The study of postmarks is a specialized branch of philately called marcophily. It brings added value to the stamps by their historical significance. Other parameters are the rarity and the attractiveness. In particular, the stamps issued by the Habsburg monarchy during the 1850-1867 period, are collected for their variety and beauty. A first publication on this topic was made by Hans Kropf in 1899. Edwin Mueller in his Handbook of Austria and Lombardy-Venetia Cancellations on the Postage Stamp Issues 1850-1864, published in 1961, described all postmarks used in the Austrian empire, Lombardy, Venetia and in the Austria post-offices in the Ottoman empire. The relative valuation of those postmarks contains a popularity index, which is a multiplicative factor on top of the rarity. Closely related article is Postage stamps and postal history of Austria for a better understanding of the historical context.
The historical context
The Austrian Empire stamps were first issued on June 1, 1850: a coat of arms under the text KK Post-Stempel. The word Austria does not appear, which is logical, as the issue served in whole central Europe, more precisely in all or in part of the current following countries:
Collecting of cancellations, in particular the 1850 issues of Austria and Lombardy-Venetia, has a long tradition. The first important collection of the kind was assembled by Hans Kropf. He published The Cancellations of the stamps of Austria-Hungary and Lombardy-Venetia, a handbook with 959 different cancellation types, in 1899. His collection was purchased by King Fuad I of Egypt, and by Marc Fitch in 1954. The Jerger collection has made complements to this collection, with items from Baron Ferrari, Felix Brunner, Maurice Burrus, Arthur Caspary, Dale-Lichtenstein, the King Carol I of Romania, and others.
The system used by Edwin Mueller
The cancellations can be studied, classified and valuated based on the handbook, compiled by Edwin Mueller. Edwin Mueller describes each of the postmark type by a series of codes, and idealized pictures. The 505 types that have been used for each of the 3381 post-offices are documented from the first to the fifth issue, with their opening date: when relevant, the letter P means that the postmark was already in use in 1850. The handbook relies on an original system of relative valuation. It is a valuation expressed in points, result of a double multiplicative content:
a point system which indicates the relative rarity, between 1 and 250
a popularity index, between 2 and 30.
The valuation points can thus vary between 1 and 30 x 250 = 7500. The market value of an ordinary type cancellation depends primarily only on its rarity index, while if it displays attractive characters, it is the multiplicative result of both indexes which determines the global Mueller valuation points. The article further illustrates by a few examples this popularity index.
The value of those cancellations depend only on their relative rarity. This value is added to the stamp value, of course. Some examples :
Index 2
Index 3
Index 4
Index 6
Letter C indicates a curved format in semi-circle. It is a relatively rare cancellation and beautiful hence 90 points Mueller.
Index 8
Letter O indicates an Oval postmark:
Index 10
Red ink for recommended letters from Vienna K.K. BRIEF-FILIALAMT RECOMANDIRT
Index 15
Index 20
Index 25
Index 30
A rare series of mute cancellations, including a unique 1576:
Prices reached during auctions
The net prices mentioned in Swiss Francs are those obtained in 2003 during the sale of a remarkable collection ''Sammlung Dr.Anton Jerger & Elisabeth Jerger-Kramer . The most beautiful cancellations were close to 1 Euro per point Mueller.
Auctions using the Mueller points
To be expanded Besides the illustrated auction in 2003, other important stamps vendors have based their proposed values on the Mueller points:
Stanley Gibbons Merkur GmbH, Frankfurt, 1976
P. Rapp, Zürich, 1977
Corinphila, Zürich, many.
Valuation of later postmarks
After the death of Edwin Mueller in 1962, collectors felt the need to continue his work for later issues. Wilhelm Klein noticed a good continuity in many postmarks on the last issues in kreuzer. He thus decided to publish in 1967 a first part of the work, covering the issues 1867, 1883 and 1890. However, he dropped the Mueller system, presenting the rarity and the popularity in a single final point value. There are more than 700 images of postmarks, used by the 6186 fixed post offices as of 30 September 1900.
