Early Romanian Postage Stamps

The Danubian principalities won their independence from Turkey in 1856 and, two years later, Moldavia began issuing its own stamps. The so-called ‘Moldavian Bulls’ were struck by hand and featured the national emblem surmounting a post-horn bearing the numerals of value. The Moldavian bulls were superseded in 1862 by the joint issues of Moldavia-Wallachia.

Prince Alexander Cuza was recognised by the European powers as the ruler of both principalities in 1861 and this paved the way to the centralisation of government services, including posts, culminating in the issue of stamps bearing the bull of Moldavia and the eagle of Wallachia. The earliest versions of these stamps were hand-struck, but in 1864, sheets of stamps containing forty subjects were produced. Each stamp in the sheet varied slightly from its neighbours. The first issue of Rumania superseded the stamps of Moldavia-Wallachia in 1865.

The first stamps inscribed ‘Posta Romana’ portrayed Prince Alexander Cuza, but he was deposed the following year. Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was elected prince in his stead. In 1881, Karl (or Carol) assumed the title of king. Stamps with his profile were introduced in 1866, printed in black on coloured paper. The currency was changed from parales to bani in 1868 and a similar series, in various colours on white paper, was adopted. Successive issues used similar portraits, but showing the ruler increasingly hirsute.

In the decade prior to World War I, Romanian stamps were characterised by their excessively ornate frames and idiosyncratic lettering. The shades and perforations of this series, current till 1920, varied considerably.

The boy-king, Michael succeeded his grandfather, Ferdinand in 1927 but abdicated in favour of his father, Carol II, within three years. During Michael’s first reign, a new definitive series was gradually released between 1928 and 1930. The lowest denominations were typographed but the lei denominations were printed in photogravure at the Government Printing Works. Romania had been one of the earliest countries to make use of this process, with a coronation series (1922) and a Ferdinand definitive series (1926) and an independence series (1927).

King Carol II succeeded his sone Michael on 8 June 1930, and reigned till 6 September 1940, when he was deposed by a military coup. During that decade, Romania issued over 120 postage stamps and 105 charity stamps, a staggering output for that period. No doubt the fact that Carol II was an ardent philatelist had an impact on this production. A definitive series, showing the king in various uniforms was released between 1935 and 1940.