The heavy losses suffered during the first weeks of the First World War in 1914 quickly created an urgent need to support war widows and orphans. The scale was considerable: of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy’s nearly one million casualties during the first months of the war, approximately 400,000 were attributed to the Kingdom of Hungary. To help provide financial support, the War Relief Office of the Hungarian Ministry of Defence proposed voluntary public contributions, and the Post was among the first institutions to join the initiative. The Post already had experience with a similar scheme through the 1913 Flood Relief stamps, although that first charity issue had not been particularly successful. Because of the short time available, it was again impossible to prepare stamps from completely new designs. Overprinting the 1914 fiscal stamp depicting Saint Ladislaus was considered, but the decision was ultimately made to use stamps from the 1913 Flood Relief issue. The new overprint was required to cover completely the earlier inscription referring to aid for flood victims. This was practical because large stocks of completed but unsold, as well as partly finished, Flood Relief stamps remained in postal storage. The 5- and 10-fillér denominations were the first to be overprinted, in carmine and dark green respectively. At the same time, it was decided that after these values were issued, the complete 1913 definitive set would also appear with a similar overprint.
Many plate flaws already known on the earlier Turul and Flood Relief (I) stamps also occur on this issue. In addition, a variety of overprint flaws and irregularities are known.
MBK —
