First Day Cover of the Kolomea Issue, 1918 (Dec 12): "Ukr. N. R.
10" sot. on 6 h. in a horizontal pair from pos. 6+7 of 25, each
stamp tied
First Day Cover of the Kolomea Issue, 1918 (Dec 12): "Ukr. N. R.
10" sot. on 6 h. in a horizontal pair from pos. 6+7 of 25, each
stamp tied by bilingual "KOLOMYIA 1 / KOLOMEA 1" datestamp, on
cover directed to Ivan Cherniavsky at the district court in
Kolomiya, a most exceptional usage of this adhesive with a minute
print run of 452 examples only, on the first day of usage a bijou
for a high-end collection of Western Ukraine, signed Bulat. Note:
After the Polish seizure of Lviv in November 1918, the Authorities
of the Western Ukrainian National Republic were evacuated further
east, first to Ternopil, then to Stanyslaviv. The main post office
in the Pokutia region in Kolomyia lost contact with central
authorities and run out of stamps. On a conference on December 5,
1918 the District Commandant, Capt. Prymak, the Postmaster Ivasiuk
, and Dr. Ivan Cherniavsky, the Chairman of the District Court in
Kolomyia and a well-known philatelist decided to overprint local
stocks of Austrian stamps. These Kolomea overprints were done on
December 10 by the printing shop of Wilhelm Brauner and on December
12, they came into postal use. What a swift organisation.
Provenance: Collections Ivan Cherniavsky and Georg von Steiden
