Latvia
Wednesday, December 18, 1918.
Imperforate, no watermark, lithography.
Printed by A. Schnakenberg in Riga.
| Description | # printed | Scott # |
|---|---|---|
| 5 kopek carmine, imperforate | 2,725,968 | 1 |
| 5 kopek carmine, perforated 11½ | 2 |
Latvia declared independence on November 18, 1918 and the postal administration began operating in early December 1918. On December 17 the first stamps of the Latvian Republic were delivered from the printer.
The exact distribution between imperforate and perforated stamps is unknown, but imperforate stamps are more common than perforated. Some experts believe they were produced at the same time, some say the perforated stamps were produced first. The reason for the imperforate stamps would then be that the perforation device broke. However, evidence also suggest that perforated and imperforate stamps were delivered simultaneously.
Unfinished German military maps were used as the source of paper for these stamps. These maps were the only good source of high quality paper in Latvia after World War I. There was such an abundance of these maps that they were even used to wrap fish.
The sheets have 228 stamps in 12 rows of 19 stamps. This layout was optimized for the printing sheets, i.e. the maps. The shortage of paper necessitated such optimizations.
Some disagreement exist regarding how many different maps were used in the production of stamps. The Germans had apparently printed around 467 different maps. It is thought that between 65 and 79 different kinds of maps were used in the production of stamps. You'd need to consult the experts for more up to date and accurate information.
You will want to visit Bill Apsit's Latvian Collecting if you want more information.
The monetary situation in Latvia around World War I is very confusing. You can get more information if you read the Monetary History of Latvia.
This page was last modified on Thursday, 01-Jan-2004 11:55:55 PST