Moldavian Bull's Heads
First Romanian postage stamps
The Moldavian Bull's Heads (Romanian: cap de bour, lit. "aurochs head") are the first Romanian postage stamps, sold by the Principality of Moldavia from July to October 1858. Released in four values, these stamps are renowned for their rarity. The second and third Romanian issues also feature the head of the aurochs, symbol of Moldavia—the former on its own and the latter, printed after the Union of the Principalities, alongside a representation of Wallachia.
First issue
Following the 1856 Treaty of Paris, the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia took a number of modernizing measures, including postal reform. Their leaders were aware of the appearance of postage stamps, starting in the United Kingdom in 1840. In Moldavia, caimacam Nicolae Vogoride and his council named a postal committee and directorate as well as hiring trained personnel from Austria. The postal headquarters was set up in a 14-room building in Iaşi, and price regulations were issued on June 30 and July 6, 1858. A letter traveling up to eight post offices cost 27 para (57 bani), and one going more than eight cost 54 para (1.14 lei). Short-distance registered letters were 81 para (2 lei) and long-distance ones cost 108 para (2.28 lei).
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This entry incorporates text from “Moldavian Bull's Heads” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.