1945 MOSTAR - First Day of Issue

Covers franked with the Mostar Provisional Issue are exceedingly rare. While three distinct tariff periods exist, items from the first and second periods are significantly scarcer than those from the third. Of particular interest is the first period, where the rates aligned with the so-called 'Split Tariff': a 20 Kn basic letter rate and a 30 Kn registration fee. The cover shown below is the only known example used on the First Day of Issue...

1945 Mostar Provisional Issue: Registered commercial cover franked with 50 Kn using Mi. 7 (20 Kn basic letter rate + 30 Kn registration fee), sent from Mostar to Dubrovnik on April 28, 1945. Features a Trebinje transit postmark of May 3 and a Dubrovnik arrival postmark of May 6. Censored in Mostar with a single-line cachet "CENSURA". First Day of Issue!

1945 MOSTAR – Mystery Postal Card

A notable postal card sent from Široki Brijeg to Belgrade in June 1945 raises some questions. The card was broken in half at some point, but the exact circumstances of its severance and the identity of the repairer remain a mystery. While the exact moment of damage cannot be determined with absolute certainty, the presence of official "VOJNA CENZURA BEOGRAD" (Military Censorship Belgrade) tapes suggests that it is most likely that the card was severed during the censorship process. Whether it was damaged during the hurried opening of mail bags or rough handling during inspection, the fact that it was resealed with official adhesive tape points to an official intervention before it reached the addressee.

1945 Mostar Provisional Issue, Postal Card, sent from Široki Brijeg to Belgrade on June 14, 1945. Censored by Military Censor in Belgrade with a framed three-line cachet "ЦЕНЗУРИСАНО БЕОГРАД Војни цензор, бр. 10". Post offices tolerated late use of the Split Tariff for postal cards until their withdrawal from circulation. The postal card was broken in half and subsequently resealed with official censor tapes.

1945 MOSTAR - Unique combination

Two sheets measuring 10x10 of No. 2 10/0.5 Kn on intaglio paper were overprinted. Initially, both sheets were in the tête-bêche format. Before the overprinting, one sheet was cut down the middle and reassembled in the normal orientation, while the other sheet remained in the tête-bêche format by mistake. As a result, the overprinting process produced 150 stamps with a regular overprint and 50 stamps with an inverted overprint.

The quantities of the three common flaws on the No. 2 intaglio paper 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 a tête-bêche pair)

1945 Mostar provisional issue, No. 2, 10/0.5 Kn on intaglio paper with inverted overprint and a typical flaw Demokrntska, overprint position 49. Unique. Ex Tiberio.

1945 MOSTAR, 50/7 Kn on offset paper

50/7 Kn on offset paper is the rarest paper of the Mostar provisional issue. Only 50 stamps were overprinted on this paper. Price ranges from 700 EUR and up. Therefore, check for a 50/7 Kn on offset paper whenever you see this set. Here are some tips you can follow: 

• The overprint is shifted to the right and down
• Offset paper is a non-transparent, white colour with white and shiny gum (see here)
• The stamp with gum thickness is between 0.085 and 0.095 mm (see here)

1945 Mostar provisional issue, No. 9, 50/7 Kn on offset paper. Only 50 stamps could exist. Ex Tiberio. Note that the overprint is shifted to the right and down - all 50 stamps have the same shift, so this could be a first indicator that you may have this rare stamp.

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.

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 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 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.

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 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.

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.

1945 MOSTAR, No 18 inverted

Theoretically, a maximum of 32 could exist, but I never ever saw another one...

1945 Mostar provisional issue, No. 18, 20/5 Kn war tax with inverted overprint. Only 32 stamps were inverted on one reconstructed sheet. However, this is the only instance known to me. Ex Tiberio.

1945 MOSTAR, Foreign object on the plate

Mostar issue is known for multiple printing errors, especially broken stars, pins around the stars, missing letters, large shifts, etc. So far, I have seen hundreds of these stamps but I have never seen an error as shown below...

1945 Mostar local provisional issue, No. 20, 20/20 Kn, coincidental error, line below the star and rectangle on the right of the Federativna. Probably unique error, most likely due to a foreign object on the printing plate. Ex Tiberio.

1945 MOSTAR, Registered letter

Letters of Mostar issue are extremely rare - probably less than ten exist. Luckily I managed to find one nice item...

1945 Mostar local provisional issue, registered letter, franked with 240 kn, sent from Mostar (26.V.45) to Vinkovci (4.VI.45). Military censor cancellation No. 2. Fourth stamp in block of eight with typical error Jugosiavija instead of  Jugoslavija (position 85). Certificate Ercegović.

1945 MOSTAR, Souvenir cards

On the occasion of the International Labour Day (May 1st, 1945), the postal department of the National Liberation Committee issued 50 sets of souvenir cards. One full set of 20 stamps was affixed to five cards.

1945 Mostar local provisional issue, complete set on five souvenir cards. Signed Marjanović.

1945 MOSTAR, Stationery

Stationery without additional postage were tolerated by small post offices outside the Mostar until the end of the use.

1945 Mostar local provisional issue, stationery sent from contractual post office Široki Brijeg (7.6.45) to Beograd. Certificate Viflan.

1945 MOSTAR, shifted overprint

It is much more common to have 1945 Mostar stamp with a slightly shifted overprint than the ideally centered one. The reason for this is because the clichés where mounted too narrow horizontally and also because stamps with different heights were used for overprinting. So, displacements of less than 10 mm are common, whereas shifts larger than 10 mm could be quite attractive and highly valued, especially those on larger pieces. Read more:  Mostar Provisional Issue DFJ 1945 - Contribution to the Study of Overprints.

1945 Mostar local provisional issue, 10 / 2 Kn on pelure paper, vertical strip, positions 64/74/84/94, overprint shift at dx=12 mm.

1945 MOSTAR, 70th Anniversary

Today (28.04.2015) we mark the 70 year anniversary of the Mostar provisional issue.

You can read my article: Mostar Provisional Issue DFJ 1945 - Contribution to the Study of Overprints here, as well as my other posts about this issue here.