Austrian emperor Franz Joseph stamps
One of the most common topics of early Austrian postage stamps is emperor Franz Joseph. The very first stamps showing the portrait of emperor were issued in 1858.
Austria 1858 Emperor Franz Josehp 15Kr. postage stamp. Michel #15I, catalogue value 30€ (but this is much less due to missing upper corner teeth)
1860 Franz Joseph stamps
A new design followed as soon as 1860:
Austria 1860 Emperor Franz Joseph stamp 5 Kreuzer. Michel #20, catalogue value 1.00€
1867 Franz Joseph stamps
In February 1867, a separate constitution was announced for Hungary. Stamps for the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy were issued in 1867 and for Hungary as a separate area in 1868. The common design showed once again a renewed portrait of emperor Franz Joseph.
1867 Austria 5 Kreuzer Emperor Franz Joseph stamp, Michel #37, catalogue value 0.50€
1890 – 1907 Franz Joseph stamps
The final incarnation of emperor Franz Joseph stamps began in 1890. These stamps come in several framework designs, colours and currencies all showing portrait of emperor. Even more intresesting from the collectors point of view are the methods tried to prevent illegal re-use of stamps as well as very mixed printing process (producing sea of plentiness with various perforations, color shades etc).
Austria 1890-1907 Emperor Franz Joseph Stamps. On the left: 3 Kreuzer stamp from 1890 (Michel #52) that uses fibre paper as protective method. On the right: 1901 5 Heller stamp (Michel #87) that uses varnish stripes as a method against stamp re-use.
1890-96 sets are best identified by currency: they are either in Kreuzer or Gulden. These stamps were printed on granite paper with fiber.
The 1899 print is similar in design, but this time the nominal values are in Hellers and Krones.
The 1901 issue introduced diagonal varnish stripes (bars) as a protection method. Theory was that the ink of the printed design would not soak into the varnish, so that in the washing process the design would tend to flake off, forming a telltale pattern on the washed stamp.
In 1905/7 sets the Austrian post went back to plain old stamps without varnish bars.
Be sure to check out other parts of this Austrian stamp series:
- Part 1: Early Austrian / Austro-Hungarian postage stamps
- Part 2:Early Austrian / Austro-Hungarian Coat of Arms postage stamps
- Part 3: Austrian emperor Franz Joseph stamps (this page)
- Part 4: An overview of Austrian Mercury stamps
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Why can’t I find an image on the web of the 1875 large portrait offical document revenue stamp of Emperor Fraz Josef. I have a document of a man who immigrated to the united states and that stamp is on it. I am a stamp collector and have approx. 16,000 stamps worldwide but only 1 Austrian revenue and do not want to purchase an entire revenue catalog for one stamp.
Hi Gail,
you definitely put up a tough question… I guess your best change would be asking about that revenue in some German-speaking stamp forum such as BDPh or Basler Taube (both have separate subsections for Austria).
Hi Gail, I’m not sure if its what you’re looking for but in my grandma’s stamp collection we have a 1867 Austrian stamp (5 Kr.)…
je possède un d’autriche-hongrie à l’effigie de françois-joseph. sur le tampon d’oblitération je peux lire …bubogasse ou …bubugasse , je n’ai pas les 1ères lettres, quelqu’un pourrait-il me situer cette ville en autriche ou en hongrie? d’avance merci pour tout renseignements
Bonjour Fabrice,
please upload an image (to some photo sharing service like Picasa, Flickr etc), and place a link on this site… Otherwise the identification process is pretty much a no-go.
Have enjoyed the website, have some of the stamps at the bottom of listing…
Hi Keijo
Do you perhaps now how to tell the difference between coarse and fine engravings on the Austrian stamps of Emperor Franz bc Scott just says that there are are 2 versions and thats all they say . Thanks for any help.
Thanks,
William
@William… This has been asked before, and here’s a link to page with reply.