page_title: Postage stamps and postal history of Poland
section_title: Krakow issue
hierarchical_section_title: Postage stamps and postal history of Poland / Polish Republic provisional issues / Former Austrian Kingdom of Galicia / Krakow issue
caption_attribution_description: English: Postage stamp of Austro-Hungary overprinted Poczta Polska, 3 hellers, 1919. Русский: Почтовая марка Австро-Венгрии, надпечатанная Poczta Polska, з геллера, 1919 год.
context_page_description: Poczta Polska, the Polish postal service, was founded in 1558 and postal markings were first introduced in 1764. The three partitions of Poland in 1772, 1793 and 1795 saw the independent nation of Poland disappear. The postal services in the areas occupied by Germany and Austria were absorbed into those countries' postal services. In 1772 the area occupied by Austria was created into the Kingdom of Galicia, a part of the Austrian Empire. This lasted till 1918. The Duchy of Warsaw was created briefly, between 1807 and 1813, by Napoleon I of France, from Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. In 1815, following Napoleons’ defeat in 1813, the Congress of Vienna, created Congress Poland out of the Duchy of Warsaw and also established the Free City of Kraków. Congress Poland was placed under the control of Russia and the postal service was given autonomy in 1815. In 1851 the postal service was put under the control of the Russian post office department regional office in St Petersburg.
context_section_description: All Austrian stamps, which were still in store in Kraków, were sent to two different printers in Kraków for overprinting on 2 January 1919. The two printing works were A Koziański and F Zieliński. The overprinting by Koziański was by typograph and the overprinting by Zieliński was by lithograph. In total 20 different postage stamps, 5 different newspaper stamps and 12 different postage due stamps were overprinted with POCZTA POLSKA in two lines with a diamond shape or an ornament between. The stamps were made available for sale from 10 January 1919.
  The following stamps and quantities of postage stamps were produced and issued. 
  3hal −2,350
  5 hal −2,050
  6 hal −28,800
  10 hal −2,250
  12 hal −15,640
  15 hal −62,750
  20 hal −5,340
  25 hal −1,150
  25/80 hal −100,000
  30 hal −3,740
  40 hal −22,390
  50 hal −58,230
  60 hal −67,020
  80 hal −74,190
  90 hal −1,300
  1 kr – 50,860
  2 kr −90,275
  3 kr −8,005
  4 kr −5,508
  10 kr – 440
  On 12 January 1919 the Post and Telegraph Director in Lwów issued instructions that unoverprinted Austrian stamps and postal stationery would not be valid for postage from 20 January 1919.
caption: Kraków issue 3 hal stamp
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