In the autumn of 1917, the peaceful island of walkers, runners and couples was transformed into a battlefield. Had we visited it then, we would have seen ruined houses, shell craters, gun positions and blown-up bridges everywhere.
Fortunately, these were only artificial constructions built for the war exhibition organised by Archduke Joseph, Field Marshal. The captured guns lining the road to the Main Pavilion, however, were real.
Why was such an exhibition needed? At that time people could not watch the horrors of war from an armchair at home. During the First World War, the civilian population had little direct experience of military events because the fronts generally lay beyond the Carpathians. One exception was the Romanian incursion into Transylvania in the autumn of 1916 after Romania declared war on 27 August. The Romanian forces were driven out quickly, and a separate peace was later concluded in Bucharest with the Central Powers. One of the aims of the Margaret Island exhibition was to devote part of its revenue to alleviating the damage caused in Transylvania.
The other aim, naturally, was to show the war itself, its equipment and its destruction.
The postal administration also prepared for the exhibition with a surcharged commemorative stamp issue and a temporary post office. Overprinted examples of the White-Numeral Harvester pair were issued in quantities of 500,000 each, much to the delight of collectors. The 1-korona surcharge on each stamp (+800%!!) was considered a world record at the time and also served charitable purposes.
The level of interest is illustrated by the fact that 28,000 sets were sold on the first day!
Given the strong demand and large print run, I find it slightly surprising that no major errors are known from the issue, since inverted overprints have appeared on many comparable overprinted stamps.
Why was such an exhibition needed? At that time people could not watch the horrors of war from an armchair at home. During the First World War, the civilian population had little direct experience of military events because the fronts generally lay beyond the Carpathians. One exception was the Romanian incursion into Transylvania in the autumn of 1916 after Romania declared war on 27 August. The Romanian forces were driven out quickly, and a separate peace was later concluded in Bucharest with the Central Powers. One of the aims of the Margaret Island exhibition was to devote part of its revenue to alleviating the damage caused in Transylvania.
The other aim, naturally, was to show the war itself, its equipment and its destruction.
The postal administration also prepared for the exhibition with a surcharged commemorative stamp issue and a temporary post office. Overprinted examples of the White-Numeral Harvester pair were issued in quantities of 500,000 each, much to the delight of collectors. The 1-korona surcharge on each stamp (+800%!!) was considered a world record at the time and also served charitable purposes.
The level of interest is illustrated by the fact that 28,000 sets were sold on the first day!
Given the strong demand and large print run, I find it slightly surprising that no major errors are known from the issue, since inverted overprints have appeared on many comparable overprinted stamps.
Source: pestbuda.hu; Monograph of Hungarian Stamps