Serbian Occupation of Baranya: Varieties of Postage Stamps

After the fall of Austria-Hungary, Serbian troops occupied areas of Hungary known as Vojvodina (Banat, Bačka and Baranja). Postal directorate in Pécs received approval from Serbian high military command in Novi Sad to contact the Ministry of Posts in Budapest in order to get an approval for overprinting of stamps.

The ministry approved the overprinting of Hungarian stamps with inscription “Dunántúli megszállás 1919” (Transdanubian occupation 1919). The military command in Novi Sad refused this text and ordered stamp to be overprinted “Baranya 1919”, allegedly to emphasize territorial claim on the region. The new wording was later approved also by the competent ministry in Budapest.

Stamps were overprinted by Pécsi irodalmi és könyvnyomda R.T. At first, a Tiegel semi-automatic stop-cylinder press was used. The result was unsatisfactory as the overprints were blurry and thick. The rest of the circulation was overprinted in letterpress.

The stamps were in circulation until 20. August 1920 when the region was, after a referendum, returned to Hungary.

A. Types of overprints of the 5th of May issue

OVERPRINT A
Used on: Turul, Harvesting Wheat, King Charles IV, Queen Zita and War Charity Stamps
Type A-I	Type A-II	Type A-III	Type A-IV	Types of 1919: Type I: regular overprint, Type II: both numerals 1 with serifs, Type III: the second numeral 1 shorter, Type IV: the second numeral 1 with serif.

OVERPRINT A

Used on: Turul, Harvesting Wheat, King Charles IV, Queen Zita and War Charity Stamps

Type A-I

Serbia Hungary Baranya postage stamp overprint A type 2

Type A-II

Serbia Hungary Baranya postage stamp overprint A type 3

Type A-III

Serbia Hungary Baranya postage stamp overprint A type 4

Type A-IV

Types of 1919:

Type I: regular overprint,
Type II: both numerals 1 with serifs,
Type III: the second numeral 1 shorter,
Type IV: the second numeral 1 with serif.

OVERPRINT B
Used on: Parliament
Type B-I	Type B-II	Type B-III	Types of 1919: Type I: regular overprint, Type II: both numerals 1 with serifs, Type III: the second numeral 1 shorter,

OVERPRINT B

Used on: Parliament

Type B-I

Serbia Hungary Baranya postage stamp overprint B type 2

Type B-II

Serbia Hungary Baranya postage stamp overprint B type 3

Type B-III

Types of 1919:

Type I: regular overprint,
Type II: both numerals 1 with serifs,
Type III: the second numeral 1 shorter,

OVERPRINT C
Used on: Harvesting Wheat with new denomination
Type C-I	Type C-II	Types of overprints: Type I: letter B in Baranya with both halves of equal height, Type II: the upper half of the letter B shorter.

OVERPRINT C

Used on: Harvesting Wheat with new denomination

Type C-I

Serbia Hungary Baranya postage stamp overprint C type 2

Type C-II

Types of overprints:

Type I: letter B in Baranya with both halves of equal height,
Type II: the upper half of the letter B shorter.

OVERPRINT D
Used on: special delivery stamp of 1916
Type D-I		Types of 1919: Type I: both numerals 1 without serifs, Type II: the numerals with serifs.

OVERPRINT D

Used on: special delivery stamp of 1916

Serbia Hungary 1919 Baranya postage stamp type D1

Type D-I

Types of 1919:

Type I: both numerals 1 without serifs,
Type II: the numerals with serifs.

B. Varieties of overprints

CONSTANT VARIETIES OF THE 5TH OF MAY 1919 ISSUE
Overprint B			Field number
I	Also on Type B-III	Letter y in Baranya broken at bottom.	2-5
II		Letter r in Baranya broken at top.	6-10
III	Also on Type B-III	Letter B in Baranya damaged at top left.	17-20, 66-69
Overprint C			Field number
I		Numeral 5 on the left side damaged or missing, numeral 4 more narrow.	46, 49
Overprint D			Field number
I		Letters a and r in Baranya broken in the middle.	1, 2, 4-6, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 20-22, 24, 25, 29, 31-35, 42-45, 51, 53, 61, 63, 64, 72-75, 81, 82, 85, 91-93

POSSIBLE CONSTANT VARIETIES OF THE 5TH OF MAY 1919 ISSUE (not mentioned in literature)
Overprint A
1	Middle horizontal line in B of Baranya broken.
2	Letter n in Baranya broken on top.
3	The first numeral 1 in 1919 broken at the top, looks like i.
4	The second numeral 1 in 1919 broken.
Overprint B
1	The second letter a in Baranya damaged at bottom right.
2	The third letter a in Baranya broken at bottom.
3	Letter n in Baranya broken on top.
4	The first numeral 1 in 1919 broken on top.
5	The second letter a in Baranya broken at the bottom.
Overprint C
1	Indentation at the bottom right side of the right numeral 5, the right numeral 4 broken in the middle.
2	The right numeral 5 deformed.
Overprint for postage dues
1	Letter r in Baranya broken in the middle.
2	The second letter a in Baranya broken on the right side.

COINCIDENTAL VARIETIES OF THE 5TH OF MAY 1919 ISSUE
Overprint A
1	Inverted overprint.
2	Double overprint: inverted and tilted.
Overprint C
1	Shifted overprint.
COINCIDENTAL VARIETIES OF THE 18TH OF DECEMBER 1919 ISSUE
1	Gone through paper print.
2	Shifted overprint.

References

Bibliography

Katalog poštanskih maraka jugoslovenskih zemalja (1991), Jugomarka (Belgrade). YU ISSN 0351-4447
Priručnik Maraka Jugoslavenskih Zemalja (1950), Tome IX, Filatelistički Savez Hrvatske (Zagreb).