The Hunt is On! Stamps as a Historical Reference.

The Hunt is on!

One of the great personal benefits I get from my stamp collections is the knowledge and history that is revealed with the research one does on any given stamp or philatelic item. Once a week I try & spend a couple of hours sorting through material that I have had for a long time, some have been sitting for over 30 years. Back in my early teens, I used to trade with friends and buy what I could from flea markets etc. Over the past few years I have been finding documents with revenue stamps affixed, many from foreign countries.

It then turns into an investigation or hunt to decipher the contents of the document and determine where the stamp is from, what it was used to pay for etc. It’s like a capsule in time in someone’s life way back. The document shown here I believe is from Bulgaria, Russia or Finland (maybe elsewhere?). I am just not sure.

Many years ago, it would have been very difficult to identify. But today, with the internet & social media, it becomes much easier. So, if anyone reading this can shed some light on the origin & content of the document, I will share it with others in an update. I am not so much concerned with any value of the stamp, but the historical aspect of it. What city was this stamped in? What is the document for? Is it a contract, deed, payment of some kind? This info usually leads me to investigate some more on the city or town & learn some more about it.

Mystery Solved!

The mystery of the above letter has been solved thanks to Alexander from Belarus. The letter is actually a Certificate; it reads as follows:

‘ Year 1894, the 7th of April. This certificate is issued to the Podolian Governorate, of Baltic County over the signature and seal of Savran town petty-bourgeois class Council in favor of Shmul Sucharevich Vingitayn (= full name Шмулю Сухаревич Вингитейну), resident of Savran town to certify that the latter is permitted to leave and freely go to visit different places for a period of 28 days. After termination of the period in case he does not return back, then shall he be subjected to law. Distinctive marks: 35 years old, the height is more than average, hair and eyebrows are black, an oblong nose, stubborn mouth, dark-gray eyes, a hairy chin, the face is faultless. Special mark: left-ear deafness ‘

Member of Council most august Headman Kuzma Slobodanyuk (= full name Кузьма Слободанюк)

Chairman of Council most august S. Chalichenya (= full name C. Ха….)

Historical notes:

The events take place in the Russian Empire on the territory of today’s Ukraine when this territory was a part of the Russian Empire. The certificate is issued to the name of a Jewish individual from Savran town (the surname from the letter implies this, this is a Jewish surname).

The person whom the certificate is issued to, belonged to the so-called petty-bourgeois class, in the Russian Empire. Up to 1917, the people who belonged to the petty-bourgeois class were the ‘lowest-in-rank’ town residents. The class had to pay special taxes, were subjected to both the Conscription (compulsory military service) and Corporal punishment. This ‘petty-bourgeois class’ people were restricted in their right as to the freedom of movement and travel.

Sidenot: the Jewish people were expelled from Europe in the Middle Ages and many of them settled in the Russian Emprire (Note: the present Belarus territory was also part of the Russian Empire) but they were subjected to the so-called Pale of Settlement, so that most of them lived in todays Poland, Belarus, Lithuania and the Ukraine territories.

Interesting References for further Reading:
Burgess

Map of Baltic States

Conscription in the Russian Empire

Podolian Governate

Savran Raion

Pale of Settlement

It seems that this Jewish man was asking for this certificate to temporarily lift the ban on the pale of settlement and freely travel for 28 days to other parts of the Russian Empire, where at normal times, the Jewish people could not. Also, please note that in those times in the Russian Empire, there was such a thing that when a Jewish person took the decision to be baptized and switch to the Russian Orthodox faith, he/she would then become a fully legitimate Russian subject and be entitled to the right of freedom of movement and travel without any restrictions.

I find this to be incredibly interesting historically and hope others enjoy reading this. Never thought it wold lead me here. Philately Rocks!

The other two stamps shown here are both Turkish Revenue stamps, but other than that I have not been able to find anything else about them. Anyone out there that can read the text on the stamps, let me know & I will share it.

Thanks to all in advance & happy hunting!

Marios