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Telegraph stamps of the World Click here for a site-map.

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RUSSIA.

Steve Hiscocks wrote:
These stamps were sold only in St. Petersburg. The arms of which city they bear, and are thought to have been in use for a period of about two years.
They were available from the Town General Telegraph Office which stayed open until midnight each night. It would seem that few of the un-surcharged
stamps came into hands of the public since this is amongst the rarest of telegraph stamps.
The Russian state telegraph network, (9,000 km in total) was built between 1853 and 1855 by Siemens & Halske.

1866 (22 May) Typographed. White wove paper without watermark. Perf. 11¾
These feature the Arms of St Petersburg and were in sheets of 35 (5 rows of 7). The background frame was 27.5x27.5 mm.

St Petersburg used standard forms for 40 kopek that were good for up to 20 words.
Beyond that, these stamps could be added at 20 kopek for each 10 words.
They could also pay for multiple recipents or a return response.
In 1867 the cost was halved and the stamps were overprinted for 10 kopeks.
The stamps were withdrawn at the end of 1868.
Anyone have an example of one of those forms?

Type 1 (RH1) from Wikimedia Commons. (600dpi)	H1 proof - courtesy of Andrew Farberov. (600dpi, 43% of mint price)

Proofs were stamped "ОБРАЗЕЦЪ" at an angle across several stamps at a time in red across the entire sheet.

RH2 (one of mine, 600dpi). According to Russia catalogues, the overprint was typographed.	*RH2b with shifted overprint - courtesy of Andrew Farberov. (600dpi)

The position of the black printing relative to the brown is variable, even within the same sheet. This is because, whilst the rectangular brown rectangles are reasonably well aligned with each other, the black octagons are not so well aligned.   An example of RH1b with wide selvedge at the top. This width of selvedge was around all sies of the reprinted sheet. Courtesy of Andrew Farberov. (600dpi)

RH # Hisc. Description Mint Used RH1 H1 20 kopeks brown and black 5000.00 - *RH1a -         missing corner 6000.00 - RH1b H1a         imperf. (November 1881 Reprint) 250.00 - *RH1c -         re-perforated reprint (see below) 250.00 - RH2 H2 10k surcharged in red on No. 1 (3.12.67) 500.00 - *RH2a -         missing corner 625.00 - *RH2b -         shifted overprint 625.00 - * I have added these due to the information from Russian sources. Hiscocks added the following note: Note. No. 1(a) is listed by Morley as a genuine stamp but the evidence points                 to its being a reprint. Russian catalogues list a variety of the top-right corner of the last stamp on the top row (position 7). It exists on H1 and H2, but is not known on H1a. Possibly something was stuck to the plate and the plate cleaned before the reprints were made. Image at left courtesy of Andrew Farberov. An example of *RH1c that is described as a reperforated reprint. Image courtesy of Peter Bernard. (600dpi) This is distinctive enough to identify the sheet position (15, first stamp on third row) due to the dot and frame thickening.

How do you recognise a reperforated reprint ?

John Barefoot says "beware imperfs. with forged perforations", but how do you recognise them?

Credit to Peter Bernard, that he describes his stamp as being just that and tells me that he showed it to 'an expert'.
If he had simply offered it for sale as a Russian Telegraph stamp, how much would you have bid?

As you would expect, the best source of information is on Russian websites.
skandinav.eu and stamps.ru have provided the missing information.
The original stamp was produced perforated in 1866 and subsequently overprinted in 1867.
These were Typographed, with the black part printed first, followed by the brown background lines.
In this way, the brown lines are on top of the black, and thus visible.

In 1881 imperforate reprints were made. These were printed in "reverse order", with the brown
background printed first, then the black. Because of this, brown background lines are not visible on the black areas.

Subsequently, people have added perforations to some of the reprints to make them look like the original issue.

This is an image of a rare, if not unique used telegram bearing a 20k stamp. I think it is from a catalogue by Nikolay Mandrovsky, but have been unable to find contact details.
I show it anyway because it is an important item. The copyright holder is invited to get in touch. I would be happy to acknowledge them, with a link to their site. (I would also be happy to get a better image).
Правообладателю предлагается связаться с нами. Я был бы рад поблагодарить их, снабдив ссылкой на их сайт. (Я также был бы рад получить изображение получше).

Later, normal postage stamps were used.

Moscow (МОСКВА)

1 kop, 1 May 1894	1 kop, 1894	4 kop, March 1900?	14 kop, 7 November 1895	18 May 1915 (10k + 1k charity).   St. George is the Patron Saint of Moscow.
Various Moscow cancels courtesy of Gabriel Coutinho.

Depending on the time and place, various formats were used. Abbreviations were common.
С. П. Б. for S. P. B or St. Petersburg. БГ. would otherwise be an abbreviation for "BURG", though there aren't many of them, RussiaTrek lists only three, Saint Petersburg, Ekaterinburg and Orenburg.

Saint Petersburg

A 1 kop. and 14 kop. of the with telegraph cancels of 29.XI.1888 and 11.V.1891 respectively, both used in Saint Petersburg - from RL.

20 kop used in Saint Petersburg, courtesy of Gabriel Coutinho.

4 kop used 1890 in Saint Petersburg, courtesy of Gabriel Coutinho.

2 kop used 1892 in Saint Petersburg, courtesy of Gabriel Coutinho.

The above have "ТЕЛЕГРАФЪ" at the top. The Main (ГЛАВНАЯ) Office though (like Moscow) arranged things differently.

1895 "ГЛА.ТЕЛ.КОНТ"

5 kop, 1898 "ГЛАВНАЯ ТЕЛЕГр.КОНТ"

Images courtesy of Gabriel Coutinho.

Ekaterinburg and Orenburg

A strip of three 3 kopek of the 1909-12 issue, with telegraph cancels of 1910 applied at Екатеринб(ург) or Ekaterinburg, gateway to Siberia, re-named Sverdlovsk in 1924 - from RL.

Ekaterinburg 2kop, courtesy of Gabriel Coutinho de Gusmão.

14 kop used in Orenburg, courtesy of Gabriel Coutinho de Gusmão.

But things are not always as they seem.

 
This is a registered letter from an Attorney in Ekaterinburg to the District Court in Vyatka/Bятка (now Kirov/Киров),
showing the telegraph cancel on the front and the back-stamp. This is dated 22 January 1909.
Though the offices involved may have handled both mail and telegraphs, this was sent by mail.
Images courtesy of Sergey, trading as philocartist on Delcampe.

This is a 10 Ruble stamp used in Vladivostok 24 December 1915 with a punch-hole cancel.

Money Transfer.

This is one possible way in which they were used. These were used to transfer money by Telegraph'. This transferred 1500 Rubles in 1912 from Grajewo (now in Poland) to Rozhysche (now in Ukraine) at a cost of 5 Ruble, 15 kop. Similar to the 10 Ruble above, though smaller, there are punch-holes in each stamp. Image courtesy of Antonio Torres on (click image for Delcampe listing). A similar item, but for a transfer by post in 1914 and without punch-holes, can be seen at POSTAL HISTORY OF LITHUANIA. That was a cheaper method of transfer, though slower. Turkey appears to have used a similar system, though the stamps were sliced rather than punched.

Useful translations: ПЕРЕВОДъ ПО ТЕЛЕГРАФУ - TRANSFER by Telegraph Кому - Whom Куда - Where ОПЛАЧЕНъ - PAID Граево. - Grajewo (town now in north-eastern Poland with 23,302) Служебныя отмѣтки - Service mark РОЖИЩЕ - Rozhysche (now in Ukraine) Роеписка получателя - The receipt of the recipient A very similar unused form can be seen below.

A similar, though dual-use example, this used in Warsaw in December 1912.

At the top it has the option to be Postal or Telegraphic. This is marked "ТЕЛЕГРАФУ". This has an impressed 25kop stamp. I understand that there are similar cards printed in blue with 15kop stamps.     This was used in Warsaw (Варшава) on 15 December 1912 to send 3100 Ruble to     Iskorost (Искорость Вол.), a village in Ukraine. The cost was R9.15, with a pair of 70k, a pair of 25k and a 7Rbl stamp. All stamps got punched, even the impressd 25kop. The 7Rbl got 3 holes. It was cashed in Iskorost on 17 December. Image courtesy of Auktionshaus Klüttermann GmbH

A similar dual-use example, this used postally at "Muravyov-Camp" in June 1907. Printed in blue, no impressed stamps.

ПЕРЕВОДъ (Transfer) at the top of the front, with a choice of telegraphic or postal below. 75kop paid on 20 June 1907 to send 262Rb 15kop from Муравьев-Лагерь (Muravyov-Camp) to Ковно where it was cashed the next day. Large purple "ОПЛАЧЕНъ" (PAID) stamped on the front. (just below the address of the recipient) The back has Служебныя отмѣтки - Service mark, below which is the handstamp of Ковно (Kovno, now Kaunas, Lithuania) and below that is Роеписка получателя - The receipt of the recipient None of the stamps are punched, is that because it was Postal or did the punching come in later years? Images courtesy of Heinrich Koehler Auktionshaus GmbH

Receipts.

A range of receipts were used, some with decorative borders.

St. Petersburg to Leipzig 1899. - From RL

Riga to Leipzig 1901. - From RL

Kiev to Leipzig 1903. - From RL

Moscow to Leipzig 1904. - From RL

Railway Telegraph Receipts.

Telegram receipts were also provided by the Siberian railways.
'ТЕЛЕГРАФЪ СИБИРСКОй ЖЕЛҌЗНОй ДОРОГИ'

Omsk 1911. - Courtesy of Stamps2277 on eBay.

Kainsk, Tomsk Governorate, from Omsk, 1913. - Courtesy of Stamps2277 on eBay.

Kochenevo from Novonikolayevsk (now Novosibirsk), 1913. - Courtesy of Stamps2277 on eBay.
This has an added 'Мѣсто для печати' = 'Just for handstamp'.

This is the back of it:

The same is on the back of the others. - Image courtesy of Stamps2277 on eBay.

Telegram Seals.

This is said to be an Official Post Office letter of 1890 (sorry, I'm rubbish at reading Russian handwriting).




It has a 27 June Circular date stamp saying "СИМБИРСКъ ПOЧT. ТелегР. КОНТ." (Simbirsk Posts [&] Telegraph Control[?]),
and a 28 June CDS which is hard to read but with perhaps "ШУМОВСКАЯ П.С." (Shumovskaya, Ulyanovsk region)
Simbirsk (Симби́рск), is the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin (originally named Ulyanov), Simbirsk was renamed Ulyanovsk in 1924.
Images courtesy of Anatoly of toluki on eBay (click image for listing)..

This is dated June 1897 and has a seal of the Penza post-telegraph administration (ПEHЗEHCKAГO ПOЧTOBO-TEЛEГPAфHAГO OKPУГA.)
again with 'для писемъ' at the bottom meaning 'for letters'.




It is from Penza (Пенза) about 625km Southeast of Moscow (next to Simbirsk, see above) to Karlinskoye (Карлинское) near
Ulyanovsk (Ульяновск, then Simbirsk) about 893km east of Moscow.
Images courtesy of Anatoly of toluki on eBay (click image for listing)..

This item is interesting.



It is for post or telegraph use, 'для писемъ' at the bottom means 'for letters'.
The writing on the left uses obsolete script. The closest I can get is 'Главная Управление' meaning 'Main management'.

In the days of the Russian Empire, seals were provided for places now part of other countries.

This is a similar one to the last, - from RL



it is inscribed 'НАЧАЛЬНИКА КИШИНЕВСКАГО ПОЧТОВО-ТЕЛЕГР.ОКР.' which translates easier as:
'НАЧАЛЬНИКА КИШИНЁВСКАГО ПОЧТОВО-ТЕЛЕГРАФНОГО ОКРУГА' which means:.
CHIEF OF THE CHISINAU POSTAL-TELEGRAPHIC DISTRICT
Chisinau, or Chișinău is the capital city in what is now the Republic of Moldova.

For Brest-Litovsk, now in Belarus.	For Odessa, now in Ukraine.	For Odessa, now in Ukraine.	For Verkhnedneprovsk, now Dnepropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine.

This is another interesting item.



The 'МПС' in the middle stands for Министерство путей сообщения meaning 'Ministry of the Means of Communication',
effectively the Ministry of Railways (founded in 1865). Below that is 'Telegraph' and the wording around the edge
in modern script, 'Казения Железния Дороги' means 'State railways'.
The writing though is rather old-fashioned.

Steve Hiscocks made a start on cataloguing seals of the world in a book he published in 2007.
It was his hope to update it later, but unfortunately that was not to be.
His original book can be viewed at Telegraph Seals: A World Catalogue. There are links from the pages to my updates.

Alternatively you can view the latest page for Russia.

Telegraph Forms.

A delivery form of the 1860's
At the top is a printed impression of a Main (ГЛАВНОЙ) Station seal.

This has no form number, just a signature of the "Вѣрпо" ? - Form 2 probably evolved from this style form.

Form No. 1

Almost certainly this was the sending form.
The top part of a used one is shown above complete with stamp and possibly unique.
I would welcome images of unused sending forms.

Form No. 2

No Coat of Arms until about 1917.

A Form No.2 used in 1909

Printed by A. A. ЛЕВЕНСОНЪ. (Levinson) Москва.

A Form No.2 used in 1912

Hard to read, but printed by Typography [Типографiя].

A Form No.2 used in 1913

Hard to read, but printed by Typography [Типографiя].

A Form No.2 used in 1914. I have another example used in 1909, but with a very unclear imprint.

"Тип, A. Г. Сиркина, Вильна." = Printing house of A. G. Syrkin, Vilna. 

A Form No.2 used in 1915

"Типографiя Фришберга и Подземскаiо, Полтава" = Printing house of Frischberg and ???, Poltava". Poltava is now in Ukraine.

A Form No.2 printed and used in 1917. The style has changed with information added at the bottom.
A big sign saying "Главная телеграфная контора еЪ Петроградь" or "Main telegraphic Office is Petrograd".

"Град" (perhaps Petrograd where it was also Form No. 2 ?) 1917.

A Bi-lingual Form No.2 (with Finnish) used in 1918.

"Ṏflund & Pettersson, Form No. 2."

Form No.2 (probably) used in 1918(probably).
There is no imprint on this and the year is written ambiguously. Best fit is Form 2 used 1918.
Headed "ТЕЛЕГРАФЪ  ВЪ  МОСКОВҌ"

Form No. 3

A Form No.3 used in 1906.
Китайская Восточная желѣзная дорога. (Chinese Eastern Railroad)
This has a purple Czechoslovakian handstamp.

A simple imprint for Китайская Восточная Сер[вис?] Телеграф No 3.

A Form No.3 used in Harbin (Харбин), Heilongjiang province in northeastern China in 1926.
Harbin was the original terminus of the line.
Китайская Восточная железная дорога. (Chinese Eastern Railroad)

The same imprint for Китайская Восточная Сер[вис?] Телеграф No 3.

Form No. 4

A Form No.4 estimated used in 1890 by seal - inside.

Outside with address and seal.

The imprint is really hard to read, but going by the next form is something like :
"Типог. рысуте.т:ва И. Н. Кушнерев и Ко, МОСКОiь.—No 4. " or Printed by I. N. Kushnerev and Co. in Moscow.

A Form No.4 used in 1896 - inside.

Outside with address and seal.

Imprint of "Типографiя т-ва И. Н. КушнеревЪ и К°, СПБ. Ф. N° 4." meaning Tipografiya T-va I. N. Kushnerev and Co., St. Petersburg. F. N° 4.

A Form No.4 used in 1913 in Moscow.

Imprint of "Тип. Ф. БѢликова, Москва, СрѢтенка, СрѢг. туп., 4." meaning Typographed. F. Bolikova, Moscow, [can't make sense of the rest] Probably not Form No. 4.

Form No. 393

A Form No.393 used in 1917 or later (going by seal).

Imprint of "Укрголовлiт Ч. 393|б. Друкарня «Червоний Друк» ВУЦВК’у, Зам. Ч. 154:1 3 м." translates (as Ukrainian) to "Ukrgolovlit part 393 / B. Printing House "Krasny Druk" Vutsvk'u, Deputy part 154: 1 3 m."

Since august 1931 Ukrgolovlit has been the Central administrative board of literature and publishing house in Ukraine.

Form No. 1444

An undated (1932+) Form No. НКС 1444. Н К Связи СССР can be seen at the top-right. Н К Связи stands for Народный комиссариат связи
This means People's Commissariat of Communications which was created in 1932.
Prior to that was People's Commissariat of Posts and Telegraphs, 1923 to 1932.
Before that was the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs of the Provisional Government of Russia (1917 to 1923).

Imprint of "НКС—1444" or "Народный комиссариат связи — 1444"

A Form dated 19 April 1941. Н К Связи СССР can be seen at the top-right again.


Imprint with simply "Телеграф   В "

Form No. TG-12

An undated Form marked. "Ф. ТГ-12" at the top-right. Below that is the Coat of Arms surrounded by "Министерство зв ’ язку урср" or "Ministry of communications of the Ukrainian SSR"
Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1991.

Imprint of "Львiвська обласна книжкова друкарня. 3ам. 163. Тираж 724000X100." or "Lviv regional book printing house. Deputy 163. circulation 724000X100."

Lviv is in western Ukraine.

Form No. TG-17

A Form of 1937 with a Coat of Arms and the words in red "ПРАВИТЕЛЬСТВЕННАЯ / телеграмма" or "GOVERNMENT / Telegram"
This is very similar to the purpose of the later TG-17 form except that it also has "министерство связи ссср" (Ministry of Communications of the USSR) in blue at the top.
This was from Moscow and received in Kiev asking for Botanic Academicians to participate in a meeting.

A Form of 2014 marked. "Ф. ТГ-17" at the top-right. Below that is a Coat of Arms and the words "ПРАВИТЕЛЬСТВЕННАЯ / телеграмма" or "GOVERNMENT / Telegram"
The message is pasted onto the lower part of the form, which has no text, only the red line continuing around.

Greetings Card types

These were intended for special occasions. There were many different images available from different series.
The backs of the cards were marked with the series, "©Министерство связи СССР" (Ministry of Communications USSR), date, the photographer, and at the bottom the year of printing and details including the price 5k
(everything in the Soviet Union had to have the price marked, even the knives, forks and spoons in restaurants to stop profiteering).

 
Printed 15 May 1987 and used 22 May 1989 in Kyiv. The telegram states the series as Серия С2 but it is actually Серия Ж-61.

ЯПК

This to the same person.
 
Printed 17 February 1982 and used 25 May 1989 in Kyiv. The telegram even states the series correctly, Серия Е52.

ТФОП appears to be poorer quality at the same price.

Wire Transfer

At the top "отрѢзной купонъ" = "detachable coupon" and "ПЕРЕВОДЪ по ТЕЛЕГРАФУ" = "WIRE TRANSFER" "на сумму" = "for the amount of" "(Повторить сумму рублей прописью, а копѣйки цифрами)." = "(Repeat the amount of rubles in words, and kopecks in numbers)." "Служебныя отмѣтки" = "Service notes" "Никакихъ помарокъ и поправокъ не допускается" = "No mistakes or amendments are allowed". In the top-right corner there is "Мѣсто для марокъ" = "Just for stamps"

At the top "служебныя отмѢтни" = "Official information". Under that (in handwriting style) is "Росписка полугателя." or "Recipient's receipt.". Under that "Означенную на лицевой сторониљ зточо бокумента сумму получилъ" = "I received the amount indicated on the front of the document" You are required to sign and date it. On the right diagonally is "Письменнаго сообщенiя не дорускается." or "Written messages are not allowed." At center-bottom there is a Logo. "СПБ" is an abbreviation for St. Petersburg. But then it could stand for Советское Почтовое Бюро.

center-bottom    СПБ. П-тъ.

Help would be welcome from anyone that can help add to this.

Comments, criticisms, information or suggestions are always welcome.

Please include the word 'Telegraphs' in the subject.

Last updated 27th. August 2025

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