Kharkiv Cover -- A Mayfly's Existence

In late January of 1992, Kharkiv released a series of provisional stamps (below), which were in postal use for only five days. The motif consisted of the Cyrillic letters "OC" (reading downward), which stand for "Communications Department" in Russian.

Writing in the Semiannual Journal of the Ukrainian Philatelic and Numismatic Society (Vol. 48 No. 1), Hryhoriy Lobko explains the mayfly existence of Kharkiv 1:

The fate of the first provisionals of Kharkiv is quite interesting. Here eight values were produced: 30, 35, 43, 45, 46, and 50 kopeks, and 1 ruble 10 kopek, and 1 ruble 20 kopeks. The Kharkiv journalists reported on their appearance at the post office stressed the unattractiveness of these black and white stamps in the Kharkiv mass media. The postal officials, seeking to avoid any confrontation with the journalists, hastily pulled these stamps from circulation. They are therefore difficult to locate on mailings of that time (they were in use for only five days); trying to obtain such postally used items for a collection can be very, very difficult.

Legitimate? Did my provisional stamps live an unnaturally long life? Lobko's catalog lists January 1992 as the issue date of the Kharkiv 1 provisional. My cover, obtained from a reputable stamp dealer in Ukraine, was cancelled on the weekend of Feb. 02, a date that I consider to be close enough to fit the proper time frame for legitimate use of this stamp. At least that's what I would like to think.