Postage Stamps of the Belarus National Republic (BNR)

Comments of the British Society for Russian Philately Regarding the 3 BNR Postage Stamps

"First off, the 5 [rouble] value issue showing a peasant couple although ascribed to White Russia [Belarus] and having the initials 'BHP' [BNR] is a semi-official production for the army of General Bulak-Balakhowitch. These are common stamps and are frequently found forged (4 types at least). [Note: General B-B changed sides several times during the Civil War.]"

"As you see, the 'peasant' stamps which I knew of are common, but have been forged. Copies of the stamps and some of the forgeries should be easy to find unused. Examples of any of these on envelopes would be rare, I would think as they were never officially used. There may be some forged envelopes, but this is unlikely as forgers often try to replicate reality, and in this case there was no reality!"

"According to the Stanley Gibbons catalogue 'Stamps in this type, values 5, 120, 15, 50k and 1r were prepared for use by a force (army) raised by Gen. Bulak-Balakhovitch in 1920. We have never seen genuinely used copies and have no evidence of their issue' -- for postal purposes, that is."







"The more interesting issue is a set of three stamps: Upright 2 R showing Dr Skaryna in brown, upright 3 R showing the 'Pahonia' (mounted rider symbol of Lithuania & Belarus) in red and blue, and a horizontal '5 R' showing a man ploughing in yellow and blue." [Note: stamp with man ploughing not shown.]

"These were ordered by the Belarusian Red Cross Society and the printing took place in Kaunas (Lithuania) in 1921. These stamps exist with and without perforations and I know of no forgeries. Two thousand of each value were prepared half imperforate."

"The Red Cross stamps must be much more scarce if only 2000 of each were produced. That is an incredibly small number, whether the were intended for 'postal' use, or just as fund-raisers."

Source: Members of the British Society for Russian Philately. The society has a section on Anatoly Kiryushkin's Nestor Web site British Society for Russian Philately

Note: Copies of the postage stamps are from Byelorussian Statehood: Reader and Bibliography, edited by Vitaut Kipel and Zora Kipel (1988), pages 204, 244, and 302.