Postage stamps 1939

Slovak State · The first year · 91 stamps

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1939

1939 Czechoslovakian Postage Stamps Overprinted "Slovenský štát 1939"

Issued: 21. March
Watermark: Patriarch's cross
Schematic – shows the device, not its exact proportions
Perforation: 9

The autonomous Slovak government was already preparing its own stamps before 14 March 1939; once the state existed, however, it was stocks of Czechoslovak stamps that were overprinted 'Slovenský štát 1939' and came into use from 21 March 1939 – the Slovak State's first stamps, in use until stamps of its own design appeared.

Sources

Sources: infofila.cz: Katalóg Slovenska 1939

No. 18, Variety: blue overprint — 18 · Variety: blue overprint

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Printed
1	2	A	5 H	violet blue	87 200
2	3	A1	10 H	brown	358 000
3	4	A2	20 H	red	1 033 600
4	5	A3	25 H	bluish green	73 100
5	6	A4	30 H	lilac	677 800
6	7	A5	40 H	dark blue	221 800
7	9	A6	50 H	bluish green	1 600 000
8	8	A7	50 H	dark bluish green	1 812 200
9	10	A8	60 H	violet	364 000
10	11	A9	60 H	dark blue	50 000
11	12	A10	1 Kc	lilac brown	1 656 000
12	13	A11	1.20 Kc	light blue	138 050
13	14	A12	1.50 Kc	carmine	146 850
14	15	A13	1.60 Kc	olive	81 400
15	16	A14	2 Kc	dark bluish green	91 450
16	17	A15	2.50 Kc	dark blue	134 300
17	18	A16	3 Kc	dark brown	107 550
18	19	A17	3.50 Kc	violet	38 500
19	20	A18	4 Kc	violet	30 500
20	21	A19	5 Kc	dark green	24 450
21	22	A20	10 Kc	dark blue	17 500
1‑21				Set

1939 Czechoslovakian Postage Stamp in New Color

Issued: 30. March
Watermark: Patriarch's cross
Schematic – shows the device, not its exact proportions
Perforation: 12½

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Printed	Mint	Used
22	1	B	60 H	dark blue	50 000

1939 Andrej Hlinka - Not Issued Stamps Overprinted "SLOVENSKÝ ŠTÁT"

Issued: 1. April
Watermark: Patriarch's cross
Schematic – shows the device, not its exact proportions
Perforation: 12½

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Printed
23	23	C	50 H	dark green	2 920 000
24	24	C1	1 Kc	carmine	3 855 000
23‑24				Set

1939 Czechoslovakian Newspaper Stamps Overprinted "1939 - SLOVENSKÝ ŠTÁT"

Issued: 1. April
Watermark: None
Perforation: Imperforated

After the state was proclaimed, Jaroslav Benda's 1937 Czechoslovak newspaper stamps with a dove received a red or blue overprint '1939 Slovenský štát', printed by Grafia.

There were nine values from 2 h to 1 Kč, and their life was short – they were valid only until 10 July 1939.

Sources: infofila.cz: Katalóg Slovenska – novinové, Wikipedie: Seznam poštovních známek Československa 1918–1939

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Printed
25	NV1	D	2 H	ochre	200 000
26	NV2	D1	5 H	light blue	2 700 000
27	NV3	D2	7 H	red	200 000
28	NV4	D3	9 H	emerald green	200 000
29	NV5	D4	10 H	carmine brown	200 000
30	NV6	D5	12 H	dark ultramarine	200 000
31	NV7	D6	20 H	blackish green	120 000
32	NV8	D7	50 H	dark brown	100 000
33	NV9	D8	1 Kc	olive grey	51 000
25‑33				Set

1939 Andrej Hlinka - Inscription "SLOVENSKÁ POŠTA"

Issued: 1. April
Watermark: None
Perforation: 12½

Andrej Hlinka, Catholic priest and leader of the Slovak People's Party, died on 16 August 1938 in Ružomberok. The first stamps with his portrait – 50 h and 1 K – were printed, inscribed 'ČESKO-SLOVENSKO', for autonomous Slovakia and were overprinted once the state was proclaimed.

This series inscribed 'SLOVENSKÁ POŠTA' appeared on 1 April 1939 as the new state's first definitive series, printed in photogravure. As early as August 1939 letterpress forgeries of the 1 Ks turned up on mail.

Sources: Wikipedia: Andrej Hlinka, postoveznamky.sk: Falošný Hlinka plný tajomstiev, StampWorld: Slovensko 1939 – Andrej Hlinka „SLOVENSKÁ POŠTA“

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Printed
34	25	E	5 H	ultramarine	3 642 000
35	26	E1	10 H	olive	3 995 000
36	27	E2	20 H	orange red	10 470 000
37	28	E3	30 H	purple	7 955 000
38	29	E4	50 H	dark green	10 659 000
39	30	E5	1 Kc	carmine	24 097 726
40	31	E6	2.50 Kc	blue	8 716 000
41	32	E7	3 Kc	sepia	9 564 200
34‑41				Set

1939 Not Issued - The 20th Anniversary of the Death of Milan Štefánik

Issued: 4. May
Watermark: None
Perforation: 12½

The set for the 20th anniversary of the death of Milan Rastislav Štefánik, killed near Ivanka pri Dunaji on 4 May 1919. StampWorld lists it as unissued; other sources say it was valid for a single day, 4 May 1939.

Sources disagree on whether the set was issued at all: StampWorld lists it as unissued, others say it was valid for a single day.

Sources

Sources: Ian Ridpath: Slovakia 1939 – Milan Štefánik

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Printed
42	34	F	40 H	dark greenish blue	293 000
43	35	F1	60 H	blackish green	292 000
44	36	F2	1 Kc	greyish violet	291 000
45	37	G	2 Kc	bluish violet	289 000
42‑45				Set

1939–1942 Jozef Tiso

Issued: 6. June
Watermark: 1 – Patriarch's cross
Schematic – shows the device, not its exact proportions
Perforation: 12½

The small definitives with the portrait of Jozef Tiso were designed by L. Kožehuba and printed by Grafia. The first appeared in 1939 while Tiso was still prime minister – parliament elected him president only on 26 October 1939.

They were printed on paper with and without watermark and in different perforations; they were among the most used stamps of the state – over 41 million of the 50 h alone – and remained valid until 30 April 1945.

Sources: infofila.cz: Katalóg Slovenska – 1939, Wikipédia: Jozef Tiso

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Description	Printed
46	43	O	50 H	dark olive green		41 915 000
47	44 X	O1	70 H	dark brown	No watermark	35 135 000
47A*	44 Y	O2	70 H	dark brown
47B	44 D				Perf: 10¼
46‑47					Set (* Stamp not included in this set)

1939–1941 Newspaper Stamps

Issued: 15. June
Watermark: None
Perforation: Imperforated

The Slovak State's first newspaper stamps of its own were designed by J. Roubal: the Slovak double-cross arms with the inscription 'Slovenská pošta'. The nine values from 2 h to 1 Ks were printed by Grafia, and in 1940–1942 the Andrej printing house reprinted five of them on watermarked paper and added four new values (15, 25 and 40 h and 2 Ks). The 5 h had the largest first printing – over 12 million – but in the watermarked reprints the 10 h ran to 48 million.

Sources

Sources: infofila.cz: Katalóg Slovenska – novinové

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Printed
48	NV10	N	2 H	light orange	768 000
49	NV11 X	N1	5 H	ultramarine	32 387 000
50	NV12	N2	7 H	red	805 000
51	NV13	N3	9 H	emerald green	871 000
52	NV14 X	N4	10 H	brown carmine	48 830 000
53	NV15	N5	12 H	dark violet	801 000
54	NV17 X	N6	20 H	blackish green	4 055 000
55	NV20 X	N7	50 H	carmine brown	2 759 000
56	NV21 X	N8	1 Kc	grey	2 278 000
48‑49				Set
48‑56

1939–1941 Newspaper Stamps - Watermarked

Watermark: Patriarch's cross
Schematic – shows the device, not its exact proportions

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Printed
57	NV11 Y	N9	5H	dark blue	32 387 000
58	NV14 Y	N10	10H	brown carmine	48 830 000
59	NV16	N11	15H	violet purple	860 000
60	NV17 Y	N12	20H	blackish green	4 055 000
61	NV18	N13	25H	greenish blue	470 000
62	NV19	N14	40H	cinnabar	920 000
63	NV20 Y	N15	50H	carmine brown	2 759 000
64	NV21 Y	N16	1Kc	grey	2 278 000
65	NV22	N17	2Kc	emerald green	5 500 000
57‑65

1939–1944 Slovakia at Work

The three higher definitive values with scenes of folk life – embroidery (2 Ks), a woodcutter (4 Ks) and a woman at a spring (5 Ks) – were designed by the painter Martin Benka.

He came to stamp design by way of miniature labels for matchboxes made by the match factory in Ružomberok, and folk life dominates his stamps. They remained valid until 30 April 1945.

Sources: infofila.cz: Katalóg Slovenska – 1939, StampData: Stamps of Slovakia, 1939, Región Záhorie: Martin Benka

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Printed
66	40	H	2Kc	dark green	2 442 000
67	41	I	4Kc	brown	1 544 000
68	42	J	5Kc	reddish orange	1 614 000
66‑68

1939–1941 The 10th Anniversary of the Death of Jozef Murgaš

Issued: 12. September
Watermark: None
Perforation: 12½

For the 10th anniversary of the death of Jozef Murgaš (1864–1929), a native of Tajov, Catholic priest, painter and inventor who contributed to the development of wireless telegraphy – radio.

The stamps show him with aerial masts.

Sources: Wikipedia: Jozef Murgaš, postoveznamky.sk: Banská Bystrica v poštových službách a filatelii

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Printed
69	38	K	60H	dark violet	8 169 000
70	39	K1	1.20Kc	dark bluish green	2 029 000
69‑70

1939 Jozef Tiso - For Child Welfare

Issued: 2. November
Watermark: None
Perforation: 12½

The first charity stamp of the Slovak State appeared on 2 November 1939, a week after parliament elected Jozef Tiso president. The 1939 'For Children' stamp was designed by L. Kožehuba, who also drew the definitives with Tiso's portrait, and printed by Grafia.

The 2.50 Ks surcharge equalled the face value; 199,000 were issued and the stamp was valid only until 30 April 1940.

Sources: infofila.cz: Katalóg Slovenska – 1939, Wikipédia: Jozef Tiso

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Description	Printed	Mint	Used
71	45	P	2.50+2.50 Kc	blue	Jo	199 000

1939–1944 Airmail - Airplanes over Mountain Landscapes

Issued: 20. November
Watermark: None
Perforation: 12½

The Slovak State's first airmail stamps appeared on 20 November 1939, designed by J. Vlček and printed by Grafia. The six values share just two pictures – each used on three stamps – of an aircraft over a Tatra landscape.

They remained valid until 30 April 1945.

Sources: infofila.cz: Katalóg Slovenska – letecké, postoveznamky.sk: R. Ovšonka – Tatranské motívy na poštových známkach

SW	Pofis	Type	Value	Colour	Printed
72	L1	L	30H	dark violet	1 074 000
73	L2	L1	50H	dark green	1 068 000
74	L3	L2	1H	reddish orange	1 527 000
75	L4	M	2H	dark olive green	1 075 000
76	L5	M1	3H	brown	1 064 000
77	L6	M2	4H	greyish blue	1 053 000
72‑77