Overprint of the numeral 3 with a handstamp. Print run: 4,100 copies.
At first, the stamps were produced as actual need for them arose. Later, when collectors became interested—collectors who did not hesitate to pay large sums for rare stamps—the issue of these stamps gradually began to be adjusted not to the needs of the zemstvo, 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 less than the real need for them—so that the supply would quickly run out 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. Sometimes the chairman of the board used such a "brilliant" method: he ordered stamp issues with some exceptional feature differing from the rest of the order (an inverted numeral, a different color, without perforations, etc.), and in a limited quantity. He bought such issues in full at face value into his personal possession, and then sold them at a high price.
Along with this, even those stamp issues that were ordered by the board for the needs of the zemstvo post were often produced with certain peculiarities to attract even greater attention from collectors.
Stamp operations were conducted by the chairman of the board, P.P. Ganko, on an enormous scale. He published a stamp catalog in which some specimens (1 kopeck) were valued at 40 rubles. A complete set of various specimens of zemstvo stamps printed with all sorts of artificial combinations—stamps turned upside down, lack of perforations, color changes, etc.—was sold by him, except for those already the rarest and 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 journal these operations are advertised with an illustration of the "seal for parcels of the Poltava zemstvo board."
Citing a whole series of characteristic examples of the activities of the "collector-monopolist" P.P. Ganko, the audit commission says that the atmosphere in the zemstvo had become intolerable, exerting a demoralizing effect on the zemstvo service staff.
Mr. Bykov, one of the members of the audit commission of the Poltava uyezd zemstvo, learned of Mr. Ganko's trade abroad by chance. It turns out that among foreign collectors the modest name of the chairman of the Poltava uyezd zemstvo board enjoys wide renown. Russian major collectors are also well acquainted with Mr. Ganko's "trade."
The report of the audit commission provoked stormy debates.
Called to account, 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 P.P. Ganko's actions as not corresponding to 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 to issue zemstvo postage stamps from 1902 onward. According to published sources, the name was assigned after Ardatovsky Uyezd, for whose stamp printing it was first employed. 3rd issue.
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. For payment of private correspondence, zemstvo postage stamps were used: 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 uyezd 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 round, oval, and rectangular handstamps.