The presents for the members of the working group ArGe Baltikum on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the foundation of the group have finally been chosen.

Michael Wienecke and Jaan Roots presented recent acquisitions with special franking and routes from Estonia, some as far as Northern Rhodesia (via Brindisi / Italy). Olaf Hoffmann showed stamps from the 1920 Conference of Baltic Foreign Ministers in Bulduri (German: Bilderlingshof, now a district of Jūrmala) / Latvia, with Thomas Löbbering explaining the history behind them.

Torsten Berndt presented an exciting and still unresolved postal matter, which, however, does not concern a postal institution in the Baltic States, but in Germany: on December 27, 2024, after the Christmas rush, he sent a package of invitations to the to the special postmark office in Berlin, where they were to be cancelled and sent on December 31, 2024, the last day of the 85-cent postage rate for domestic mail and also the last day of use of a certain type of cancellation machine.

However, according to DHL tracking, the package remained in transit for several days and did not reach the special postmark office until January 3, 2025. Questions remain unanswered: will the stamps still be accepted with 85 cents postage (similar to 'from the mailbox')? Will the package be cancelled with the postmark of December 31, 2024 ? Or will it be returned for additional postage? After all, the DHL customer is only entitled to have his item transported, not to have certain deadlines met...

DHL tracking shows that the package (containing the invitations to the general meeting) was left behind the date of the 85-cent postage limit for domestic mail (Dec 31, 2024).

Want to see the solution to the postal delivery thriller live? Then join us for our next video chat!

Our monthly video chat, where anyone with an interest in Baltium philately is welcome, takes place on every first Saturday of the month at 17 h CET (more technical information on this here).

Next date: February 1, 2025

Special theme: none so far (but of course the result of the Berlin odyssey, see text on the left) This email address is being protected from spambots. JavaScript must be activated in order for it to be displayed.

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Members of the Baltic States Study Group can look forward to some special philatelic issues from the group to mark its 10th anniversary! We don't want to give away too much yet, but these special issues will be sent out with BALTIKUM No. 19, which will be published in May. If you want to benefit from this, become a member before then!

Martin Bechstedt presented a number of innovations related to mail from Estonia and Lithuania, such as a new "postage paid" stamp from Tallinn, a date stamp from Rapla that does not have a distinguishing letter but a distinguishing number "1" (there are also some with "2"), or letters from Lithuania that have been reused, some with forged stamps to the detriment of the postal service.

A curiosity is a postmark from the Nurmenuku post office in Estonia, which opened in 2017: For a few days they used "AS NURMENUKU" (a–d) date stamps (i.e. for a joint-stock company), which were then quickly replaced by the usual "NURMENUKU" (a–d) date stamps. Another date stamp 'AS NURMENUKU e' will (according to filateelia.ee since 2019) be in use until 2024, as shown by an existing document! The reason for this is not yet known.

"AS NURMENUKU e" "false" postmark in use for 5 years for a normal Omniva post office that is not an independent joint-stock company = aktsia selts (AS)!

Our monthly video chat, where anyone with an interest in Baltium philately is welcome, takes place on every first Saturday of the month at 17 h CET (more technical information on this here).

Next date: January 4, 2025

Special theme: none so far This email address is being protected from spambots. JavaScript must be activated in order for it to be displayed.

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The first topic of the meeting, which was attended by nine people this time, was the trade fair in Ulm, the results achieved and the results of the survey of the working groups by the BDPh, above all the (current) impossibility of organising a stamp fair in northern Germany similar to those in Ulm or Munich.

Initial ideas for giveaways or items to be purchased to mark the 10th anniversary of the ArGe Baltikum in 2025 were discussed. In addition to motif postcards, individualised stamps were also discussed. Please send any further suggestions to the board!

Thanks to a small dealer at HAFNIA in Copenhagen, the list of rare Estonian 8 centi leopard stamps as single frankings has now been extended to over 10 items.

Finally, Thomas Löbbering reported on the testing of a Rakvere counterfeit using state-of-the-art equipment.

Overprint forgery Rakvere - not a one-off proof!

Our monthly video chat, where anyone with an interest in Baltium philately is welcome, takes place on every first Saturday of the month at 17 h CET (more technical information on this here).

Next date: December 7, 2024

Special theme: none so far This email address is being protected from spambots. JavaScript must be activated in order for it to be displayed.

Join the Zoom meeting with:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85338222428?pwd=WGpZRXJTZVpnSnB6eHg4Ukx2aFVHdz09