Valuation of cancellations of the Austrian Empire

The study of postmarks is a specialized branch of philately called marcophily. It brings added value to the stamps by their historical significance. Other parameters are the rarity and the attractiveness. In particular, the stamps issued by the Habsburg monarchy during the 1850-1867 period (the 5 issues before the Austro-Hungarian compromise of 1867), are collected for their variety and beauty. A first publication on this topic was made by Hans Kropf in 1899. Edwin Mueller in his Handbook of Austria and Lombardy-Venetia Cancellations on the Postage Stamp Issues 1850-1864, published in 1961, described all postmarks used in the Austrian empire, Lombardy, Venetia and in the Austria post-offices in the Ottoman empire. The relative valuation of those postmarks contains a popularity index, which is a multiplicative factor on top of the rarity. Closely related article is Postage stamps and postal history of Austria for a better understanding of the historical context.

The historical context

The Austrian Empire stamps were first issued on June 1, 1850: a coat of arms under the text KK Post-Stempel. 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:

The languages used are German, Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Serbo-Croat, Polish and French Chargé.

The Austria Empire is present in all central Europe

This article is linked to the article Postage stamps and postal history of Austria. For a better understanding of the historical context, see the article Austria-Hungary.

The collection of cancellations of Austria

Collecting of cancellations, in particular the 1850 issues of Austria and Lombardy-Venetia, has a long tradition. The first important collection of the kind was assembled by Hans Kropf. He published The Cancellations of the stamps of Austria-Hungary and Lombardy-Venetia, a handbook with 959 different cancellation types, in 1899. His collection was purchased by King Fuad I of Egypt, and by Marc Fitch in 1954.[1] The Jerger collection (see below) has made complements to this collection, with items from Baron Ferrari, Felix Brunner, Maurice Burrus, Arthur Caspary, Dale-Lichtenstein, the King Carol I of Romania, and others.

The system used by Edwin Mueller

The cancellations (or postmarks in more general terms) can be studied, classified and valuated based on the handbook, compiled by Edwin Mueller.[2]

Edwin Mueller describes each of the postmark type by a series of codes (13 basic forms, 5 types of lettering, with or without a year etc.), and idealized pictures.

The 505 types that have been used for each of the 3381 post-offices are documented from the first (I) to the fifth (V) issue, with their opening date: when relevant, the letter P means that the postmark was already in use in 1850 (precursor of the pre-stamp period).

The handbook relies on an original system of relative valuation. It is a valuation expressed in points, result of a double multiplicative content:

The valuation points can thus vary (in principle) between 1 and 30 x 250 = 7500.

The market value of an ordinary type cancellation depends primarily only on its rarity index (1 by default), while if it displays attractive characters (color other than black, originality, beauty..), it is the multiplicative result of both indexes which determines the global Mueller valuation points.

The article further illustrates by a few examples this popularity index.

The popularity index

Index 1 : the basic types

The value of those cancellations depend only on their relative rarity (and on usual characteristics like their degree of completeness, cleanliness, centering (SON)...). This value is added to the stamp value, of course.

Some examples :

  1. ^ Mueller 1961, Dated Town Postmarks RS-f model, page P19

Index 2

Index 3

Index 4

Index 6

ZDITZ Zdice Type RCo-R (15x6 P)

Letter C indicates a curved format in semi-circle. It is a relatively rare cancellation (15) and beautiful (index 6) hence 90 points Mueller.

Index 8

Letter O indicates an Oval postmark:

Index 10

Type RzO-fy rouge (5x10 P)

Red ink for recommended letters from Vienna K.K. BRIEF-FILIALAMT RECOMANDIRT

Index 15

Index 20

Index 25

Index 30

A rare series of mute cancellations, including a unique 1576:

Prices reached during auctions

The net prices mentioned in Swiss Francs are those obtained (charges not included) in 2003 during the sale of a remarkable collection Sammlung Dr.Anton Jerger (1919-1987) & Elisabeth Jerger-Kramer (1921-2002) (mainly).[3]

The most beautiful cancellations (complete on fragments) were close to 1 Euro per point Mueller.

Auctions using the Mueller points

To be expanded

Besides the illustrated auction in 2003, other important stamps vendors have based their proposed values on the Mueller points:

Valuation of later postmarks

After the death of Edwin Mueller in 1962, collectors felt the need to continue his work for later issues. Wilhelm Klein noticed a good continuity in many postmarks on the last issues in kreuzer. He thus decided to publish in 1967 a first part of the work, covering the issues 1867, 1883 and 1900. However, he dropped the Mueller system, presenting the rarity (Häufigkeit) and the popularity (Beliebtheit) in a single final point value. There are more than 700 images of postmarks, used by the 6186 fixed post offices (in the Austrian half[4] of the monarchy) as of 30 September 1900.[5]

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Adapted from the CORINPHILA introduction for the 2003 Auction.
  2. ↑ Handbook of Austria and Lombardy-Venetia Cancellations on the Postage Stamp Issues 1850-1864, by Edwin MUELLER, 1961.
  3. ↑ Abstempelungen Kaiserreich Österreich, during the 138th CORINPHILA Briefmarken-Auktion (Zürich), November 2003
  4. ↑ Mueller and Klein use the expression in der österreichischen Reichshälfte
  5. ↑ Die regulären Potstempel der stabilen Ortspostämter in der österreichiischen Reichshälfte, Wilhelm Klein, Wien 1967.