Definitive stamps of Russia

Definitive stamps of Russia are the regular postage stamp issues produced in the Russian Empire and RSFSR between 1857 and 1923, and in the Russian Federation since 1992.

The Russian Empire started issuing definitive series of postage stamps since 10 December 1857 when the first Russian stamp went on sale. There were twenty definitive issues produced until 1917 as outlined in a table below.

The first definitive series of the RSFSR was issued in 1921. It included five designs of new Soviet symbols such as agricultural labour, industrial labour, science and arts, hammer and sickle, and freed proletarian (). The stamps had a minimum wording, Russian: Почта (Pochta (postage)) and the acronym Russian: РСФСР (RSFSR), imparting the Soviet messages solely via pictures.

Symbols of agricultural labour

Symbols of agricultural labour

Symbols of industrial labour

"Hammer and sickle" symbol

"Proletarian Freed" ("Russia New Triumphant" or "The Dragon Slayer")

Symbols of science and arts

The first regular issue involved eleven different stamps of denominations ranging between 1 and 1,000 rubles. Among these, five stamps showed the agricultural-labour design, printed in different colours and with face values of 1, 2, 100, 200, and 300 rubles. The industrial-labour symbol was given in three denominations: 5, 500, and 1,000 rubles. The stamp for science-and-arts appeared only once. To a certain degree, designs of the series, focusing more on agriculture and industry, were in conformity with the spirit of the government's New Economic Policy of 1921 aimed at recovering the RSFSR economy. They also followed the same vogue that could be found in Soviet poster art in 1921, when the Soviet government, "having secured its own position, turns to problems of peaceful social and economic development (economic and cultural themes move rapidly to the fore)."

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