The articles about value letters from Estonia and Latvia in BALTIKUM No. 20 / 2025 encouraged Michael Wieneke to look for value letters from Lithuania in his collections. And lo and behold, he found what he was looking for:

Here is an example: Registered letter from September 1939 to the Netherlands, weight 17 g, value: 7,500 litas = 3,750 gold francs.

The letter is franked with 14.45 litas. For a letter in the first weight category, the postage is 0.60 litas for the letter + 0.60 litas for registered mail. For the insured value of 7,500 litas, 12.45 litas (0.25 litas per 100 litas insured value) was charged. It is unclear whether the remaining postage was for the sealing wax and sealing. No literature on this was available.

The website of the late fellow collector Sijtze Reurich from the Netherlands is offline; ArGe Baltikum will endeavour to obtain the information on postage rates collected there.

To continue Wolfgang Strobel's stamp numbering system for displaced persons mail from the British Zone, Friedhelm Doell was recommended to define his own numbering system (with reference to Strobel's numbering system).

Olaf Hoffmann showed some special new acquisitions, including West Army overprints and documents relating to the German occupation of Latvia during the Second World War. A postal stationery item with 1,000 kopecks = 10 roubles handstamp value imprints from September 1991 for an international letter to the USA shows the rapidly rising postage rates in Latvia after regaining independence and before the introduction of its own currency.

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

Next date: exceptionally postponed to the second Saturday of the month, March 14, 2025 at 17 h CET, due to Philatelia Munich.

Special theme: among other things, Olaf Hoffmann will report on the World Stamp Show in Dubai (February 4–6, 2026).

Join the Zoom meeting with:
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After a pleasant New Year's chat, Olaf Hoffmann showed us some of his new acquisitions. In addition to a document from a place with a direct family connection (which will be published in the future), a letter from the Swiss Consulate General in Riga to Switzerland was of particular interest. According to official sources, there was a consulate in Riga until 1940 (but no consulate general). However, the stamp on the back proves that there was one.

Letter typed at the Swiss Consulate General in Riga on November 3, 1938, with the sender's stamp on the back.

Friedhelm Doell showed some bank letters from Estonia. The Estonian state bank, Eesti Pank, had the privilege of free postage within the country, as did other state authorities, but had to keep a list of the letters, whose numbers had to be written in the bottom left-hand corner of the front of the envelope. However, every letter sent abroad by Eesti Pank had to be stamped.

Unlike Eesti Pank, other banks had to pay postage for every letter, even domestic ones.

Letter from Eesti Pank dated August 21, 1928, following the currency conversion from mark and penni to kroon and senti, to the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, and specifically to the library of the Board of Governors, the seven-member executive committee. This is located in Washington D.C.; despite the incorrect spelling of the place name (with a "German-style sch") and the missing country name, the letter arrived safely.

The stock market prices quoted in Tallinn were regularly sent to other national banks and documented there. As these prices were sent out frequently, they were printed, as evidenced by their dispatch as printed matter ("Trükitöö").

Our monthly video chat, where anyone with an interest in Baltic 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 7, 2026

Special theme: none so far

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After providing information about the completed BALTIKUM 20, which is currently being printed, Olaf Hoffmann showed some postmarks that had fallen into private hands when a post office was closed down (see picture).

Privately offered stamp from Schrozberg (near Bad Mergentheim, Germany) – stamps can no longer be verified as their contemporary use cannot be proven!

The differences between US experts recognised by the American Association and BPP examiners were explained on the basis of the required test collection and the equipment inventory to be presented for approval.

Several letters from the Baltic countries were displayed, including the postcard pictured here, sent from Mõisaküla (Estonia) to Nizhny Novgorod (Soviet Union, known as Gorky 1932–1990) in 1931.

The linguistic mix is particularly interesting: the sender's stamp of a member of the international collectors' association ‘Liechtenstein’ is in German (the Eisenbahnsägerei = railway sawmill was probably the departement that manufactured railway sleepers and buildings) with the Estonian country name and address in Russian.

Postcard to Nizhny Novgorod

Questions regarding a document from the Courland kettle could only be answered by consulting the expert Wilhelm van Loo, whose book on "Postal Traffic in Courland (1944–1945)" (see also the bibliography on this website under "Handbooks Latvia") is considered to be the relevant specialist literature.

Our monthly video chat, where anyone with an interest in Baltic 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 3, 2026

Special theme: none so far

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