Coat of Arms series - 1

Modern Lithuanian stamps are not really my speciality but however, there are several of them I really like. One of them are those Coat of Arms series, issued every year from 1992. It shows you different city coat of arms (except in the first issue, there is a national one) across the nation. 

 1992 issue - Kėdainiai, Vilnius, Republic of Lithuania

This first issue is the only one with Talonas as the face value.

The size is slightly smaller than others.

1993 issue - Skuodas, Telšiai, Klaipėda

 1994 issue - Punia, Alytus, Perloja

1995 issue - Virbalis, Kudirkos Naumiestis

This issue is the only one with 2 stamps.

 1996 issue - Šeduva, Panevėžys, Zarasai

Zarasai has an eccentric coat of arms with an imaginary creature symbolizing the wealth of its nature.

1997 issue - Neringa, Vilkaviškis, Pasvalys

1998 issue - Kernavė, Trakai, Kaunas

Trakai's arms has a head of St. John the Baptist, just in case you are wondering... It supposed to symbolize the Christianization of the town.

1999 issue - Marijampolė, Šiauliai, Rokiškis

Very nice coat of arms of Šiauliai

This modern arms is based on the 1791 arms with the Samogitia bear (Šiauliai was the center of  the duchy Samogitia), Eye of Providence symbolizing parliament and the red calf of the House of Poniatowski, the royal family of King Stanislaus August Poniatowski who granted this arms.

Kretinga under German Occupation

I have found 2 postmarks of Krottingen (now Kretinga, Lithuania) from 2 different German occupations, WW1 and WW2, so I thought I would post these. As I have mentioned in my posts in the past, the German name of Kretinga is rather confusing. "Russ (Russisch) Krottingen" was for the present town of Kretinga and "Deutsch Krottingen" was the name given for Kretingalė. Both names were also spelled "Crottingen" with a "C" at the beginning. The ones cancelled simply "Krottingen/Crottingen" can be identified according to the stamp, when Memel stamps were used then it means that it was Kretingalė, when it was the Ostland overprint, then it was Kretinga.

I also have some other WW1 and WW2 occupation stamps still umposted in this blog so I would like to take the oppotunity to post them as well. 

 Mariampol 1917 (now Marijampolė, Lithuania)

Schaulen 1942 (now Šiauliai, Lithuania)

Marijampolė 1949

For some people, it would seem strange to see a Soviet cover with a "Мариямполе/Marijampolė" postmark. Marijampolė was  known to be called Kapsukas during the Soviet rule. But that's only from 1955 and prior to that, it was called Marijampolė just like after the restoration of the independence. Soviet covers from the 1940's are pretty difficult to find nowdays, especially with the postmarks of the regional towns. 

Marijampolė 1979

A commemorative cover of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mikalojus Akelaitis, cancelled in Kapsukas/Капсукас (now Marijampolė, Lithuania) in 1979. The stamp is also a commemorative stamp of 400th anniversary of Vilnius university issued in 1979. Marijampolė was named Kapsukas/Капсукас between 1955 and 1989 in honor of Vincas Kapsukas. The cancellation is the one of Kapsukas/Капсукас post office #3 which was closed down soon after the restauration of independence of Lithuania. Presently, only the central post office (Marijampolės centrinis paštas/Marijampolė-C), #2(2-asis paštas) and #4 are in service in Marijampolė.

Marijampolė 1915

2 postcards of Mariampol (now Marijampolė, Lithuania) sent in 1915 from the feldpost station of the 20th Reserve Corps, both to Berlin.

Marijampolė 1943

A postcard sent in 1943 from Mariampol (now Marijampolė, Lithuania) in occupied Ostland. 3 p franking is for the printed matter.

Marijampolė 1899

Марıампол / Mariampol (now Marijampolė, Lithuania)

A value imprinted card posted in 1899 from Марıампол / Mariampol (now Marijampolė, Lithuania) in Сувалки / Suvalki г.(Gubernia). Suvalki Gubernia was one of the 3 gubernias to consist Lithuania back in the Imperial Russian time. Presently, two third of its territory is in Lithuania and southern one third in the present Polish territory including the city of Suvalki(now Suwałki, Poland) itself. There is another town called Mariampole in the present territory of Poland but it is outside of the historical border of Suvalki Gubernia. The destination of the card is Königsberg in Pr.(in Preußen), the present city of Kaliningrad in Russia. The card has been sent on 20th of august 1899 from Marijampolė and took nearly 12days to reach Königsberg as you can see on the arrival cancellation.