We philatelists should not just "dance at one wedding". It shows an open mind when you have more than one collecting area at the same time. If you can hardly find anything in one area for a certain period of time, you might be luckier with another. This automatically increases the moments of joy when you find a suitable piece. I admit it, it may be one of my big disadvantages that I am often attracted to collecting areas that are not really collectable, that hardly anyone else is interested in
worth collecting. Or, however, which one usually does not consider feasible at all. One of them consists of only a few pages. And yet, decades ago I decided to collect some of the "absolutely not worth collecting" pieces here.
Take a look for yourself:
| he Zürich 6 on this letter from Horgen to Knonau could well be imagined today even in a sophisticated collection. That is, if it would still stick to the letter! |  |
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Another letter to the rectory in Knonau is also from Zurich. Then of course with the red rosette. |
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There are quite a few Ryhiner letters with Basel Dove from Basel. Therefore the heir to this document (collector or even philatelist can hardly be called one!) must have thought that he could probably sacrifice one of them and give the stamp away as a loose piece or stick it on a "collection page". Letters needed far too much space on these self-made exercise book album pages! |
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My friend Hansulrich Sieber, from whom I received the letter, wrote by hand: "Was there a Basel Dove on it by mistake? In fact, there is no doubt that a Basel Dove once stuck to the bottom left-hand corner. However, it was hardly ever torn away for collecting purposes (simply writing "removed" was a bit too short in this case!). The sender Wiedmayer (poste restante!) possibly franked the letter to the company Immer & Schneiter in Tavannes himself. At the post office he was probably told that the Basel Dove was not valid for a letter to the Bernese Jura (a good 15 hours' walk). Therefore he must have taken his pigeon with him again. |
| The 5th period of the Geneva stamps according to Richard Schäfer, Handbuch der Postgeschichte von Genf, covered the last three months of 1849. The cantonal postage was 7 centimes. Since there was no stamp for this, a dark green eagle had to be used, which was sold for 4 centimes instead of 5. In addition, a red tax stamp "3 Cs" was added, so that one reached the postage of 7 Centimes in total. These letters with the additional rating are very sought after and rare today. Schäfer mentions only 11 such letters! A part of the red rosette is still visible in the upper right corner. |
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Dark green eagles were also maltreated in these two pieces! Remarkable is the pencil note "environ 200 lettres" on the back of the left letter piece! If the good man himself had 200 such letters (or with other cantonal stamps), one can only regret not having been active in the stamp trade at that time! For myself he would not have had to cut out the stamps - I would have saved him the work and bought all the letters without further ado!
| Unfortunately, the green signet stamp "M.L." of the postwoman from Wangen an der Aare (Marie Lanz) is no longer visible on this document. The owner of the letter will have torn away the yellow rayon with this stamp for other purposes. If he had known what kind of stomach ache he caused today's collectors, who are somewhat familiar with the rare Swiss stamps, it is possible that he would have reconsidered his infamous act before executing it! |  |
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I must have some kind of congeniality with Dr. Egger, from whose collection these pieces originate! I liked his reserved and unobtrusive description of his stamps. And finally, he even had the courage to exhibit these two rayons in the collection inside, under the title "Lilliputschnitt" (midget cut)! I myself liked these too. And not only because they are two yellow A3 stones!
| On this letter from Brugg to Elgg there was obviously a Rayon III on the lower left. |  |
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Even though the Lugano forerunner can no longer be counted among the old Swiss stamps, I have nevertheless gladly included it in this small collection. On the back is the handwritten signature of pilot Attilio Maffei. Also with this piece you can ask yourself what happened to the torn off Lugano forerunner or what became of it. Did anyone really collect such ruins back then? |
By the way: Our stock consists almost exclusively of undamaged stamps! We are happy to sell them. At fair prices. As you can see, we keep the "bones" for ourselves!