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You are here: Home / Provisional Postmarks / Švėkšna 1919-1920

Švėkšna 1919-1920

March 27, 2011 By Vytautas Doniela

Švėkšna is a township in western Žemaitija, ca. 40 km south-east of Klaipėda (Memel) and close to the border of what was Memelgebiet. In World War One, when the German forces launched a drive into Žemaitija and Courland, Švėkšna was passed through the very same day, April 27, 1915, by units of 6. Reserve-Division.

After the German army withdrew from Russia at the end of 1918 and the Red Army was halted some distance off, Švėkšna was not affected by hostilities and was able to form effective local self-administration.

In the czarist period, Švėkšna had had a post office (Shvekshni) but none during the German occupation. A mandate, as įgaliotinis, to open a Lithuanian post office was issued to Endrius Klumbis as from May 1, 1919. He stayed on as postmaster at least in 1920.

For stamps, Švėkšna was supplied with Fourth Berlin Issue, the Sėjėjas Issue etc. Early cancelling was done in manuscript, indicating place and date.

Early registration was effected by pasting on a plain cut-out label with the name of the P.O. and just the serial number.

Later, after a standard registration cachet had been received, it was used for cancelling as well.

A standard calendar-type postmarker was provided in the second half of 1920.

Known provisional markings

Cancelling by MS place and date:
26 – 9 – [1919] single, Berlin IV 30 [colln. Liesis]

Registration by a cut-out label:
90 25 – VII -1919 cover to Kaunas, Berlin IV 30 x2 [colln. Doniela]

Cancelling by boxed R-cachet:
No date pair, Berlin IV 30 [colln. Liesis]
No date pair, Berlin IV 30 [colln. Doniela]

Filed Under: Provisional Postmarks Tagged With: provisional cancels, provisional registration, Sveksna

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