The Sport issue released in 1925 is one of the most significant stamp issues in both Hungarian and international sports philately. The issue contains the first stamp depictions of several sports: football, fencing, skiing, gymnastics, swimming and figure skating appeared for the first time in the world as independent stamp motifs.
Károly Demény, Director-General of the Royal Hungarian Post, played an important role in the creation of the issue. Demény not only had decades of senior postal experience but had also been a Hungarian national tennis champion and was active in sports administration. As a postal executive, he supported the promotion of physical education and organised sport.
The following inscription was printed on the reverse of the stamps:
“100% felár testnevelési célokra fordíttatik.” (“The 100% surcharge is devoted to physical-education purposes.”)
The surcharge was equal to the face value, so the purchaser paid twice the denomination shown on the stamp. Half of the total selling price represented postage, while the other half supported physical-education and sporting purposes.
The issue comprised eight denominations depicting different sports and scenes associated with sporting life. A further curiosity is the Scout sounding the lights-out call, regarded as the first depiction of a musician on a Hungarian stamp.
The stamps were designed by Ferenc Helbing. Earlier Hungarian stamp designs had usually been selected through public competitions in which Helbing had repeatedly achieved success. He was therefore commissioned directly to prepare the Sport issue.
The original intention was to print the stamps in two colours by engraved printing on a new type of paper. Because of the tight deadline and high production costs, an existing paper stock was ultimately used and the issue was produced by offset lithography.
The issue was preceded by an unusually intensive publicity campaign by the standards of earlier Hungarian stamp releases. Several major sporting events were held in Budapest during the same period, for which the Post used various special cancellations. These events and the associated postal items helped to increase interest in the issue.
Known errors and varieties:
100 + 100 korona: the letter “a” is missing from the word “célokra” in the inscription on the reverse;
100 + 100 korona: inverted overprint;
500 + 500 korona: sheets without the overprint were also released;
minor or major omissions in the inscription on the reverse may occur on all denominations.
MBK 433Tny
