2022

Dear Visitor,

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Aleš

1943 ŠIBENIK, Early usage

The first commercial use of the First Šibenik Issue known to me is from the 21st of September 1943 ...

Fragment of stationery hand overprinted with First Šibenik Issue cachet and franked with two 50 cents stamps of the First Šibenik Issue, cancelled by "SEBENICO / RACC. ASSIC." canceller on 21.9.43. Early usage! From well-known Novak correspondence. Certificate Vilfan.

The dry strike on the stationery is almost invisible. However, you can clearly see the overprint using the proper colour separation technique.

LJP, 4444

Usually, collectors specialize their collections with postmarks carrying interesting dates. In most cases, these are dates related to historical events or maybe dates of issuing stamps (first day). However, I know some of them who collects dates that are attractive from a numerological point of view ...

Stationery of 75 cents, sent from Ljubljana (4.4.44) to München. From a numerological point of view, probably the most notable date of the period of occupation of the Ljubljana province.

1945 MOSTAR, Mirrored Z

Three different rubber censorship cachets were used in Mostar. One was "★VOJNA / CENZURA" (= "★MILITARY / CENSORSHIP"), the other "ЦЕНЗЫРИСАНО!" (= "CENSORED!") and the third "CENZURA" (= "CENSORSHIP").

The last one is interesting because it contains mirrored letter Z. It is unknown whether this was an error in the preparation of the rubber cachet or whether the cachet was of Italian origin where the mirrored Z represents S as CENSURA in Italian means CENSORSHIP.

Forerunner of the 1945 Mostar provisional issue, letter sent from Mostar (15.III.45) to Dubrovnik, free of charge as the sender was a military person, censored in Mostar with "CENZURA" cachet.

LJP, Letter to France

I have a nice foreign letter travelled with several TPO's ...

Letter, franked with 1.25 Lire definitive and rare 2.50 Lire express delivery stamp, sent from Ljubljana (12.1.42) to Saint Rémy de Provence in France, in transit over several travelling post offices, twice censored by Italians and Germans. 

From the postmarks, we can identify the following journey:

1. 12.1.42 - Post office LUBIANA 1 / LJUBLJANA 1
2. 13.1.42 - Railway post office MESS. LUBIANA - TRIESTE / TURNO 17
3. 13.1.42 - Railway post office AMB. TRIESTE - VENEZIA 345
4. 13 or 14.1.42 - Railway post office MESS. VENEZIA - MILANO
5. 14.1.42 - Railway receiving office MILANO FERR. CORRISP.
6. 14 or 15.1.41 - Italian censorship UFFICIO CENSURA POSTA ESTERA / III
7. 15.1.42 - Post office for abroad POSTA ESTERA / MILANO
8. German censorship
9. Delivery to the addressee

LJP, Post office Krmelj

The Germans occupied the Krmelj in April 1941. During this first German occupation, the post office operated. They used an old one-line KARMEL seal and a newly made German two-circle KARMEL (STEIERM) postmark with counter code A. On October 8, 1941, the Germans left Krmelj to the Italians. The post office continued to operate until the late summer of 1942, when it was closed. It was reopened on January 1, 1943, until August 14, 1943, when it was finally closed. The Italian administration used a two-circle Italian postmark with the inscription KRMELJ / (LUBIANA). During the second German occupation (autumn 1943 - May 1945), the post office Krmelj remained closed.

German two-circle KARMEL (STEIERM) postmark with counter code A used on 4.8.41 during the first German occupation. Very rare.

1941 MEĐIMURJE, Double overprint

Double overprints are very rare and known for values of 0.25 and 4 Din only...

1941 Međimurje local issue, 0.25 Din horizontal se-tenant pair with types "a" and "b" of coat-of-arms from the second printing with double overprint. Position 3,4. Certificate Marinšek.

For more about Međimurje as well as about other Local Issues of the Independent State of Croatia, get a free manual:

Local Issues of Independent State of Croatia

Međimurje • Banja Luka • Šibenik I & II • Dalmatia

LJP Postmark Catalog

After a long period, I had some free time today, which I used to develop a catalog of postmarks of the Ljubljana Province. Here is a preview for one of the post offices showing different periods and different postmark origins. There were a total of 101 post offices, so worth mentioning that a catalog could be generated programmatically. 

Anyway, there is still a lot to do, so I hope to have some extra time soon ...

Ljubljana Province postmark catalog -  preview for post office Vrhnika.

(click for larger image)

1945 MOSTAR, Overprint double

Overprint double occurred only on one horizontal row of No. 17, where one sheet was incorrectly inserted together with another sheet and received two plate strikes. So, altogether only 10 examples with double overprint could exist.

1945 Mostar provisional issue, No. 17 "War Tax" block of four from positions 1-2/11-12 showing overprint double on upper stamps. Ex Tiberio. Very rare!

1945 LJUBLJANA, Podlipa auxiliary post office

During WWII, Podlipa had a small auxiliary office of the Vrhnika post office. The German army left Vrhnika on May 5 1945, and the next day the abandoned area was held by the Yugoslav army. Nearby Ljubljana and other parts of Slovenia were liberated on May 9. The new regime immediately suspended postal services in the territory of Slovenia - first informally and then, on May 12, also formally. The ban was in effect until June 6. On June 7, the stamps of the Ljubljana Provisional Issue were overprinted and delivered to the post offices in the following days...

Money order for 125.- Lira sent to auxiliary post office Podlipa, cancelled at Vrhika with german canceller OVERLAIBACH / VRHNIKA on 4.V.45. After the Germans left and after the suspension of postal service, it was cancelled with nationalized Italian canceller VRHNIKA on 6.VI.45. The money was paid out on 12.VI.45, and the money transfer order was liquidated with No. 5 of Ljubljana provisional issue on 13.VI.1945.

This is an extremely rare postal item used in a small auxiliary post office during the transition period between the two regimes.

Partisan mail from evacuation hospital

Partisan mail was operated by couriers who carried mail between branched relay stations. The senders or recipients were usually in mobile partisan units or stationary bases such as military hospitals. One of such hospitals was SVPB-E, an evacuation hospital that operated in two locations in Bela Krajina near the partisan airport at Otok village. Patients waiting to be evacuated by plane gathered here. The first evacuations were to Italy and later to Dalmatia...

Partisan letter, sent from SVPB-E (= "Slovenska Vojno Partizanska Bolnica - Evakuacijska" = "Slovenian Military Partisan Hospital - Evacuation") to SNOS (= "Slovenski NarodnoOsvobodilni Svet" = "Slovenian National Liberation Council", transit via relay station "RS 15" on 9.III.1945. Very rare!

GLAVNA UPRAVA SVBP VII. KORPUSA NOV in POJ (= MAIN UNIT of SVBP of VII. CORPS of NOV and POJ)

NOV = "NarodnoOsvobodilna Vojska" = "National Liberation Army"
POJ = "Partizanskih Odredov Jugoslavije" = "Partisan Units of Yugoslavia"

Relay station "RS 15" was positioned in Kočevski Rog.

LJP, A letter from Tivat

After the Italian occupation of Montenegro and the province of Ljubljana in 1941, the post between these regions was a domestic mail. However, due to the war circumstances and the censorship centres, the shipment routes were quite complicated...

Express registered letter, franked with 3 Lire, sent from Tivat (5.IX.41) to Novo Mesto (14.IX.41), censored in Bologna, transit via Munich and Trieste.

The cancellations show a complicated route:

 

5.IX.41 TIVAT / ТИВАТ

9.9.41 BOLOGNA FERROVIA RACCOMANDATE / TURNO B

11.9.41 MÜNCHEN / HAUPSTADT DER BEWEGUNG

12.9.41 TRIESTE CORRISP. E PACCHI / (ARR. PART. RACC. B)

14.IX.41 NOVO MESTO / [LUBIANA]

PhilAdria's 26th auction

On October 23rd, the 26th Philadria auction will take place. A lot of exciting material and favourable starting prices. Online catalogue at http://catalog.philadria.com/en/catalog/index/26 or via Philasearch site at https://www.philasearch.com/en/country_topic.html?set_auktionnr=7174.

26th auction catalogues.

There are six lots with my certificates:

Lots 417, 420, 421, 447, 468 and 469.
(click the image for enlargement)

Exceptionally late use of Small Petar

The use of stamps and stationery with Small Peter's motif is considered late usage already for 1941. Therefore, we can examine that the usage at the end of 1945 is exceptionally late ...

1 Din stationery of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia "Small Petar" sent from Dubrovnik (13.XII.45) to Split. The post office in Dubrovnik allowed its use, as they cancelled it and put it into the postal traffic. Exceptionally late usage.

LJP, Čatež / Velika Loka

The Čatež post office was a small subsidiary of the Velika Loka post office. It operated during the Italian occupation of the Ljubljana Province, and it was closed on the 8th of September 1943, after the capitulation of Italy.

The Italian postal ticket of 50 cents, sent from a small subsidiary post office Čatež via Velika Loka (22.VII.41) to Rakek (23.VII.41). Only a few examples of this auxiliary post office have been preserved. This is the only one on a rare, 50 cents postal ticket that I know.

The Čatež post office postmark "ČATEŽ / (VELIKA LOKA)".

SOFIZ II - Online Philatelic Exhibition

Due to the pandemic, more and more events are taking place online. These include philatelic exhibitions, and one of these is the second Serbian national online stamp exhibition SOFIZ II with international participation held in the period of 8th - 17th December 2021.

I am going to participate with exhibits and a lecture. I will notify the details in the following weeks.

SOFIZ II home page: https://www.philaserbia.com/sofiz-2/

SOFIZ II IREX https://www.philaserbia.com/irex-2/

1945 SARAJEVO, Late use

Stationery of the Sarajevo provisional issue were used long after they expired. However, usage in the second half of 1946 is scarce...

1945 Sarajevo provisional issue, type I stationery, franked with 3 din, sent from Sarajevo (19.VII.46) to Vienna, censored by Österreichische Zensurstelle 227. Late usage.

1944 SENTA, Partial overprint

 Partial overprints of the 1944 Senta issue are very rare...

1944 Senta provisional issue, No. V with red star overprint only. Position 1-2.

The only such item that I have seen so far.

1945 MOSTAR, Unique No. 13

Only one sheet of No. 13 was overprinted inverted, so any constant flaw on this sheet is unique...

1945 Mostar provisional issue, No. 13, 30 kn / 3.50 kn - Petar Zrinski with inverted overprint. Constant flaw Jugosiavija instead of Jugoslavija, overprint position 85, base stamp position 42. Ex Tiberio. Unique.

1945 SPLIT, Censorship numbers

After the liberation of Dalmatia, the partisans established a censorship service in most major cities. Uniform (but not identical!) censorship rectangular framed rubber stamps with the inscription "CENZURIRANO / Br. No." were used. All known numbers are listed below:

  1 Drniš (RR)
  2 Hvar (R)
  3 Split
  5 Vis (RR)
  6 Šibenik
  8 * Biograd na Moru (RR)
  9 * Obrovac (RR)
10 Dubrovnik
11 * Omiš (RRR)
12 Zadar (RRR)
13 Knin
15 * Novigrad (RR)
16 Korčula (R)
17 Sinj (R)
18 Makarska (RR)
19 * Preko (RRR)
20 * Vrgorac (RRR)
21 * Supetar (RRR)

* The identification of the location of the censorship office is uncertain and based on a limited number of preserved items.

Except for 3 Split, 6 Šibenik, 10 Dubrovnik and 13 Knin, all other censorships are rare. According to my knowledge, the rarest are No. 11, 12, 19, 20 and 21. Whether the numbers 4, 7 and 14 were in use is unknown.

Forerunner of the 1945 Split provisional issue, letter sent from Obrovac (13.III.45) to Dubrovnik, free of charge as the sender was a military person, censored in Novigrad "CENZURIRANO / Br. 15" .

1945 SPLIT, Letter to NY

Censorship in Yugoslavia was officially ended on July 2, 1945. However, it was still carried out for shipments to or from abroad ...

Registered letter, sent from Dubrovnik (20.VII.45) to New York (9-17 / 1945) via Naples (22.8.45), correctly franked with 9 Din (foreign tariff valid from 10 May 1945: 4 Din for letter + 5 Din for the registration). Censored in Dubrovnik (CENZURIRANO / Br. 10) and Naples (MILITARY CENSORSHIP / 0146 / CIVIL MAILS).

Cancellations on the back: NAPOLI FERROVIA / 22.8.45 / ESTERO, NEW YORK, N.Y. / 9 - 17 / 1945 / REG'Y. DIV. and ??? / SEP / 18 / 1945 / REGISTERED. Note that Allied Censorship in Naples still uses old Italian censorship labels.

8.1M EUR for 1847 Mauritius cover

Just sold at Gartner’s auction for € 8,100,000 plus commission...

1847 Mauritius "Post Office" issue, one penny red-orange on the cover (SE 27 1847).

1945 MARIBOR, Unopened letter

It does not often happen that you find a 76-year-old unopened letter, a really nice surprise. Although I am tempted to open it and read the content, it will remain unopened...

1945 Maribor provisional issue, letter sent from Kranj (4.VII.45) to Jesenice, correctly franked with 12 pf. Unopened with original, 76 years old, content.

1945 SPLIT, Small Petar No. 2

Only five “Small Peter” stationery that travelled are known. So I am happy to have found another one for my collection ...

1945 Split provisional issue, "Small Petar" stationery, sent from Sinj (20.VI.45) to Split. Censor cancellation No. 17, Sinj. Extremely rare item. Certificate Marinšek.

1945 ZAGREB, The earliest known mail

Zagreb was liberated on 8th May 1945. The Communists immediately closed all post offices and suspended postal traffic. No official documents are known regarding the operation of the post office at that time and nothing is known about the date of the re-establishment of postal services...

Forerunner of the 1945 Zagreb provisional issue, picture postcard sent from Zagreb 2 (1.VI.1945) to military position, free of charge as the recipient was a military person. Rare censor cancellation CENZUR-ZAGREB. 1st of Jun 1945 is the earliest known date for a shipment after the Communists took power and suspended all postal traffic.

Online meeting

We had an interesting zoom meeting yesterday. Three different topics, among which I was personally most interested in the presentation of the Wiki website https://worldstampsproject.org.

Participants

1944 DB Laibach, Chemical censoring

During WWII, all mail was censored. Censors read entire messages and censored prohibited content. One way of secret communication was to use invisible ink (also known as covert ink, sympathetic ink and white ink). However, this was dangerous because about 3% of all checks held a chemical test.

Registered letter, franked with 2.50 Lit, sent from Laibach =Ljubljana (28.VIII.44) to Franz Steierm =Vransko Štajerska (20.9.44), censored by OKW Vienna*. Chemical censoring was applied on the back.

*OKW codes and offices

a - Koenigsberg --- Baltic States, USSR

b - Berlin --- Airmail transit – N. & S. America

c - Cologne --- Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, N. France

d - Munich --- Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Vatican

e - Frankfurt --- S. France, Switzerland, N. & S. America

f - Hamburg --- Scandinavia

g - Vienna --- Balkans, Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece

h - Berlin --- (special for P.O.W. mail in late 1944)

k - Copenhagen --- Sweden, Norway, Finland

l - Lyon --- S. France

n - Nancy --- S. France, Spain, Portugal

o - Oslo --- Sweden, Finland, Denmark

t - Trondheim --- Norway to Sweden and Finland

x - Paris --- Red Cross mail, France

y - Bordeaux --- SW. France

Local Issues of Independent State of Croatia

A random page from my book...

Page 103 - Chapter IV - Local Issue for Dalmatia - Overprint Errors - Double overprint.

Click for enlarging.

The Philatelic Manual

Local Issues of Independent State of Croatia

Međimurje • Banja Luka • Šibenik I & II • Dalmatia

1941 BANJA LUKA, 80th anniversary

Today marks 80 years since the release of the Banja Luka local issue. 

Shortly after assuming powers, the Ustasha Command - which had several well known Banja Luka collectors in its ranks - considered the possibility of overprinting postage stamps. Politically motivated three-line overprint read "Slobodna / Bosanska / Hrvatska" (= "Free / Bosnian / Croatia") implying the liberation of northern Bosnia and the new status of the area as the Bosnian part of the new Croatia. Banja Luka Philatelic Society issued "First Day Covers" with Society's logo to the upper left, and both values cancelled with Banja Luka counter code 6 canceller (Cyrillic inscription removed) for 21st April 1941. Given these covers and the absence of provable alternative dates, Monday 21st April 1941 should be considered the date of issue.

1941 Banja Luka local issue, Banja Luka Philatelic Society's FDC, 21.IV.41. Only about ten such covers exist.

NDH Revenue Issues Book

My philatelic colleague Phil Hughes has a free gift for all buyers of his NDH Revenue Issues Book. Here is his message:

"As some of you know, my book on NDH revenues was published in late 2015. Over the last five years, a lot of new information has been found about this interesting area of NDH collecting. This includes previously unknown stamps along with information on such things as plate numbers, pane sizes, security network varieties, etc. Consequently, I have put together a revision to the original 153-page book which adds over 80 pages of additional information. This version is in electronic format and only in English. I am making it available as a free download to anyone who purchased the original book. If you are a purchaser of the original book and wish a copy of the new version, please contact me at pj_in_sb@yahoo.com."

NDH Revenue Issues by Phil Hughes