1942 FOČA, First Partisan post

Between 20th January and 10th May of 1942, the Partisans took over Foča and the surrounding area. They proclaimed the so-called Republic of Foča.

Among other things, the postal service was restored. They had some amount of old Yugoslav stamps on which the Ustasha overprinted its coat of arms and the inscription "NEZAVISNA DRŽAVA HRVATSKA" (= "INDEPENDENT STATE OF CROATIA"). These stamps have been used together with a five-pointed star rubber stamp and the inscription "SMRT FAŠIZMU - SLOBODA NARODU" (= "DEATH TO FASCISM - FREEDOM TO THE PEOPLE") and "Partizanska POŠTA" (= "Partisan POST").

An interesting snippet from Vladimir Dedijer's diary with two glued stamps (Mi. 12 and 41), cancelled with Foča 1.V.42 and provisional rubber stamps.

1942 Foča, Partisan provisional issue, NDH stationery with Mi. 12, overprinted with provisional rubber stamps. 

1942 Foča, Partisan provisional issue, NDH stationery with Mi. P1, overprinted with provisional rubber stamps. 

Comparison of rubber stamps on the stationery and in the Dedijer's diary.

For more see: Südost-Philatelie 88/2004 - Die Partisanenpost von Foca (Dr. Hermann Dietz)

1944 SENTA, Stationery

Two types of Hungarian stationery (P112 and P108) were overprinted with cliche shown below.

Overprint used for stationery.

1944 Senta, local provisional issue, stationery P112, 20f local rate.

1944 Senta, local provisional issue, fieldpost stationery P108, 20f local rate.

1944 Senta, local provisional issue, stationery P112, 30f (20+10) domestic rate. Note that overprint was done across the stamps.

According to Veličković and Verner, each of three stationery has an additional variant with the first-day cancellation in red (CTO 20.X.44).

1941 BANJA LUKA, Fakes

A few days ago, 1941 Banja Luka fake was sold on one of the eBay auctions...

eBay auction: 36 bids and a final price of 183.50$ shows that customers did not know it was a fake.

Genuine stamp from position 17 (left) and fake from the auction (right). Fake overprint is narrower and lower.

Checking just the first line - genuine (above) and fake (below) - the difference is apparent. See also details of "S", "b" and "d"...

1945 DB Laibach, Proof on carton paper

Proofs on carton paper are the rarest items in this issue. Especially color strips with plate numbers.

1945 German occupation of Laibach, unreleased issue, proofs on carton paper, color strip without and with plate number.

1945 MOSTAR, Damaged stars

Damaged stars are common, especially those in the red color and on the values that were overprinted at the end. Probably the most damaged star is a star that you can find at Mi.5 Velebit at position 59.

          

Star from position 59, at the beginning and at the end of the overprinting process.

Plate distribution of damages. Darker rectangles represent positions with larger damages.

At the end of overprinting 44% of all stars have been damaged.

          

Another example of heavily damaged star - Mi.2 Jajce, position 1.

1945 DB Laibach, Famous Slovenians

Each of six famous man exists in seven different colors. All together we have 42 different stamps (6 * 7 = 42).

1945 German occupation of Laibach, unreleased issue, complete set in color strips.

1945 GUŠTANJ, Cover

Immediately after the end of WWII the special canceller was used in Guštanj (german Gutenstein, now Ravne na Koroškem).

1945 Guštanj porto provisorium, official letter sent from Ljubljana (28.8.45) to Guštanj with arrival postage due stamps (30 pf Maribor local provisional issue and 0,50 din regular DFJ issue) cancelled with "Guštanj," / "PORTO".

Note that "Guštanj," ends with a comma. This is because it was used as a prefix for other cancellers, usually for "PORTO".

WWII Kun's Partisan

I finally found a photo of the original Kun's Partisan essay. And, it looks just like mine!

1944 Kun's Partisan, original signed by Mirko Verner.

1944 DB Brač, Cover

Only seven covers exist - all were philatelically motivated and all were sent from the Nerežišče.

1944 German occupation of Brač, local provisional issue, cover from Nerežišče to Ljubuški (16.V.44). Certificate Brunel.

1945 SPLIT, 70th Anniversary

Today (01.03.2015) we mark the 70 year anniversary of the Split provisional issue. First set of 9 values (Mi 1-9) was dispatched for use on 1.III.1945. For more information, see this post.

And yes, today is also the 70th anniversary of the Cetinje local provisional issue.