Postage stamps 1939

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia · The first year · 53 stamps

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1939

1939 President T. G. Masaryk, 1850-1937

Issued: 13. April
Watermark: None
Perforation: 12½
Sheet size: 200
Design: B. Heinz

The Protectorate's very first stamps, before the overprints: a 1 K Masaryk portrait, on sale from 13 April 1939, and a 30 h airmail from 22 April, both prepared for the post-Munich republic, hence the hyphenated inscription 'ČESKO-SLOVENSKO'. By the time they appeared, that republic was gone, which is why StampWorld lists them under both the Protectorate and Czechoslovakia.

Sources

Sources: Infofila: Galerie známek – Protektorát 1939, Wikipedie: Seznam poštovních známek Protektorátu Čechy a Morava

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Printed	Mint	Used
1	352	A	1 K	dark purple red	33 799 200

1939 Airmail

Issued: 22. April
Watermark: None
Perforation: 13¾
Sheet size: 100
Design: K. Seizinger

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Printed	Mint	Used
2	L15	B	30 H	brownish violet	3 074 000

1939 Czechoslovakia Postage Stamps Overprinted "BÖHMEN u. MÄHREN ČECHY a MORAVA"

Issued: 15. July
Watermark: None
Perforation: 9¾-12½
Design: K. Seizinger

After the German occupation in March 1939 the Protectorate came about so suddenly that there was no time for new stamps, so from 15 July 1939 Czechoslovak stamps were sold overprinted 'Böhmen u. Mähren / Čechy a Morava'. The genuine overprints are made of tiny dots rather than solid lines – which is how they are told from forgeries.

Sources

Sources: Stamp Encyclopedia: Bohemia and Moravia, Stamp Collecting World: Bohemia and Moravia 1939

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Printed
3	1	C	5 H	blackish blue	603 000
4	2	C1	10 H	orange brown	750 000
5	3	C2	20 H	red	790 000
6	4	C3	25 H	bluish green	716 000
7	5	C4	30 H	reddish violet	630 000
8	6	C5	40 H	blackish blue	1 322 000
9	7	C6	50 H	dark bluish green	1 322 000
10	8	C7	60 H	violet purple	277 000
11	9	C8	1 Kč	rose violet	386 000
12	10	A1	1 K	rose violet	603 000
13	11	C9	1.20 Kč	greyish violet	276 000
14	12	C10	1.50 Kč	carmine	276 000
15	13	C11	1.60 Kč	brownish olive	276 000
16	14	C12	2 Kč	bluish green	432 000
17	15	C13	2.50 Kč	bluish grey	276 000
18	16	C14	3 Kč	yellowish brown	277 000
19	17	C15	4 Kč	violet purple	275 000
20	18	C16	5 Kč	blackish green	276 000
21	19	C17	10 Kč	cobalt blue	275 000
3‑21

1939 Local Motifs

Issued: 29. July
Watermark: None
Perforation: 12½-14

After the overprints and stopgap issues this was the Protectorate's first large pictorial series, issued in stages from 29 July 1939 with the bilingual inscription 'Böhmen und Mähren / Čechy a Morava'. It shows castles, landscapes and towns – among them Zvíkov, Karlštejn, Prague, Brno and Olomouc.

It was designed by K. Vik, B. Heinz, J. C. Vondrouš and V. Silovský and engraved by Bohumil Heinz and Karel Seizinger – the same artists who had worked for Czechoslovakia.

Sources: Wikipedie: Seznam poštovních známek Protektorátu Čechy a Morava

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Printed
22	20	D	5 H	dark ultramarine	4 111 600
23	21	D1	10 H	blackish brown	6 897 600
24	22	D2	20 H	dark rose	7 446 200
25	23	D3	25 H	dark bluish green	1 400 200
26	24	D4	30 H	dark purple	9 006 800
27	28	E	40 H	violet ultramarine
28	29	F	50 H	dark green
29	30	G	60 H	dark purple
30	31	H	1 K	dark red
31	32	I	1.20 K	brownish purple
32	33	I1	1.50 K	carmine
33	34	J	2 K	dark green
34	35	J1	2.50 K	dark ultramarine
35	36	K	3 K	violet purple
36	37	L	4 K	dark blue
37	38	M	5 K	dark green
38	39	M1	10 K	dark ultramarine
39	40	M2	20 K	orange brown
22‑39

1939 Newspaper Stamps - Inscription: "Böhmen u-Mähren" at Top

Issued: 25. August
Watermark: None
Perforation: Imperforated
Sheet size: 100
Design: J. Benda

The Protectorate's newspaper stamps appeared on 25 August 1939 with Jaroslav Benda's dove in nine values from 2 h to 1 K – Benda's dove and the same values had already been used on the Czechoslovak newspaper stamps of 1937.

They were printed by letterpress, imperforate, in sheets of 100, and the issue is known for the large number of printing plates used. They were valid until 31 March 1943.

Sources: Burda Auction: Protektorát ČaM – Novinové, F. Beneš / POFIS: Protektorát Čechy a Morava 1939–1945 (katalóg, PDF), Wikipedie: Seznam poštovních známek Československa 1918–1939

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour
40	NV1	N	2 H	ochre
41	NV2	N1	5 H	greyish ultramarine
42	NV3	N2	7 H	orange red
43	NV4	N3	9 H	emerald green
44	NV5	N4	10 H	brownish red
45	NV6	N5	12 H	violet blue
46	NV7	N6	20 H	blackish green
47	NV8	N7	50 H	reddish brown
48	NV9	N8	1 K	olive grey
40‑48

1939 No. 44 Overprinted "GD - OT" - Geschäftsdrucksache - Obchodní tiskopis

Issued: 1. December
Watermark: None
Perforation: Imperforated
Sheet size: 100
Design: J. Benda

The stamp for business printed matter was made on 1 December 1939 from the 10-heller newspaper stamp with Benda's dove: it received a black letterpress overprint 'GD-OT', the abbreviations of the German Geschäftsdrucksache and the Czech Obchodní tiskopis.

It was issued imperforate in sheets of 100 and was valid until 31 July 1941; the print run was never published.

Sources: Burda Auction: Protektorát ČaM – OT, Doruční, F. Beneš / POFIS: Protektorát Čechy a Morava 1939–1945 (katalóg, PDF)

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Mint	Used
49	OT1	O	10 H	brownish red

1939 Personal Delivery Stamp

Issued: 1. December
Watermark: None
Perforation: 13½
Sheet size: 50
Design: A. Erhardt

The Protectorate's triangular personal-delivery stamps were designed by A. Erhardt and issued on 1 December 1939 as two 50-heller stamps, printed in photogravure with the triangles paired head to tail.

The blue one was stuck on by the sender as a surcharge when the item was to be handed only to the addressee in person; the red one was stuck on and cancelled by the delivering post office when the addressee himself had asked for this. From 1 October 1940 the fee rose to 1 K, so covers from then on carry two stamps. They were valid until 19 April 1941.

Sources: Burda Auction: Protektorát ČaM – OT, Doruční, F. Beneš / POFIS: Protektorát Čechy a Morava 1939–1945 (katalóg, PDF)

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Mint	Used
50	DR1	P	50 H	blackish purple/ultramarine