The historical landscape of Wallachia is shown on this old map of Franz Joseph Reilly “Das Fürstenthum Walachey” (the principality of Wallachia) (Vienna 1791). Today (2022) this is only a part of Romania. In 1840, when the first postage stamp appeared in Great Britain, the principality of Wallachia was not yet independant, but a part of the Ottoman Empire. Romania was proclaimed in 1861 and became independant in 1878. After the first World War Romania gained big additional territories.
The collecting fields of Romaina philately can be classified into many chapters. Considering the historical periods we suggest to distinguish the following years:
- 1775-1859 Epoch of the (separated) principalities Wallachia and Moldavia
- 1859-1878 Epoch of the united principalities Wallachia and Moldavia, proclamation of Romania
- 1878-1918 Epoch of the independant Romania (Kingdom since 1881)
- 1918-1947 Post-Worldwar I – epoch (Territorial gains of Transylvania, Eastern Hungary, Bukovina, Bessarabia)
- 1947-1965 People’s Republic of Romania 1966-1989 Socialist Republic of Romania
- 1990-2022 Newest epoch (Republic of Romania)
As collecting fields of Romanian philately we can find
- the stamps
- the postal stationery items
- the cancellations
- the postal history
- postal history in general
- special aspects of postal history (some undermentioned)
- essays and proofs
- the post forms
- the soot and the wax seals
- the foreign post offices
- Post of the Ottoman Empire
- Austrian Post
- Russian Post
- French Post
- Greek Post
- Bulgarian Post
- German Post
- Official stamps
- Postage Due stamps
- Parcel Post stamps
- Romanian Post in the Levant
- Romanian Postoffice in Constantinopel
- Telegraph stamps
- Stamps of local post
- Revenues
- Forgeries
- Post to and from abroad
- incoming post
- outgoing post (destinations)
- Post of shipping companies
- Post by railway
- Post by airmail
- Quarantine – post
- Military – post
- Post under censorship
- Post of prisoner of war
- Post at high inflation periods
- Picture postcards
Additions and corrections most welcome
Version 1 – hgl 2022-04-12