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I have brought these prices up to date and added currency selection. CheckList Setup |
Steve Hiscocks wrote:
There seems to be little that can be said about the telegraph stamps of Switzerland. They were used to prepay telegrams between 1 January 1868
(although Moens states that they were issued in late 1867) and 30 September 1886. All were printed by the Swiss Federal Mint —
typographed and embossed such that the white parts of the design are proud. The main point of interest is the change in 1881 from a plain white
paper to what is called 'granite paper' in the UK: that is paper containing short silk threads — red and blue in this case. These may easily be seen with
a magnifying glass on the back or on the white parts of the design. In spite of the fact that the granite paper issues were current for only six years against
13 years for the plain paper issues, the granite paper issues are much more common.
My note:
The flecks of silk threads can sometimes be quite sparse.
There is also the issue of different colours used for the central parts,
the apparent shade of which can be affected by toning. It is not always easy to identify a particular stamp.
Beware of fake cancels on the last 20Fr stamp.
1868-1869 Typographed on plain white wove paper without watermark. Perf. 11¾ (frame colour given first).
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| 25c (H1) | 50c (H2) | 3Fr (H4) courtesy of Schuyler Rumsey Philatelic Auctions. (click image for listing) |
20Fr (H5) | 20Fr (H5) used in 1884 |
| Mint examples showing carmine centres and a used 20Fr courtesy of Dave Elsmore. | ||||
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| 50c (H10,red) | 20Fr (H19,rose-red) | Beware of fake cancels. It is easy to add something like this. |
| Comparison of red and rose-red centres. | ||
The naming of colours is always problematic.
There are only two types of 20Fr listed, and one is on granite paper.
The used 50c is dated 1878, granite paper was used from 1881.
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| 25c (H1 or H15?) | 50c (H2 or H16?) |
| These appear to be without the silk threads, but the centres look like rose-red. | |
| Hisc. | 1868 Description | Mint | Used |
|---|---|---|---|
| H1 | 25c grey and carmine | 200.00 | 300.00 |
| H2 | 50c blue and carmine | 100.00 | 50.00 |
| H3 | 1Fr green and carmine | 375.00 | 125.00 |
| H4 | 3Fr gold and carmine | 1250.00 | 750.00 |
| H5 | 20Fr pink and carmine | 50.00 | 25.00 |
1874 As above but colour changed.
| Hisc. | 1874 Description | Mint | Used |
|---|---|---|---|
| H6 | 3Fr brown and carmine | 500.00 | 750.00 |
1877 As above but new values and colours changed (red centre).
| Hisc. | 1877 Description | Mint | Used |
|---|---|---|---|
| H7 | 5c black and red | 100.00 | 275.00 |
| H8 | 10c dark red and red | 125.00 | 375.00 |
| H9 | 25c grey and red | 200.00 | 375.00 |
| H10 | 50c violet-blue and red | 250.00 | 50.00 |
| H11 | 1Fr green and red | 1500.00 | 300.00 |
| H12 | 3Fr light yellowish brown and red | 75.00 | 15.00 |
1881 As above but on granite paper (coloured fibres in the paper).
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| 5c, 10c, 25c and 50c (H13-16) with pink centres on granite paper | |||
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| 1Fr, 3Fr and 20Fr (H17-19) with pink centres on granite paper, together with the back of the 1Fr. | |||
| Hisc. | 1881 Description | Mint | Used |
|---|---|---|---|
| H13 | 5c black and rose-red (shades) | 0.75 | 1.50 |
| H13a | black and rose-carmine | 1.20 | 2.25 |
| H13b | grey-black and rose-red | 1.50 | 3.00 |
| H14 | 10c rose-red | 0.75 | 1.50 |
| H14a | rose-red and dull rose | 0.75 | 1.50 |
| H14b | rose carmine | 1.80 | 3.75 |
| H15 | 25c olive-grey and rose-red | 1.25 | 2.00 |
| H15a | olive-grey and pink | 1.25 | 2.00 |
| H15b | olive-grey and scarlet | 1.50 | 2.50 |
| H16 | 50c prussian blue (shades) and rose-red | 0.75 | 1.50 |
| H16a | prussian blue and pink | 0.75 | 1.50 |
| H17 | 1Fr green (shades) and rose pink | 1.00 | 2.00 |
| H17a | green (shades) and rose carmine | 1.00 | 2.00 |
| H17b | deep green and rose-pink | 1.50 | 3.00 |
| H18 | 3Fr bistre and rose-pink | 5.00 | 2.00 |
| H18a | deep bistre and rose-pink | 5.00 | 2.00 |
| H18b | deep bistre and scarlet | 5.00 | 2.00 |
| H19 | 20Fr carmine-rose and rose-red | 30.00 | 120.00 |
Hiscocks added the following note:
| Note. The prices of the earlier issues may seem very high. Unfortunately they do in fact line up with those asked and obtained by European dealers and there is no point in setting lower prices. |
16Fr 80c worth of 1881 issue stamps on a part of a telegraph form, courtesy of briefmarkenauktion.de
This kind of cancel could easily be faked on a single 20Fr stamp, be careful.
There are currently six perfins known on Swiss Telegraph stamps.
As can be seen, the T perfin is very variable !
H F
The images and information above are courtesy of Jeff Turnbull.
A new addition comes from Kurt Ehrler :
G & B is Geilinger & Blum of Winterthur.
| "B/W" of : - "Bank in Winterthur". Mostly on 1Fr but also 5c. "N.S/B" of : - "Nussbaum Steiner", Birrwil & Rupperswil. (5c, pair of 50c) "SWR" of : - (Mechanische) "Seidenweberei, Ruti", Zurich. (on 1Fr) "T" of : - "Thomann & Leicht", Zurich. (all but the 20Fr) "HF" of Henri Fierz, Zurich, Fluntern. (5c and 50c) "G & B" of : - "Geilinger & Blum", Winterthur. (on 5c) NOTE: - N.S/B, & T scan is not to scale. |
A scarce and early telegraph form used 21 May, 1868 in Niederurnen, courtesy of briefmarkenauktion.de
It has disclaimers in German and French., and is franked with two 50c stamps.
A Receipt used at Lenzburg, dated 16 June 1915, marked "No. 14. / VI. 14. 50,000." at bottom-left.
This is in German, French and Italian.
Image courtesy of AsianStamp - (click for listing).
A 1918 telegram and envelope.
A similar Telegram envelope used at Geneva, dated 25 October 1940, marked "No. 3." on central-right and stamped "Telephone". This probably contained a telephone bill.
This is in German, French and Italian, with a plain back.
Image courtesy of AsianStamp - (click for listing).
If anyone can provide scans to help with this, I am happy to give appropriate credit.
Last updated 1st. April 2024
©Copyright Steve Panting 2012/13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21/22/23/24 except where stated.
Permission is hereby granted to copy material for which the copyright is owned by myself, on condition that any data is not altered and this website is given credit.
