Issues of King Alexander I. Facing the Right

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A. Definitive issue of 1926/27

Designed and engraved by D. Wagner, the stamps were printed letterpress in sheets of 100 (10×10) by State Printing Works in Belgrade. Stamps of this issue were put in circulation in the following sequence:

• 25, 50 para and 1 din: 25 January 1926
• 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10 din: 10 March 1926
• 15, 20 and 30 din: 2 March 1927

Papers
Stamps of this issue were printed on three different types of paper:

• thin paper with a net structure,
• smooth white paper,
• thin and strong security paper with blue and red dots.

Perforations
Stamps were originally comb perforated 12½ but interesting mixed perforations also exist (partly perforated sheets were returned to the printing works where they were sometimes perforated on other machines):

• • left side 9, other sides 12½: 50 para, 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 and 15 din
  • right side 9, other sides 12½: 2, 3 and 15 din
  • left side 10½, other sides 12½: 50 para, 1, 2, 3 and 15 din
  • right side 10½, other sides 12½: 2 and 8 din

CONSTANT VARIETIES
50 para, brown
I		A white area inside left zero, at the top.
		Field №: ?	Pane: N/A
		Other nomenclatures: –
		Notes: another example.
		Value €: –
II		White line over the top right corner.
		Field №: ?	Pane: N/A
		Other nomenclatures: –
		Notes: another example.
		Value €: –
III		The bottom left edge of the frame of the left denomination is filled with color.
		Field №: ?	Pane: N/A
		Other nomenclatures: –
		Notes:
		Value €: –
3 din, blue
I		A blue dot on the number 3 on the left side.
		Field №: 51	Pane: N/A
		Other nomenclatures: –
		Notes: Also on surcharged stamp for victims of flooding.
		Value €: –
II		First retouching of the flaw I.
		Field №: ?	Pane: N/A
		Other nomenclatures: –
		Notes: the retouched stamp appears on another field in a sheet.
		Value €: –
5 din, purple
I		The outer frame above ГН letters in Д.ВАГНЕР broken.
		Field №: ?	Pane: N/A
		Other nomenclatures: –
		Notes: another example.
		Value €: –
II		A white spot on the bottom left frame of the right denomination tablet
		Field №: ?	Pane: N/A
		Other nomenclatures: –
		Notes: another example.
		Value €: –
15 din, brown
I		Thin lines below the bottom frame, on each side of Д.ВАГНЕР.
		Field №: ?	Pane: N/A
		Other nomenclatures: –
		Notes: another example.
		Value €: –

UNLISTED VARIETIES
50 para, brown
1	The top frame is uneven.
3	Thin white line above the letter S in SRBA (ŠRBA).
4	A white dot in front of the King’s chin.
1 din, red
1	The top frame is uneven.
2	A red dot on a white frame.
3 din, blue
1	The left frame is broken.
5 din, purple
1	White spot on the bottom left corner of the letter E in SLOVENACA.
2	Two white spots on the bottom frame of the right denomination tablet.

COINCIDENTAL VARIETIES
A. Paper errors
1	Paper folds during the printing process.
2	Paper crease.
B. Foreign particles on the printing plate
3	Foreign particles on the printing plate.
C. Perforation errors
1	Shifted perforation.
2	Wider format.

B. Definitive issue of 1926/27 with a surcharge for victims of flooding

The stamps were in obligatory use in inland postal traffic between 1 and 30 November 1926. Between 18 June and 23 August 1928, three stamps were again put in circulation, this time as definitive stamps with a face value of denomination + surcharge (25 + 25 para as 50 para, 50 + 50 para as 1 dinar, and 1 dinar + 0.50 para as 1.50 dinar stamp).

Complete sets were available to collectors at post offices in Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana, and Sarajevo between 1 July and 31 August 1928 and again between 15 December 1933 and 14 December 1934. Unsold copies were destroyed in 1935.

It is interesting to note that values of 15, 20, and 30 din came to circulation first surcharged and then, on 2 March 1927 without surcharge.

TYPES
Thin and thick + sign
I		Plus sign in overprint thin.
		Field №: ?, 62 (50 para)	Pane: N/A
		Other nomenclatures: –
		Notes: Thin plus sign in overprint appears only on 25 + 25 and 50 + 50 para stamps. Initially, the overprinting form for the whole sheet (10×10) contained thin plus signs. They were later replaced by thick ones but one thin sign remained in the second horizontal row of 25 para stamp and one on the 62nd field of 50 para stamp.
		Value €: –
Types of numeral 5 in overprint on 50 + 50 para stamps with a thin + sign
I		There are three types of numeral 5 in overprint on 50 + 50 para stamp with a thin + sign: 5 with a bent horizontal stroke, narrow 5, regular 5.
		Field №: ?	Pane: N/A
		Other nomenclatures: –
		Notes: –
		Value €: –

COINCIDENTAL VARIETIES
Overprint errors
1	Gone through paper print: 25 + 25 para, 10 + 1 din.
Overprint partially missing
1	A horizontal line in + not printed.
Shifted overprint
1	Overprint shifted in any direction

C. Stamps overprinted XXXX over surcharge for victims of flooding

Stamps were issued as provisional definitive issue on 7th of December 1928. Values of 0.25 + 0.25 din, 0.50 + 0.50 din and a part of circulation 1 + 0.50 din were not overprinted and remained in circulation as 0.50 din, 1 din and 1.50 din, respectively.

CONSTANT VARIETIES OF OVERPRINTS
All denominations
I		The first X is damaged at the bottom.
		Field №: ?	Pane: N/A
		Other nomenclatures: –
		Notes: another example.
		Value €: –
II		The last X is damaged at the bottom right.
		Field №: ?	Pane: N/A
		Other nomenclatures: –
		Notes: another example.
		Value €: –

UNLISTED VARIETIES
All denominations
1	Faults on first X.
2	Faults on second X.
3	Faults on third X.
4	Faults on fourth X.

COINCIDENTAL VARIETIES
1 din
1	Printer’s block.

D. Stamps overprinted with new country name ЈУГОСЛАВИЈА / JUGOSLAVIJA

On 3 October 1929, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was renamed to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. On 5 September 1933, a provisional definitive issue with stamps of King Alexander facing to the right, overprinted in letterpress with the new country name ЈУГОСЛАВИЈА / JUGOSLAVIJA in black color, was released.

Paper types in this issue are the same as in the definitive issue (1926/27), varieties in perforations are:

• left side 9, other sides 12½: 25 and 50 para, 1 and 2 din
• right side 9, other sides 12½: 3 din
• left side 10½, other sides 12½: 1 and 5 din
• right side 10½, other sides 11½: 50 para.

CONSTANT VARIETIES
4 din, orange
I		Letter Л in ЈУГОСЛАВИЈА split in the middle, letter L in JUGOSLAVIJA thin.
		Field №: ?	Pane: N/A
		Other nomenclatures: –
		Notes: another example.
		Value €: –

OTHER OVERPRINT ERRORS, PROBABLY COINCIDENTAL

COINCIDENTAL VARIETIES
1	Tilted overprint.

CONTEMPORARY FORGERIES
	Several contemporary forgeries of overprint exist: dim color and lower stroke of letter Ј in ЈУГОСЛАВИЈА prolonged to the left, overprint fuzzy, distance between top and bottom country name 1½ shorter, “the Gjuriš” forgery: larger distance between ЈУГОСЛАВИ and ЈА, letter У wider, lower curve of the letter Ј in ЈУГОСЛАВИЈА shifted upwards, letters G, S and L in JUGOSLAVIJA different.
The “Gjuriš” forgery

E. Overprint ЈУГОСЛАВИЈА / JUGOSLAVIJA on surcharged stamps of 1926

The remaining stamps with a surcharge for the victims of the flooding of 1926 were overprinted with the new country name and four horizontal lines over the surcharge and released on the same day as the previous issue, on 5 September 1933. Also on this issue, it is necessary to note:

• paper and perforation varieties are the same as in previous issues,
• varieties of victims of flooding surcharges of 1926.

CONSTANT VARIETIES
Constant varieties on all values
I		Missing letter I in JUGOSLAVIJA appears three times in every sheet on all three values.
		Field №: ?	Pane: N/A
		Other nomenclatures: –
		Notes: 50 para stamp, 1 dinar stamp.
		Value €: –
1 dinar, red
I		Dot instead of I in JUGOSLAVIJA, the right side of the third horizontal line is broken and partially missing, the first letter А in ЈУГОСЛАВИЈА broken on the top left.
		Field №: ?	Pane: N/A
		Other nomenclatures: –
		Notes: another example.
		Value €: –

COINCIDENTAL VARIETIES
1	Partial or full overprint offset.
2	Broken lines in overprint.

OTHER
1	Misplaced surcharge on victims of flooding stamp.

 

References

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Bibliography

1. Katalog poštanskih maraka jugoslovenskih zemalja (1991), Jugomarka (Belgrade), YU ISSN 0351-4447
2. Novak, Dragan: Priručnik maraka jugoslovenskih zemalja (1948), Tome 8, Filatelistički savez Hrvatske (Zagreb)

Contributors
Some of the images on this page were contributed by mag. Boštjan Petauer FRPSL.