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Latvian Philately

Map Stamp - Small town cancels

Latvia map stamps with cancels other than Riga, Jelgava, and Liepāja are scarce, rare, or very rare. We would appreciate scans or photocopies of provisional cancels on map stamps from towns not shown here.

Aizpute

Latvian straight-line negative Aizpute cancel on strip of 4 [German Hasenpoth]. As with Liepāja, the Soviet Latvian forces never occupied Aizpute.

Aizpute used a one-line Russian date cancel in the usual violet ink. In this example, -5. ЯНВ. 1919 [for -5 JAN. 1919]. Examples from February [фЕВ] 1919 are also known.

Ape

Russian language straight-line Ape cancel, ОРЕ Р. Т. КОНТОРА [APE, P. T. KONTORA], squished - or is it another cancel? Most examples of this cancel are much more wide and unblurred. Ape Postal & Telegraph Office. The Soviet Latvian forces occupied Ape [German Hoppenhof] from early 1919 until May 28. In May, after the Latvian forces recaptured the town, its postal authorities used a circular canceller.

Bauska

German straight-line Bauske.; 1.75cm wide; elongated s; various orientations. A similar Latvian straight-line cancel is 2.2cm wide with a normal s. This German cancel was also used by the Soviet Latvian army occupation of Bauska [German Bauske], January 7 to March 19.

Durbe

Latvian straight-line Durbê; very rare. The Soviet Latvian forces did not occupy Durbe [German Durben]. We know of no other recorded example of this provisional cancel on a Latvian map stamp. It is rare on any stamp.

Kuldīga

Latvian Gothic script straight-line Kuldiga. cancel; very rare. The Kuldīga [German Goldingen] post office opened in 1918 on December 18. It was one of the earliest post offices in independent Latvia.

The Latvian double-rectangle KULDIGA. cancel is rare. This example is on a strip of 3 from map S16 Jakobstadt, which is also rare. 

The Soviet Latvian army occupied Kuldīga in 1919 from January 19 to February 19. But it did not use either of these two cancels.The examples shown probably precede the Soviet occupation.

Talsi

  TALSI
a  3.1.19  *
  LATVIA

The provisional Latvian TALSI CDS had a double outer ring. The Soviet Latvian army occupied Talsi [German Talsen] in 1919 from January 4 until March 14, but did not use this cancel.

Tukums

 TUKUMS
    5 4 1
 •   •   a
The Latvian TUKUMS CDS, like many provisional Latvian cancels, does not include the country name. The year of the date on this example, 19, is missing the 9, as usual. This example also shows the usual short underline 2mm beneath each digit of the date. The Soviet Latvian army occupied Tukums [German Tuckum] in 1919 from January 4 to March 15, but did not use this cancel.

Vaiņode

In early 1919 Latvia had not yet changed its orthography, replacing the letter W with V, as this provisional manuscript Wainode cancel shows. The manuscript cancels on single stamps or pairs are generally much smaller, with their letters very close together.

In addition to manuscript cancels, this post office used a provisional Latvian straight-line Wainodê cancel.

The Soviet Latvian army never occupied Vaiņode [German Wainoden].

Valka

German straight-line Walk. In 1918 on December 18 the Soviet Latvian army occupied Valka [German Walk]. In 1919 on February 1 Latvia regained the town and officially opened the post office. Valka is on the border of Latvia and Estonia and most of the town sits on the Estonian side.

[back] to Jelgava and Liepāja cancels [166K]
[back] to First Day and Riga cancels [205K]

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Updated Thursday, 2002-08-15 .