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South Russia
1918-1920
| Rusian entities | 1a-g |  |
The stamp catalogues' treatment of South Russia is rather a mess. It accounts for 7 entries in the FICC Catalogue
FICC ID |
Entity |
|---|---|
472 |
Don Cossack Republic |
473 |
Crimean Regional Government |
474 |
Kuban Cossack Republic |
479 |
Sochi |
487 |
Donetz |
490 |
Denikin, Special Conference |
512 |
Wrangel, Crimea, Special Conference on South Russian Government |
There is a header page on the old version of this site and that is repeated below.
The next table seeks to align the Scott and Gibbons treatments:
| Scott † | # | Gibbons ‡ | # |
|---|---|---|---|
| Don Govt. (Novocherkassk) Rostov Issue | 1-10 |
CWI/SR / II Don Territory : Cossack Govt. | 25-32 |
| Kuban Govt. Ekaterinodar Issues | 20-49 |
CWI/SR / I Kuban Territory : Cossack Govt. | 1-24 |
| Crimea | 51-59 |
CWI/SR / III Crimea: Regional Govt. and CWI/SR / V Govt. of General Wrangel |
34-35 52-57 |
| Denikin Issue | 61-71a |
CWI/SR / IV Govt. of General Denikin § | 36-51 |
† South Russia has a separate listing in Scott [1 ScS] with this description,
“An area in southern Russia bordering on the Caspian and Black Seas.
A provisional govt. set up and maintained by General Denikin in opposition to the Bolshevik forces in Russia following the downfall of the Empire.
The stamps were used in the field postal service established for carrying on communication between the various armies united in the revolt. These armies included the Don Cossacks and also the neighbouring southern Russian people in favor of the counter-revolution against the Bolsheviks.
”
‡ In Gibbons, these and others are all listed under Russian Civil War Issues / South Russia [2, SGP10] (abbr. CWI/SR). A full list of the CWI issues is given here.
§ For the Denikin issues, Gibbons includes two surcharges on Ukrainian stamps, ("35 K." and "70 K.", SG36-37) and then the run of dedicated issues as Sc71+ (SG38+). Scott lists the surcharges a normal Ukrainian issues, Sc49-50. The two surcharges are listed in the FICC catalogue as the issues for Donetz.
Original entry
| 1918 | |
| October | Don Cossack Republic Issue |
| November | Crimea, General Sulkevich Issue |
| November | Kuban Cossack Republic Issue |
| December | Sochi Issue |
| 1919 | |
| March | Donetz Basin Issue |
| May 2 | Denikin Issue |
| 1920 | |
| August | Crimea, Wrangel Issue |
"South Russia" is a term of convenience, subsuming a number of semi-independent, anti-Communist governments in the southern part of Russia during the Civil War era. It excludes the Ukraine (except as occupied by Volunteer Army forces during 1919), and likewise the Caucasian Republics (Armenia, Azerbaidjan and Georgia).
The "First Issues" which follow were necessitated by the catastrophic inflation of the paper currencies in circulation (in January of 1919, the monthly salary of a mid-level office worker was 100 rubles; by October of the following year in the territory still under White control, it cost 100 rubles to mail an ordinary letter), and by the gradual exhaustion of stocks of higher denomination stamps at offices in the area. With no prospect of resupply from the Bolshevist-occupied north, and literally millions of low denomination stamps on hand which were otherwise completely useless, surcharging these was the only viable expedient.
With the exception of the Kuban Republic issue, none of these replaced formerly used stamps; they were created as suppliments to them, and were used alongside them within the areas they were issued in and for.
A few notes common to most of these issues:
- Beware of forgeries, since most are surcharged.
- Some denominations are very common, but a few a quite rare.
- Many are common in mint condition, but scarce as genuinely used in the mails.
- Genuine covers are rare.
- Most varieties, such as double and triple overprints, were sold directly to the philatelic trade. They are most often printers waste.
The definitive overview account of these, easily available to anyone interested in them, is "The Postal History of South Russia 1917 - 1920 : Issues and Rates" by Alexander Epstein (in "The Postrider," Issue Nr. 47, available from The Canadian Society of Russian Philately).
[The CSRP is no longer active but their archive has been taken over by ROSSICA and issues of Postrider are available from the University of Floida Digital Collections. Issue 47 is available here and the article covers pages 7 to 53.]
All information on this page was generously contributed by Bill Wagner (WSRP, BSRP). He, and he alone, deserves all credit. Any errors in the presentation are solely the responsibility of the webmaster.
Sources: ScS [1], SGP10 [2].
| FI ref: 472, 473, 474, 490, 512 | Page credit: JA/NB |
| Page created 7 May 2016 | Page updated 18 May 2016 |