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
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