Austria issued new postage stamps from old postal uniforms

Austria issued new postage stamps from old postal uniforms

According to Austrian Post, the old uniform shirts were shredded, mixed with water and ground into pulp. Then the pulp was scooped with sieves and laid on felt, resulting in rag paper once the water was pressed out of the pulp.

The rag paper retains some of the blue fibers from the shirts on the new stamp. The design shows a blue outline of a shirt with laundry symbols that commonly appear on clothing tags imposed over it.

The “Ein Postlerhemd” inscription on the stamp translates to “a postal shirt.” Text below the laundry symbols instructs readers not to wash, iron or bleach the stamp. Below this, readers are told that the stamp is “for franking and collecting!”

The Postal Uniform stamp’s €8.20 denomination covers the rate for large letters sent as priority shipments to the European Union and the rest of Europe. Austrian Post defines large letters as those up to 353 millimeters in length, 250mm in width and 30mm thick, with up to 2 kilograms of mass.

Value: 8.20 Euro

First day of issue: 21.10.2022

Stamp size: 35.00 x 45.00 mm

Graphic design: David Gruber Printing: Variuscard, digital printing & Serigraph

Quantity: 150,000 stamps on sheets of 56 stamps

News from Austria post.