Commemorative Issue of 1918

On 29 October 1918, the parliament (Sabor) of the Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia cut all ties with Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. To commemorate the event, a decision was taken to issue a special set of postal stamps. Stamps were designed by Mr. Rudolf Sabljak and Mr. Rudolf Valić and printed in Zemaljska Tiskara in Zagreb in lithography, perforation line 11½.

At first it was planned to issue only one stamp with denomination of 50 filler, later it was decided to issue a set of 4 stamps in total circulation of 100.000 stamps:

  • 10 filler, red (30.000),
  • 15 filler, purple (30.000),
  • 25 filler, blue (25.000),
  • 45 filler, gray green (15.000).

The stamps were in use only one day – on 29 November 1918 – in about 234 post offices across Croatia. Consequently, all used stamps should bear postmark with this date.

Types

Transmission of images during production of printing plates was done in pairs as stamps in even-numbered columns differ from stamps in odd-numbered columns. Se-tenant pair are always of different types and a sheet of 100 is consisted of 50 stamps of each type.

TYPES
Odd column Description Even column Description
SHS Hrvatska 29 Listopada 1918 10 filler odd column Zero in left side denomination is oval at the bottom. SHS Hrvatska 29 Listopada 1918 10 filler even column Zero in left side denomination is rectangular at the bottom.
SHS Hrvatska 29 Listopada 1918 20 filler odd column Denomination value on the right side is evidently smaller than the one on the left side. SHS Hrvatska 29 Listopada 1918 20 filler even column Both denominations, on the left and on the right side appear to be of same height.
Numeral 5 in denomination on the right is a bit thicker than the one on the left side. SHS Hrvatska 29 Listopada 1918 25 filler even column Both numerals 5 appear to be the same.
SHS Hrvatska 29 Listopada 1918 - 45 filler odd column Both numerals 5 appear to be equally thick. Numeral 5 in denomination on the right is thinner than the one on the left side.

Constant varieties

CONSTANT VARIETIES Field number
10 filler
I White line over colored square in Croatian Coat of Arms. 2
II White spot in square to the right from slave’s head. 57
20 filler
I White spot to the lower right from the slave. 71
25 filler
I White spot in square to the right from slave’s head. 28

Forgeries

Not long after commemorative stamps were issued a mass of essays, printing trials, “reprints” on different types of papers and other dubious materials appeared on philatelic market. With them also a very well made forgery that confused contemporary philatelists into believing that there was also a second plate used in printing.

According to the literature (Ercegović, 1995: 91) the author and distributor of the forgeries was no other than the designer Rudolf Valić himself who in complicity with Zemaljska Tiskara in Zagreb produced small sheets of 16 stamps (4×4). Stamps from the so called “second plate” can be identified by differences in design.

FORGERIES PRODUCED BY MR. VALIĆ
SHS Commemorative Issue 29 Listopada 1918 forgery
Original to the left, forgery to the right.		 Characteristics of the Valić forgery:

  • circles in ornaments below slave’s leg are enclosed,
  • rectangular-shaped ornament above slave’s knee is separated by a straight line,
  • in the corner, formed by slave’s thigh and abdomen there’s an additional short line.

For the full set click here.

 

Bibliography

  1. Fleck, Vladimir (1941): Priručnik Maraka Hrvatskih Zemalja, Book 1, Tome 2, Hrvatski Filatelistički Savez
  2. Ercegović, Velimir (1995): HRVATSKA FILATELIJA – Od predfilatelije do maraka Republike Hrvatske, Agencija za komercijalnu djelatnost, Zagreb ISBN-13: 978-9539641915
  3. Katalog poštanskih maraka jugoslovenskih zemalja (1991), Jugomarka (Belgrade). YU ISSN 0351-4447