Diagonal handstamp overprint. Print run: 160 copies.
At first, the stamps were produced as actual need for them arose. Then, when collectors began to take an interest in them—collectors not reluctant to pay large sums for rare stamps—the issuance of these stamps gradually began to be adapted not to the zemstvo’s need for them, but to collectors’ demand. As a result, an entire trade in zemstvo stamps emerged, the monopolist of which was 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 comparatively small quantities—far below the actual need for them—so that the stock would quickly be exhausted and they would become a rarity.
The value of such rare stamps rose to fabulous figures: for a 3-kopeck stamp, enthusiasts paid 100 rubles. At times the chairman of the board used a “brilliant” trick: he ordered stamp issues with some exceptional feature distinguishing them from the rest of the order (an inverted numeral, a different color, without perforations, etc.), and moreover in a limited quantity. He then bought these stamp issues in full at face value into his personal ownership, and afterward sold them 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 more attention from collectors.
Operations with stamps are conducted by the chairman of the board, P.P. Ganko, on an enormous scale. He issued a stamp catalog in which some items (of 1 kopeck) are priced at 40 rubles. A complete set of various specimens of zemstvo stamps printed with every kind of artificial combination—inverted (upside-down) postmarks, lack of perforations, color changes, etc.—is sold by him, excluding those that have already become the rarest and are valued at hundreds of rubles apiece, 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 image of the “seal for parcels of the Poltava zemstvo board.”
Citing a whole series of characteristic examples of the activity of the “collector-monopolist” P.P. Ganko, the audit commission says that the atmosphere in the zemstvo has become unbearable, having a demoralizing effect on the zemstvo service staff.
One of the members of the audit commission of the Poltava uyezd zemstvo, Mr. Bykov, learned of Mr. Ganko’s trade by chance while abroad. It turns out that among foreign collectors the modest name of the chairman of the Poltava uyezd zemstvo board enjoys wide renown. Major Russian collectors are also well acquainted with Mr. Ganko’s “trade.”
The audit commission’s report provoked heated debate.
Summoned to answer, Mr. Ganko denied selfish motives in his trade.
“I was a collector, like many others,” he declared.
The audit commission proposed that the assembly recognize that the actions of P.P. Ganko did not correspond to the dignity of the chairman of the board. The assembly adopted this resolution by secret ballot.
Monuments Series. The first commemorative issue of zemstvo stamps was released in Poltava Uyezd in 1909. It was dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the defeat of the Swedes at Poltava and consisted of 7 stamps.
The stamps were printed at one of the best printing houses of that time, Golike and Vilborg in St. Petersburg, and were very successful. Their format, the subject of the design, and the design itself were unusual for that era.
On five of them, several monuments erected in honor of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava are shown in picturesque frames. On the 1- and 2-kopeck stamps are depictions of monuments installed on the battlefield in 1909. The third stamp (3 kopecks) bears an image of the “Monument of Glory” located in Poltava; the fourth (5 kopecks) reproduces the monument in honor of the commandant of the Poltava garrison. The 6-kopeck stamp shows a monument erected in 1849 on the spot where Peter I rested after the battle. The 10-kopeck stamp depicts the burial site of Russian soldiers who died in the Battle of Poltava. The last stamp in the series (15 kopecks) bears a portrait of Peter I.
On March 1, 1903, the zemstvo post of Poltava Uyezd (Poltava Governorate) was opened. Correspondence was sent twice a week from the uyezd 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/service, for ordinary and registered wrappers, money correspondence, etc.).
Many issues bear the uyezd coat of arms. The stamps were printed at private printing houses; from 1905, at EZGB.
Imperforate stamps are of unofficial origin and were intended for collectors. The stamps were canceled with circular, oval, and rectangular handstamps.