Catalog
5 Para Emergency Postage Stamp Currency
| Issuer | Serbia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Para (5 пара) (0.05) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 5 П. СРБИЈА КРАЉ ПЕТАР НА БОЈИШТУ 1914. (Translation: Serbia King Peter on the battlefield 1914.) |
| Reverse description | The reverse is plain and unprinted, consistent with the wartime exigency nature of this postage stamp currency, the perforated paper stock left entirely blank. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Serbia's 1915 postage stamp currency was a direct consequence of the country's catastrophic wartime position — with the National Bank's printing facilities overwhelmed and coin metal nonexistent, the Finance Ministry authorized ordinary postage stamps, affixed to small cardboard or paper backing, to circulate as fractional currency. The 5 Para denomination addressed the most acute shortage at the smallest end of daily transactions.
These disintegrated rapidly in circulation. Surviving intact examples are genuinely uncommon, not because of low print runs but because the format was never built to last a week in a coat pocket.