This is the journal of the Verband Österreichischer Philatelistinvereine (VÖPh). Each issue typically includes dates of exhibitions etc in Austria, Switzerland & Germany; illustrated tabulation of forthcoming special cancels; new Austrian stamp issues, with illustration if available; European philatelic snippets; news of U.N. (Wien) issues; Austrian philatelic personalities; book reviews; Questions & Answers; postage due discoveries; correspondence; new European stamp issues; Swiss & Germany reports; closures and (rarely) openings of post offices, TPOs, & postablages; philatelic gossip etc.
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Issue 3/1999: Vienna timed cancels; postal history of Hafnerberg and Altenmarkt; places of pilgrimage.
Issue 4/1999: Kaiser Franz Josef; Schönbrunn; Albanian postal history; opening dates of offices in Judenberg area.
Issue 5/1999: Printing of the 1850 issue; Kaiser Franz Josef part 2
Issue 6/1999: Gmunden; Kaiser Franz Josef part 3 and Kaiser Karl
Issue 7/1999: Stadl-Paura; Stein a d Donau; Ship Mail
Issue 8/1999: Austrian State Printing Works; Albania part 2; Ship Mail part 2
Issue 9/1999: Bruck a d Leitha
Issue 10/1999: Eilzustellung (Express Post) discontinued from 1st October; the A1500-3 Field Post Offices; the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Militaria Austriaca Philatelia; Thematics: fire brigades & freemasons; yet more Postservicestellen (Postablagen!) closures.
Issue 11/1999: 'Die Briefmarke' is now printed on the stamp-printing presses!; Christmas in stamps and cancels; cancels on the railway from Wien to Pinkafeld; second Licht ins Dunkel balloon post; review of 'Postal History of Burgenland' series; the New Ferchenbauer.
Issue 12/1999: Interviw with new boss of Austrian Post AG; the stamp issues planned for 2000; Christkindl~ the first 50 years; thematic-bells; the designer Maria Schulz; Stockerau; WIPA symposia; plus reviews new issues etc as normal.
Issue 1/2000: WIPA Souvenir block; A century-&-a-half of philately; new issues, special cancels etc; space mail; bells; thematic-fungi; numismatics; the CHUST issue of 1944; WPIA2000 expects to have 150 dealers and 25 postal administrations; literature reviews etc.
Issue 2/2000: WIPA2000; 150 years of Bavarian stamps; marginal imprints in recent definitives; etc
Issue 3/2000: WIPA2000; thematic: Red Cross; Austrian Jaffa-Jerusalem post.
Issue 4/2000: WIPA2000; new stamps & postcards; thematic: pilgrimages; Czech Republic; many new publications.
Issue 5/2000: WIPA2000; new stamps & postcards, many to be issued during WIPA; history of Favoriten post and philatelic society; Rezepisse for the Vienna Klein Post; plate faults on 1945 Hitler overprints; many Poststelle closures and a 'demotion'; Austrian involvement in the WWI 'Tauchboot'; the official WIPA Sonderstempels.
Issue 6/2000: WIPAs past and present; the Austria Centre Wien; ASCGB visit and Heuriger; postal history of Ybbsitz and of Florisdorf.
Issue 7/2000: Award for the State Printing Works; WIPA post mortems; 'Tauchboot' continued; Austrian themes in Ukranian philately; the Austrian post office in Jaffa in 1908; the refugee camp in Gmünd.
Issue 8/2000: Special air & balloon flights; ANK catalogue on CD; U.N. News; postal history of Maria Trost; Gmund refugee camp; an unusual Postage Due item; Censorship in Austria 1914-1918 [useful overview]
Issue 9/2000: Positioning on letters of stamps in 1850; WIPA souvenir block with missing serial number; Austrian postal activities in the Holy Land; Taxquadrat and Gebührenfeld; Jules Scheyli.
Issue 10/2000: Phila-Graz 2000! 75 years of Phil. Gesell. Graz; 125 years of post office at Graz-Murvorstadt; Dipl-Ing Rainer; Thielk's WWI Censor catalogue.
Issue 11/2000: Art and Culture in Vorarlberg; Prof Sepp Buchner’s death; the post in Ludesch (lavish illustrations!).
Issue 12/2000: Prof Zimmerl’s 100th issue!; Info on ATS/Euro stamps; Christmas-related philately; Christkindl to have 5 dies instead of 15; Pottsching; the 15 Post offices in Bezirk Mattersburg; Djibouti; green cancels as used on the Kronprinz Rudolf Bahn; dates in 2001 which are also valid postcodes; further concentrations of postal delivery service; Brussel’s Postal Museum follows Austria’s example in "closing for reconstruction".
Issue 1/2001: Austrian State Printing Works re-sold to "Euro Investment Partners"; design of 1954 Health stamps (ANK1008-13) to be used on souvenir cards (Gedenkblatt) for Chernobyl relief; Hamburg; the Jaffa post office.
Issue 2/2001: New First Day Cancel design; three changes to 2001 issue programme; Postverordnungsblatt to be discontinued following privatisation (the information now most easily available on the website www.post.at); CV of the special post office '1063 Wien-VÖPh'; five of the new Euro definitives to have thematically-appropriate aromatic gum; Schiffspost vs Seepost; The Post In Pinzgau; Blue Mercury; the 'Feldpost 4' marking in 1854; new catalogue of 1945 Posthorn series plate faults; index for 2000; photos of MinRat Erich Oberlechner & Christine Steyrer admiring 'Austria'.
Issue 3/2001: Results of readers vote on 'most beautiful' and 'most unnecessary' stamp issues in 2000; the overprinted Bat card; decreased printing of two commemorative stamps (because they'll be invalidated when Euro stamps come in); March Vienna 'Numiphil' cancelled, December's planned for the 8th; philatelic overview of Leibnitz; Austria's oldest fireman?; the 1920 'Spielfeld is free' overprint; Straβ in Steiermark; Mureck and Europe's last floating watermill; 'Feldpost 4' continued; review of 'Brief-& Fahrpost' by P Kainbacher (APS Lib 326A & B) etc
Issue 4/2001: (the 500th issue!) 2001's Tag der Briefmarke minisheet to have 5 stamps and 5 labels; latest instalment of Schilling-Euro changeover confusions; 'ZUSTELLBASIS' cancels; new seasonal office opened at Stuben am Arlberg; 50 years of St Gabriel; Gerhart Schmirl (engraver); forged FDC cachet on ANK1026 [the posthorn's coil is 2 concentric unshaded circles]; Austria Post is learning from Britain (Manchester, to be specific) how to cancel horribly.
Issue 5/2001: 120th anniversary of Wilhelm Dachauer; Euro-stamp arrangements; the 5th issue of Automatenmarke; the Post Office at Graz Railway station; 80 years of VÖPh.
Issue 6/2001: Current Austrian UNO-support operations; Werner Pfeiler (stamp designer & engraver); etc
Issue 7/2001: Official Envelopes (available in packs of 10 from Post Offices; seemingly there is no weight limit on the contents!); Waldohreule postcard (see Margreiter article); latest Postservicestellen closures; Frankenburg am Hausruck, its postal history, and 375 years of the Würfenspiel; an expensive address label (under 1885 regs a labelled postcard was charged at letter rates!); a rare telegraph form; 120th anniversary of Wilhelm Dachauer (concluded).
Issue 8/2001: Official postcards produced by Salzburg Postal Directorate; Lungau; Getreidemarkt 1 and VÖPh; "Postboxes & Postpartners"; faults in OPAL-Ripost labels [a new collecting area?]; 1948-49 postage dues for foreign mail ("Nachgebührenweiser 2-10"); Postkarte with official overprints.
Issue 9/2001: Goisern; Rankweil; forged 'rotary' overprint; new types of 'post office'; etc
Issue 10/2001: latest Schilling-Euro exchange rules; 3-Kings Christkindl cancel may be discontinued; postal history of Eschenau; postal and oenophilic history of Langenlois; the Euro-definitives; etc
Issue 11/2001: 'PREMIUM' express stamps; Austria's 2002 stamp programme [one-of-each will cost about £24]; future Austrian commemoratives to have print run of only 500,000 [there are 100,000 subscription-holders]; many old design-series ended and new ones begun; The Post in Liechtenstein; Postal history of Langenlois continued; forged buildings-series booklets; designs of the Austrian Euro-cent coins; new Post Office codes for stamp-types on subscriptions; etc
Issue 12/2001: 'The (Austrian) Post as Grave-robber?' [re its pricing policy for special Post Offices]; Xmas forwardings by bus, train, balloon; Trains on Austrian Stamps; dates in 2002 which are also valid postcodes; Steeg am Hallstättersee; Stamp machines (both ex-roll and '10 Schilling wallet-dispenser') to be withdrawn on 31.12.2001; the Christ-Child on stamps etc (By 7th December, all known machines in Vienna had been removed.)
Issue 1/2002: 'Introduction of the Euro' stamp the Second Republic's second-highest value; Xmas Bonusbrief chaos; Postage Dues formally withdrawn; better news on Special Post Offices; Registration Labels in the Riposte system (8pp); interview with boss of Hungarian Post Philatelic Dept; philatelic software; Priority labels; various new Michel catalogues; 'worlds most beautiful non-Austrian stamp 2001' ('Maria Theresia's Postal Decree' from Slovakia).
Issue 2/2002: The Euro settling down; 'Caritas' issue brought forward; complications of the 'Ergänzugsmarke' [supplementary franking at non-OPAL offices]; special cancels won't have die numbers in future; a 'sweetener' for Öpost subscribers?; formal complaint to UPU on unavailability of commemoratives; the compact post office of the future?; thematic: fire-fighting; Groβ St Florian; marginal markings on sheets of Euro-definitives; alternative designs for Euro-definitives; politicians faces in 1937 'greetings' stamps; a new approach to colours and shades in the Arms issue of 1945 (with full-colour illustrations); Index for 2001; plus all the usual features.
Issue 3/2002: The 2002 Tag der Briefmarke minisheet; Spring 'Numiphil' tram-carried mail; 'Philis' series delayed; postal & other history of Lilienfeld (many colour illustrations); 1945 Arms issue colours and shades; Austria's prettiest and nastiest stamps; UPU list of 'illegal stamp issues' (none from Austria so far); postage-due posers; UNO-Wien eurostamps issued 1 March; etc etc
Issue 4/2002: Postage Dues on mail from Czechoslovakia 1918-38; new design of International Reply Coupon; Philately in Oberwart (Burgenland); thematic: Saint Elisabeth (1207-1231); Germany's Letter Centres listed; etc etc
Issue 5/2002: Best (and otherwise) stamps of 2001; 'Teddybär' stamp to be 0€51 not 0€58; Tag der Briefmarke 2002 minisheet; 100 years Postablage at Nussdorf an der Traisen; Alpenvorland-Adria fantasy issues; Austrian stamps from 'Alfred Kubin', issued 10 April 2002, to show © symbol; Prof Werner Pfeiler retires; Ferdinand Heinisch dies; Min.Rat Dr Ulrich Ferchenbauer receives title of 'Professor' (the first ever for philatelic reasons); etc etc
Issue 6/2002: Enzesfeld - early letters, postcards, metal-works cachets; History of Liesing brewery; lists of 'illegally stamp-issuing' regions of Russia, of new Post-Partner Agenturen, and 8 columns of Post Office closures; Austrian rulers 960-2002; Austria's currency changes since 1850 (i); 1928 'Return to sender' label; errors of colour in €0,51 definitive; Austria's first letter with a postage stamp [27 May 1850!] etc etc
Issue 7/2002: 'Bodypainting mit Hannes Margreiter' in colour; why so few standard-rate commemoratives?; confirmed that the 1999 dual-denominated Schilling/Euro stamps and envelope are not now valid; possibilities and costs of exchanging Schilling stamps for Euro ones; Arnfels; Goisern; Austria's currency changes since 1850 (ii); much about other countries; etc etc
Issue 8/2002: 'Last day of Schilling stamp' controversy (1 or 2 July?); 'Europa' stamp themes [2003; posters; 2004: holidays; 2005: gastronomy]; office closure list; Gmunden's stations; Goisern; Salzburg forgeries (mostly of balloon posts); the post-WWI period in Europe; the usual UNO Swiss & Germany reports; catalogue reviews; etc etc
Issue 9/2002: New type of Postservicestelle cancel; thematic: old cars; 75 years Herzogenburg; Salzburg forgeries (ii); prephilatelic Hungarian forgeries; 'missent to the other Mexiko'; etc.
Issue 10/2002: postage rates are likely to be 'rounded off' (ie up, to next 5) in 2003; BSVDonau are holding a 'Sammlertreff for Kids and Young People'; new combined registration label and receipt; themes of 2003's issues; Strasshof; long 'Germany' report; the Kunsthistorischen Museum might find room for a display cabinet of Austrian stamps treated as miniature works of art; various exhibitions; postcode 1000 revived; Venetian dues etc etc
Issue 11/2002: 1858 issue types (colour illustrations!); Franz Stelzhamer's 200th anniversary; postal history of Pramet; new Vienna Briefzentrum opens; etc
Issue 12/2002: 50 years of Die Briefmarke (!); dates in 2003 which look like postcodes; 2002 Christmas cancels in Austria & stamps worldwide; slogan cancels of Knittelfeld; postage dues for unfranked mail to Germany in 1946; 1858 issue types (cont); Liechenstein; etc
Issue 1/2003: Post-WWII pneumatic mail in Vienna; the Generaldirektor of Oesterreichischen Post AG interviewed; Burgenland registration labels; slogan cancels of Schoerfling am Attersee & Langenlois; postal history of Altheim; VOePh Open Day; stamp-like labels & pseudo-cancels; ANK, Michel catalogue reviews; etc
Issue 2/2003: Special Edition of the 2002 Yearbook; new postal rates; alterations to the New Issues; a 'Frama' machine to be installed at Oberndorf; 40th anniversary of E Müller's death; etc
Issue 3/2003: 3S Rennerblock in wrong colour; postal rate changes plus stamp issue dates equals complications in getting used examples without supplementary franking; NonPriority renamed Economy; Alderney; Collectiong WWII Fieldpost; Maximaphilatelie; 'illegal' issues from Myanmar; WIEN-1033 closed during mammoth reconstruction project at Wien Mitte; etc
Issue 4/2003: Plate flaw (designer name missing) on €0.38 Philis stamp; 3rd printing needed of Kleinwalsertal Ergänzungsmarke; 4 new definitives from 30 May for the new rates; Philately of Asten and Raffelstetten; the 2002 Christkindl cancel on the Post.at Xmas card has no die number; Ortswerbestempel from Maissan & Gallneukirchen; new German postal rates [some reduced, some increased; some less than Austrian eg postcards; official postal stationery to cost more than face value (so a PS postcard used to be 51 cents plus zero and will be 45 plus 8 making 53 and is sold only in a packet of 10!) Ed]
Issue 5/2003: 'New Hope for Philately' (eg commem stamps to be available from 500 Post Offices, Bureau to get 15 more staff); Tag der Briefmarke 2003 stamp with correct value for registered mail except that 5 days after the stamp is issued the rates change; make-up definitives to be issued in original design but different colours, with values of 4, 13, 17, 27 cents (the new rate of 55 can be made up from these alone…); new inland-&-foreign postcard by Hannes Margreiter, some with overprint for 90th anniversary of Wiener Ganzsachen F u P-Verein; philately & postcards of 6th German Singer-Fest in Graz in 1902; the Von Poth dynasty of Postmasters; reading a Recepisse; the oldest locomotive continued; thematic: bibles; Locarno; a single-frame exhibition class?; W Blecha, former chief of Salzburg PuT Direktion, honoured by the Land; Auguste Böcskör, stamp designer, dies; more and more of ÖSD production is electronically checked instead of manually; plate faults on Philis & on Ergämarks; how can it be that mint Ergämarks are available from the philatelic trade?; reprints of 51 cent definitive are on a different paper.
Issue 6/2003: 12 new definitives, some have micro-security features; VoePh's librarian to retire: successor please; new 'Ford' block to be numbered (like the WIPA2000 one) and the Rolling Stones block to have a special edition coupled with a CD [and no, it isn't 1.April], changes and deletions to new-issues programme; first thoughts on 2004's issues; Oberndorf, its postal history, and several rejected bridge-stamp designs; railway matters; 20 years of ArGe Feld- & Zensurpost 1914-18; list of the 500 Post Offices where commem stamps can now be obtained; the 'patriotic franking' [1Kr yellow + 2Kr black]; etc
Issue 7/2003: new Briefmarkenhändlerverband President; on the Anglicisation of the German language; new stamps, special cancels, meetings etc; postal history of Podersdorf; new Vorarlberg cancels catalogue; thematic: space; "Internet Christkindl Xmas Cards" for a mere 2€50; thematic: ships.
Issue 8/2003: the philatelic climate is changing; first draft of 2004's new issues programme (including a FDC on 1 Jan!); personalised stamps?; postal history of Tulln; thematic: Mozart; Gmunden in 1945; Braunau.
Issue 9/2003: new "one stop shop" locations; the Opost Sammler-Service; Air Mail 1946-49; VOePh president E. Bober is 70.
Issue 10/2003: the Jerger collection (of extremely desirable items; mouth-watering illustrations); Austria-Cup round 1; presence & absence of the "three little triangles" in Osttirol cancels; Maria Schulz as house-painter; security printing features of, and colour variations on, new definitives.
Issue 11/2003: VOePh open day; new rules for new-issue subscriptions; Maria Schulz' new logo; Hohenems; activities of the Salzburg Railway Philatelic Group (including the conversion of a TPO into a special post office); printing & plate errors on new definitives; scarcity of the 7 €cents makeup especially with right-hand-margin printing date; pussies from Åland, navy from Poland, beer from Armenia; regulations for single-frame displays; Ford Block winning numbers.
Issue 12/2003: personalised stamps unveiled; Kleinwalsertal definitive (€0.45; useful historical summary); 2004 issue programme; 2004 sees 50th anniversary of State Treaty and 200th of State Printing Works; Christkindl cancel forgeries; Philatelic Abbreviations; "yellow cards" (a Hannes Margreiter initiative to involve youth in philately); Thematic: Tupolev; list of office numbers for the octagonal cancels of Niederoesterreich; should Austrian stamps say "Austria" or "Österreich"?
Issue 1/2004: personalised stamps illustrated; WIPA prize for World's Prettiest Stamp won by Czech Republic, followed by Portugal, Palestine, etc.; VAT on stamps?; 2003 Christkindl cancel with missing die number; Michel catalogue on-line; Friedrich Schmiedl's Rocket Post; Andrei Tupolev; stamps of the Hejaz Railway; catalogues; new stamps; an over-franked Kleinwalsertal letter.
Issue 2/2004: the Ur-personalised stamp? (31 July 2003, for the retirement of the Staatsdruckerei Generaldirektor); House-Post-Offices (implants in large companies); let's collect banana-labels?; Friedrich Schmiedl's Rocket Post (2); blocks in black-print and in changed colours; the Austrian and German versions of the Salzachbrucke stamp differ; new stamps; Michel on a CD.
Issue 3/2004: new stamps including Block of the month? (10x€0.55 Football); thematic: Vienna Exhibition venues; Rocket Post (3); thematic: amethysts; Baltics (7); Polar philately; an Austrian postal museum??
Issue 4/2004: more blocks; overprinted definitives?; tentative 2005 issues list; complete-so-far list of personalised stamps (there are 32 so far); Rocket Post (4); 150th anniversary of Sissi - Franz Josef marriage (including the Küb Post Office!); stamps-of-the-year for 2003; Baltics (8).
Issue 5/2004: VAT on stamps?; new Registration and COD labels; personalised stamps prices (all are 55 cents face: €1.73 each for 200; €1.23 each for 1000 etc); Övebria 2004; postal history of Klosterneuburg; thematic: Paintings; Briefzentrum 1000 Wien; thematic: Saints & Rulers of Central Europe; 2003 Index; Netto Cat of special cancels 2000-4.
Issue 6/2004: 200th birthday of Koshier (the other inventor of the postage stamp); self-adhesive definitives in rolls & booklets?; extension of opening hours of Vienna’s Post Offices; yet more personalised stamps including one of Frau Prof Zimmerl and the marginal code numbers they have; Briefzentrum 1000 Wien continued (with picture of Prof Zimmerl wearing the APS tie!); thematic: Saints & Rulers of Central Europe continued; thematic: UNESCO and the Alps; meter marks from BMSV Gmunden; the 2004/5 Netto Austria Special Catalogue.
Issue 7/2004: part-franked cards supplemented in cash; how Hannes Margreiter designed the Schwarzenegger stamp; postal history of Poysdorf; yet more personalised stamps; rocket post on the Großglockener; Kleine Post in Josefstadt; Michel’s latest catalogues; a new product from UHU for removing stamps with water-soluble ink. A brief article discusses the proportions of Austria’s stamp issues in various periods. Between 1850 and 2000, Austria issued about 53,000,000,000 stamps (that’s 53 Austrian Milliards, or American (and in practice British also) billion). During the Monarchy (1850-1918) 30.8Mi were issued – 58% of the overall total, in 68 years. The First Republic (1918-1938) produced 6.9Mi ie 13% in 20 years. And the second (1945-2000; Euro data isn’t available yet) produced 15.3Mi ie 29% in 55 years.
Issue 8/2004: Everything costs money; overprints on euro definitives to uprate them (eg the 51 becoming 55); special cancellers with distinguishing numbers; seminars which Innsbruck Merkur are running; another 14 personalised stamps; Ortswerbestempel (slogan cancels) of Walchsee & Bad Goisern; Postal History of Florisdorf; Thematic: Salt; unusual uses of Postage Dues; the Boxer Rebellion (5pp); new issues; rare packet cards.
Issue 9/2004: Narrow-gauge exhibition; 2005 stamp (& block) new issues: four new series of commemoratives to start; new design of via-Christkindl label (to be sold only in packs of 6) and new rules for obtaining Christkindl cancels on items posted to that office; Postal History of Bruck an der Leitha and Graf Harrach; Thematic: Aerophilately & Przemysl; updated Personalised Stamps list; Ortswerbestempel from Nüziders, Feldkirchen bei Graz, & St Florian bei Linz; new European issues; Lenzing.
Issue 10/2004: Overprints on obsolete Euro definitives; commemorative cancels, new & Personalised stamps etc; more info on 2004 Christkindl arrangements; feature: Switzerland; the Danube Meadows National Park (between Vienna and Bratislava); Thematic: Aerophilately; 8¾ perfs on machine-issued stamps; Cardinal König the philatelist; new catalogues including Austrian registration labels (71pp).
Issue 11/2004: This was the first trial "under new management" Die Briefmarke has merged with other publications and is now sent free to ÖPost subscribers, Austrian philatelic society members etc. It includes information about Post Office ideas, events & changes; philately in Austria; new issues; and the traditional articles.
Issue 12/2004: Christmas around Europe; Cribs; forgeries of ANK147, the 24g postage due of 1925; news from and of the Post Office; "sold out" stamps; 2005 tentative issue programme; "presentations" of new issues.
Issue 1/2005: Balloon-post problems; Overprints on obsolete Euro definitives; watermarks on the 1867 issue; Przemysl; Hunderwasser; new & Personalised stamps etc; VÖPh open day; new catalogues; WIPA anecdotes; etc etc.
Issue 2/2005: it’s Richard Zimmerl’s 150th issue!!; Overprints on obsolete Euro definitives (ii); fragranced Personalised stamps?? also the latest ones, and a catalogue; Przemysl; new inland parcel rates, which include a surcharge to pay the lorry toll; 1946 currency control; 1870s mixed-country frankings; "Austrian Post Trendy Philatelic treasures"; Christmas stamps sold out; new catalogues; index for 2004.
Issue 3/2005: shows & meetings; variations on the overprints of obsolete Euro definitives**; 125 years of "Vindobona" club; letter bombs; Steyrbahn; Stubaitalbahn; Thematic: Bratislava; Axel Zwingenberger; new imprinted envelopes; Austria in 1945; European new issues; Railway Philately; P.Stamps; Gloggnitz; "Graz Mercury" awarded to Prof Zimmerl; book reviews.
** the overprint’s position can vary relative to the stamp by several mm: the cause is that the sheets recalled for overprinting vary in size, and the overprint is aligned with the edge of the paper, not with the stamp design. Other variations are also described.
Issue 4/2005: 125 years of "Vindobona" (2); the k.k. Postamt in Jerusalem; Turkish Post in 1873; colour differences in the Herbert von Karajan stamp; "Zodiac" self-adhesives (sets of 4 pairs: the others to follow later in the year) by Hannes Margreiter; Switzerland update; P.Stamps; Bratislava (2); Austria in 1945 (2); 2004 "stamp of the year": 150th anniversary of Franz Josef – Elizabeth wedding.
Issue 5/2005: many pages of snippets of news; 2000 years of St Polten and its postal history; Austria's Jubilee (60 years since 2nd Republic founded and 50 years since State Treaty signed); Turkish Post in 1873 (2); Garnets; Austria in 1945 (3); Bratislava (3); the 18 gr Postage Due of 1925; new Personalised Stamps (including "130 years of Pneumatic post in Vienna"); etc.
Issue 6/2005: multi-snippets; 117th and last Balloon Post for Pro Juventute; Graz Marke & Münze and postal history; Conrad von Hötzendorf; Personalised Stamps extended [alternative background; sheets of 25 can be all different]; more stamp issues sold out; Life Ball & Top-Model Heidi Klum; Meine.Karte service; Austria in 1945 (4); 230th anniversary of compulsory schooling; Bratislava (4); railways in Hausruckwald; St Florian; Vindobona festivities; Expertising (by Dr Ferchenbauer); etc
Issue 7/2005: multi-snippets; the 30 years war; BSV Zwispallen; Austria's first-ever embroidered stamp; new Philatelic Shop to open in Vienna at 44 Kärntnerstraße; "50 years since State Treaty signed" celebrations; Post Office closures and openings; Küb office closes; Zustellbasis cancels in Vöcklabruck district; Bratislava (5); Austria in 1945 (5); Bisected 24Rpf stamps cancelled Obermühl an der Donau are fakes; Mag. Klaus Schöpfer honoured; latest catalogue issues; Expertising (by Dr Ferchenbauer); etc etc.
Issue 8/2005: [Peering closely at the front cover of issue 7/2005, I now see that in mid-green ink on a pale green background, and a print size more commonly found in guarantees, it is dual-numbered 7/8 and dated July/August - ie, there is no separate Issue 8/2005. The pages say Issue 7/2005.]
Issue 9/2005 (September): exhibitions, events and society news; Karl Hodina; postal history of Klagenfurt; Bratislava (6); Thematics: firemen; Egon Schiele; Meine.Marke for Ukranian President; Montafonerbahn; new subscription arrangement for Blackprints (no restriction on subscriber numbers; no accompanying text) and for (some, chosen on an unspecified basis) Meine.Marke; Adolf Tuma; Post Office closures and openings; correspondence; latest catalogue issues; Expertising (3); Youth (with Frau Dr Haslauer) etc etc.
Issue 10/2005 (October): Slovenia & Slovakia; exhibitions, events and society news; Austria in 1945 (6); Klagenfurt (2); 50th anniversary of Vienna's Burgtheater & Opera reopening; the 'Sattler Panorama of Salzburg' stamp; [provisional?] 2006 New Issues programme (fans of Motor-racing, Mozart, and Joint Issues will be pleased!); Post Office openings and closures; Expertising (4); etc etc.
Issue 11/2005: Let's hold a WIPA-2008??; the Deutscher Orden; exhibitions, events and society news; Christmas-related items; resurrection of balloon post?; forgery of the Third Man overprint [on the 0.04€ Schönlaterngasse]; a 1945 rarity from Kitzbühel; the UPU web site (which lists all stamps from 2001); numismatic & foreign news; reader's letters & editorial ripostes; reviews including Die Wiener Rohrpost; etc
Also details of sets of Personalised Stamps (called Sammelmarken) seemingly issued by Opost itself, with 'albums' to collect them in, for Madagascar, Narnia, & Football. The aim is to interest children in philately. [Older readers will recall Panini football stickers... Ed]
The 12-side Post.Philatelie insert covers the Sammelmarken; gives background detail on the designs of the 3rd issue of Astro-stamps; interviews Bishop Dr Stecher who designed the Advent stamp; explains the 2005 Christkindl arrangements; notes that in order to allow competition in letter-delivery every lockable mailbox in Austria will have to be altered; advertises special promotions eg covers-with-coins; etc etc. There's a 2-page illustrated list of Special Cancels, half a page of office changes, and a note that 5 more issues (including the Panda-block) are sold out.
Issue 12/2005: WIPA-2008 would mark the centenary of the 1908 issue; exhibitions, events and society news; more Christmas-related items; a local registered rate postcard from 1859; printing differences on the Astro-stamps [these come on cards of 4 rows of 2 (see Austria 152 p60) and the left-hand and right-hand columns differ, mostly in the stamp margins]; the 1945 issues; letter-bombs (3); currencies in Vorarlberg, 1806-58 (by APS member H Jungwirth!); numismatic & foreign news; Symposium for Traditional Philately; letters and replies; reviews of catalogues; etc.
The 16pp Post.Philatelie insert covers the two 1st Jan 2006 (!) issues for the New Year Concert and the EU-Presidency; assorted books, teddy-bears & coins; other January issues; special cancels; openings, closings; etc.
Issue 1/2006: Mozartiana from Salzburg, Vienna and Canada; more pro-WIPA-2008; genesis of the ABSV; the 1945 issues; Austrian telegraph stamps; end (?) of the Kleinwalsertal special rates; brief postal history of Graz; unusual frankings of inland postcards, 1916-18; events and society news; PKMI programme for 2006; letters and replies; reviews of catalogues; etc. Post.Philatelie insert: Mozart; backgrounds of some new issues; Prof W Seidel; special cancels; openings & closings; etc.
Issue 2/2006: winter Olympic philately; from accumulation to collection; traditional philately; Austrian Stamps depict Austria, or at least ought to [with notes on redesigns of the 1945 Landscapes]; 125 years of post in Bulgaria; incoming underfranked pre-1914 letters from UK; reviews of books & catalogues; forgeries on eBay; etc. Post.Philatelie insert: backgrounds of some new issues; Roger-Louis Chavanon; the 2006 Mozart Collection; the Kärntnerstrasse P O Shop; special cancels; openings & closings; etc.
Issue 3/2006: 60 years of Airmail (from 1946); WIPA Grand Prix for the world's prettiest stamp (Austria as organiser is debarred) won by a Russian Zodiac mini-sheet; from accumulation to collection; traditional philately; Austrian Levant registration labels [later comes a review of a book on the topic]; the special-collecting group (think Gindl!); various society activities; Qs including the 1947 18-groschen rate & As; reviews of books & catalogues; Youth; etc. Post.Philatelie insert: backgrounds of some new issues; Karlheinz Bohm; more Mozart; etc.
Issue 4/2006: the Easter Hare; results of annual vote on Austrian Stamps [Prettiest: the Sattler-Panorama; most unnecessary: the Nude]; traditional philately; from accumulation to collection; life & death of the Bonus-Briefe; the Aerogramme; German-style WWII cancels for Greater Vienna; Half-Franked letters, 1819-40; the 45-Groschen Costumes-series card; forged Nazi propaganda cards; foreign news including a review of Austria 152 (!!!); Mozart; various society activities; Qs & As including the 1947 18-groschen rate; reviews of books (Postablagen; Perfins; post-WWII-Censoring) & catalogues; Youth: The Stampers; etc. Post.Philatelie insert: 49% of Österr. Post to be floated; Robert Trsek; new Opost products; etc.
Issue 5/2006: special charity overprint for Dürnkrut flood relief; the Wachau; more on WIPA 2008 (Austria Center, Vienna, 18-21 September 2008), the Austria Holidayland issue (ie the first Euro definitives); accumulation to collection; traditional philately; the Second Republic's first postcard; Falco and Amadeus; new 55-cent overprint**; new Opost products; Mozartiana; the 60 Groschen card (Schn 375); the Bonus-Briefe; foreign and society news; letters; book reviews; Youth; etc.
** This is an overprint of an extra tree and the figures '55' on the 7 cent Heiligenkreuz Euro-definitive: the one they ran out of. In order to round off the series of overprints, this stamp has been reprinted (with the date changed from 2003 to 2005) complete with the overprint!
Issue 6/2006: Mozartphila 2006; WIPA 2008; Austria Holidayland (2); VAT on stamps?; traditional philately; accumulation ? collection; Mondsee symposium; thematic: meteorites; background to new issues; Mozart and letters; use of definitives to pay mailbox rent; foreign & society news; letters; book reviews; Youth; etc.
Issue 7/2006: WIPA 2008 Special Cover Series subscriptions available; Austria Holidayland (3); thematic: bees; registered mail from Switzerland to Austria in 1850-54; new issues backgrounds; OPAL labels and the machines that produce them; forgery alert! (datewise-impossible cancellations and the need to check carefully); societies etc.
Issue 8/2006: Fireworks!; Washington 2006; the State Printing Works today; Austria Holidayland (4); thematic: Wildalpen; the first foreign postal stationery of the 2nd Republic, and the special rates for printed matter; the latest Automatenmarke machine [the 'stamps' have a floral background]; more sold-out stamps; the earliest (1891) delivery cancels; 1945 forgeries; the 1945 Allied Military Currency; Ovebria 2006 in Salzburg; societies etc.; 'the end of conservative philately'?; new catalogues & books; etc.
Issue 9/2006: Austro-German Philately day at Bad Reichenhall; reader-survey results; towards WIPA2008; thematic: world championship cycling; Klimt; new issues and products; new floral definitives; the Wiesenthal sale; on fakes and forgeries; much foreign & society news; letters; yoof: The Stampers and others.
Issue 10/2006: Why expertising?; Sammler-service customer survey; introducing the WIPA General Secretary; the 1920 Kärnten plebiscite; the 1906 B&H Landscapes; the 1945 Homecoming stamp; thematic: lions in heraldry; comments on 1945 items; new issues including stamps-in-rolls; Karl Majörg; Montafonerbahn; a new OPAL machine (with the improbable name Axiom Bar-codeBlaster!!); Mitlauferpost; book & catalogue reviews; news, letters etc
Issue 11/2006: VÖPh's support for literature in Austria; meetings, seminars and events; WIPAnews; the Sammler-Service; Budapest Postal Museum; thematic: Schweitzer; postage dues on identity cards; early letters; new issues; collecting printing errors from OPAL machines; auction reports; book & catalogue reviews; society and other news, letters etc.
Issue 12/2006: Thematics: Christmas, Jesus; reports of Pinkabria and España 2006; qualifying for WIPA; the Liechtenstein Post Office; 150 years of the Red Mercury (and 100 of the ÖBMHV, the Austrian Dealers Association); unusual uses for the 1925 definitives; inland letter rates 1817-1842; new issues; ancillary products; Helping Hungary in 1956; the Alexandretta office; Symposium in St Paul im Lavanttal (at which our member Johannes Haslauer presented "Salzburg from Prince-Archbishopric to E U Bundesland"); cutouts from "100 Years of Austrian Stamps" used yet again to create forged covers; society, bodypainting and other news; readers' letters; etc.
Issue 1/2007: Thematic:Gold Frankincense and Myrrh; WIPAs in the past; designing a quality stamp; Österreich vs Austria; Andy Warhol; 75th anniversary of the Hochhaus in Vienna; News about Traditional Philately; the new series of Austrian definitives; various subscribable-for items; l'Académie Européenne d'Etudes Philatéliques & Postales; the mysterious case of the 1947 8-groschen postcard; Kaiser Franz Josef's 90th death anniversary; numismatic, foreign, society & other news; readers' letters; etc.
Issue 2/2007: 100 years of scouting; Lower Austria Exhibition "fire & earth"; thematic:geology; postal history of Burgenland; registered letters and their receipts; Prof A Pilch's 90th; German-Austrian Philately; society and other news; readers' letters; etc.
Issue 3/2007: Roses; warning that the WIPA logo is copyright; WIPA General Secretary Dr Riedmann forced by illness to resign; Werner Schindler appointed; Picture postcards; Felix Salten; the 1842 postal tariff reform; Burgenland (2); new issues; greetings & mourning stamps; Sammler-service new phone number; German-Austrian Philately (2); centenary of Stamp Dealers Association; registration labels of Vienna; Official Warning that registered mail is unsuitable for mailing philatelic items to other countries (use a Wertbrief; split a packet into several of lesser value); society, foreign & other news; readers' letters; etc.
Issue 4/2007: Postal History is part of History, cf 1938-45; WIPA/Prag co-operation; thematics: Edelweiss; 1868 telegrams with Botenlohn; postage dues in payment for identity cards; new issues; interview with Hannes Margreiter; the historic post office display at the Fleischmarkt Post Office; new and old Registration labels; German-Austrian Philately (3); the half-payment system, 1722-1817; PKMI publications; society, foreign & other news; readers' letters; etc.
Issue 5/2007: Ovebria2007 programme; Dorotheum's 300th; Tatjana Westermayr becomes President of ÖBMHV (the dealers association); results of vote for 2006's best and worst issues; reading old handwriting; new issues; on sending stamps by post; ÖBMHV (2); the 1867 issue and the Szigetvár provisional; printing faults: the philatelist's friend; society, foreign & other news; many & varied readers' letters; plate-faults catalogues; etc.
Issue 6/2007: Baden-Powell and Scouting; Ovebria2007; meetings & exhibitions diary; interview with Dr Götz, managing Director of Öst. Post; thematic: Einstein; Maria Schultz; about the new issues; special cancels at special post offices (eg a philatelic exhibition) will henceforth have 'v' as the 'counter letter'; ÖBMHV (3); "postal history is a part of history" (2); forged Fiume 1st issue cancel (on Ebay!); etc etc
Issue 7/2007: overview of philately of what is now Croatia; interview with Werner Schindler (new WIPA2008 General Secretary); "Philately is alive!" by Dr Pfalz; Youth-groups; bilingual-inscription Italian stamps for Südtirol; about the new issues; "postal history is a part of history" (3); the mysterious case of the 8-groschen postcard; upon the beauty of old letters; old and new stamp machines; etc etc
Issue 8/2007: The exhibition at Gmunden; new definitives and new foreign rates; Erich Bober, the outgoing President of VÖPh, looks back; WIPA1933; Leophila; thematic: fire brigades and fire-damaged mail; thematic: Albania; prephilatelic ordinary and express mail systems; details of new issues including "official personal"; costumes-series postcard rarities; Prague 1 & 18 red cancels; etc
Issue 9/2007: Thematic: fungi; report from FIP exhibition, St Petersburg ("not all was bad"); WIPA1933(ii); details of new issues; thematic: Albania (ii); Kolo Moser; Hitler-head forgeries; many short articles on diverse interesting topics; etc
Issue 10/2007: Results of the elections for VÖPh Officers (President is Mag Anton Tettinek); interview with Ö.Post Generaldirektor Weiss; thematic: Space flight; details of new issues; a rare Postage Due item from Romania; pre-philately: "franked to the border" letters; Austria-Czechoslovakia mail after WWII; forgeries on Ebay and elsewhere; report from Gmunden ("all was good"); many short articles etc
Issue 11/2007: Thematic: Elizabeth of Thüringen; franked-to-border letters (2); Kolo Moser; the 45-groschen postcard; Serbian postal stationery; details of new issues; etc
Issue 12/2007: Thematic: Icons; Fiume; "transiting letters"; perfins; meter-marks and similar; on forgeries; details of new issues etc
Issue 1/2008: History of the Crown Jewels; Thematic: Dracula; transiting-letters (2); the 2008 issues; the 8-groschen postcard; Multilaterale 08, a philatelic exhibition to be held in the Austria Centre Vienna from 18 to 21 September; etc
Issue 2/2008: thematic: Hundertwasser; Cacti; Rats; political conflicts & recent issues; Crown Jewels (II); Swiss transit post; mail for the blind in Austria (examples and rates); bisected stamps from Ober-Tannwald; colour changes due to time and storage in PVC; the WIPA-stamps
Issue 3/2008: 50 years of Austrian airlines; a new Wiener Neustadt cancel-on-arrival; the importance of airing-off ones collection; Franz v Lenbach (postcard artist); thematic; Opera; old-letters-quiz
Issue 4/2008: thematic:castles; forgeries (mainly WWII of British £50); Innsbruck’s Golden Roof; 1840s Austria-Bavarian post; new issues including the WIPA ones; and many smaller articles.
Issue 5/2008: thematic:Egger-Linz (the painter); football; thematic:Zipf and its beer; history of picture postcards; Austria in Albania; 1945 "Überroller" mail [=overrun, ie posted under German rule but not delivered before the Allies arrived]; football; new issues including the WIPA ones; change-of-address-forms; rarities at WIPA; news from societies (including the APS Anniversary Stamp and PKMI’s AGM report); book reviews; letters; etc. Ah, and football.
Issue 6/2008: thematic: the Vienna City Railway and associated architecture; what does "mint" mean?; thematic: Mihai Eminescu in Vienna; thematic: butterflies; special cancels for UEFA-EURO-2008; Allied occupation in 1945 (the first cancels of each in Vienna, including the little-known British Pig-throwing Ceremony); the special Fundservice registration label; pre-philatelic era: errors in registration fees; censor-returned post-WWII letters either philatelically overfranked or containing adhesives; Montenegro; oddities from the Gablonz court; background to new issues; WIPA- VÖPh- and lots of ArGe-news; book reviews; letters; etc. And football.
Issue 7/2008: thematic: the Postcoach; 2007’s most attractive Austrian stamp [1 Josef Hoffmann; 2 Angelika Kauffmann; 3 Sea-eagle block]; Posties in peril (75 bitten by dogs annually); pre-philatelic era: errors in rates; a brief overview of revenue stamps; new post-WWII censor topics; background to new issues; rarities at WIPA (and making sure they stay there.
Issue 8/2008: thematic: horses; stamp or block?; thematic: olympics; French letters in 1827; Serbian cards to 1914; background to new issues; WIPA highlights (including Society List featuring the APS.
Issue 9/2008: thematic: Westbahn; Amts- and Partie-sache (the two types of old letters); Kleinwalsertal; background to new issues; WIPA highlights.
Issue 10/2008: thematic: plants; thematic: Karlsplatz, Vienna; the change from Conventions-money to Austrian; air mail: did it fly?; the 2006 Hochwasser surcharged stamp now on sale without the surcharge; Bosnia-Herzegowina from K.K. to K. und K.; background to new issues.
Issue 11/2008: thematic: van Gogh; stampless letters after 1.6.1850; Postübernahmskarte; the Anschluß and stamp dealers; the "VIP Club Philatelie"; background to new issues; the WIPA 2008 post mortem, mostly in photographs.
Issue 12/2008: thematic: Christmas; that French Field Post Office in 1951; dimensional specification for the Automatenwertzeichen; the 2009 new issues programme; today’s names of places which were in Oberdonau in WWII (eg Theresiendorf is now Pohorsky Ves); Rudolph von Habsburg; dates in 2009 that are also postcodes.
Issue 1/2009: thematic: pacifism & Bertha v. Suttner; Posthorns (and their signals!); the collapse of Jugoslavia; Rudolph von Habsburg (ii); some of the rarities at WIPA; new issues; other items obtainable from Ost.Post including an HO gauge model TPO; Passau Bahnhof cancel; "WIPA was a great success"; Hannes Margreiter and 2008’s Philatelist-Wine.
Issue 2/2009: thematic: Linz; removing self-adhesives; the latest Saliera issue; effects of Napoleon on Tirol post; thematic: armorial eagles; Kleinwalserthal; new issues; other items obtainable from Ost.Post; After Jugoslavia: Serbia; Soviet post-WWII secret censorship; postcards with labels next their stamps: some with dues; news from societies; many book reviews; letters
Issue 3/2009: thematic: Puch; Maximilian I; old money letters; After Jugoslavia: Slovenia; postcards of the Prater; new issues, news, books etc.
Issue 4/2009: thematic: Mucha; problems of 'Felleisen', the old leather letter-bags; Newspaper Tax adhesives used in 1900 as provisional postage dues; disinfected mail; Dr Wais, Managing Director of ÖPost, retires; new issues, news, books etc.
Issue 5/2009: thematic: Wagner; the Wachaubahn; valuing old letters; Letterboxes in 1945's Vienna; thematic: Mucha ii; new issues, news, books etc; PKMI's exhibition in Hall.
Issue 6/2009: thematic: endangered animals; Europe and Astronomy; 240 years of the Albertina; ways in 1840s of legalising private letter-carrying; crash mail; ship mail on the Bodensee; postage-due problems; new issues, news, books etc (did you know the Post sell model cars and fridge magnets?). The results of the readers' vote for the most and least beautiful stamp of 2008 are: most - the Post Coach, designed by Hannes Margreiter; least - 'your personal patch of turf' (football-related, as were the second and third least).
Issue 7-8/2009: Gmunden-09; thematic: moon flights; OeSD (Austrian State Printers) at Parlament; Rosenkranz-Triptych; thematic: railways in war and its aftermath; 1800s Official Mail and Messengers; thematic: puerperal fever; Phistory: late postings; background to several new issues; special cancel lists; exhibition society and event reports; index for 2008's issues.
Issue 9/2009: Ovebria-09; doubled-print of the 'Großen Bartfledermaus' ANK2678; a 1794 letter mystery; Liliputstadt; late postings (ii); self-adhesive personalised stamps; long list of Post Office changes; PKMI's Heroes and Idols exhibition at Hall and their 120 years of the Achenseebahn; etc etc.
Issue 10/2009: Common issues with Spain; Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller; name-day cards; unusual postal arrangements in 1800s; thematic: chemists; new information on Kleinwalsertal; POWs in Russia in 1945; Kaiser Leopold the First; the 1900 Nagelberg provisional; Gmunder-09; new issues, society news etc.
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