Local mail and rayon stamps of Switzerland

The local mail and rayon stamps of 1850 and 1852 constituted the first series of

USD 293,000) at auction in 2008.^[1]

After the reconstitution of

cantons to the Confederation, and the federal postal service was founded in 1849. Its local mail and rayon stamps were the first definitive stamps valid in all of Switzerland, although the stamps issued by the postal authorities of the cantons of Geneva, Basel-Stadt and Zürich remained concurrently valid until 1854, when all stamps were supplanted by the "Sitting Helvetia

" series of federal stamps.

Rayons

The first Swiss postal regulations divided Switzerland, for the purpose of mailing letters weighing no more than half a

lot, into four rayons. These were defined by the distance or road transport time (whichever was higher) between sender and recipient. A special, lower rate applied to letters mailed within a municipality

. Rayon IV, defined by a distance of more than 192 km or a transport time of more than 40 hours, for which a postage of 20 Rappen was due, was abandoned in 1852 and became part of Rayon III. No stamps were ever issued for it.

Charging area (Rayon)	Postage	Transport hours max.	Transport distance max.	Date of first issue
Local mail	2½ rappen	Within the municipality	Within the municipality	May 1850
Rayon I	5 rappen	2 hours	9.6 km	1 October 1850
Rayon II	10 rappen	10 hours	48 km	1 October 1850
Rayon III	15 rappen	40 hours	192 km	1 January 1852