[Regrettably, the illustrations for this section are not yet available.]

Available Cancellations in March of 1939

Officially postmarked versions of this commemorative card - and all subsequently described stationery items - carry the 3-krone blue stamp with a red, double-ring cancellation (31.5mm diameter) and the superscript "*XYCT-CHUST*". The date bridge reads: 15.III.39-15 (i.e. 15 March 1939, 3pm). The subscript has the Ukrainian text ВІДКРИТТЯ ПЕРШОГО СОЙМУ (Opening of the First Assembly), Figure 2. Cancel forgeries are 32mm in diameter and display differences in some letters (the Х in ХУСТ or the Й in СОЙМУ), in serifs on numbers, and in the size of the asterisks (Figure 3).

Apart from this official cancel, the usual bilingual (Czech-Ukrainian) double-ring date cancellers (32mm) for this post office continued in use (Figure 4). Reading CHUST across the top, and XУCT along the bottom, they had a subscript letter below the bridge. These markings were applied in black on normal commercial mail, while the commemorative cancel was available at a special counter that served collectors, or upon request as a favor cancel. For this reason, genuine registered letters franked with the commemorative stamp and cancelled with the normal bilingual type in black are much rarer than those carrying the red special cancellation. Conversely, normal Czechoslovakian stamps treated with the red cancel are also very desirable. An easy-to-recognize fantasy is known of this cancellation. Its date is "15.III.39-16" and it has an "f" subscript that is not known on contemporary cancels from Khust (Figure 5). This marking was apparently a backdated favor cancel.

Red cancels similar to the commemorative cancel described above, but with a date bridge of 2.III.39-10 (i.e. 2 March 1939, 10am) and with a subscript letters "a" or "b", were prepared for the originally scheduled session but never used at that time. These two cancels were applied by favor in the confusing days following the 15^th and were not officially sanctioned by Ukrainian postal authorities.

Collectors should beware of any Carpatho-Ukraine materials of this time carrying these cancels or another of the same size and red color with a much smaller date bridge (but the same 2.III.39-10 date) and a prominent Carpatho-Ukrainian coat of arms. An even larger cancellation (37 mm in diameter) in blue and yellow is sometimes found. It is left over from 21 January 1939 commemorating the 20^th Anniversary of the Central Ukrainian National Council. It too, obviously, was not officially approved. Figure 6 displays all the unofficial cancellations.

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