Diagonal handstamp overprint. Print run: 160 copies.
At first, the stamps were produced only as the actual need arose. Then, when collectors became interested in them—people not reluctant 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 business sprang up around zemstvo stamps, 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 real need for them—so that the supply would quickly run out and they would become a rarity.
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” device: he ordered issues of stamps with some feature distinguishing them from the rest of the order (an inverted numeral, a different color, imperforate, etc.), and in a limited quantity. He bought the entire issue at face value for his personal ownership, and then sold it at a high price.
Alongside this, even those issues ordered by the board for the needs of the zemstvo post were often produced with some special features to attract still greater attention from collectors.
Operations with stamps are conducted by the chairman of the board, P.P. Ganko, on an enormous scale. He published a stamp catalog in which some items (1 kopeck) are priced at 40 rubles. A complete set of various specimens of zemstvo stamps printed with all kinds of artificial combinations—stamps turned upside down, absence of perforations, change of color, 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 bought these stamps from his own board for 5 rubles 75 kopecks.
Among other things, one foreign journal advertises these operations with an image of the “seal for parcels of the Poltava district 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 became unbearable, having a demoralizing effect on the zemstvo office staff.
One of the members of the audit commission of the Poltava district zemstvo, Mr. Bykov, learned about Mr. Ganko’s business by chance while abroad. It turns out that among foreign collectors, the modest name of the chairman of the Poltava district zemstvo board enjoys wide renown. Russian major collectors are also well acquainted with Mr. Ganko’s “business.”
The report of the audit commission prompted stormy debate.
Summoned to answer, Mr. Ganko denied mercenary motives in his business.
“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 befitting 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 District 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 format, the theme of the design, and the design itself were unusual for that era.
On five of them, in a picturesque frame, several monuments erected in honor of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava are shown. The 1- and 2-kopeck stamps depict 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 a monument honoring 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 District (Poltava Governorate) was opened. Mail was dispatched twice a week from the district center, the city of Poltava, to 17 volosts of the district. 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.).
Many issues depict the district coat of arms. The stamps were printed at private printing houses; from 1905, at EZGB.
Imperforate stamps were of unofficial origin and were intended for collectors. The stamps were canceled with handstamps of round, oval, and rectangular shapes.