2016-07-20 Wed

Serbia Post has come up with two interesting philatelic issues, commemorating 150 years of the first stamp issue. The first postage stamp of Serbia was issued on 1st May 1866 and a couple of months later another stamp was issued in the month of July.

The first stamp was a newspaper stamp, depicting the coat of arms of the Principality of Serbia. Printed in two nominal values of 1 and 2 paras, the stamp was a unique one. Pasted onto newspapers, the stamps were delivered to border post offices. Partly pasted on to newspaper and partly on wrapping, the stamp had to be torn when the wrapping was removed.

The stamp which was issued in July 1866 was the first regular postage stamp with the image of Prince Mihailo Obrenovich III. The stamp was printed in three colours and three nominal values ? of 10, 20 and 40 paras.

By the time when the Act on Postal Stamps for Letters and Newspapers came into force, Printing of the Serbian postal stamps had tremendous significance as it not only simplified the and improved the postal service but also strengthen national identity.

The new commemorative stamps issued by Serbia come with the same denomination of 23 paras. One stamp features the image of the newspaper stamp with coat of arms on it and the other stamp depict the set of three stamps featuring the image of the prince.