Zemstvo

Zemstvo stamps are Russian Empire local stamps used widely in rural towns from 1865 to 1919. It were named after the Zemstvo local administrative districts created in 1864. According to “Green” catalog (Stamps of the zemstvo posts of Russia, Gurevich), at least 3000 different Zemstvo basic stamps were issued or at least 14000 stamps, including different types, reprints, essay etc.

The first Zemstvo stamp was issued by Verkhnedneprovsk Uyezd on December 1, 1866. In 1864 there were 36 Zemstvo governments with 371 districts and stamps were used in 162 districts (only postage stamps counted, without revenue stamps).

A number of catalogs were produced, but some are incomplete or do not give a full history of the zemstvo stamps. Today new catalogues have started to appear in Russian.