Switzerland makes its stamp on the world

two old stamps with 4 and 6 written on them — The "Zurich 4" was used for letters within the city of Zurich, while the 6-cent stamp was used for letters posted and delivered within canton Zurich (1843). Museum für Kommunikation / Post CH AG

green double stamp with fine black and red design — The "Double de Genève" (the "Double Geneva"), 1843. In September 1843, Geneva was the second canton to publish a stamp used to send letters within the canton. Half of the "Double de Genève" was used for post within a town. Museum für Kommunikation / Post CH AG

old stamp with red and white design and a Swiss flag on it — The "Winterthur", 1850. In accordance with federal regulations, the Zurich Postal Administration issued the 2.5-cent stamp in February 1850. It was used to pay reduced local postal charges in large towns in cantons Zurich, Zug, Schaffhausen and Thurgau. Museum für Kommunikation / Post CH AG

old stamp with a white dove on a blue and red background — The sought-after "Basler Taube", designed by the architect Melchior Berri, was launched in July 1845. The price of 2.5-cent stamp covered the postage costs for transporting a letter within the city of Basel. Museum für Kommunikation / Post CH AG

stamp designed by Ferdinand Hodler with illustration of an alpine herdsman — Designed by Ferdinand Hodler in 1901, this special stamp had a surcharge added to help finance the military. Museum für Kommunikation / Post CH AG

white stamp with blue art-deco woman — Commemorative stamp; 5, 10, or 25 cents. Designed by Eugène Grasset in 1900 for the Universal Postal Union anniversary. Museum für Kommunikation / Post CH AG

white and green art-deco stamp with a lady in front of a lake — Pro Juventute stamp worth 5 cents, canton Vaud, designed by Jules Courvoisier in 1933. Museum für Kommunikation / Post CH AG

stamp with glass window design of a fox — Arts and crafts: Stained glass of sacred art. Designed by Celestino Piatti, after stained glass window art by the Basel artist Kurt Volk. Museum für Kommunikation / Post CH AG

In 1843, Switzerland became the second country ever to introduce postage stamps; the UK was first in 1840. Early examples of Swiss stamps are therefore some of the most valuable and sought-after in the world. An exhibition showing off the delicate rarities is now running in Bern, as the nation marks 175 years of the Swiss postage stamp.

This content was published on March 3, 2018 - 11:00

Born in England, I've lived in Switzerland since 1994. I trained as a graphic designer in Zurich between 1997 – 2002. More recently I have moved on to work as photo editor and joined the team at swissinfo.ch in March 2017.

Helen James, pictures provided by Museum for Communication, Bern

The stamp collection at the Museum of CommunicationExternal link is worth several million Swiss francs. The 4-Rappen (4-cent) stamp, together with the 6-Rappen stamp – both of which can be seen in the exhibition – were the first to be issued throughout continental Europe. Today these are worth a small fortune.

Inscribed with “Local-Taxe” at the bottom, the 4-rappen stamp was intended to pay for letters posted within a city, while the 6-rappen stamp, inscribed “Cantonal-Taxe”, was used on letters posted and delivered within canton Zurich.

Stamp art by Ferdinand Hodler

They were both designed with a pattern of fine red lines behind the numbers, to discourage counterfeiting. These stamps were popular from the start, but weren’t printed in large numbers. Nowadays they are scarce, their values ranging from CHF1,400 ($1,500) to CHF18,000.

The exhibition “EXTREMEExternal link” will show contributions from Swiss artist Ferdinand Hodler, whose work was initially rejected as a competition entry in 1901 but was later accepted in 1937 as a special stamp with a surcharge added to help finance the military.

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