A Mykolaiv Cover

Mykolaiv (Nikolaev) is an oblast in southern Ukraine, just above the Black Sea.

Some will accuse me of having a low threshhold of excitement (I do). However, I was tickled to obtain this cover, which features specimens of Mykolaiv provisional stamps, Soviet overprints, as well as an early pre-stamped Narbut. The cancellation date is Dec. 18, 1993.

Here's a run-down of the stamps:

• Large, overprinted and revalued Soviet stamp (top-center) is a Mykolaiv6 (Lobko #43)
• Smaller blue overprinted and revalued Soviet stamp is a Mykolaiv7 (Lobko #92)
• Smaller orange overprinted, revalued (and inverted!) Soviet stamp is also a Mykolaiv7 (Lobko #77
• Provisionals printed in red ink are Mykolaiv8 (Lobko #162 and #157 - far left and far right, respectively)