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The British Journal of Russian Philately 78 JUNE 1995 ISSN 0950 -575X The British Journal of Russian Philately 78 EDITOR : I. STEYN 1995 Page 3 Editorial: philatelic wallflowers 4 Obituary: Gordon H. Torrey Gary Combs 5 Przedb6rz revisited A.T. Blunt 13 PSB and Control stamps of Imperial Russia: postal use Alexander Epstein 36 The Amur Railway - some new postmark discoveries P.E. Robinson 40 Current events in the F .S. U. Ivo Steyn 46 Ukraine: the Tridents of Kiev, Lvov and Chernigov Ivo Steyn 50 Reviews Opinions expressed by the contributors are their own and not necessarily those of the Editor or the Society JOURNAL OF THE BRITISH SOCIEIT OF RUSSIAN PHILATELY Back Numbers of the Journal are available from the Treasurer ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION£ 10 (US$ 20) Subscriptions due on 1 January Design: H. Turner ISSN 0950-575x All rights reserved The British Soci~ty of Russian Philately A Society founded in 1936 to study Philatelic and Postal Matters connected with Past and Present Russia Affiliated to the British Philatelic Federation PRESIDENT : G. Miskin SECRETARY N.J.D. Ames, Ashton House, Ashton Keynes, Wilts SN6 6NX LIBRARIAN I AUCTION SECRETARY G. Henderson, c/o CBD Research Ltd., 15 Wickham Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 7NL EDITOR I.J. Steyn, Postbus 16636, 1001 RC Amsterdam, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] TREASURER A. T. Blunt, Riber House, 13 Auden Close, Osbaston, Monmouth, Gwent NP5 3NW EXCHANGE PACKET SECRETARY J.B. Holland, 138 Kirkway, Alkrington, Middleton, Manchester M24 1LN PRESS & INFORMATION OFFICER Rev. L.L. Tann, 61 Wheeleys Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 21L MEMBERS OF THE COMMJ'ITEE ARE Ex officio, the President, the Officers of the Society and Dr W.C. Stoten, D. Udovicic, J.G. Moyes and L. 1iller MEMBERS OF THE EXPERTISING COMMJ'ITEE ARE Dr. R. Casey, Messrs. N.J.D. Ames, E.G. Peel & P. Walker The Secretary to the BSRP Expertising Committee is E.G. Peel, 41 Norwood Drive, Ha"ow, Middx HA2 7PF ALL OFFICES ARE HONORARY APPOINI'MENI'S Editorial: philatelic wallflowers As an editor, one gets a slightly distorted view of philately. The subject which generate many articles give the impression of being the most popular subjects for collecting, while other subjects rarely become the subject of articles and are therefore easily dismissed as "unpopular". This is a distorted view of things, because the fact that mnay articles are written about a certain subject may simply mean that the subject has a few dedicated but productive adherents, while the less-frequently publicised subjects are perhaps collected passionately by a large number of people who, unfortunately, seldom write articles. Apart from actually conducting a poll among our members, there seems to be only one way to find out if certain subjects, about which very few articles are written nowadays, are still collected: prod their collectors to write articles. I therefore present, as an open challenge, the following (selective and incomplete!) list of subject which cry out for an article or two. 1. Imperial postal stationen Apart from Alexander Epstein's article on the Kerensky postcards, Imperial postal stationery hasn't been the subject of an article in the BJRP for decades. In fact, the last article of any substance on the subject that I can recall was published during the Fifties! Surely there must be something interesting to report about these attractive items? Incidentally, the same goes for the postal stationery of the USSR. 2. Postal cachets Oh yes, registration labels and cachets have received quite a bit of attention, but what about all those other cachets that the post office saw fit to put onto an item of mail? "Addressee not at home", "Found in the mailbox", "Inexplicably delayed by six months" and so on. A difficult subject, but one which cries out for some research. Both the Imperial and Soviet periods have certainly generated enough of these markings. 3. Regional studies This is a style of article that seems to flourish only inside the pages of Yamshchik. So I'm jealous! Grab any region that takes your fancy, look at the history, population, postmarks, stamp issues (if any) and anything else that comes to mind. Sterling examples in Yamshchik reviewed the Crimea, the Volga German colonies and Moldavia. 4. Soviet postmarks Reams of paper have been filled with sage articles on various Imperial postmarks, but the postmarks of the Soviet Union have been all but ignored. The period prior to the introduction of the standard single-ring postmarks around 1939 spawned a dazzling variety of postmarks, at least as diverse and interesting as the postmarks of the late Imperial period. Surely there are dozens of articles here, waiting to be written. 5. Some stamp issues The glamorous 1913 Romanov issue and the ubiquitous 1908-1920 Arms issue have had whole books dedicated to them, and an uncountable number of articles, but there are many Imperial stamp issues which are still waiting for a good review. The last non-thunderbolt issue (1883-1888) comes to mind as do those splendid high values of 1906. The early Soviet period still has many stamp issues which need to be examined carefully, and even the familiar Small Head definitives could probably stand more expert attention. And there are many more possibilities. 6. Everything else Yes, I admit it, I'll happily publish articles on any other subject as well, no matter how over­ publicised the subject is! I'm not proud ... Seriously, think about it. When you go through any bibliography (the Cumulative Subject Index or the Rossica Library Subject Index) you'll be shocked to see how little has been published on certain subjects. Roll up your sleeves ... THE BRITISH JOURNAL OF RUSSIAN PHILATELY 78 3 Obituary: Gordon H. Torrey (1920-1995) Gary Combs On 28 March 1995, the philatelic community lost one of its stalwarts. Dr. Gordon H. Torrey died after a valiant effort on the part of doctors from seratonin syndrome. Dr. Torrey had been ill for years, but continually "bounced" back time after time. We all assumed he would again. Dr. Torrey was President of the Rossica Society of Russian Philately from 1972 until 1992 when he declined to run again due to his medical problems. His guidance and foresight led the Society through some rather turbulent time while increasing the membership by approximately 30%. He was first elected as Vice-President under Kurt Adler in late 1968, following the tragic death of Greg Salisbury and the resignation of then-Treasurer A.N. Lavrov. When Adler resigned in 1972 due to poor health, Dr. Torrey became the President Pro-Tern, and was elected President in 1974. Thus, he was an officer longer than most people in a Society have been members, and he served longer than any other officer, including the founder, Evgenii Arkhangelskii. Less than 15 members remain active in the Rossica Society with membership numbers lower than Dr. Torrey's. His contributions to the Russian philatelic community extended far beyond his administrative duties in Rossica. He figured prominently on the Rossica Expertization Board for many years and was an advisor to the American Philatelic Society. Dr. Torrey wrote numerous articles for various journals and represented the Russian philatelic community at many national and international events. He was the President of the Rossica Washington-Baltimore Chapter, and together with his wife Ann hosted many meetings and guests at his home. It may come as a surprise to some, but Russian philately was not Dr. Torrey's greatest strength. He was first and foremost a Middle East expert, with outstanding collections of Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, etc. His link to Russian philately came through his interest in Russian Offices Abroad, primarily the Levant and China. Dr. Torrey was one of only a few APS judges with extensive knowledge of the Russian area, and many Russian exhibitors got better consideration because of him. His list of accomplishments is long and impressive. He graduated from the University of Oregon (USA) with a master's degree in history, and earned his doctorate of history from the University of Michigan (USA). The author of "Syrian Politics and the Military, 1945 to 1958," he was a Middle East analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency until 1974, when medical problems forced him to retire. He was a professorial lecturer at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (USA), and worked for Christie's as an appraiser for many years. His exhibits were always first class and usually took very high awards whenever and wherever shown. In addition to his offices in Rossica, Dr. Torrey was also President of the Washington Philatelic Society, Treasurer of the Shaybani Society of International Islamic Law, North American Representative for the British Society of Russian Philately, and a member of the American Philatelic Society, China Stamp Society, Military Postal History Society, Postal History Society, and the Royal Philatelic Society of Great Britain. Dr. Torrey was a very engaging, well-educated man, readily sharing his knowledge with newer collectors. Two things were consistent about Dr. Torrey. One did not ask whom he knew or what he knew. It would be much simpler to ask whom or what he did not know. The philatelic library of Dr. Torrey filled many shelves floor to ceiling. The amazing thing was he could, within a matter of minutes, find anything he was looking for. His mind remained razor sharp until his death. 4 THE BRITISH JOURNAL OF RUSSIAN PHILATELY 78 Przedb6rz revisited A.T. Blunt Przedb6rz is a small town on the River Pilica and is situated roughly on a straight line between Warsaw and Krak6w, 80 miles from Krak6w and 120 miles from Warsaw.

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