Free Manual

In recent years, I have written various articles about local issues of the Independent State of Croatia. Most of them were published in Acta Philatelica Nova, a yearbook that, by the way, I warmly recommend to anyone collecting stamps and postal history on the territory of the former Yugoslavia. I have received positive responses and many requests to prepare and publish a manual. Therefore, I finally decided to bring things together, unify and supplement them accordingly. The result is a manual that I hope will contribute to the popularisation of these issues and maybe to philately in general.

The Philatelic Manual

Local Issues of Independent State of Croatia

Međimurje • Banja Luka • Šibenik I & II • Dalmatia

Aleš Marinšek
2020

1945 Transadriatic mail to Australia

Following Allied intervention across the Adriatic into the Balkans in late 1944 and early 1945, postal services were disrupted and fell into the control of Allied Military Liaison Headquarters, part of the Middle East Command. In November 1944, the Controller of Civil Posts BMA Dodecanese reported that arrangements had been made in the Balkans for urgent civilians posts to be accepted for disposal through the Director Middle East Censorship (part of the British MEF) and Cairo, then the Egyptian Postal Services. Only a few examples of such mail are known.

Letter sent from Vrgorac Croatia to Chermside Queensland Australia (addressed Ducensland), most likely in early 1945. The letter was censored five times: 1) by a military censor in Vrgorac, 2) by a civil censor in Makarska, 3) by Allied Transadriatic Censorship in south Italy, 4) by Egyptian M63 and 5) by Australian civilian censors. A scarce example of such mail.

The violet cachet of Makarska censor (No. 18) hiding behind the "Examined by Allied / Transadriatic Censorship" label.

1941 MEĐIMURJE, "Hd" error on 0.25 Din

"Hrvatska država" error (also known as "Hd" error) is scarce at 0.25 Din. There are only a few examples identified, mostly as singles... 

1941 Međimurje local issue, 0.25 Din block of four from positions 1-2/6-7. Upper stamps with typical error "Hrvatska država" instead of "Država Hrvatska". This is the largest multiple of 0.25 Din with "Hrvatska država" error known to me.

Palermo Court Prison

So far, I have not found any relevant information about the Palermo Court Prison. Concluding from the stationery below, this prison also served as a transit point before being transferred to Ustica concentration camp...

Stationery, written in Palermo Court Prison (15.III.42), censored by prison censor (17.MAR.42) and sent through Palermo Ferrovia (18.III.42) to Split. From the message: "... I am in the transit for the Ustica concentration camp ...".

1945 POW Allied Censorship

I know that circular censure cachet "MILITARY CENSORSHIP / No. / CIVIL MAILS" was used by Allied in south Italy in 1944 and 1945. However, I do not know if the same type of cachet has been used elsewhere...

Swiss Red Cross POW stationery sent from Geneva (12th June 1945) to Belgrade via Naples, censored by Allied Censorship No. 0146 in Naples and Yugoslav military censor in Belgrade.

1945 SPLIT, Stationery from Sušak

The Split provisional issue was used mainly in the mainland part of southern and central Dalmatia. Use north of this, in Lika or even Kvarner, is very rare...

1945 Split provisional issue, stationery St2-TIIa sent from Sušak (1.VI.45) to Zagreb, censored by the military censor. Rare use from Kvarner area.

The stationery of the Split provisional issue could not be bought at the Sušak or Rijeka post office, so the sender had to bring it with him. This also follows from the message in which the sender wrote that he had just returned from Split. 

1945 Maribor, eBay forgery

Non-issued 4 pf Hindenburg is the most valuable stamp of all Slovenian 1945 provisional issues. Only 15 sheets were overprinted. Its catalogue value is 500 EUR while its current market value is around 200 EUR. Therefore, you should be suspicious when you see this...

1945 Maribor provisional issue, 4 pf Hindenburg, forgery on sale.

Genuine above and forgery below. A very primitive product.

UPDATE: This forgery was sold for $52. The buyer probably thinks he paid a low price for the rare stamp, but now he has a worthless fake in his collection. My advice is: request a certificate!

POW Camp Osnabrück

Oflag VI C in Osnabrück (Lower Saxony, Germany) was an officer's camp of Yugoslav prisoners of war with about 6000 officers captured in 1941. Most were imprisoned until the end of WWII. After the capitulation of Germany on May 9, 1945, the officers remained in the camp for a long time. The main reason was the logistical difficulties in returning to Yugoslavia, as well as the fact that not all officers wanted to return to the country where communism came to power. Ex-inmates continued to live in the camp, so they organized their own rules...

Identification card, issued by ex-inmates of Oflag VI C POW camp in Osnabrück (20.V.1945) with provisional circular cachet "YUGOSLAV ARMY" and five-lines provisional cachet "CAMP / OF / YUGOSLAV OFFICERS / No ____ ★ ____ 1945 / OSNABRUCK". Exciting item.

1943 SPLIT, eBay forgeries

Forgers seem to be very hardworking lately. I recently wrote about the forgeries of a local issue for Dalmatia (see here). Now you can buy them on eBay...

Forgeries of overprint.
Note that none of these stamps was actually used for 1943 local issue for Dalmatia.

1945 ZAGREB, Imperforate strip

One of the possible partly imperforate stamps of this issue is stamp No. 5 Jajce. A few horizontal rows in one or perhaps multiple sheets have not been perforated...

1945 Zagreb provisional issue, No. 5 160 / 0,50 Kn Jajce, a strip of four imperforate horizontally. Certificate Ercegović. 

Confinement Ponza

Confinements and other forms of restriction of the movement were usually in hard-to-reach areas. Remote islands such as Ponza were often used. 

Stationery franked with 50 cents, written by academic writer Dr Niko S. Martinović in Ponza (27.12.1942), sent from Naples railway (7.II.1943) to Cetinje (19.II.1943), censored by DIREZIONE COMANDA CONFINO / PONZA and QUESTURA DI NAPOLI.

Island Ponza, provinca Littoria (= today Latina, Lazio).

As a curiosity: On July 25, 1943, Benito Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy, is voted out of power by his own Grand Council and arrested upon leaving a meeting with King Vittorio Emanuele. Two days after his arrest, Mussolini was sent to the island Ponza. Fearing that the Germans would discover his location, Mussolini was transferred to the island of La Maddalena near Sardinia on August 6.

1945 SPLIT, Letter from Milna

If the sender or addressee was a military person, the basic fee for shipments was free of charge. However, all additional services such as registration, express handling etc. were charged at the applicable tariffs.

1945 Split provisional issue, registered letter franked with 30 kn for the registration as the addressee was a military person, sent from Milna on island Brač (7.VI.45) to Bjelovar (15.VI.45) where it was redirected to Križevci (15.VI.45). The letter was censored in Split (censor cancellation No. 3). 

1943 SPLIT, Forgeries

If you read my article in the Acta Philatelica Nova 2015, you could see that I did not pay much attention to forgeries - this is because they are practically non-existent on the market. In the meantime, I saw one complete set that was amateurishly forged and one attempt to falsify the letter. Recently I have been asked for an opinion about the inverted overprints you can see below. 

1943 Split local issue for Dalmatia, forgeries of inverted overprint. Note that none of these values could exist with inverted overprint.

Of course, these are fakes, but they are not so amateur. At first glance, the overprint looks fine; however, the size is slightly smaller, and the properties of the individual letters are changed. Unfortunately, I only had scans, so I can not describe the other features I could see if I had stamps in my hands.

All stamps have "KRISCHKE BPP" expert mark on the back, which is also forged.

1943 SPLIT, Block of twelve

After the capitulation of Italy, the Main Postal Directorate of the Independent State of Croatia had overprinted Italian stamps with Ustasha and country emblems. The entire stock of Italian stamps found in Split was sent to Zagreb where the overprint was executed probably in late September or early October 1943. Only ten values from the total of seventeen different overprinted stamps were sent back to Split. Seven values were retained in Zagreb due to small overprinted quantities and their speculative potential.

Altogether, only 231 complete sets of 1943 Split local issue for Dalmatia exist. Postage due stamps are among the seven key values. Key values larger than blocks of four are great rarities.

1943 Split local issue for Dalmatia, 3.50 kn / 0.50 Lire, a block of twelve from positions 5-10/15-20. Largest known unit for the stamps retained in Zagreb. Certificate Vilfan.

1945 MARIBOR, bicolour stamp

I found a nice example of a bicolour stamp. The most likely explanation for this is that a part of a stamp was exposed to UV light. However, it is interesting that colours perfectly match known colours of 6pf stamp - so one might believe that this occurred while printed...

1945 Maribor provisional issue, a pair of 6pf with shifted overprint. Right stamp in two colours: light purple lilac (785d) and light pink lilac (785c).

Known colours of 6pf stamp.

1945 MURSKA SOBOTA, Forgeries

Some new forgeries are being sold on eBay again. This time it is a fake overprint of 1945 Murska Sobota provisional issue. The fake is amateurish and of poor quality. It can only fool those who have not seen the original...

1945 Murska Sobota provisional issue, complete set with fake overprints.

Fake overprint enlarged.

1945 MOSTAR, No 12 - flaw on inverted overprint

One inverted sheet of No 12 exist, therefore each of the overprint flaws is unique...

1945 Mostar provisional issue, No 12 Katarina Zrinska 30/1 Kn with inverted overprint. Position 49 - typical overprint flaw "Demokrntska" instead of "Demokratska". Unique item. Ex Tiberio.

1941 BANJA LUKA, Forgeries

Recently, forgeries made with quality laser printing have appeared. Both, the basic stamp, as well as the overprint, are forged. Plain medium-sized office paper is used, and usually, there is no gum.  If you have such forgery in your hands, it is not dangerous because you can immediately see from the paper what it is about. But it is a much bigger problem if you see only the front image (e.g. on the online store) because the reproduction is pretty credible even under the scan of usual resolution. 

Genuine on the left, forgery on the right. At this resolution, the forgery seems quite credible.

Genuine on the left, forgery on the right. The high-resolution scan (4800 DPI) clearly shows the dot structure of the laser printer.

For other types of forgeries of the Banja Luka issue, see my article in Acta Philatelica Nova 2017.

1945 SPLIT, St.1 stationery from Hvar

Stationeries of type St.1 are very rare while those sent from the islands are even rarer. Only four such items are known...

1945 Split provisional issue, stationery of type St.1, sent from the island of Hvar (28.VI.45) to a military address of 9th Division of 4th Yugoslav Army (at that time located somewhere in Slovenia). Censor cancellation No. 2, Hvar. 

1941 NDH Nacionalization - Young Peter

Usage of Young King Peter stamps and stationery in April 1941 and beyond was very scarce. Even scarier was the use of nationalized Cyril & Metod stationery in the Independent State of Croatia...

1941 NDH Nationalisation, "Young King Peter" Cyril & Metod illustrated stationery, correctly franked with 1 Din, sent from Požega (3.V.1941) to Zagreb. Stationery was nationalized with the "Država Hrvatska" provisional rubber stamp.

1945 MOSTAR, Card with oblique inscription

Special commemorative cards were issued on the occasion of the International Labour Day in 1945 with a complete set of 20 Mostar Provisional Issue stamps affixed to five yellowish toned scallop-edged cardboard cards with five-pointed star and inscription "Mostar, 1. maja 1945" in red. Stamps are cancelled with "Mostar 9" 1.V.45 canceller in black.

The cards are made uniformly and quite accurately. However, there are few with oblique printed inscription. 

1945 Mostar provisional issue, commemorative card with oblique printed inscription. Only a few such pieces are known.

1945 MOSTAR, No. 8 with inverted overprint

Only 12 stamps of No. 8 50/6 Kn Dubrovnik exist with inverted overprint. This is due to the incorrect insertion of the pieces when repairing one incomplete sheet. The following overprint positions are known so far:

• 35 and 45 as part of a tête-bêche block of four
• 65, 66, 75, 76 in a block of four
• 57, 64 and 67 as individual stamps

So there are a total of nine known positions. We can conclude that the remaining three are located close to the known ones.

Positions of nine known inverted overprints. The remaining three are most probably located somewhere near the known ones.

1945 Mostar provisional issue, No. 8 50/6 Kn Dubrovnik, tête-bêche block of four from positions 34,35/44,45. Unique item. Ex Tiberio.

1945 MOSTAR, Article

My new article has just been published...

ACTA PHILATELICA NOVA 2019

Croatian philatelic almanac

Democratic Federal Yugoslavia

MOSTAR PROVISIONAL ISSUE 1945

To order contact me at alesmarinsek67@gmail.com

1945 LJUBLJANA, Very early cancellation

Ljubljana provisional issue was released on June 7th. I have not seen a commercial shipment cancelled on June 7th or 8th. Most likely, the stamps were not available in the post offices until June 9th ...

1945 Ljubljana provisional issue, registered letter, franked with 2.5 Lire (1 Lire for the letter + 1.5 Lire for the registration), sent from Ljubljana (9.VI.45) to Osijek (16.VI.45) and redirected to Zagreb where it was censored. Very early cancellation.

1945 MOSTAR, Flaws on rare paper

The three most famous typical flaws of this issue are:

• Demokrntska instead of Demokratska (field 49)
• Jngoslavija instead of Jugoslavija (field 70)
• Jugosiavija instead of Jugoslavija (field 85)

In general, stamps with these flaws are not rare. However, if you take into account also a rarity of some types of papers, you can get extremely rare or even unique stamps. For example, only two sheets of No. 2 10/0.5 Kn on intaglio paper were overprinted. Initially, both sheets exist in the tête-bêche format. Before overprint one was separated down the middle and rejoined in normal position while the second inadvertently remained in the tête-bêche format. Therefore the overprinting of these two sheets resulted in 150 stamps with normal and 50 stamps with inverted overprint.

Position of three typical flaws on rejoined and tête-bêche sheet.

Consequently, the quantities of the three typical flaws are:

• Demokrntska normal overprint - unique
• Demokrntska inverted overprint - unique
• Jngoslavija normal overprint - unique
• Jngoslavija inverted overprint - unique
• Jugosiavija normal overprint - 2 pieces (possibly one of them in tête-bêche pair)

1945 Mostar provisional issue, No. 2, 10/0.5 Kn, a set of three on intaglio paper, each with a typical flaw: Demokrntska (unique), Jngoslavija (unique) and Jugosiavija (one of two possible). Ex Tiberio.

Concentration camp Mlini

There were a few smaller concentration camps in the vicinity of Dubrovnik all managed by the VI Army Corps. Most were intended for the internment of Jews. One of such camps was in Mlini (sometimes called Milini or Melini in Italian) where the well-supervised hotel Mlini was used due to the lack of other facilities. The camp operated from November 1942 to February 1943, when most of the internees were transferred to other camps, mostly to nearby Kupari.

Letter franked with 3,50 kn, sent from Sarajevo (7.I.43) to the concentration camp in Mlini, censored by Italian military censorship (COMMISSIONE CENSURA POSTA MILITARE / 39). From well known Goldberg correspondence. Very few postal items are preserved.

Report on the internment of Jewish in concentration camps in the Dubrovnik area. Source: campifascisti.it

(click on image to enlarge)

PhilAdria 23rd Stamp Auction

We finally got to the PhilAdria spring auction, which was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the same reason, the auction did not take place at the standard location but on the terrace of the restaurant.

The auction took place on the terrace of the restaurant.

It was a lovely day, especially since I saw my philatelic colleagues after a long time. Also, some collecting areas show great interest. For example, a set of Senta provisional issue was sold for 2.500,00 EUR hammer price.

1945 Senta provisional issue, a complete set sold for 3.000,00 EUR (2.500,00 EUR hummer price + 20% commission). You can check other results here.

1941 MEĐIMURJE, A "dot" overprint flaw

This is a mini-survey: if you collect Međimurje local issue, please see how many stamps do you have with the following overprint flaw: a "dot" in the lower right of the first dark square in the second row of coat-of-arms (see image).

I need a quantities per value for: 0.25, 0.50, 1.00, 1.50, 2.00 and 3.00 Din. For other values, this flaw should not exist. Please reply to alesmarinsek67@gmail.com. 

The "dot" flaw

323rd Special labour battalion

Due to the fear of anti-Italian activities, Italian soldiers of Slovenian and Croatian nationality were transferred to newly established Special labour battalions (IT = Compagnia speciale lavoratori) where they were used as workers and unskilled labour. Later, some confined prisoners, internees and political prisoners were also included in these battalions. They were stationed mostly in southern Italy, Sicily and Sardinia as there was considered to be the smallest chance of escape.

Military stationery postcard sent from the 323rd Special labour battalion at Isola Capo Rizzuto, province Catanzaro (30.7.43) to Gorizia.

1945 CETINJE, Star on the left

Large shifts of overprint can create interesting effects ...

1945 Cetinje provisional issue, Mi. No. 1, 1/10 Lire, block of four from position 4,5/9,10 with a large horizontal shift of overprint. Looks like the star is on the left.

1945 MOSTAR, Partial & reverse overprint

Partial overprint and overprint on the reverse are related and usually due to folding over of sheet edges during overprinting. Such errors are attractive and very rare.

1945 Mostar provisional issue, block of four of Ruđer Bošković stamps (Mi. 15) from overprint positions 89, 90, 99, 100 (lower right corner of the sheet). Partial overprint and overprint on reverse due to paper fold. Ex Tiberio. Certificate Vilfan, Marinšek.

Concentration camp Lipari

Lipari is an island northwest of Messina, Sicily. From 1934, the island served as a training site for Ustaša Croats. A concentration camp for civilians was established in October 1941. The capacity was around 350 internees, mostly Croats, Slovenes, Albanians and Montenegrins. The camp operates until July 1943 when internees were transferred to the camps of Coroppoli and Scipione.

Lipari island.

Stationery franked with 80 cent., sent from the concentration camp for civilians Lipari, Messina (13.5.42) to Zagreb, censored by the camp censor.