REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA 1918-1940




MAP 1922






Estonia, part from the map in the Times Atlas 1922.



Detail of the map:Tallinn in the north-west of Estonia and environs



FIRST POSTAGE STAMP, BEGIN OF THE ESTONIAN POST

The declaration of independence of Estonia is dated February 14, 1918. November 10, 1918 Jaan Paska, State Minister, commissioned Hindrek Rikkand to set up a management of the post. Also he was commissioned to take over the main post office in Tallinn from the Germans.


Estonia nr. 1
(jpg-picture resized 50 %)


On November 13, 1918, eight older postal workers formed the management of Eesti Post: the start of the Estonian Post. November 19 the main post office was in operation. There were no stamps, but people had of course to paid: this was noted on the item. Old Russian date-stamps were used or provisional rubber stamps.
Hindrek Rikkand and Eduard Laaban came on november 18 to Bernhard Mäns Printing house: was it possible to print here the first Estonian postage stamp? The leader of the printing office, Rudolf Zero, convinced them that lithography was more suitable for the printing of postage stamps (instead typography) and composed a little original printing-form fot the first stamp. The conclusion was also that it was better to go to an lithography-printing office for the printing: Georg Böau Reljeef-ja Kivitrükikoda in Nômme.


THe first stamps were printed in the period 22-28 November in Nomme and were first sold on subday 24 november in Tallinn and around Tallinn. The sheets: 4 x 100 stamps, lithography, the forerunner of offset printing. Estonia number 1 is a 5 kopek. postage stamp. From July 1, 1926, not longer valid for franking.

  • first printing november 22-28, 1918: 514.00 postage stamps
  • second printing december 11-17, 1918: 509.000 postage stamps
  • third printing march 5-6, 1919: 304.500 postage stamps
  • fourth printing april 2-4, 1919: 614.500 postage stamps

Total is 1.942.000 postge stamps.

The first postage stamp of Estonia is also forged by Jaan Lubi from Viljandi. He has produced forgeries of almost all early stamps of Estonia. Erik Sjôgren has described the forgeries of Jaan Lubi.
More information about this subject:

  • Estland nr 1, de postzegel die Estland op de kaart van Europa plaatste / Elmar Ojaste ; vert. uit het Zweeds Fred Geers. - In: Het Baltische Gebied 2000 ; 36. - p. 8-11. - [=Estonia nr 1 the stamp which set Estonia on the map of Europe. - Article in Dutch language]. - Transl. from: Estland nr 1 : Frimärket som placerade Estland pä Europas karta. - In: Filatelisten : Svensk Filatelistik Tidskrift 1999 ; 10. - p. 617-619



TYPES OF CANCELLATIONS

In the Handbook 'EESTI' you can find a good classification of the Estonian cancellations. The main types are the provisional cancellations (1918-1920) and the double circle postmarks (1919-1944).


The provisional cancellations
According
EESTI
main typestamps former Russian periodA
main typemanuscriptB
main typelocally presumanlyC


single line, capital first letterC1
main typeuniform presumably, single or two or three lineD

The double circle postmarks (1919-1944)
According
EESTI
main typeformer Russian date-stamps:
month in arabic numeral
A


former Russian date-stamps: month in arabic numeral,
between circles also two crosses
A1


former Russian date-stamps: month in arabic numeral,
between circles also six pointed starlets
A3
main typeEstonian double circle date-stamps,
month in Roman numerals
B


Estonian double circle date-stamps,
month in Roman numerals,
also Maltese crosses between circles
B4
main typeEstonian circle date-stamps, introduced the end of 1937,
month in Roman numeralbetween circles code letter and two pentagons
C

Roller cancellers
According
EESTI
..subtypesD1-D9
rectangular date-stamp, month in Roman numeral, wavy linesD5
circular date-stamp, month in Roman numeral, wavy linesD8

Machine cancellations (only in Tallinn)
According
EESTI
..subtypesE1-E4
wavy lines, time shown by 24-hours systemE2