7/3/2023
The first Serbian stamp issued on July 1, 1866, in the PTT museum
On the first of July, according to the old Julian calendar, in 1866, the first regular postage stamp in Serbia was published.
This historical stamp, along with other valuable exhibits of the historical development of Serbian post and telecommunications in these areas, can be seen at the PTT Museum, at 13 Majke Jevrosime Street in Belgrade, on Saturdays and Thursdays from 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and on other days, except Mondays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
For the first time in our modern history, letters and other mail within Serbia could be sent by using this stamp. The stamp was printed in three variations, yellow, red, and blue, with values of 10, 20, and 40 paras at the time. All three variations had the same graphic solution - the figure of Prince Mihailo Obrenović.
The first Serbian regular stamp was printed in Vienna, and as its production was delayed, and due to the urgent need to send newspapers through an organized postal service, from May 1866, the so-called "grbuša", the first Serbian so-called newspaper postage stamp was used for sending newspapers. It carried the image of the Serbian coat of arms and could be used to send newspapers and printed matter, which was very common at the time. Apart from the interesting fact that Serbia had a stamp even before the first regular postage stamp, the early history of our philately tells a lot about the history of printing in Serbia and the popularity of newspapers in Serbia at that time.