Czechoslovakia Liberation Overprints and Santaeugenia Grau
Peter Valdner (2023)
Stamp collectors in the Czech Republic and Slovakia know the publication on Czechoslovak revolutionary stamps from 1944/45 under the name Grau. It has already been mentioned on this blog.
The author was the Catalan Juan Santaeugenia. So why “Grau”? His mother’s maiden name was Grau… After World War II, Juan took up collecting Czechoslovak revolutionary stamps, even though he did not understand Czech or Slovak. He not only collected stamps but also published works about them and successfully exhibited these publications. Among his many awards, he particularly valued a letter from the Office of President Václav Havel from 1996, which recognized his contributions.
He was not the only foreign collector of Czechoslovak revolutionary overprints. The leading collections are still mostly abroad. In recent years, a few collections have returned from abroad, but they were dispersed. If you look at Exponet, the most interesting collection exhibited there belongs to another Spaniard, Juan E. Page.
But let us return to Grau. Altogether, there were as many as six editions. The first one, as the author himself admitted, was full of mistakes, but he had to make his work on the publication known somehow. It brought him important collaborators, such as collectors J. Dlabák, M. Mikolov, and M. Vajkrt. At the Espamer 77 exhibition in Barcelona, it won a bronze medal.
The second edition was published after Praga 1978, where the publication won a silver medal, and it was also available in Czechoslovakia. You can recognize it by the fact that it was not bound. Most collections in Czechoslovakia were arranged according to it. Here he was already collaborating with M. Vostatek, F. Táborský, K. Holoubek, R. Richet, and A. Snoflak.
The third edition came out only in 1986. It is my favorite because it dealt in detail with the issues he called “fantastic swindle overprints.” It received more medals—at Exfilna 79 in Burgos a large vermeil, in London 80 a bronze, at Norvex 80 in Oslo a silver, and at the world exhibition Belgica 82 in Brussels a silver.
The fourth edition appeared in 1988 and once again had “1939” in its title. It spread worldwide, so if you encounter an older foreign collection, it will most likely be described according to it. His collaborators now also included W. O. A. Lans, C. Wackett, and S. Horvath. The medal harvest continued—at Espamer 87 in La Coruña a silver, and at Exfilna 87 in Girona a large vermeil.
The fifth edition is from 1996 and was followed in 1998 by the sixth, a color version. Both editions had the same cover. The sixth edition is still used today, since nothing better and more comprehensive exists in this field. J. E. Page and V. Marcus also contributed to it, and O. Hradský supplied stamps. By then, the exhibit had won at Exfilna 89 in Toledo a vermeil, at Praga 1988 a silver, at Exfilna 90 in Barcelona a large silver, and at Wien 90 in Vienna a large silver. In total—12 medals.
In 1999, a short supplement with illustrations of postal history covers was published.
Grau did not investigate the legal status of the overprints, as Karel Holoubek tried to do (though he managed it for only a fraction of the issues). Grau is considerably more extensive and more practical for collectors—especially today, when the market is flooded with fantasy overprints and fakes from the 21st century, that is, after Grau. To illustrate, just one example.
The achieved price is not what matters, but rather the fact that in the auction as many as seven bidders competed for these fakes.
Hundreds of faked setss are sold each year. If beginners buy them, it is no tragedy. In time they will buy Grau and throw the fakes away. In short, they learn from their own mistakes. The tragedy is when fakes end up in advanced collections, thereby devaluing them.
Indeed, today revolutionary overprints are sold even for more than 1,000 CZK apiece.
And 1,000 CZK apiece is by no means the end. Already in 2024, an auction achieved 1,250 CZK apiece (4,200 CZK + 19% commission + postage, for four stamps).
I do not claim that the overprints are fakes, but my genuine ones look different...
Sources: Internet and archives of the author
Contact: valdpete@yahoo.com
