ROMANIA OSP-1948 MINISHEETS

(revisited seventy years later)

Victor Manta, PWO

Introduction

Being in Romania, at the early age when I started collecting Romanian stamps, this set was already slightly over ten years old. I saw the set of six stamps many times, at different collectors, but I could see the whole set of six minisheets maybe two times in over 25 years.

Even if the OSP minisheets were quite attractive, they were ways too expensive for me. Later I switched to collecting foreign topical stamps, that looked more interesting and were better printed, so that I forgot about these stamps. Only recently my interest in them has increased again for the reasons outlined in this article.

About the OSP and related stamps series

Any stamp collector with some experience in Romanian postage stamps knows the OSP (Organizaţia Sportului Popular - People's Sport Organization) issues, because some of them are rather scarce, but not everyone knows what this organization represented in the now deep past. Here is what I could find on the Web:

"By establishing the People's Sport Organization (decree-law of March 7, 1946) the mass sports movement was organized and subordinated to the central policy of the PCR (Romanian Communist Party). The foundations of a seemingly harmless organization were laid, but behind the development of physical education and sport was the Communists' interest in framing society in many mass organizations to subordinate the individual to the totalitarian state." Source (in Romanian).

I found out also that only a day passed between the establishment of the "first democratic government", named the government Petru Groza, and the beginning of sovietization, which was well prepared in advance. Because the new organization was thought as an another propaganda tool for the establishment of communism in Romania, on September 1, 1946, the Romanian postal service issued a set of seven values ​​(Mi. 1000-1006) and a minisheet composed of four sheets, that were cut off with scissors (Mi. Block 33).

The new sport organization needed funds, which is why the stamps, as well as the sheets, were sold at a massive surcharge (Lei 160 + 1340, 300 + 1200, 300 + 1000). A new set, printed in minisheets of nine, accompanied by another sheet, followed in 1946, Scott B 279 – B 289.

Two years later, in 1948, a new and last set of 6 stamps was issued, in minisheets of four, Michel 1171 - 1176. These minisheets, reproduced throughout this article, are its main subject.

Scarcity

There are several reasons why these minisheets are scarce:

- They were issued three years after the ending of WW2, a war that devastated Romania. After the war, even if becoming an ally of the USSR and fighting against the Nazi Germany, Romania was occupied (between 1944 - 1958) by the Soviet Union, that sucked a lot from country's resources, considered them as after the war compensations. Therefore, people were too poor to buy stamps when so many more important things (like food) were missing.

- The stamps were expensive, displaying a surcharge of 100 percent each.

- The stamps from most of minisheets were separated from each other to be sold independently, for a quarter of the price of the sheets, what obviously made them more affordable. The separated stamps were postally valid.

- The topic itself is an attractive one and it was popular especially among young people.

As a result, only a small number of minisheets survived, what made them very fast scarce. It is difficult to estimate how many full minisheets escaped but their quantity is surely very limited.

The catalogue and eBay prices of the OSP 1948 minisheets today

Excepting for the Scott catalogue, I learned the prices for MNH stamps on the eBay, as follows:

- Michel Europa 2017 - 2018, 1171 – 1176, in minisheets, MNH Euro 400 (USD 450).

- Yvert & Tellier, MNH price in Euro, converted to US$: 400.

- Scott, B 241 – B 424, CB 20 – CB 21, US$ 48.50 for a set. No separate prices for minisheets, that should be priced at over US$ 200.

The eBay “Buy It Now” prices are varying, at the time of writing of this article, between US$ 247 and US$ 495 (!?). I can remember that a few years ago one set of minisheets was sold in an eBay-auction at US$ 217.

Images & Watermarks

The full set consists of three perforate and three imperforate stamps. Each minisheet contains four stamps. The imperforate stamps have the same design as the perforate ones, but their colors were changed.

Only one of the stamps shows a somehow popular sport in Romania, displaying running athletes. The second one features plane modelling, a less popular sport, and the third a parade of athletes, being an obvious propaganda stamp. Therefore, the whole it is not just another trivial issue dedicated to some more or less popular sports but a propaganda tool of the freshly installed communist regime. It will reign over Romania for 45 years and it will be overturned by a popular uprising in December 1989.

Watermark: Scott # 289, “RPR Multiple”. RPR, the abbreviation of “Republica Populară Română”, means the then new name given to the country, the Romanian Popular Republic. The first and the last two stamps are known with an watermark rotated by 180 degrees. The third and the fourth can be found with a reverse watermark.