Thrace, a disputed territory
The territory of Thrace is bordered to the north by Bulgaria, to the east by the Black Sea, and further by European Turkey and Greece. The area was of great strategic importance and was therefore often contested. Until 1912, Thrace belonged to the Ottoman Empire. During the First World War, the Ottomans sided with the Germans. After this war, Thrace was assigned to Bulgaria, until the end of the First World War, when Bulgaria, among others, had been defeated.
Thrace was occupied by the Allied British and French troops. The postal service was restored. Bulgarian stamps bore the overprint: Thrace Interallée. The series of nine stamps was issued in 1919.
Bulgarian postcards were also provided with the overprint. The overprint was not applied very precisely, resulting in many shifts. Furthermore, errors occurred in the overprint, such as a letter V instead of a letter A in Thrace and an upside-down L in Interallée.
In 1920, a new series of overprints appeared because the stock of the first series was almost exhausted. The overprints were applied by hand and consisted of a single line. It is therefore possible that an overprint was printed 'upside down'.
The emergency issue was quickly followed by a new series of overprints applied by printing press. Lowercase letters were now used. The series consisted of four values. Upside-down overprints may also occur here.
Finally, a series appeared with the imprint Tracie Occidentale, or West Thrace.
Finally, we discuss the postage due stamps. A number of Bulgarian postage due stamps were also provided with an overprint. It is clearly visible that the overprint design has been reproduced.
The numerous errors on the overprints provide a great opportunity for research. The stamps are rarely collected, but appear in old collections and old albums. The territory of West and East Thrace was transferred to Greece in 1920. From 1920 onwards, the Greek occupiers issued Greek stamps with an overprint for Thrace. The overprint for West Thrace consisted of three lines.
A distinction can be made between the various printings of the original stamps of Greece, issues of 1911 or 1913.
The series with the imprint 'kroon' and 'ET' was also provided with the three-line imprint.
For East Thrace, an imprint consisting of two lines was used.
Here, a distinction can also be made between different editions from 1911 and 1913.
The fact that the overprint was not always placed centrally on the stamp is evident from the varying heights, such as on the 3 LEGTA stamps.
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