The 2nd issue of Armenian postage stamps. Type 2.
Russian stamps of the 1909–1917 issues, as well as the stamps of the First Armenian issue, were overprinted with a monogram. The overprint did not change the face value of the stamps; its purpose was to record the new state affiliation of Armenia’s stamps, to oblige the population to purchase stamps only through the post office counter, and—by eliminating the possibility of paying for postal services with stamps bought from speculators to the detriment of the post—fully to protect the financial interests of the postal administration.
A significant number of provisionals are associated with the Civil War of 1918–1922. At that time, there was no stable central authority in most of the country, many regions became independent, and due to devastation and war there was considerable inflation. Frequent tariff changes and the inability to supply the postal network with stamps of the required denominations led to periodic revaluations of available stocks in accordance with instructions from the People’s Commissariat of Posts and Telegraphs of the RSFSR, which did not provide for any overprints. However, in some localities certain post offices nevertheless applied overprints to the revalued stamps being sold, or simply wrote on them by hand. All these stamps are characterized by an extremely simple technique of applying the overprints.