The title of William Tatham’s presentation to The Royal Philatelic Society London on 14 March, ‘Eastern Rumelia & South Bulgaria’, had a few members guessing as to whether they were two separate nations. In fact, they are the same. Eastern Rumelia was created by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878 but, following a bloodless revolution on 6 September 1885, it was renamed South Bulgaria.
The display extensively examined the stamps, covers and postal stationery of the period, from the ‘R.O.’ (Roumelie Orientale) overprints on the stamps of Turkey, distinctive designs for Eastern Rumelia, later overprinted with images of the Bulgarian lion following the renaming of the country.
The members had enjoyed ‘extremely rare material, with some of the covers being unique’, as noted by Ivan Metchev giving the vote of thanks, who added that ‘little literature has been published on the subject making gleaning the information more difficult’.
Those wishing to visit The Royal Philatelic Society London at 41 Devonshire Place, London W1G 6JY, or be a guest at one of its meetings, are asked to contact the Administrative Office (020 7486 1044).
Thank you very much for your special and interesting report on detection, it’s definitely an interesting report that was based on philatelic items. I personally have not heard of Eastern Rumelia and South Bulgaria that the name is the same.Congratulations to your academy and thank you for your message
Hats off to Mr. W. Tatham for his dedication and knowledge. Thanks to RPSL for the organisation and making us part of the event – http://www.rpsl.org.uk/documents/displays/DISP_20190314_001.pdf. And of course also to Delcampe and Ms.Héloïse covering the story.
South Bulgaria was used as name for just 3 weeks in Sep 1885, then the former Eastern Rumelia, autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire, was merged with the Principality of Bulgaria.
Here is link to a good and recent book in Bulgarian and English on the subject – see 2nd image, https://balkan.auction/en/auction/4487313. NB: I am not affiliated with the owner in any way.