Financial philately in Hungary

Financial philately dates back to the mid-19th century in Hungary. In fact, an open imperial decree in 1850 required the payment of a stamp duty, i.e. a stamped paper, for procedures that required the involvement of the authorities, even though the name of the stamp placed on the paper was still called a signet at the time. This launched a special branch of philately, which includes tax and duty stamps, collectively known as documentary stamps.

Documentary stamps have a range of special features that distinguish them from postage stamps. Probably the most obvious difference is that while postage stamps must bear the name of the issuing country, documentary stamps do not need to, as they are only valid in the country of issue and are not used internationally. Furthermore, documentary stamps, like banknotes, are generally protected by the latest anti-counterfeiting technologies, as they are used for the pre-payment of higher value transactions than postage stamps. Interesting to note that both watermarks and serrated perforations were used on documentary stamps for the first time in Hungary.

The following columns present the story of documentary stamps, from documentary signets, which can be considered the predecessors of stamps, to the present-day versions issued in forint. This story reveals a lot not only about the development of stamp production, but also about the political and economic regimes of the past. The sixth and final column presents the story of documentary stamp counterfeiting and the novelties in the fight against counterf