363 / September 2016

Caritas issue of 1937, 25s., water color design by Axel Roosman, 42x53,5mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Valga. "Hairy" Caritas heart with 1 flame, tilted to the left and with short strokes at the top. Partially asymmetric design, with the Caritas heart slanted to the left as in pencil drawing AK-3A. "1937" is in the same font as on the 25S postage stamp of 1937 and the value inscriptions "25" are in a related style. The coat of arms on this watercolor design AK-8D and on the 25S postage stamp have an extra surrounding line. The partially crosscut flower bud in AK-8D by Roosman reappears in Reindorff's AK-17A, AK-18A, 18B, 18C and 18D and subsequently on the four postage stamps of 1939.

Caritas issue of 1937, 15s., water color design by Axel Roosman, 41x51,5mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Rakvere. Caritas heart with 3 flames. The water stain is already pictured in Eesti Filatelist No.30 (1984), p.8. In the design sequence this water color design AK-8C is based upon the pencil drawing AK-4C. In this water color design AK-8C the value inscriptions were changed from "25" to "15", the issue year "1937" was added, EESTI POST was placed above CARITAS and the EESTI POST ribbon was slightly changed.

Caritas issue of 1937, 50s., water color design by Axel Roosman, 43,5x53,5mm, on perforated cardboard. Old Russian-era coat of arms of Fellin (Viljandi). The coat of arms motive of the Caritas postage stamps may have its origin in Russian times, as shown by the old arms of Viljandi on Russian charity label No.9 of 1916 (H/O p.251). Caritas heart with 1 flame. In the design sequence this water color design AK-9A is based on pencil drawing AK-5C. "EESTI POST" and the issue year "1937" were added in AK-9A and the value inscriptions were changed from "25" to "50". The two rosettes at the top were used slightly modified on the 50S postage stamp of 1937.

Caritas issue of 1936, 50s., water color design by Axel Roosman, 42x52mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Tallinn. Caritas heart with 3 flames. Correction marks in pencil: "POST" at the right of "EESTI", to place EESTI POST onto a single line, and "19" and "36" above the value tablets, to indicate the issue year. No ribbons. 3 different colors were used in the design.

Caritas issue of 1937, 50s., water color design by Axel Roosman, 42x52,5mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Viljandi. Caritas heart with 1 flame. This is the only design by Roosman indicating the issue year "1936". The corresponding 50S postage stamp, however, indicates "1937" and was issued in 1937. No value tablets. The 5 dots inside the coat of arms do not touch the outer circle. In both the water color design AK-9C and the 50S postage stamp of 1937 the text "CARITAS" is in the same font and is not placed inside a ribbon.

Caritas issue of 1937, 50s., water color design by Axel Roosman, 42,5x54mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Viljandi. Caritas heart with 1 flame. Ornamental lines as in water color design AK-9A, which were not used for the more simplified design of the 50S postage stamp of 1937. Coat of arms similar to the 50S postage stamp of 1937, with 5 dots inside the coat of arms touching the outer circle.

Caritas issue of 1937, 10s., final pencil drawing by Axel Roosman, 43x55mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Paide. Caritas heart with 1 flame. The EESTI POST ribbon has horizontal stripes at the left and right, like the 10S postage stamp of 1937. The conspicuously tilted placement on the album page shows that the designs by Roosman were submitted as individual perforate cardboards and only lateron affixed to a page in the Alexander-Koenig Album. This is also confirmed by the hand-written comment "In den Abbum" (=in the album) on the comment sheet attached to the back of the presentation carton AK-19. The water color designs by Reindorff, on the other hand, were submitted already carefully and equidistantly pasted onto the presentation carton.

Caritas issue of 1937, 15s., final pencil drawing by Axel Roosman, 43x56mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Rakvere. Caritas heart with 1 flame. The outer line of the left value tablet is partially broken. In the 15S printed essay of 1937 this outer line is completely broken, showing that the printed essays of 1937 were produced from the 4 final pencil drawings AK-10A thru AK-10D. In the final pencil drawing, and also in the subsequent 15S printed essay of 1937, the EESTI POST ribbon has no horizontal stripes at the left and right. The 15S postage stamp of 1937, in contrast, has an EESTI POST ribbon with horizontal stripes at both sides.

Caritas issue of 1937, 25s., final pencil drawing by Axel Roosman, 43x55mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Valga. Caritas heart with 1 long flame. In the final pencil drawing, and also in the subsequent 25S printed essay of 1937, the EESTI POST ribbon has no horizontal stripes at the left and right. The 25S postage stamp of 1937, in contrast, has an EESTI POST ribbon with horizontal stripes at both sides. In the design sequence this final pencil drawing AK-10C is preceded by water color design AK-8D, but only a few design elements of the water color design were used in the final pencil drawing AK-10C: "1937" appears in the same font and the value inscriptions "25" are in a related style. Both designs have an extra surrounding line around the coat of arms. The earlier design AK-8D still has 2 value tablets, in the final pencil drawing the value inscriptions are not inside value tablets. The 25S postage stamp of 1937 is the only postage stamp designed by Roosman without value tablets.

Caritas issue of 1937, 50s., final pencil drawing by Axel Roosman, 43x55mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Viljandi. Caritas heart with 1 flame. Design nearly identical to the 50S postage stamp of 1937, which has a relatively smaller "+" sign.

4 printed essays of the Caritas issue of 1937, submitted to Alexander Koenig 10S, 15S, 25S and 50S. The design of the printed essays of 1937 is nearly identical to the final pencil drawings AK-10A thru AK10-D. The only major difference can be found in the outer line of the left value tablet of the 15S, which is only partially broken in pencil drawing AK-10B, but completely broken in the printed essay. This partially broken line was probably made completely broken during the preparation of the cliché of the essay. This progressively broken line shows that the printed essays of 1937 were produced from the final pencil drawings AK-10A thru AK-10D. This error was corrected on the 15S postage stamp of 1937, which shows a closed left value tablet. The four printed essays here were submitted to Alexander Koenig and can be distinguished from other non-submitted printed essays by the specifics of their line perforation and separation, for example the long tooth at the bottom of the 25S printed essay. The teeth of the four printed essays in the Alexander-Koenig Album are specific to each essay and are also shown in Eesti Filatelist (No.30, 1984, p.16); the essays were described there as "Endgültige Entwürfe". The four printed essays were assigned in H/O (1986, pp.152-153) the catalog sub-numbers G:2, with the descriptions "Essay, final design/Endgültige Vorlage". The ends of the EESTI POST ribbon on the 15S and 25S printed essays of 1937 are not yet filled with horizontal lines, in contrast to the 15S and 25S postage stamps. The printed essays of 1937 are very rare.

Caritas issue of 1936, 50s., pencil drawing by Axel Roosman, 42x53mm, on transparent tracing-paper The only artist's design in the Alexander-Koenig Album not on perforated cardboard. Arms of Haapsalu. The Caritas heart with 3 flames identifies this drawing as an early design by Roosman, probably for the 25S postage stamp of 1936, before Tartu instead of Haapsalu was selected for the issue of 1936. The 25S postage stamp of 1938, showing the arms of Haapsalu, was designed by Sidorow two years leater. The top half of the EESTI POST ribbon in AK-12A is similar to the CARITAS ribbon in the 25S printed essay of 1936. This pencil drawing AK-12A is similar to the pencil drawing AK-1C on perforated cardboard, but has the value inscriptions "50", a mesh of horizontal and vertical lines and larger bricks in the castle. Another pencil drawing, AK-3D, also has a drawn mesh of horizontal and vertical lines.

Caritas issue of 1938, 10s., initial pencil drawing by Mihail Sidorov, 43x53mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Paldiski. The "+" sign, representing the charity surcharge for Ühisabi, is positioned in the center, the coat of arms is positioned beneath. The Caritas heart is positioned inconspicuously in the top right corner. The coats of arms of the initial designs AK-13A thru AK-13D are smaller than on the final designs.

Caritas issue of 1938, 15s., initial pencil drawing by Mihail Sidorov, 41x52,5mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Võru. Value inscriptions at the top. The initial pencil drawing AK-13B shows a ribbon with a "+" sign in the middle. This ribbon was replaced in the final pencil drawing AK-14B by two columns at the left and right and the empty background of the initial pencil drawing was filled with horizontal lines.

Caritas issue of 1938, 25s., initial pencil drawing by Mihail Sidorov, 42x51,5mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Haapsalu. CARITAS and "1938" are positioned vertically. The shield is pointed at the bottom; the EESTI POST inscription is pointed at the top. Oak leaves, a favorite ornament of Roosman, and acorns under the shield. The final pencil drawing by Sidorov, AK-14C, does not show oak leaves. The value inscriptions "25" are placed inconspicuously at the top. The "+"sign is inside a quatrefoil, similar to AK-13C and to the 10S and 25S postage stamps of 1940 designed by Reindorff.

Caritas issue of 1938, 50s., initial pencil drawing by Mihail Sidorov, 42x52mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Kuressaare. The CARITAS ribbon in the initial drawing AK-13D was changed in the final drawing to a frame. The coat of arms of the initial drawing shows an eagle, which was omitted in the final drawing.but is shown again in the 50S postage stamp of 1938.

Caritas issue of 1938, 10s., final pencil drawing by Mihail Sidorov, 42x53mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Paldiski. Value inscriptions without a "+"sign at the top. The inscriptions EESTI POST and CARITAS are in a smaller font than on the 10S printed essay. "19" and "38" are placed in the final drawing AK-14A into the left and right ovals, while in the 10S printed essay "1938" is placed into the left oval and the right oval contains the Caritas heart.

Caritas issue of 1938, 15s., final pencil drawing by Mihail Sidorov, 41,5x52mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Võru. Value inscriptions near the bottom. In the final pencil drawing AK-14B the tree was filled with vertical lines, which were replaced on the 15S printed essay of 1938 with strokes forming tree branches. The leaves around the columns on the left and right were omitted on the 15S printed essay.

Caritas issue of 1938, 25s., final pencil drawing by Mihail Sidorov, 43x52,5mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Haapsalu. The letters of EESTI POST are in increasing, then decreasing sizes. The Caritas heart and the value inscriptions are readily visible. The letters of CARITAS in AK-14C are in increasing, then in decreasing sizes. Similarly increasing, then decreasing letter sizes were used subsequently by Reindorff in the EESTI POST inscription in AK-15B. The "+"sign is inside a quatrefoil, similar to AK-13C and to the 10S and 25S postage stamps of 1940 designed by Reindorff.

Caritas issue of 1938, 50s., final pencil drawing by Mihail Sidorov, 42x52,5mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Kuressaare. Design ambiguity or error with the coat of arms: the eagle in front of the castle is missing. In contrast, the initial pencil drawing AK-13D, the 50S printed essay of 1938 and the 50S postage stamp show the eagle.

Caritas issue of 1939, 50s., pencil drawing by Günther Reindorff, 41x49,5mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Pärnumaa. 2 Caritas hearts with a flame. In the design sequence this pencil drawing AK-15A precedes the water color design AK-16A, in which the 2 trees are changed to flowery ornaments.

Caritas issue of 1939, 25s., pencil drawing by Günther Reindorff, 41x49,5mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Viljandimaa. 2 Caritas hearts without a flame. No ribbons. The only Caritas design by Reindorff with value tablets. The letters of CARITAS in AK-15B by Reindorff are in increasing, then in decreasing sizes, similar to the letters of EESTI POST in AK-14C by Sidorov.

Caritas issue of 1939, 10s., water color design by Günther Reindorff, 41x49,5mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Tartumaa. In AK-16A the coat of arms is surrounded by a white line and is smaller than on subsequent AK-17. Caritas heart with the "+" sign inside. Roosman's AK-8A and AK-8D show a flower bud containing the "+" sign, which was changed by Reindorff in AK-16A into a flower bud holding the Caritas heart with the "+" sign. No ribbons. Symmetrical flowery ornaments and value inscriptions "10" of the same size, as in AK-15A and AK-15B. In the design sequence AK-16A is preceded by AK-15A and AK-15B. 

Caritas issue of 1939, 15s., water color design by Günther Reindorff, 41,5x49,5mm, on perforated cardboard. Kalevipoeg splits the anvil with the magical sword. Submitted as an alternative design motif for the remaining two issues of 1939-1940. There were no more major towns left in Estonia for the motif "town coat of arms". Two new motifs were considered: "county coat of arms" and "scenes from Kaevipoeg", the Estonian national epic poem. Alexander Koenig selected the county coat of arms as new motif, for reasons of unity of design across the five Caritas issues. 2 Caritas hearts without a flame. The value inscriptions are placed vertically. Light and dark shades of red. AK-16B is an artistic masterpiece with the illusion of movement. Reindorff is a highly valued Estonian graphic artist.

Caritas issue of 1939, 15s., water color design by Günther Reindorff, 41x49,5mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Harjumaa. The Caritas heart is surrounded by an extra line, has similarities to AK-7A by Roosman and is positioned above EESTI POST. 2 ribbons. AK-16C was the counterpiece to AK-16B for deciding on the motif of the issues of 1939-1940: county arms or Kalevipoeg, the Estonian national epic poem. Asymmetric design. Horizontal lines, no flowery ornaments yet. In the design sequence AK-16C precedes AK-16A and AK-17A.

Caritas issue of 1939, 25s., water color design by Günther Reindorff, 40x50mm, on perforated cardboard. Arms of Tartumaa. Caritas heart with a tiny flame, with the postal franking value and the charity surcharge inside the Caritas heart. On the front bottom of the small presentation carton "I var." written in ink, at the back of the presentation carton traces of a removed attached sheet, possibly of a comment sheet like those attached to the back of the presentation cartons AK-18, AK-19 and AK-20.

Caritas issue of 1939, presentation carton with 4 final water color designs by Günther Reindorff, 40x50mm. , AK-18A 10S, AK-18B 15S, AK-18C 25S and AK-18D 50S on perforated cardboard. Signed and dated "G. Reindorff 1938". The only text written on the comment sheet attached at the back of the presentation carton is "1939". Beautifully fresh colors.

Caritas issue of 1940, presentation carton with 4 initial water color designs by Günther Reindorff. AK-19A 10s. 40,5x50,5mm, AK-19B 15s. 40,5x50,5mm, AK-19C 25s. 40,5x50,5mm and AK-19D  50s. 40,5x50mm on perforated cardboard. Signed and dated "G. Reindorff 1939". Text written on the comment sheet attached to the back of the presentation carton: "1940 In den Abbum" (=into the album) and "Vappid 10 Pärnu 15 Järva 25 Lääne 50 Saare". In the 4 initial water color designs the coat of arms is placed at the left, a flower is shown at the top right and a wound ribbon with the inscription CARITAS rises to the right .The Caritas hearts contain both the franking value and the charity surcharge, similar to the final designs of 1939. Beautifully fresh colors.

Caritas issue of 1940, presentation carton with 4 final color designs by Günther Reindorff, 40,5x50,5mm AK-20A 10s., AK-20B 15s., AK-20C 25s. and AK-20D  50s. on perforated cardboard. Signed and dated "G. Reindorff 1939". In the 4 final water color designs the coat of arms are 1mm wider than in the initial designs and are positioned at the right, the flowers are smaller and positioned at the top left and the CARITAS inscriptions are inside horizontal ribbons or frames. The Caritas hearts are smaller and contain only the charity surcharge. One side of the comment sheet attached at the back of the presentation carton bears the same hand-written text ""Vappid 10 Pärnu 15 Järva 25 Lääne 50 Saare" as on the comment sheet of the initial design of 1940. The other side of the the comment sheet bears 5 approving signatures of Ühisabi board members, dated 22.VII.1939, including the signature of Marianne Pung, the sister of President Paets, also called "Madame Paets". The signature of Alexander Koenig is the final approving signature below the 5 signatures and is dated 26/VII 39. Beautifully fresh colors.

The Alexander-Koenig Album without designs and essays, including the album cover, 11 empty album pages with photo corners, and 3 completely empty album pages. In addition Eesti Post No. 54, 55 and 56 with articles about the Caritas designs and essays.

International Philatelic Exhibition New York 1936, exhibit of the Estonian Postal Administration, 2 original photos on 2 album pages of the Alexander-Koenig Album. One photo shows the Exhibit by the Estonian Postal Administration in New York 1936, with the Caritas postage stamps of 1936 included in the Exhibit. The Exhibit shows postage stamps officially considered as issued by the Estonian Postal Administration. The Exhibit includes an EESTI POST overprint, philatelistically most important, however, is what is not shown: stamps with the "Päevaleht" perforation, probably because the Estonian Postal Administration did not wish to include them in their exhibit, even if they were readily for sale at the Ewald Eichenthal stamp store. The other photo shows the Special Recognition certificate for the Estonian Postal Administration. Also included are issues no.6,7 and 9 of the US philatelic magazine "STAMPS" with interesting article

1936, 10-50s. postage stamps and essays of the Caritas issue of 1936, hinged on gray carton sheet of the Roosman Album. Double/diamond perforation at the top of the 10 s. and 15 s. essays, the only known essays of the Caritas issues with diamond perforation. The use of essays with double/diamond perforation in the Roosman Album shows the rarity of the essays of 1936: Ühisabi probably did not have other 10 s. and 15 s. essays for the Roosman Album, without perforation errors  

1937, 10-50 s. postage stamps and essays of the Caritas issue of 1937, hinged on gray carton sheet of the Roosman Album. The essays of the Caritas issues of 1936 and 1937 are very rare

1938, 10-50 s. postage stamps and essays of the Caritas issue of 1938, hinged on gray carton sheet of the Roosman Album

1939, 10-50 s. postage stamps and essays of the Caritas issue of 1939, hinged on gray carton sheet of the Roosman Album

1940, 10-50 s. postage stamps and essays of the Caritas issue of 1940, hinged on gray carton sheet of the Roosman Album