TurulBélyeg: Knowledge Base

At the dawn of the 20th century, the evening lighting in post offices was far from the bright conditions of today. In the dim yellowish light of gas lamps and the first electric bulbs, postal workers faced a serious challenge in distinguishing stamps of similar colours.

When Lighting Conditions Wrote History

In the half-light, the original reddish-brown 6 filler was almost indistinguishable from its higher-value reddish counterparts. This caused significant revenue loss and accounting chaos, prompting the post to act in 1901: a colour change was ordered.

The „Never-Existed” Colour and the Mysterious Instruction

Although the official decree specified a greenish-brown colour, collectors never saw such a version in circulation. Instead, an oil-yellow variant appeared. Experts (Rédey and the authors of the Monograph) still debate today: was it a faulty ink mixture or a last-minute verbal instruction that lay behind it?

Four Years, Four Faces – The Chronology of the 6 Filler

The 6 filler changed colour almost annually before finding its final form:

• 1900: The original reddish-brown (the „invisible” starting point).
• 1901: Oil-yellow (the surprise that overrode the decree).
• Early 1902: Oil-brown (another darkening).
• 1903: Oil-green (the final solution, which also complied with UPU regulations).

An Era Where Everything Changed

The 6 filler was not the only „searching” type. In these few years, several denominations changed drastically:

• The 20 filler went from light brown to earth brown.
• The 35 filler turned from reddish-violet to sombre blackish-violet.
• The 5 corona top value changed from brownish-violet to elegant wine-red.

The colour modifications, which were not always recorded in decrees, and the briefly circulating shades, made the Turul series one of the most exciting research areas in Hungarian stamp collecting.