World Stamps

Marx leads stamp trio on 1919 Hungarian Soviet Republic cover

Dec 4, 2015, 5 AM
This 1919 cover from the Hungarian Soviet Republic is franked with three stamps not often seen on mail. The stamps honor Karl Marx, Sandor Petofi and Ignac Martinovics.

By Ken Lawrence

The Hungarian Soviet Republic headed by Bela Kun lasted only from March 21, 1919, until Aug. 1, 1919, but during that time the postal administration issued a set of large bicolor postage stamps in the style of contemporaneous political poster art.

Few of the stamps were used on mail, but this July 20, 1919, registered special-delivery cover from the village of Rakosszentmihaly, on the outskirts of Budapest, to the town of Vacz, about 20 miles north, is an attractive relic of that turbulent era.

The stamp subjects include Karl Marx on the rose and brown 20-filler stamp, Sandor Petofi on the brown-orange and dark green 45f, and Ignac Martinovics on the blue-gray and brown 60f (Hungary Scott 198-200).

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