Northern Transylvania

Odorhei / Székelyudvarhely	County Odorhei / Udvarhely*
* - (Current names: Harghita / Hargita)

December 23(?), 1944 (Dec. 15 & Dec. 30 in some sources).

On December 19, 1944 Géza Sipos, a local religion teacher and philatelist, was commissioned to prepare a series of surcharged stamps. Together with a police official, he gathered up the stamp stocks from six local tobacco shops (customary sellers of stamps) and delivered them to the Minerva printery, where the majority were overprinted on a hand-operated press in blocks of 20 (2 rows of 10). Incomplete blocks were pasted together to form printing "sheets".

A portion of the surcharged stamps were used to reimburse the tobacconists. In addition, the cost of overprinting (160 Pengő) was paid for with stamps. Géza Sipos received 3.3% of the value of the stamps (214.50 Pengő) as a commission (including most of the rarities), and several sets were presented to various officials as gifts. The remaining stamps were sold at the Odorhei post office.

Overprinted
in 4 lines

Issued Stamps


No.
Value Issue Color
Scott
Michel    Quantity

1 —.50 P/1f 1943 Portraits/Crown greenish black 601   705    400

2 —.50 P/3f 1943 Portraits/Crown ultramarine 603   707    620

3 —.50 P/4f 1943 Portraits/Crown brown 604   708    1,248

4 1.— P/4f 1943 Portraits/Crown brown 604   708    900

5 1.— P/6f 1943 Portraits/Crown slate blue 606   710    98

6   1.— P/10f 1943 Portraits/Crown light brown 608   712    278

7 1.— P/18f 1943 Portraits/Crown dark gray 610   739    1,720

7a   1.— P/18f inverted overprint    20

8    1.— P/20f 1943 Portraits/Crown chestnut brown 611   715    160

9    1.— P/30f 1944 St. Margaret deep carmine 620   753    800

10    2.— P/4f 1944 Kossuth yellow brown 621   745    40

11    2.— P/30f 1944 St. Margaret deep carmine 620   753    400

12    2.— P/30f 1944 Famous Women copper red 627   756    189

13    2.— P/40f 1943 Churches gray black 590   718    40

14    2.— P/1P 1943 Portraits/Crown green 616   739    20

No. 7 with double overprint, listed in some references, does not exist.

—.50 P overprints (for post cards)

1.— P overprints (for letters)

(No. 5, 1.— / 6 fillér, is on CTO cover below)

2.— P overprints (for registered letters)

10.

11.

12.

14.

(No. 13, 2.— / 30 fillér Churches, is on CTO cover below)

Inverted Overprint

No. 7a

Offset of
(inverted)
overprint
on reverse

Unissued Stamps

No.	Value	Issue	Color	Scott	Michel	Quantity
I	—.50P/5f	1943 Portraits/Crown	vermilion	605	709	10
II	1.—P/2f	1943 Portraits/Crown	red orange	602	706	2
III	1.—P/10f	1942 Crown	olive brown	583	670	2
IV	—.50P/4f	1944 Kossuth	yellow brown	621	745	6

No. IV only exists affixed to postal stationery (q.v.) and is only known cancelled

Plate Reconstruction (block of 20) - 1.— P overprint

1-2

4-5

11-12

14-15

Provisional Cancellation

A re-engraving of an old Hungarian cancel from Homoródfürdő. First used on Dec. 30, 1944. The cost of preparing the cancel (75 Pengő) was also paid with stamps.

Covers

Nos. 1-9 and 11-13 CTO on Jan. 4, 1945 card

Post card with —.50P/1f (no. 1) single franking, Jan. 1, 1945 to Válaszut with Jan. 7 arrival cancel
From Ferenc Sipos

Tuition reminder card with —.50 P/4f (no. 3), Jan. 23, 1945 to Nagygalambfalva
From Géza Sipos.

Tuition reminder card of the Reform Collegium with 1.— P/4f (no. 4), Jan. 23, 1945 to Zetelaka (overfranked)
From Géza Sipos.

Feb. 18, 1945 cover to Felsösófalva with 1.— P/18f (no. 7)

Local registered cover with 2.—P/30f (no. 12), mixed franking with 16 Lei Romanian stamp, Feb. 4, 1945
No return address (handwriting of Géza Sipos); Romanian stamp is unnecessary

Feb. 8, 1945 cover to Felsősófalva with —.50 P/4f (no. 3), no return address
Romanian stamp (over)pays part of the 1 Pengő rate (1 Pengő = 10 Lei)

Fraudulent Covers


Two picture post cards, both dated Dec. 15, 1944. Only two problems - The overprinted stamps were issued Dec. 23 and the cancellation was first used on Dec. 30

Postal Cards

A total of 2,590 18 fillér Hungarian postal cards were gathered up from the tobacco shops and delivered to the printery. Four of the cards were deemed unsuitable for overprinting, and six cards had a 4 fillér Kossuth stamp (no. IV) pasted over the stamp indicia.

No.	Value	Issue	Description		Michel	Quantity
PC1	50 fillér/18f	1943-44 Turul	dark green		P 112	2,580

Used Postal Stationery

Jan. 15, 1945 - to Székelykeresztur

Card addressed to "Szejke-f" (Szejkefürdő?), Feb. 3, 1945.
Additional 5 Lei Romanian stamp unnecessary

Local card addressed to Géza Sipos, Jan. 8, 1945
Additional franking of —.50P/4f (no. 3) unnecessary

Cash Franking

Allegedly, for 3 to 4 weeks prior to the issuance of the overprinted stamps, cash franking or partial cash franking was employed by the Odorhei post office. To facilitate this, two round rubber handstamps were prepared with the wording:

Északerdély
1P or 2P
SZÉKELYUDVARHELY
România

Cards and letters were accepted with partial franking; the balance was paid in cash. The canceling ink used during this period was grayish black.

The stated reason for discontinuing this practice was that the Romanian transit post office at Sighişoara refused to forward consignments which did not bear a dated cancellation. This situation was also supposedly a deciding factor in the decision to produce the overprints and provisional cancel.

Numerous examples exist of the use of these cash franking cancels after the overprinted stamps and the provisional cancel became available. Unfortunately, most if not all are philatelic, often overfranked. The canceling ink used during this period was black, as opposed to grayish black.

No.	Value	Description
H1	1P	grayish black, later black (mostly philatelic)
H2	2P	grayish black, later black (mostly philatelic)

Cash Franking Covers

Pair of cards dated Jan. 8, 1945 (final reminders to pay child's tuition)
with 1P and 2P cash franking marks (required franking is 1P)

1P handstamp on card from Géza Sipos to his sister Lydia in Atid
Message dated Dec. 20, 1944 (prior to the issuance of stamps)

1P handstamp on letter to Marosvásárhely (Târgu-Mureş);
Jan. 10, 1945 provisional arrival postmark on front

1P handstamp on card from Géza Sipos dated Jan. 8, 1945;
with unoverprinted Hungarian and Romanian stamps

1P handstamp CTO on Romanian military postal card

2P handstamp CTO on Acknowledgement of Receipt card

2P handstamp on picture post card to Válaszút (Răscruci)
April 23, 1945 - extremely late (philatelic) usage

Two CTO strikes of 2P handstamp on Odorhei postal card

LOCAL ISSUES

Under Construction

Introduction
Bistriţa / Beszterce	Odorhei / Székelyudvarhely
Sighet / Máramarossziget	Târgu-Mureş / Marosvásárhely
Oradea / Nagyvarad (1st issue)	Oradea / Nagyvárad (2nd issue)
Zalău / Zilah (1st issue)	Zalău / Zilah (2nd issue)
Satu Mare / Szatmárnémeti

NOTES

1.	All bilingual proper names will be expressed in the form "Romanian Name / Hungarian Name".
2.	Individual stamps are shown at 150 dots per inch (dpi); covers and blocks are at 100 dpi. Larger items may be shown at 75 dpi or smaller and will be so noted.
3.	In the case of overprinted stamps, Scott and Michel catalog numbers are used to refer to the basic stamps.

<><><><><>

Home Page

Interests	Exhibits	Collections
Want Lists	Reference	For Sale