Ox head (postage stamp)
Ox head or aurochs head ( Romanian Cap de Bour , English Bull's Head or Moldavian Bulls , French Tête de Taureau ) is the name of the first Moldovan and therefore Romanian postage stamps that were issued in 1858.
Almost 18 years after One Penny Black , the world's first postage stamp, was issued in Great Britain , the first Romanian postage stamps were put into the mail on July 22, 1858 in Iași (German: Jassy), the capital of Moldova. The Vltava and Wallachia were at this time still separate principalities, both under Ottoman rule. In 1862 they united to form the new Kingdom of Romania .
The first edition
The first edition shows the aurochs head in a circle with the five-pointed star between the horns, the coat of arms of the Vltava. The post horn underneath encloses the face value. Around the aurochs head is the Romanian text "Porto Scrisori", in German "Letter postage" in Cyrillic script . The four nominal values of this first edition, which was only in circulation for almost 100 days, are quite strange: 27, 54, 81 and 108 parale . A specialty are the human-like facial features of the aurochs.
Of the total of 24,000 stamps in the first issue (6,000 × 27 para, 10,000 × 54 para, 2,000 × 81 para and 6,000 × 108 para), only 724 still exist today, 89 of which are on envelopes.
The second edition
The second edition consists of only three, now rounded, nominal values of 5, 40 and 80 parale, which made mental arithmetic easier. The square shape also made it possible to cut out the sheet more precisely. The Romanian text "Porto Scrisorei" or on the 5-parale ox head "Porto gazetei" (German "newspaper postage") can be found here in Latin script . The abbreviated unit of value "par" is still Cyrillic. The reason for this is that the Romanian principalities were not allowed to mint their own coins under the Ottoman rule. There were several coins in circulation from the surrounding countries, but mostly coins of Russian origin.
The most expensive ox head
The most expensive ox head was auctioned for 135,000 Swiss francs (approx. 92,078 €) (as of February 2008). It is a very well preserved, unstamped copy of the first edition, with a face value of 27 parale. The stamp is originally gummed and it was cut out of the printed sheet very carefully: perfectly rectangular, with a large gap around the printed image.
The most expensive newspaper in the world
A copy of the newspaper Zimbrulu si Vulturulu ("Wisent und Adler", whereby the eagle was the coat of arms of Wallachia) is pasted with eight Cap-de-Bour stamps, divided into two strips (3 + 5). The value today is around 3 million euros . The post office clerk in Iași had stuck the stamps for eight newspapers to a recipient from Galați all on one newspaper. The recipient sold the newspaper to a stamp collector for little money. The showpiece has only been seen since then, in 1969 at an exhibition in Sofia. A federal postage stamp enthusiast is said to have bought the newspaper. It is in any case in the safe deposit box of a bank in Switzerland (as of February 2008).
literature
- LN Williams: Encyclopaedia of Rare and Famous Stamps. Volume 1 The Stories. Feldman, Geneva 1993, ISBN 0-89192-435-3 , pp. 213-216
- Collector Express (continuation article) Issue No. 21/1958, p. 373 and Issue No. 22/1958, p. 403
- Unknown and known about the newspaper brand 5 Parale der Moldau. In: episode no. 8 of the journal of the Berlin Philatelic Club from May 1, 1950, on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Carl Lindenberg , pp. 11–22