Montenegro first issued stamps in 1874; these stamps were inscribed ПOШТЕ ЦР ГОРЕ (poshte tsr gore). There were several stamps issued in the decades that followed by Montenegro.
In 1917, the occupying Austrians used their feldpost stamps with overprints reading ‘MONTENEGRO’. In 1918, Montenegro joined Serbia in the Kingdom of the Serbs, but this alliance didn’t last long in this form. In 1922, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was formed, an entity that included Montenegro and became Yugoslavia in 1929.
During World War II, Montenegro had a particularly interesting stamp history: Italy occupied Montenegro from 1941, using Yugoslavian stamps with Italian overprints, then Italian stamps with Cyrillic overprints. Soon (in 1943), Italy issued special stamps solely for Montenegro; these were inscribed ЦРНА ГОРА (tsrna gora, the local name of the country meaning “black mountain”). Germany also occupied Montenegro, in 1943, and used Yugoslavia stamps, then the new Italian issues, with overprints in German.
More: Albania Stamps: Collecting a Twisted History of Names
In 1944, Montenegro again became part of Yugoslavia, and had no special stamps of its own for the next several decades. In 1992, when Yugoslavia broke up, Montenegro remained as part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 2002, Montenegro became part of a brief entity called Serbia and Montenegro, which issued its own stamps.
In 2006, Montenegro finally became a fully independent republic, and has been issuing its own stamps since. Many collectible stamps have come from Montenegro’s various eras, and you can browse the listings here to see the newest offers. We update this section daily.
