Lietuvos muitinių plombų klastojimas (1919-1940)

LTIš dvylikos paminėjimų archyviniuose šaltiniuose apie plombų klastojimą (arba galimą klastojimą) užfiksuoti šeši plombų ir vienas darbo įrankių klastojimo atvejai. Klastotos 1921-1928 m. trijų muitinių, buvusių pasienyje su Vokietija, plombos: Klaipėdos, Šilutės ir Virbalio. Daugiausia buvo padirbinėjamos Klaipėdos muitinės plombos. Lengviausia buvo padirbti, o prekybos įstaigose sunkiausia sukontroliuoti 1921-1925 m. plombas dėl nepakankamos plombavimo replių lizdų apskaitos Prekybos departamente, dėl vaizdulių įvairovės plombose, kurią sąlygojo gamintojų pajėgos ir profesionalumas. 1926 m. pakeitus plombų apipavidalinimą, atsirado daugiau požymių, pagal kuriuos buvo galima nustatyti klastotes: nusistovėjęs Vyčio vaizdavimas, skirtukų kaita. Pastarieji nuo 1929 m. buvo keičiami kasmet. Tarpų tarp skirtukų neatitikimus ir Vyčio vaizdavimo niuansus muitininkai pastebėdavo geriausiai. Plombų klastočių identifikavimui naudoti plombų pavyzdžiai buvo saugomi Prekybos departamente Kaune. Esant reikalui buvo siunčiami tikrų plombų lizdų atspaudai, sulaikius klastotojų naudotas reples-ir netikrų plombų pavyzdžiai [p. 84 ].

ENThe customs posts of Lithuania that operated in 1919-1940 used lead seals to label goods liable to customs duty. Sealing of goods constituted one of the ways to fight smuggling. Counterfeiting of seals, on the other hand, was one of the ways to win this fight employed by the persons actively engaged in smuggling and selling of goods. The theme of lead seal counterfeiting has only been mentioned fragmentally in the work on the history and systemisation of Lithuanian customs seals for import goods and transit (1919-1940) (Grimalauskaitė 2004, p.101-168). The 2004 article referred to the archival sources stored at the Lithuanian Central State Archives, which contained the data about lead seal counterfeiting. Out of the twelve references to counterfeiting (or possible counterfeiting), six were the detected cases of lead seal counterfeits and one - of counterfeiting of work tools. The article mentions only the lead seals for import goods, where as other types of lead seals, i.e., lead seals for transit, resealing, post, etc., are not identified. In 1921-1928 the lead seals ofthe three customs posts situated on the border with Germany - those of Klaipėda, Šilutė, Virbalis customs posts - were being counterfeited, with the seals of Klaipėda customs post among the most forged ones.The 1921-1925 lead seals were among the easiest to forge and among the most challenging to control in trading establishments due to the following reasons: 1) insufficient accounting of lead seal beans in the Department of Commerce; 2) the diversity of images used in lead seals resulting from manufacturers’ capacity and professionalism. The article analyses the example of the lead seals of Kaunas customs post (the dates and the features of the Knight), the counterfeits of which are not mentioned in archival sources.In 1926, when lead seals were replaced with a new alternative, more signs to detect counterfeits became available, i.e., an established depiction of the Knight, the change ofidentification marks (stars and dots). From 1929, such identification marks were changed on an annual basis. Customs officers were especially good at noticing discrepancies in spacing among identification marks as well as in the nuances of the depiction of the Knight. Lead seal samples stored at the Department of Commerce in Kaunas were used to identify seal counterfeits. The prints of actual seals as well as examples of fake lead seals, following the seizure of pliers used by counterfeiters, were being distributed. Counterfeits of Lithuanian customs seals demonstrate an increasingly worsening financial-economic situation in Lithuania in 1922-1923 as well as thriving smuggling in Klaipėda region. The labelling of goods as well as the replacement of the old lead seals with the new ones introduced in Klaipėda region eventually yielded results in the fight against smuggling. A hundred years later, the examples of Lithuanian customs lead seals taken over from the Lithuanian Central State Archives in 2002 and now stored at the National Museum of Lithuania still perform their function in detecting a part of counterfeits (see Table 2). The work is further aggravated by incomplete sets of examples, an often poor condition as well as insufficient amount of collector or lead seal finds to be employed in comparative studies.