The first ‘gostorgs’ were set up in the USSR [in Russian, CCCP] in April 1922.  Gostorgs were responsible for the export of Soviet goods and the import of foreign goods into the Soviet Union.  The word Gostorg  is made up of parts of 2 Russian words: GOSudarstvenya, meaning 'state or government'  and  TORGovlya meaning 'trading company'.  It is probable that this seal relates to Siberian goods because of the way the  Gostorg is described. Siberia in full = Сибирь.  The initials HKBT stand for the Russian  form of the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Trade. (ref Paul Cannon). Gostorg RSFSR ( State Export-Import Office, Joint-Stock Company ) - was an organization that exercised a monopoly of foreign trade in the first years of Soviet power. It was one of the most important divisions of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Trade, that carried out export-import operations on the foreign market : exported traditional goods of Russian export - furs , furs , flax , hemp , wheat , fish , and purchased machinery, machines, equipment for export proceeds. Gostorg also conducted procurement work - created enterprises for processing agricultural raw materials , and promoted industrial hunting. The chairman of the Board of the Gostorg of the RSFSR and a member of the board of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Trade of the RSFSR from 1924 to 1927 was the famous Soviet diplomat Alexander Antonovich Troyanovsky . As A. I. Mikoyan, former People's Commissar of Foreign Trade , subsequently wrote about him: “Troyanovsky was in no way inferior to American businessmen in his grip”).

IDS
516

SIBerian GOSTORG

after 1922

C.C.C.P.H.K.B.T

322

H.K.T
ГOCTOPГ
H.K.T GOSTORG

Г.П.C.K
XOЛOДИЛЬHИK
G.P.S.K
KHOLODIL'NIK

   IDS 322   H.K.T. ГОСТОРГ stands for НАРОДНЫЙ КОМИССАРИАТ ВНЕШНЕЙ ТОРГОВЛИ ie “People’s   Commissariat of Foreign Trade Gostorg”.   G.P.S.K. Kholodil'nik was a monopoly trader.

Gos

002

ГOCTOPГA

(GOSTORGA)

БACA
(BASA)

Paul Cannon
Billingsgate
London

Russian State
Trading Agency

      E G Artemov of the State Museum of Political History of Russia in St Petersburg has confirmed the transcription of  the Cyrillic characters as 'BASA GOSTORGA'. He translates as 'the warehouse/storehouse of the Gostorg'. The word  Gostorg is made up of parts of two Russian words: GOSudarstvenya, meaning 'state or government'  and TORGovlya  meaning 'trading company'. (info from Paul Cannon)

IDS
2038

ШУЙСК.А.БО
(SHUYSK.A.BO)

H.K.B.T. ГОСТОРГ
(H.K.B.T GOSTORG)

Gill Davis
Egerton
Kent

Russian State
Trading Agency

Our PeaceHavens member Tanya Flow was born in SHUYA, a city in the Ivanovo oblast (region) of Western Russia, lying along the Teza River. Originally a trading centre dating from the 16th century.