The Great Union of 1918

     At the Paris Peace conference following World War I Rumania regained souhern Dobrudja from Bulgaria, Bukovina from Russia, Transylvania and Bessarabia. The souvenir sheet was issued in 1993 to commemorate the Great Union of Rumanian territory.

     The map was originally printed in four shades: previous Rumanian territory in light brown, Bessarabia (now Moldova) in reddish brown; Transylvania in medium brown; and Dobruja in the light brown of Rumanian territory which it had been. Sales were stopped soon after the sheet was released "because of the political implications suggested by the shadings.... Also, the Danube delta was incorrectly printed in the same shade as Bessarabia." The portrait is Ferdinand I who succeeded his uncle Carol I of Rumania in 1914, and ruled until 1927.

Linn's Stamp News, May 1, 1995, p. 16

     The sheet was reprinted later in 1993 and shows the map of Romania in one color.