EASTERN SILESIA
 
Polish regular stamps of 1919 overprinted "S.O.  1920"  In this series: 5,10, 15, 25 and 50 Fenigow overprint as shown on the left.  1, 1.50, 2, 2.50, and 5 Koruna were issued with a slightly different overprint shown on the right.  S.O. stands for "Silesie Orientale", French for "Eastern Silesia".
 
 
Czech stamps like this (with "S. O. 1920" overprint) were also used.  In this case, SO is said to stand for "Spis and Orava".  Included in the issue above were 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 (2 types), 25, 30 (2 types), 40, 50 (2 types), 60, 75 ,80, 100, 120, 200, 300, 400,  and 500 Heller similar to the one shown.  Not shown are 2 special delivery stamps, 5 newspaper stamps and 11 postage due stamps all with this overprint on Czechoslovakian stamps of each given type.  For more information on the Czech issues, please visit http://czechphilatelist.tripod.com/snejdarek/  for an excellent article by Lubor Kunc.


1938 issued stamp to commemorate the return of Cieszyn to Poland.
Poland disagreed with the results of the 1920 plebiscite and in October 1938, Poland took 419 square miles around Cieszyn (Teschen) from Czechoslovakia.  After WW II, the area was returned to Czechoslovakia



Click here to return to the Disputed Territories page