Moldavia 'Bull's Head' (Cap de Bour)

A principality's first act of statehood

Postal reform in Moldavia followed the Treaty of Paris of 1856, and the principality issued stamps immediately upon gaining autonomy in 1858. Its first postage stamps, known in Romanian as 'cap de bour,' or aurochs head, were printed on July 15, 1858, and put into circulation on July 22, 1858. They have been described as Moldavia's first exercise of autonomous statehood, and they came before the first stamps of the Ottoman Empire (1863), Greece (1861), Serbia (1866) and Bulgaria (1879).

The first issue had four values: 27, 54, 81 and 108 parale. The values matched French postal tariffs, at an exchange rate of 108 parale to the French franc. The design is round and shows the aurochs head from Moldavia's coat of arms with a five-pointed star between the horns, a post horn, the value, and the inscription 'PORTO SCRISORI' in Romanian Cyrillic letters.

The first issue lasted only a few months and was withdrawn at the end of October 1858. A second issue of 5, 40 and 80 parale came in with a single postal tariff on November 1, 1858, and was withdrawn on May 1, 1862. Its design put the head and horn inside a rectangle with rounded corners, with a six-pointed star and the inscription in Latin letters; the 5 parale reads 'PORTO GAZETEI' for newspapers and the 40 and 80 parale 'PORTO SCRISOREI' for letters. After Moldavia and Wallachia united, a new design showed the emblems of both principalities side by side.

Printed by hand in Iasi

The stamps were printed at the stamp workshop in Iasi on a press bought in Vienna in 1857. Four steel dies, costing 389 lei, were ready by July 1, 1858; the engraver is unknown. The paper was imported from Bath, in England. Each sheet held 32 stamps in four rows of eight, with tete-beche pairs, stamps printed upside down relative to each other, in the center. The stamps were imperforate, and post offices cut them apart with scissors.

Each value of the first issue had its own ink and paper: the 27 parale black on rose-tinted paper, the 54 parale blue on greenish paper, the 81 parale blue on bluish paper and the 108 parale blue on light rose paper. In the second issue the 5 parale was printed on rose-tinted paper, the 40 parale on greenish paper and the 80 parale on bluish paper.

The first issue was tiny. 24,064 stamps were printed: 6,016 of the 27 parale, 10,016 of the 54, 2,016 of the 81 and 6,016 of the 108. Sales were 3,691 of the 27 parale, 4,772 of the 54, just 709 of the 81 and 2,574 of the 108. The second issue was much larger, with 23,040 of the 5 parale, 106,032 of the 40 parale and 60,072 of the 80 parale.

Fire, collectors and forgers

What did not sell was stored. Some 12,308 stamps were deposited at postal headquarters, then moved to the old central post office on Strada Doamnei in Bucharest, where the stock was destroyed by fire in 1874. A 1994 study counted 687 first-issue stamps in collections: 176 of the 27 parale, 262 of the 54, 62 of the 81 and 187 of the 108.

The great collectors chased them. Philipp von Ferrary owned 13 at one point, and his posthumous sales offered 32. William Beilby Avery owned at least 21 first-issue stamps. King Carol II of Romania bought a unique 27 parale tete-beche pair in 1935 for £1,000, and Fritz Heimbuchler owned 45 first-issue stamps before his collection was sold in 2010. Some examples went to the British Museum; others were seized by Soviet troops during World War II and disappeared.

In 2009 Romania's National Philatelic Museum found that many of its own Bull's Heads had been replaced with suspected forgeries: 215 stamps of the first series and 660 of the later ones. In 2007 a copy of the November 11, 1858, issue of the newspaper 'Zimbrul si Vulturul' franked with eight 5 parale stamps of the second series sold for 750,000 euros.

The 80 parale on greenish-blue paper

This entry is the 80 parale in a rare paper variety. The 80 parale belongs to the second issue of November 1858, not the first round issue of July 1858. Its normal paper is bluish, described in a 2014 auction report as lilac-bluish and itself exceptionally rare.

In May 2014 an 80 parale on an unrecorded greenish-blue paper led a sale in Geneva, offered at $55,000. The auction house suggested the shade was 'possibly a rare shade between' the usual papers, which arose when the printing office bought and used different papers. The same report said only 95 unused examples are known; it does not make clear whether that count refers to this value or to the Bull's Heads in general.

Genuine Bull's Heads are imperforate and were printed on a hand press. Forgeries exist in quantity, as the national museum's discovery showed. One 2010 estimate put an authentic Bull's Head at between 5,000 and 100,000 euros.

The numbers

First issue date

Printed July 15, 1858; in circulation July 22, 1858

80 parale issue

Second issue, November 1, 1858, to May 1, 1862

80 parale printing

60,072

First-issue printing

24,064 (27p 6,016; 54p 10,016; 81p 2,016; 108p 6,016)

Sheet

32 stamps, four rows of eight, tete-beche pairs in the center

Paper

Tinted paper imported from Bath, England; 80 parale normally on bluish paper

Separation

Imperforate

Known first-issue stamps

687 (1994 study)

Timeline

1. 1856

   The Treaty of Paris is signed, followed by postal reform in Moldavia.

2. 1857

   Moldavia buys a printing press in Vienna.

3. Jul 1, 1858

   Four steel dies are ready.

4. Jul 15, 1858

   The first Bull's Head stamps are printed in Iasi.

5. Jul 22, 1858

   The stamps are put into circulation.

6. Oct 31, 1858

   The first issue is withdrawn.

7. Nov 1, 1858

   The second issue, including the 80 parale, arrives with a single postal tariff.

8. May 1, 1862

   The second issue is withdrawn.

9. 1874

   Unsold stock burns in a fire at the old central post office in Bucharest.

10. 1935

    King Carol II buys the unique 27 parale tete-beche pair for £1,000.

11. 1994

    A study counts 687 first-issue stamps in collections.

12. 2007

    A newspaper franked with eight 5 parale stamps sells for 750,000 euros.

13. 2009

    The National Philatelic Museum finds hundreds of its Bull's Heads replaced by forgeries.

14. 2010

    Fritz Heimbuchler's 45 first-issue stamps are sold.

15. May 2014

    An 80 parale on greenish-blue paper is offered at auction in Geneva.

The world in 1858

• Feb 11, 1858

  Bernadette Soubirous reports her first vision at Lourdes.

• May 11, 1858

  Minnesota becomes the 32nd U.S. state.

• Jun 1858

  The Treaty of Tientsin ends the first phase of the Second Opium War.

• Aug 2, 1858

  The Government of India Act transfers the East India Company's territories to the Crown.

• Aug 2, 1858

  London approves a modern sewer system after the 'Great Stink.'

• Aug 5, 1858

  The first transatlantic telegraph cable is completed.

• Aug 21, 1858

  The first Lincoln-Douglas debate is held in Illinois.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Moldavia 'Bull's Head' (Cap de Bour) is number 52 of 100 in the stamps entries of the FLOAT 100. 82 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (75 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Only 709 of the 81 parale were ever sold.
• The paper for Romania's first stamps came from Bath, England.
• Unsold Bull's Heads were lost in an 1874 fire in Bucharest.
• In 2009 Romania's own philatelic museum found more than 800 of its Bull's Heads had been replaced with suspected fakes.
• Moldavia issued stamps before the Ottoman Empire, Greece, Serbia or Bulgaria.
• King Carol II paid £1,000 in 1935 for the only known 27 parale tete-beche pair.
• A single newspaper franked with eight Bull's Heads sold for 750,000 euros in 2007.