Philately stars in Hungary

Philately stars in Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was part of the Habsburg Empire when Charles III decided to transfer postal services to state control. Accordingly, the revenues formerly received by various private post offices became jura regalia from 1722. The next important dates in the life of the Hungarian postal service were 1750 and 1752, when Maria Theresa issued a decree requiring the use of place stamps on the front of postal items and, almost simultaneously, introduced time- and place-bound state postal carriage services (diligence) in the Habsburg Empire. A large number of pre-stamp letters carrying a so-called postmaster stamp from this period can be found in the Stamp Museum’s collection, the image of the two most interesting ones is displayed here.
The history of Hungarian stamps is closely connected to the history of banknotes, as the idea of a separate Hungarian version of both items was first conceived during the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849. The first design and production of both is attributed to Lajos Kossuth; however, unlike the banknote, the postage stamp only reached the design phase. Fortunately, the design by Mór Than is in the possession of the Stamp Museum, which allows us to tell its very adventurous story.
After the introduction of Hungarian stamps in 1850 and the first stamp produced in Hungary in 1871, the number of Hungarian philatelic stars has grown over the decades, and the following compilation represents some of them. If you are curious about the story behind each piece, all you have to do is scan the QR code next to it, or visit the Stamp Museum to see them