''Verigar'' was the first

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

series of the

State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( sh, Država Slovenaca, Hrvata i Srba / ; sl, Država Slovencev, Hrvatov in Srbov) was a political entity that was constituted in October 1918, at the end of World War I, by Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( ...

, issued in

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

after the dissolution of the

Austro-Hungarian monarchy Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1 ...

at the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The name of the stamp series is derived from the Slovene word ''veriga'', meaning 'chain', and depicts a

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

who has broken the chains. The scene symbolizes the freedom of the

Slavic peoples Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic language, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout ...

from Austria-Hungary. It was designed by the academy-trained painter Ivan Vavpotič, whose model was the gymnast Stane Derganc.

Description

The stamp design includes the abbreviated name of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs written in

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, th ...

and Gaj’s Latin script ("Држава СХС" - "Država SHS"). The stamp design also includes an image that represents a man who has broken the chains enslaving him; he stands in front of a rising sun.

History

The first stamps of the series were designed in the late 1918 in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

during the short-lived

and issued on 3 January 1919 after the creation of the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

. They were then published in different versions until 1920. In 1925, Vavpotič regretted the choice of the motif because he found it kitschy.

Commemoration

On 19 March 1993, the Slovenian post office issued a new stamp series using the ''Verigar'' man to commemorate its 75th anniversary. Another commemorative stamp was published on the 90th anniversary of the series in 2009.

References

{{reflist Philately of Croatia Postage stamps of Slovenia Postal history of Slovenia 1918 drawings Slavery in art Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Description

History

Commemoration

See also

References