During World War I, the Baltic region of Latvia didn't have much to

call its own. It was governed by Russia, and German forces were

occupying much of the area. In 1918, however, Latvia gained independence

during the chaos and collapse of the Romanov Dynasty. In addition,

German forces had retreated "¦ but not without leaving their mark on the

new nation. Oddly enough, that mark was on Latvia's stamps.

Latvia suffered devastating damage during the war. Factories were

destroyed or moved to Russia, and paper was in short supply. So when the

young nation got ready to print its first national stamps, postal

officials got creative and used the blank backs of German military maps

and unfinished banknotes. Indeed, if you look on the underside of some

Latvian stamps from this era, you'll see a tiny sliver of a military map

used by the Germans during World War I