GBLA Stamps by Captain Kudrna
Peter Valdner (2024)
Jiří Kudrna was originally the first officer of the MS Lednice, which was detained on the Great Bitter Lake in June 1967. After the crew was reduced, he returned to the GBL on August 30th as the commander. He was relieved in January 1968 and, unlike Captains Benda and Šlechta, never returned to GBL. Since all the other ships were commanded by captains, Kudrna was also referred to as Captain. Let's keep it that way.
The ships were not prepared for a long stay without the possibility of replenishing supplies. On October 7th, the Great Bitter Lake Association was established, with its main task being the coordination of supplies for the ships. The sailors didn't have many duties on the stranded ships, so they spent time writing letters home. Among the scarce goods were envelopes and stamps.
Captain Kudrna took it upon himself to produce them. He used a Hectograph to duplicate up to 200 copies.
The first item he produced was an airmail postal envelope,
followed by print sheets with stamps.
A stamp from his second sheet was used on the cover page of the GBLA Catalog.
He sold these to other crews and thus raised funds for the GBLA membership fee for his colleagues from the Lednice.
Information about GBLA stamps quickly spread worldwide, and requests for stamps began arriving on the ships. It is said that collectors offered up to 100 USD for a print sheet. I neither confirm nor deny this.
Based on his past experience, the Captain brought Egyptian stamps with him to the lake for his own use.
The first two GBLA issues were intended to document the sending of mail from the Lake and had no nominal values. Later issues had nominal values and the Egyptian post accepted them, as evidenced by many delivered items. The sailors were not allowed ashore, so the shipments were taken to the post office by employees of Egyptian agencies. The agencies unnecessarily stamped the items with their meter stamps and then handed them over to the censors.
The sailors only learned about this from the recipients. Therefore, over time, they began to preemptively add Egyptian stamps to the mail. Some sailors brought their own, while others received them from friends or collectors along with orders and payments.
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The Captain issued eight sheets and two additional Christmas airmail stationery items, with print runs ranging from 60 to 200 copies. At that time, there were still around 300 sailors on the lake, so not everyone received all the stamps.
In order to keep up with orders for GBLA stamps from stamp collectors, the graphic quality of the stamps gradually declined. However, no one can take away his status as the first to produce GBLA stamps. The stamps, produced on the Hectograph, fade in light, making the preserved pieces even more valuable.
The GBLA exhibit, containing Captain Kudrna's collection, was displayed at the World Stamp Exhibition Praga 1968.
Sources: GBLA Encyclopaedia and files of the author
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