Postage stamps and postal history of Austria

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (February 2015) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the German article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 9,092 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Postgeschichte und Briefmarken von Österreich]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|de|Postgeschichte und Briefmarken von Österreich}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (August 2015) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the French article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 6,130 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Histoire philatélique et postale de l'Autriche, incluant l'Empire d'Autriche et la Cisleithanie]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|fr|Histoire philatélique et postale de l'Autriche, incluant l'Empire d'Autriche et la Cisleithanie}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

This article deals with the stamps and postal history of the Austrian Empire, Cisleithania within Austria-Hungary, and the Republic of Austria.

The historical context

The Austrian Empire stamps were first issued on June 1, 1850: a coat of arms under the text KK Post-Stempel.^[1] The word Austria does not appear, which is logical, as the issue served in whole central Europe, more precisely in all or in part of the current following countries:

• in the north: the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland;
• in the East Ukraine and Romania;
• in the South Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and the north of Italy;
• Austria and Hungary.

The languages used in the empire were German, Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Serbo-Croat, Polish and French (postmark Chargé).

For a better understanding of the historical context, see the article Austria-Hungary.

Empire (1850-1867) and Dual-Monarchy (1867-1918)

The first

The scarlet Red Mercury (Zinnoberrote Merkur, lit. "vermilion Mercury"), issued on March 21, 1856 is the rarest of the lithographed newspaper stamps authorized on September 12, 1850 which bore Mercury heads but no denominations. The low value blue variety used to frank individual newspapers is the commonest but the higher values in yellow, rose, and scarlet were used on wrappers of bundles of 10 or 50 newspapers and were often discarded.^[3]

Franz Josef profiles reappeared in 1867, as a side effect of the establishment of the

1899 also saw the appearance of

In 1908, Austria issued a series of large pictorial stamps, designed by Koloman Moser, to commemorate the 60th year of Franz Josef's reign, depicting previous emperors, Franz Josef at various ages, Schönbrunn Palace, and the Hofburg (both in Vienna). The designs were reused in 1910 for a Birthday Jubilee issue celebrating Franz Josef's 80th birthday, the dates "1830" and "1910" being added at top and bottom.

A series in 1916 depicted Franz Josef, the Austrian crown, and the coat of arms, and between 1917 and 1919 Emperor Charles I briefly made an appearance on stamps before the republic was established.

Austro-German Postal Union

On 6 April 1850 the

The first issues of the Republic of

In 1919 the Republic of Austria issued stamps with new designs; a post horn, the coat of arms, a kneeling man representing the new republic, and the Parliament building, all done in a vaguely Art Nouveau style, and inscribed "DEUTSCHÖSTERREICH" ("ÖSTERREICH" appeared in 1922).

However, Austria was caught in the

In 1925, a new monetary system was introduced, 100

In 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria and incorporated its territory, which put a sudden end to Austria's stamps. Although the entry of German troops in March was sudden, the transition of the postal system took several months; and included a period where German stamps were required in addition to Austrian stamps (a mixed franking). After the transition period was over, Austrians used stamps of Germany until the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

Allied occupation (1945)

The wreckage of World War II included the postage stamp production system, and the Allied occupation forces handled the situation in different ways; the Soviets overprinted German stamps before issuing locally printed stamps, while the American/British/French zone used stamps printed in the United States.

In the

New stamps inscribed "REPUBLIK ÖSTERREICH" were issued on 3 July by the Soviet Union, for use in Vienna and surrounding areas, still denominated in German currency.

• 
  1945 overprint on "Hitler Head" of Germany
• 
  1945 overprint, handstamped
• 
  1945 overprint, improved
• 
  8pf stamp of the Soviet occupation, used in Vienna 2 August 1945

On the other side of occupied Austria, the

Because of the early date and limited area, all Lombardy-Venetia stamps are uncommon, especially unused, the cheapest costing US$3 or so. The rarest type of newspaper tax stamp last sold for US$100,000.^{[citation needed]}

Italian occupation

Near the end of

During the 19th and early 20th centuries Austria maintained post offices in the

• 
  Austro-Hungarian military stamp for use in occupied Italian territories, 1918
• 
  Austro-Hungarian military stamp for use in Montenegro, 1917
• 
  Austro-Hungarian military stamp for use in occupied Romanian territories, 1917
• 
  Austro-Hungarian military stamp for use in Serbia, 1916

Postal stationery

The first items of postal stationery to be issued by Austria were envelopes Briefumschlägen in 1861 followed by postal cards Korrespondenzkarten in 1869 and wrappers in 1872. The concept of Korrespondenzkarten has been invented in 1869 by Emanuel Herrmann.^[6] They have been printed in 8 languages.

• Edwin Müller
• list of people on stamps of Austria
• Marcophily
• Postal history of Hungary

References and sources

Notes