse in printing method and purpose (official, for ordinary and registered wrappers, money correspondence, etc.).
In 1908, commemorative stamps were issued for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava.
Many issues depict the district coat of arms. The stamps were printed in private printing houses, and from 1905 at EZGB.
Imperforate stamps are of unofficial origin and were intended for collectors. The stamps were canceled with postmarks of round, oval, and rectangular shapes.