The Postage Stamp in War Part 7

The Belgian Government moved to Havre in France on October 13, 1914, and there they have a special post office using the postmark _Fig._ 216. The headquarters of the habitations of the Belgian Government are reckoned part of Belgium, and while the Belgians may send letters to their different addresses in Havre or to Belgium, for the unit rate of 10 centimes (1d.), letters for France, even for another part of Havre, are treated as foreign letters, and require to be prepaid at the 25 centimes (2d.) rate.

There are also Belgian military postcards at present in use by the soldiers, and a variety of military postmarks, of which _Fig._ 217 is an example.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 216 217]

An interesting trio of covers has been received from a young marine who was with the Naval Brigade at Antwerp. The first, dated October 6, 1914, has the postmark (_Fig._ 218).

[Ill.u.s.tration: 218 220]

On the 11th he was evidently interned in Leeuwarden (_Fig._ 220) Holland, his letter being censored (_Fig._ 39). On the 27th he wrote from Groningen, where most of the naval brigade men were interned. The letter has the Groningen machine cancellation, and _Fig._ 221 struck in violet:

PORTVRIJ FRANC DE POST.

Militaires etrangers internes dans les Pays-Bas.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 221]

SERBIA. Revolutionary disturbances have a.s.sisted the changes of the stamps of Serbia. Michael Obrenovich III., who figures on the issue of 1866, was a.s.sa.s.sinated on June 10th, 1868, by the friends of the abdicated prince, Alexander Karageorgevich. Milan IV., his successor, had a troublous reign; during his period the country was recognised as a kingdom with Milan as king, but he abdicated in 1889 in favour of Alexander, his son. The portraits of Milan and Alexander figure on the stamps of their respective reigns, and in the case of Alexander we get one of those philatelic issues which must imprint on our minds the memory of notable or notorious events. It is within the memory of most of our readers that Alexander and his consort, Queen Draga, were a.s.sa.s.sinated by a number of military officers in 1903, and the house of Karageorgevich once again ruled in Serbia in King Peter, the present monarch. At the time of the a.s.sa.s.sination a new series of stamps bearing the portrait of Alexander was in readiness for issue, but before they were sent out under the new _regime_ the effigy of the murdered king was almost completely obliterated by the overprinting of a design of the Serbian Arms (_Fig._ 222).

[Ill.u.s.tration: 222 223 224]

The year following the grimmest of all the royal tragedies of Serbia the surviving dynasty commemorated its centenary, and issued perhaps the most sensational stamp series known to collectors. These will go down to posterity as the "Death Mask" stamps, although the curiosity of artistry which led to this designation probably owes more to the excited imagination of the Serbian and foreign public than to any gruesome intent on the part of revolutionary artists.

The Coronation stamps of King Peter, issued September 21, 1904, are of large size, and in two designs, by G. Janovic. M. Mouchon was the engraver, and the stamps were printed at the French Government Stamp Printing Factory in Paris. The names of the designer and engraver appear in microscopic letters below the design of each stamp. The first design (_Fig._ 223) shows a medal on which the profile of the new King Peter is superimposed upon the profile of the founder of the dynasty "Kara," or Black George. The names inscribed upon the medal are KARA GJORGJE at left, and PETAR I. at right. To the left and right of the medal respectively are the centennial dates 1804-1904, and below are the Serbian Arms, with the motto SPES MIHI PRIMA DEUS. Along the top of the stamp in Sclavonic characters is KRALJEVINA SRBIJA (Kingdom of Servia), the value in PARA is in the lower left corner, and the word POSHTA in the lower right corner. This design was used for all the para values.

For the higher values in dinar (_Fig._ 224), the same frame design is used, but for the medallion what may have been the reverse of a Coronation medal is shown. This is reputed to be an allegory representing the successes of the guerilla leader Kara-George, founder of the dynasty against the Turks in 1804. There is a minute inscription on the medallion below the picture signifying THE DAWN OF LIBERTY, 1804.

These stamps were at first received by collectors with disdain and some disgust; the memory of the tragedy of June 10th, 1903, was still too fresh to allow the world to join readily in any jubilation over the centenary of a dynasty which had been dragged from obscurity after many years, to occupy a throne lately emptied by the foul hands of a.s.sa.s.sins. It is even said that the early sales of the stamps were entirely disappointing. But this was all changed from the moment rumours of a cunning intrigue attached themselves to the issue.

It is probably--almost certainly--an accidental effect produced by the drawing or engraving of the two heads, one over the other, that they produce in more ways than one, other composite "faces." By masking the lower part of the profile of Kara George it is possible to distinguish a new face with an ugly gashed brow; but the alleged "Death Mask" of Alexander is seen by turning the stamp upside down, and regarding that portion of the inverted profiles which may be marked off in triangle fas.h.i.+on with the chins as the base of the triangle. There is certainly a curious and hideous effect, but similar, if less ghastly, artistic curiosities occur in numbers of other stamps, and in many other forms of pictorial representation, and in the case of the Serbian Coronation issue it is probably pure accident. _Fig._ 225 represents the current type of Serbian stamp, with a military portrait of King Peter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 225 226 227 228 229 230 231]

MONTENEGRO. Tsar Nicholas of Montenegro has not given us any special war stamps, but the warrior King's portraits, at various stages in his career appear on the stamps issued in 1910 for his jubilee. The 1 para shows him as he was during his student days in Paris (_Fig._ 226), the 2 and 20 paras show him with his bride at the date of their marriage, 1860 (_Fig._ 227). The other values show various portraits of the King, including one of him on a charger leading his troops to battle (_Fig._ 228).

CHAPTER VI.

The Enemy's Stamps--Germany--Austria--Bosnia--Hungary--Turkey.

GERMANY. In postal arrangements for armies in the field Germany has shown earlier organised war posts than any of our Allies. As with the regular postal systems on the Continent, their early history is bound up with the records of the princely house of Thurn and Taxis, of which house Count Roger set up in 1460 the first horse post between the Tyrol and Italy. About 1535 Johann Baptista von Taxis created the first field post offices operating with the armies of the Emperor Charles V. against the Turks and in Italy. The hereditary monopoly which the Thurn and Taxis family enjoyed from the fifteenth century continued well into the nineteenth, the last remnant of it being purchased from the family by Prussia in 1867 for three million thalers.

The growth of Prussian dominion and the fusion of the German States into one vast empire is well demonstrated in the stamp alb.u.m by the joint Austro-Prussian issues for the conquered Danish duchies, by the disappearance of the States from the list of separate stamp issuing countries, replaced at first by stamps of the North German Confederation, and later by stamps of the German Empire.

The stamp collection plainly shows the modern progress of military Prussia to the lead in the Germanic countries. Collectors have many interesting postal relics of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 in the form of Feldpost Brief, and the Franco-Prussian War brought about the first special war stamps issued by Germany for the use of their armies of occupation in Alsace and Lorraine, and in the invaded parts of France (_Fig._ 233). Of this campaign there are also the "Feldpost Brief," and the then novel form of communication by postcard was also adopted for military purposes in the "Feldpost correspondenz karte."

From the foundation of the Empire the stamps show little change.

Being a collection of sovereign states it has never been regarded as appropriate for the Kaiser's portrait to figure on the stamps as King George's does on most of the stamps of the British Empire. The German stamps to-day bear a female head (_Fig._ 234) drawn by Paul Waldroff after a representation of "Germania" by an actress Fraulein Anna Fuhring, which so impressed the Kaiser that he adopted this as the symbol of Germany on its stamps. On modern high value German stamps there are pictures of more war-like interest. The 2 marks stamp shows an allegory of the Union of North and South Germany from a painting by Anton von Werner, with the motto "SEID EINIG, SEID EINIG" (be united, be united!); the 3 marks (_Fig._ 235) shows a group of German princes with the Kaiser on horseback at their head, a scene drawn by W. Pape of the unveiling of the memorial to Kaiser Wilhelm I. The highest German stamp denomination, the 5 marks (_Fig._ 236) shows another group, with the present Kaiser prominent in it. This is also by Pape, and represents one of those spectacular appearances which the Kaiser has revelled in, the delivery of an address on the anniversary of the reconst.i.tution of the German Empire. The motto "EIN REICH, EIN VOLK, EIN GOTT" (one kingdom, one people, one G.o.d) is one which, as we now know, may be carried too far!

[Ill.u.s.tration: 233 234 235 236]

Since the outbreak of the present war the German armies have no doubt provided a great deal of new material for philatelic study, and a recent number of a stamp journal published in the Fatherland tells us that collectors there are zealously following the development of the German Field Post Offices, adding the following information:

There is a lot of interesting material already, not only with regard to the printed forms used in the Field Mail Service, but also with regard to the Field Post cancellations, Troop Letter cancellations, and Censor postmarks. The correspondence coming from the garrisons very rarely bear a Field Post cancellation, and it is generally cancelled with ordinary town postmarks like the mails of troops still at home. Besides this, there is, occasionally, a censor Troop cancellation; to the latter also belong the Lazarett cancellation (hospital service), of which we have seen several that were interesting.

Lately, a large number of pieces of mail have been coming from troops in the enemies' country, without postal cancellations--owing to strategic reasons--which is much to be regretted from the view-point of the collector. In the near future, the working out of German Field Post cancellations of the war of 1914 will be an exceptionally thankful philatelic report. We will only mention the news that France had issued several occupation stamps which were said to have been used during the occupation of Muelhausen. A collector in Muelhausen wrote to us about this mythological issue of stamps, that the French, during both occupations, have neither used their own stamps, nor have they organised any kind of postal service.[6]

Belgium, as already noted in Chapter V., has been provided with stamps of the Germania type overprinted "Belgien" and the value in centimes (_Fig._ 209). These have, no doubt, been issued in enormous quant.i.ties with the hope of raking in shekels not only from the Belgians and from German stamp collectors, but also from collectors and curiosity hunters in neutral countries. Although there are plenty to be had in Switzerland, Holland, and other neutral countries at about sixpence the set of four, it is extraordinary to relate that in one or two isolated cases British dealers have obtained and sold supplies at very fancy prices. As in the case of the similar issue so called "Alsace and Lorraine" of 1870-1871, there will be plenty to go round, and it will be time enough when the Huns have ceased from troubling us to gather these relics into our alb.u.ms as memorials of Germany's trail through the beautiful towns of Belgium. In any case it is inadvisable to buy any unused stamps originating in an enemy country since the outbreak of the war, as they represent a clear contribution to the enemy's Treasury.

[Footnote 6: Incidentally the German journal, _Berliner Briefmarken-Zeitung_, in a very moderate article on the war's effect on the stamp trade, states that German collectors are buying up Belgian, Serbian, and Montenegrin stamps, evidently in the "opinion that these countries will become non-existent."]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 237 238 239]

Very few postmarks of the present war have so far reached us from Germany, but _Fig._ 237 is a type of the Field Post Office date mark.

_Figs._ 238, 239 are Censor marks, and the next (_Fig._ 240) is the cover of a letter from a prisoner of war interned at Kissingen.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 240 241 242 243]

AUSTRIA. The stamps of Francis Joseph the Unlucky, who has been on the throne of Austria since the first Austrian issue appeared in 1850, do not call for more than pictorial representation here. The general postage stamps current in Austria were originally issued as a special series to mark the sixtieth year of the Emperor's reign (1908).

Slightly modified, they were re-issued for the celebration of his eightieth birthday (1910). The ill.u.s.trations (_Figs._ 241-257) show the original issue of 1908 as still current. The portraits are copied from paintings in the Royal palaces, and the subjects are: 1 h.e.l.ler (Charles VI.), 2 h.e.l.ler (Maria Theresa), 3 h.e.l.ler (Joseph II.), 6 h.e.l.ler (Leopold II.), 12 h.e.l.ler (Francis I.), 20 h.e.l.ler (Ferdinand).

[Ill.u.s.tration: 244 245 246]

Of the present Sovereign, unluckier than ever in the present war, the series comprises several good portraits. The 30 h.e.l.ler shows him at the time of his accession in 1848, the 35 h.e.l.ler a portrait painted thirty years later, 1878; the 50 h.e.l.ler shows him in the uniform of a Field Marshal, and on the 1 krone he figures with the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Contemporary portraits appear on the 5, 10, and 25 h.e.l.ler (_Figs._ 244, 246, 249), and a particularly fine portrait stamp of large size is the 10 kronen (_Fig._ 257) printed in deep brown, blue and ochre.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 247 248 249 250 251 252]

The 2 and 5 kronen stamps (_Figs._ 255, 256) respectively present views of the Imperial palaces Schonbrunn and Hofburg.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 255 256 253 257 254]

On October 4, 1914, two stamps were issued in Austria of a war charity postal character, selling for 2 h.e.l.ler more than the face value, the extra 2 h.e.l.ler going to the fund for the widows and orphans of Austrian soldiers killed in the war. The designs are adapted from the ordinary 5 and 10 h.e.l.ler stamps (_Figs._ 244, 246) by a lengthening of the stamps for the addition of the date 1914 (_Fig._ 258). These although paying postage to the value of 5 and 10 h.e.l.ler, sell at 7 and 12 h.e.l.ler respectively.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 258 259]

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA. The military occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria under the treaty of Berlin, 1878, was followed thirty years later by the coup of October 5, 1908, by which the Emperor-King proclaimed his sovereignty over the two provinces. His portrait first appeared on a Bosnian stamp of the pictorial series of 1906-7 in which, incidentally, there are included views of Sarajevo where occurred the murder of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, a tragedy which provided a pretext for hastening the German plans for a world war. In 1912 the Emperor-King's portrait re-appeared on the stamps of the military postal administration of these provinces (_Fig._ 259).

The 5 and 10 h.e.l.ler stamps of 1906 giving views of the Pa.s.s of Narenta with a view of the river Prenj, and the valley of Vrba, are reported to have been overprinted "1914" and surcharged 7 and 12 h.e.l.lers for use in collecting 2 h.e.l.ler contributions to the Austrian war fund.

HUNGARY. The stamps of Hungary, in the lower values (_Fig._ 260) depict the Turul, the mythical bird of the Magyars, which was said to have been the messenger between them and Heaven, and their guide along the road that took them into Hungary. When the Magyars proclaimed Arpad their first King, the Turul perched upon his forehead. Two of these low value stamps have been, with modifications and overprint, adapted for selling as war charity postage stamps (_Fig._ 261) at 5 + 2 filler, and 10 + 2 filler. The war inscriptions read "HADI SEGELY"

(War Relief) and on label at the foot, obliterating the original inscription, "OZVEGYEKNEK ES ARVAKNAK KET (2) FILLER" (for the widows and orphans two filler). The next ill.u.s.tration (_Fig._ 262) is a charity postcard from Hungary bearing one of the war relief stamps.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 260 261]

TURKEY. The coming of the Young Turk has completely changed the aspect of Turkish stamps. They have robbed the collector of a rare illusion, and we owe them a grudge for it. The picturesque fancies which we treasure in our memories as the children store up the fables of the nursery, are dear to us children of a larger growth. But our love of fantastic lore suffers many a shock. Ever since the first stamps of the Sublime Empire appeared in the reign of Abdul Aziz, on whom be Peace, we collectors of stamps (on whom there can be no Peace, for in stamps there is constancy but in change) have nourished a fond fancy that pictures and portraits are forbidden to the Muslim, and that Allah, who is great, and his prophet, Muhammed, have set the Curse upon such works of Satan.