Description: The fundamental design of this piece features the iconic double-headed imperial eagle coat of arms of the Russian Empire, elegantly typographed inside a bright red central oval emblem. Surrounding this vignette is a heavily patterned, interlocking blue frame accented with fine arabesque flourishes along the margins. The base inscription reads "20 КОП" (20 Kopecks), but the entire design has been heavily altered by a bold, black hand-stamped five-pointed star containing a miniature hammer and sickle, reflecting a Bolshevik or regional authority emergency postal revalidation surcharge.
Circa: Early 20th Century
Condition: MLH
Notes:
Local postal controllers under Soviet, White Army, or local provisional committees routinely utilized hand-carved rubber or metal dies to rapidly overprint old stocks to keep local communication channels operating.