Diagonal overprint by handstamp. Print run: 1,400 copies.
At first, the stamps were produced as actual need for them arose. Then, when collectors began to take an interest in them—without hesitation to pay large sums for rare stamps—the issuance of these stamps gradually began to be adapted not to the needs of the zemstvo, 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 relatively small quantities—far less than the real need for them—with the aim that the stock would quickly run out and they would become scarce.
The price of such rare stamps rose to fabulous figures: for a 3-kopeck stamp, enthusiasts paid 100 rubles. Sometimes the chairman of the board used a truly brilliant trick: he ordered issues of stamps with some distinctive feature compared to the rest of the order (an inverted numeral, a different color, without perforations, etc.), and moreover in limited quantity. He purchased such issues in full at face value for his personal ownership, and then sold them at a high price.
Alongside this, even those stamp issues that were ordered by the board for the needs of the zemstvo post were often produced with some special features to attract even greater attention from collectors.
Operations with stamps are carried out by the chairman of the board, P.P. Ganko, on a tremendous scale. He published a stamp catalog in which some examples (1 kopeck) are priced at 40 rubles. A complete set of various examples of zemstvo stamps, printed with all sorts of artificial combinations—stamps 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 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 image of the “seal for parcels of the Poltava zemstvo board.”
Citing a number 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 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 uyezd zemstvo board is widely known. Russian major collectors are also well acquainted with Mr. Ganko’s “trade.”
The report of the audit commission provoked heated debate.
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 the actions of P.P. Ganko as not in keeping with 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 the time, Golike and Vilborg in St. Petersburg, and enjoyed great success. Their shape, the subject of the design, and the design itself were unusual for that era.
On 5 of them, in a picturesque frame, several monuments erected in honor of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava are shown. On the 1- and 2-kopeck stamps there are images of monuments installed on the battlefield in 1909. The third stamp (3 kopecks) bears the design 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) features a portrait of Peter I.
On March 1, 1903, the zemstvo post of Poltava Uyezd (Poltava Governorate) was opened. Correspondence was dispatched 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 depict the uyezd coat of arms. The stamps were printed in private printing houses; from 1905, at EZGB.
Imperforate stamps are of unofficial origin and were intended for collectors. The stamps were cancelled with handstamps of round, oval, and rectangular shape.