Romanian Post Horn Stamps

This article is about my post horn stamps from Romania. It is part of an ongoing series of posts that feature articles about post horns stamps from my collection from around the world. Make sure to check out my main hub page here.

Post horns are small brass instruments, usually coiled (but sometimes straight). A mail carrier blew the horn to announce the arrival or departure of the mail. In the nineteenth century, the instrument became a recognized symbol of the postal service. It now appears on postal logos, mail boxes, and postage stamps all over the world. While it can be found on stamps from Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East, it is most popular in Europe.

Even within Europe, it is really central and northern Europe where the post horn is most common on stamps. The country of Norway has featured post horns on their stamps continously since 1871. Other countries that have issued many post horns stamps include Austria, Germany, and Hungary. Romania has used the post horn on stamps since the middle of the nineteenth century, in fact one of the oldest stamps I own is a post horn stamp from this country.

The Stamps

This very early post horn stamp from Romania is one of three from that country in 1862. The three stamps are identical except for the ink color. This is an example of the blue stamp, but there were also yellow and red varieties.

In the 1920s, the country of Romania issued a series of definitive stamps with King Ferdinand II. There were several, similar designs, including these with a small post horn in the upper left corner (look closely, especially on the orange stamp).

Communist Romania

The next post horn stamps from my collection come from the era of communist control. The first pair celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union (U.P.U) in 1949. Both stamps feature a post horn as well as modern forms of mail transport, on the left a plane on a globe, on the left a train. The second stamp is far more intriguing. It features a mythological figure riding in a chariot pulled by a pegasus holding. The figure holds a post horn, representing the mail system. Behind the figure is a locomotive racing across a globe. Are the two figures racing? Or is the spirit of the mythological figure aiding and propelling the modern form of transportation?

Postage Due

Like other countries, Romania has a class of stamp for items mailed with postage due. The above series from 1967 features se-tenant stamps using a post horn on the right stamp of the pair. Pay special attention to the post horn with the lighting bolt/arrows emanating form it. That is a motif that will be repeated.

Commonly, post horns appear on stamps celebrating various communication methods. Look closely at the above stamp. At first, I missed the telephone receiver that is tangled inside the coil of the post horn. Also notice the lighting bolts emanating from the post horn, I guess representing the “lighting fast” service of the mail.

I think this is a very sharp design, however notice once again the lighting bolts with the post horn. This stamp was made to honor a Postal Minister’s Conference in Bucharest in 1969.

The above stamp pays tribute to postal carriers. Showing one standing at a mailbox. A post horn floats above. Not my favorite stamp.

In 1974, a new series of postage due stamps came along. I’d point out that there are again lighting bolts with arrows, but I am beginning to sound repetitive. It is obviously a symbol of the Romanian postal service.

The final stamp is from 1991, although it feels like it could be much earlier. It is a definitive stamp with a post horn on an escutcheon. Notice, once again the post horn has lighting bolts!!!