Tuva is a small region bordering Siberia and Mongolia in the geographic center of Asia. The people are Buddhist Mongols, and to this day their affiliation is to Russia. The Commissars Extraordinary did their job. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Since the stamps were designed to sell far away to collectors, care was taken to draw in the collector. The Mongol language was included on the stamps, but also English, so young collectors knew what they were looking at. The subject matter was also views of local life, at least how it was viewed by the printers in Moscow. However compared to many topical third world offerings of the recent past, it seems to me quite quaint. There is some question as to whether the offerings were legitimate. Most catalogs recognize them as the stamps were legal for postage in Tuva, and there are examples used as such.
Todays stamp is issue A20, a one Kopek stamp issued by the Tuvan Peoples Republic in April 1934. The stamp displays a horse mounted hunter. The stamp includes the inscription “registered” in English, but was for regular postage. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $1.50 mint.
Tannu Tuva was an semi independent country from 1921 through 1944. The Mongol people are of the Tuva tribe and the area lies in the Tannu mountains. During the 19th century, the place changed it’s affiliation to Imperial Russia after previously being affiliated with Mongolia. Mongolia itself at the time was a vassal state of Chinese Manchuria.
In the chaos after the 1917 revolutions in Russia, Tannu Tuva declared itself independent. Since the independence leaders were Bolshevik, there was Russian support. Only the Soviet Union and Mongolia recognized Tannu Tuva’s independence, but this has more to do with remoteness than illegitimacy. Tannu Tuva did begin appearing on world maps.
There was then some intrigue. The first Prime Minister, Donduk Kuular, changed political parties and declared the widely practiced Buddhism the state religion and sought closer ties to Mongolia. This angered Soviet leader Stalin who declared 5 Russian educated Tuvans, “Commissars Extraordinary” and had then return home. Quickly there was a coup and Kuular was removed from office, arrested, and executed. The new commissars purged the government but the country remained itinerant Buddhists and not industrialized. In 1944 at the extraordinary commissar’s request, the country was annexed by the Soviet Union as the Tuvan Autonomous Oblast.
The idea for issuing stamps came from Hungarian Bela Szekula. He approached the Soviet Union with the idea. He had previously been involved with a fraudulent stamp issue from Ethiopia. The stamps were printed in Moscow and generated foreign exchange for the Soviet Union. The stamp issues stopped in 1944 and they now use the Russian postal system. In the 1990s and 2000s there were fraudulent Tannu Tuva stamps featuring such topicals as Bart Simpson and the band Led Zeppelin. No catalog recognizes these issues.
Tuvan people are fairly unique by being Turkic but also Buddhist. There share this trait only with the “yellow Uyghurs” of China. The country has been about a third Russian but over the last 20 years Russian numbers have declined. The current leader appointed by President Putin is a former wrestler.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another and salute the 4 Extraordinary Commissars, for coming in and fixing everything. Who knew things could be that simple. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.