Estonia
Friday, November 22, 1918.
Imperforate, no watermark, lithography.
Printed by G. Bolau in Nomme.
| Date | Description | # printed | Scott # |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 22, 1918 | 5 kopek pale red | 1,941,427 | 1 |
| November 30, 1918 | 15 kopek bright blue | 3,592,866 | 2 |
About 3,000 of #2, the 15 kopek, were issued perf 11½, mostly taken from
printers waste, resulting in paper folds, smudgy prints and other printing flaws.
This was a trial run for perforated stamps.
Quite often perforated examples of #1 are found, too. Several postmasters had
these sent out to be privately perforated for ease in separating in their own post offices.
Some sources have the issue date as the 24th - but since that was a
Sunday, we chose the more plausible date of Friday 22th.
These stamps were valid until July 1, 1926.
| Date | Description | # printed | Scott # |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 22 - 28, 1918 | 5 kopek, first printing | 514,000 | 1 |
| December 11 - 17, 1918 | 5 kopek, second printing | 509,000 | 1 |
| March 5 - 6, 1919 | 5 kopek, third printing | 304,000 | 1 |
| April 2 - 5, 1919 | 5 kopek, fourth printing | 614,000 | 1 |
The first printing is distinguishable by the fact that it shows through to the back quite clearly. If you look closely you'll notice that the printing is backwards.
| Date | Description | # printed | Scott # |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 30 - December 5, 1918 | 15 kopek, first printing | 504,000 | 2 |
| December 19 - 23, 1918 | 15 kopek, second printing | 508,000 | 2 |
| March 10 - 14, 1919 | 15 kopek, third printing | 509,000 | 2 |
| April 10 - 17, 1919 | 15 kopek, fourth printing | 1,025,000 | 2 |
| June 21 - July 3, 1919 | 15 kopek, fifth printing | 1,052,000 | 2 |
The individual printing numbers appears to be rounded, if the total numbers are correct.
This page was last modified on Monday, 03-Nov-2003 13:57:42 PST