CPS Resource Centre
 Switzerland, 2014-09 |
 Austria, 2014-09 (forthcoming) |
Update: We received an image from Volker Woesner, our European Representative, of the forth-coming (late September) issue from Austria. The very striking issue appears to be totally comprised of an Ortelius map from 1587, (shown here) The Lindau coach mail route is also depicted on the map, with north being at the bottom, the route shown is from Lindau “south” into Italy.
In September 2014, the postal authorities of Austria, Germany, Lechtinstein, and Switzerland will release a joint issue commemorating the “Lindau Messenger” mail service. From the Swiss Post web site, “the first recorded delivery by the Lindau Messenger took place in the early 16th century, although the messenger had been running since the 14th century. The era of the Lindau Messenger came to an end when a completely new generation of roads were built over the main Alpine passes, allowing stagecoaches to cross them, which made traveling easier and safer and the messenger service superfluous.” While final details in English have not been easy to find, at this time it appears that issues of Austria and Switzerland will have maps incorporated into their designs. The Swiss issue similar has a route map on the right side of the stamp, with a mail carriage shown in the remaining section of the design. A special book with the stamps appears to be available from Swiss Post. [ we will update this post when more information is available – admin ]
