Austro-Hungarian Charity Label

Here is a interesting item related to WWI .Its a charity label produced after WWI to collect money for widows,orphans and the handicapped. It is for those who were in or families of those who served in the cavalry unit which was made up of mostly Serbs and Croats.

Nice label floortrader.

It's interesting to see the battle honours from Magenta (the battle they named the colour after!)

thanks ----it looks like it was sold for 2 Hellers,it also has WELTKRIEG 1914-1918 on the bottom ,which translate WORLDWAR 1914-1918 which wasn't used in the West ,we called it the GREAT WAR ,and W.W.I became a term used in the 1920's if Im not mistaken .

Very nice stamp. But is there really any evidence that there was any substantial Serb presence in the regiment? The regiment is the 12th Hungarian (Croatian-Slavonian) Cavalry (sometime known as the Graaf Huyn after the 17th century Field Marshall).

As the name suggests it was essentially a Croat regiment, founded in Varazdin, and subsequently recruiting mainly around Zagreb. Beyond a few adventurers or mercenaries, I can't see any reason why they would recruit Serbs.

After 1915 I suppose they might have tried to dragoon a few remaining Serbs into service, but surely the bulk of the Serbian cavalry would by then have left Serbia and be fighting against the Central Powers on the Salonica front?

Well according to Wikipedia http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/K.u.k....80%9C_Nr._12 as of 1914 the regimental ethnic make up was 81% Serbs/Croats 19% other nationalities and the regimental language was Croatian.

What I find strange about this label is the fact it is all in German
and post WWI.
By the end of 1918 there was no more KuK. Austria became the predominantly German (short lived) DeutschOesterreich and Hungary also went its merry way.
So why would they produce a label to collect funds in this now
German speaking Austria for people who are now citizens of another country called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes?
Never mind that the rump state what was now Austria has itself to look after millions of handicapped veterans, war widows and war orphans.

Lithograving and Bamra1 ---thanks for your additional information ,sounds like more research needs to be done to answer some of the open questions about that charity label,--------------------------this is what makes this board such a interesting read

A fair question - and I believe this is the answer:

I don't think it was produced post war. I think it was produced in early 1918, long before they knew the war was going to end in 1918 (or, much more correctly, 1919). The 1914-1918 bit simply means "These people have been fighting a world war for you since 1914. Here we are in 1918, and it's not finished yet. So how about coughing up some cash?"

I agree. I have a decorative plate collection (here`s a part of it- these are I like- traditional pottery, these were in fact used for eating):



and here is a decorative one (hand painted porcelain):



I hope the date is visible: 1914-1917. But I saw some plates with 1914-1918 inscription too.
The denomination of the label is `Heller`, but this only mean it`s pre 1925. (groschen-schilling introduced)

Thank you. I can safely say this is the first time in my life I have ever had my opinion endorsed by a decorative plate!

Well im not familiar with ethnic compasaty of that regiment but Ausro-Hun. Empire was multiethnical. Many Serbs that lived within borders of empire were recruited and sent mostly on eastern front some even south against Serbia but most of them deserted and joined Serbian army. So there is big possibility that they recruited Serbs in this regiment as well.