VILNIUS UNDER THE RUSSIAN CZARS

Type with ornament

With the circular no. 53 of 12 April 1860 were introduced the new standard-postmarks in whole Russia. These postmarks are -as we see on the card here- one-ring postmarks with the date on three lines: day in arabic numerals, month in cyrillic abbrevation, year in four arabic numerals. The first postmarks in 1860 were made in Berlin: so these postmarks are uniform in size (26 mm) and shape.
With the introduction a regulation ordered that the cancellation of the postage stamps must be done by the number-postmark, and the date-indication by the new one-circle standard-postmark.
The single circle postmarks have only cyrillic letters (only Moscow and St. Petersburg got a double-ring-postmark):
Postcard from Vilnius-serial number 4- ВИЛЬНА (Vilna), in Lithuanian Vilnius, to Brussels (1881). At the top the place name, under it the day, then the month in cyrillic letters, underneath that the year. At the bottom an ornament, posthorns. In smaller places the name of government came in the place of the ornament, but Vilnius (Wilna) was also the capital of the government Wilna and so it held the ornament.

In 'the handbook' - Pašto Antspaudai = Poststempel in Litauen = P.O. Cancels in Lithuania / V. Fugalevičius. - second ed. 1990: of this type with posthorns also is given an image of ВИЛЬНА - 1 and 2, I suppose there must also be 3.
In this book are also images of this type with ornament without number:

• the two oldest, 1861 (month/day/year) and 1862 (day/month/year) single ring with fleuron and ВИЛЬНО
• single circle with fleuron and ВИЛЬНА: 1870, 1873 (different fleurons)
• double circle with fleuron 1874 with ВИЛЬНА
• two (both 1876) single circle postmarks with fleuron ВИЛЬНА (different fleurons)
• ВИЛЬНА 1 and ВИЛЬНА 2 : posthorns below

This picture and all pictures below on this page, if not mentioned otherwise: scanned about 300 dpi. Then set right and cut out, resized 25 % of this image and saved as jpg.

On the other side we see the date written as Julian and Gregorian style: 10/22.VII.81. The difference of 12 days must be added to the Julian to covert to the Gregorian calendar.


In the classification of the EESTI-handbook we see on this card the type 4: with posthorns below.
Thre is also a subdivision: 4A1 name only, 4A2 name and number and 4A2a name, number and indication П. О. So here we are dealing with type 4A2.



The next type on the card here below - without ornament- has more information: type 6 in this handbook, type post office below and gubernia (when given) at top. Here no indication of Gubernia (type 6B).
Type 6 with date in three lines, month in cyrillic: type 6A (with gubernia above) and 6B (without gubernia).




Type without ornament: more information, in EESTI-handbook type 6B

The postmark, resized 50 %.

Postcard from Vilnius-5 to Berlin (1885). At the bottom is now more information:
ПОЧТОВАЯ КОНТОРА (POCHTOVAYA KONTORA = Post office).
Until 1884 this was a type of post office, which served a large town, as Vilnius was, and was under direct control of the Chief Office (Pochtamt) of the postal district.
Other types offices besides the 'Post Office' and 'Chief Postoffice' were: Postal sub-office (Pochtovoe Otdelenie) and Post Station (Pochtovaya Stantsiya).

On the other side of the card we see that the card is written in Wilna on 13 May 1885. This is our Gregorian date. In the postmark above we a great difference: an much earlier date: 29 АПР, the abbrevation for АПРЕЛЬ (APREL = April): 12 days must be added in the period after 28 February through 28 February 1900 to the Julian date for converting it to our Gregorian date.





Postal stationary (envelop with imprinted stamp) 7 kop., but due to the bad financial situation and the devaluating of the Rubel, 8 March 1889 new rates were introduced for mail abroad (in the Asiatic parts of Russia 1 April 1889):
Letters abroad 10 k. per lot (15 gram): so for Leipzig here 10 kop.
Postmark ВИЛЬНА (Vilna)-2 with at the bottom is indicated more information:
ПОЧТ. ТЕЛЕГР. КОНТ. , the abbrevation for ПОЧТОВО-ТЕЛЕГРАФНАЯ КОНТОРА (POCHTOVO-TELEGRAFNAYA KONTORA = Post-Telegraph Office).




Here also is used a postmark ВИЛЬНА (Vilna)-2 with at the bottom is indicated more information, but different from the letter above. Here is the indication ПОЧТОВАЯ КОНТОРА (POCHTOVAYA KONTORA = Post office).


So we can made a subdivision in the postmarks type 6B:

• 6B1: ПОЧТОВАЯ КОНТОРА at the bottom, recorded with serial 1, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10.
• 6B4: ПОЧТ. ТЕЛЕГР. КОНТ. at the bottom, recorded with serial 2, 11, 12, 15, 16.

The type 6B4 is not given in the subdivision of the handbook EESTI. As type 6B2 is classified in EESTI postmarks with the indication П. ОТД. As type 6B3 is classified in EESTI postmarks with the indication ГУБ. ПОЧТ. КОНТ. [GUB. POCHT. KONT.], Gubernia postoffice. These two types are not recorded for Vilnius.

The cover here is also registered. The letter 'R' (recommandée = registered) in a circle is used here: for letters sent abroad . For registered letters inland are postmarks with ЗАКАЗНОЕ [ZAKAZNOE] = registered.


The postage stamp on the other side: 14 kopecks, the rate in for a registered inland letter. About rates in this time: see the site www.sijtzereurich.com/ postal_rates_Lithuania1.html. In the tabel on this site was for registered inland or international letter the rate 14 kopecks between 20-03-1879 – 08-03-1889.

Postal stationary (envelop with imprinted stamp, Mi., nr U33), 5 February 1891.
Original print size of this image: 14,588 x 8,213 cm (is something more as the postal item).



From Vilnius ВИЛЬНА (Vilna)-12 to Riga. This postmark gives already more information than the early one-ring-postmarks: at the bottom is indicated:
ПОЧТ. ТЕЛЕГР. КОНТ. , the abbrevation for ПОЧТОВО-ТЕЛЕГРАФНАЯ КОНТОРА (POCHTOVO-TELEGRAFNAYA KONTORA = Post-Telegraph Office).
In june 1884 the postal and telegraph departments were united. In the beginning of the telegraph (since 1866) there were scarcely connections between the post and telegraph, but it was too expensive to let it separated.
From june 1884 there were also two new types of offices: the Post-telegraph Office (Pochtovo-Telegrafnaya Kontora), as we have seen here, for a greater city as Vilnius was, and a Post-Telegrapyh Sub-Office (Pochtovo-Telegrafnoe Otdelenie). These offices combined both services: post and telegraph.
The month in the postmark above is still in cyrillic letters and the year remains directly under the month.

The date 11 -I suppose this is 11 July.
Resized 50 %.

Calendar
The Russian Empire used the old Julian calender to February 1918 and when mentioning dates in association with this period I also will do this. For our calendar, which most countries also used in that period, 12 days must be added in the period after 28 February 1800 through 28 February 1900, and 13 days through 28 February 2100.

• The Perpetual Calendar / Toke Norby. - on internet:
  www.norbyhus.dk/ calendar.html

The EESTI-handbook of Hurt and Ojaste is the handbook about Estonia, but the classification of circular date-stamps is also useful for Lithuania in tsarist times. In the book type 1 are the eo-philatelic and type 2 the numeral dot .
The first groups of circular date-stamps are:

• fleuron types (handbook type 3)
• posthorn types (handbook type 4)
• gubernia below (handbook type 5), not recorded for Vilnius
• type post office below and gubernia (when given) at top. (handbook type 6)

Type 6: gubernia (when given) at top and the type post office below. Here we can distinguish date in three lines, month in letters, with gubernia (type 6A), same type but no indication of Gubernia (type 6B).
Type 6 with month in numerals is type 6C (with gubernia) and 6D (without gubernia), the 'cross-date'-types.
EESTI = Estonia : philately & postal history handbook catalogue = Estland : Philatelie & Postgeschichte Handbuch Katalog / Vambola Hurt, Elmar Ojaste. - 1986 . - 767 p.. - With supplement 1988

The postmark, resized 50%.

The registered mail of Russia (1872-1917) : Part 1 / Lev Ratner In: BJRP 2001 ; 86. - p. 4-17
The registered mail of Russia (1872-1917) : Part 2 / Lev Ratner In: BJRP 2001 ; 87. - p. 5-19

Postmark, resized 50 %.