The 3rd issue of Armenian postage stamps. Small monogram.
Ongoing inflation in Armenia required an increase in postal and telegraph rates. On October 15, 1919, a report by the Central Committee of postal and telegraph employees demanded a 100% increase in the existing rates for postal and telegraph correspondence. The new rate, however, was introduced much later, and the payment standards were raised not by 100% but by 800β1000%. The third issue of Armenian postage stamps consisted of an overprint of the second monogram and a new value in rubles on Russian stamps of the 1909β1917 issues, whose stock and variety increased significantly due to the purchase of postage stamps from private individuals on terms favorable to the postal administration.
Stamps of the third issue were in postal circulation from March 1920 through June 1921 inclusive.
A significant number of provisionals is associated with the Civil War of 1918β1922. At that time, there was no stable central authority across most of the country, many regions became independent, and due to devastation and war there was substantial inflation. Frequent rate changes and the inability to supply the postal network with stamps of the required denominations led to periodic revaluations of existing stocks in accordance with instructions from the Peopleβs Commissariat of Posts and Telegraphs of the RSFSR, which did not provide for any overprints. However, in some localities certain post offices still applied overprints to the revalued stamps being sold, or simply wrote the new values by hand. All these stamps are characterized by an extremely simple overprinting technique.