BSRP meeting 22nd June 2002

By Marcus Sherwood-Jenkins

This meeting was well attended and generated a wealth of very different displays. The theme was Ukraine and the other successor states to the Soviet Union, however this was augmented by other displays of the forerunners of Ukraine and the Baltic states which added some depth and allowed comparisons between the situations in 1917/18 and 1991.

The meeting kicked off with an excellent display of Chernigov tridents from Mr Hornby who illustrated all of the types and sub-types together with some dubious items for comparison. I would advise anyone who has any questions about these issues to get in touch as the level of detail and scholarship in this display was first class.

Marcus Sherwood-Jenkins then gave a display of the registration markings of St.Petersburg 1991-2000 showing the transitional markings from Soviet Union to Russian Federation and the range of language combinations, sizes types etc. to be found. Comparison was also made between the central offices and those in outlying districts of the city to show the gradual spread of new types and also the differences caused by local production of handstamps.

This was followed by a complimentary display by Alan Blunt of the transitional markings of Belarus during the early 1990's. Again a wonderful display and a first class example of traditional philatelic research being applied to a modern topic. We will, it is hoped, benefit from Alan's write up in the form of a journal article in the near future and so I will not steal his thunder here.

The clock was then turned back by Derek Lovejoy with a delightful showing of pre-stamp Baltic postal history which was (as usual) very informative and well presented, the occasion was further enhanced by the now familiar dry wit with which his displays are laced.

Staying with the Baltics we then moved forward in time aboard the TPO's of the region, from their inception to their final demise in the mid to late 1990's. This was a most interesting display and provoked much discussion about the intricacies of mail handling aboard the TPO's and the jurisdictional issues as they crossed international borders.

Marcus then stepped up again with another modern selection from the Russian Federation, this time a study of the airmail etiquettes in use in Moscow and St.Petersburg 1991-2000. Following the pattern of the registration marks study, this illustrated all facets of the transition from Soviet formats and also some of the hangovers from that period.

We were then treated to a display by George Murdoch who showed some of the provisional stamp issues of the 1990's grouped according to their classification as officially sanctioned, semi-official, unofficial but accepted for postage, philatelic, and bogus.

Finally Marcus made another offering, this time of the hand-stamped upratings of the Ukraine in the 1990's. This exhibit provided a glimpse into the complexity of this area and was accompanied by a selection of well executed pen and ink illustrations of a number of the more elaborate markings.

One of the really great aspects of this meeting was the discussions that many of the exhibits engendered. The quality of the displays and the level of research and variety clearly demonstrated that the 1990's has the makings of a future classic period with little actually widely known and therefore much to study. There was also a lively little bourse going on in the intervals with transactions ranging from 20p to several hundred pounds, suffice to say that both vendors and purchasers went home happy.

© 2002 the BSRP