Posten

Posten (Sweden)

Posten AB is the name of the Swedish postal service. The word "posten" means "the post" or "the mail" in Swedish.Posten was established in 1636 by Axel Oxenstierna under the name Kungliga Postverket , although its origins can be traced further back, and it was operated as a government agency into...

, the Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 mail

Mail

Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...

 service, was established in 1636 by Axel Oxenstierna

Axel Oxenstierna

Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna af Södermöre , Count of Södermöre, was a Swedish statesman. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1609 and served as Lord High Chancellor of Sweden from 1612 until his death. He was a confidant of first Gustavus Adolphus and then Queen Christina.Oxenstierna...

, and by the 18th century it had been extended throughout the country. The same century also saw the introduction of a practice unique to Sweden, that of attaching a feather

Feather

Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds and some non-avian theropod dinosaurs. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates, and indeed a premier example of a complex evolutionary novelty. They...

 to the wax seal of a letter to indicate that it needed to be delivered more quickly.

19th century

Sweden issued its first postage stamps on 1 July 1855, a set of five values denominated in skilling banco

Swedish riksdaler

The riksdaler was the name of a Swedish coin first minted in 1604. Between 1777 and 1873, it was the currency of Sweden. The daler, like the dollar, was named after the German Thaler. The similarly named Reichsthaler, rijksdaalder, and rigsdaler were used in Germany and Austria-Hungary, the...

. These stamps depicted the coat of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

, were inscribed "SVERIGE", as have been all subsequent Swedish stamps, and were perforated. A printing error resulted in the Treskilling Yellow, a unique stamp that is currently the highest-priced in the world. The currency changed to öre

Öre

Öre is the discontinued centesimal subdivision of the Swedish krona. The plural and singular are the same in the indefinite forms, whereas the singular definite form is öret and the plural definite is örena. The name derives from the Latin aureus , the name of a coin worth 25 denarii...

 and riksdaler on 1 July 1858, necessitating a new issue of stamps; the design was the same as before, but the stamps slightly smaller.

A new design that included a reclining lion

Lion

The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...

 appeared in 1862, but it was used only for 3 öre, 17 öre, and 20 öre values before being superseded in 1872 by a design featuring a large numeral in a round frame. The numeral issue included Sweden's first bi-colored stamp; the 1-riksdaler value was printed in bistre

Bistre

Bistre is either: 1) A shade of gray, 2) A shade of brown made from soot, and 3) The name for a color resembling the pigment. Bistre's appearance is generally of a dark grayish brown, with a yellowish cast....

 and blue, and the center design was the Three Crowns

Three Crowns

Three Crowns is a national emblem of Sweden, present in the Coat of Arms of the Realm of Sweden, and composed by three yellow or gilded coronets ordered two above and one below, placed on a blue background....

 of the royal arms. The numerals continued in use for nearly twenty years, the main change being the replacement of the riksdaler stamp with a 1-kronor

Swedish krona

The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...

 value in 1878 (five years after the introduction of krona

Swedish krona

The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...

).

The monarch made a first appearance on stamps in 1885, in the person of Oscar II

Oscar II of Sweden

Oscar II , baptised Oscar Fredrik was King of Sweden from 1872 until his death and King of Norway from 1872 until 1905. The third son of King Oscar I of Sweden and Josephine of Leuchtenberg, he was a descendant of Gustav I of Sweden through his mother.-Early life:At his birth in Stockholm, Oscar...

, who was depicted in profile on a 10 öre value. The following year the practice began of printing a posthorn on the back of each stamp, underneath the gum. In 1889 a shortage of 10 öre values necessitated the surcharge

Overprint

An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage stamp or banknote after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative purposes such as accounting but they are also employed in public mail...

 of 12 öre and 24 öre numerals.

In 1891 a new definitive series featured bi-colored numerals for low values and a profile of Oscar II for the 5 öre and up. On 26 October 1903, Sweden's first commemorative stamp

Commemorative stamp

A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event or person. The subject of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike definitive stamps which normally depict the subject along with the...

 came out; a 5-kronor value depicting the Stockholm Post Office on the occasion of its opening.

20th century

A new series of 1910 used an arms design for low values, and a full-face portrait of King Gustav V. Additional surcharges were needed in 1918 before new stamps of the series could be printed. 1920 saw the introduction of coil stamp

Coil stamp

A coil stamp is a type of postage stamp sold in strips one stamp wide. The name derives from the usual handling of long strips, which is to coil them into rolls, in a manner reminiscent of adhesive tape rolls...

s using a lion design and a new portrait of Gustav, along with a crown and posthorn design for larger denominations, as well as a commemorative depicting Gustavus Adolphus and marking the 300th anniversary of a precursor mail route that ran from Stockholm to Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

.
These and subsequent Swedish issues were usually issued in both booklet (or sheet) and coil form.

During the 1920s, the 1920 definitives were gradually supplanted by a new series with a 3/4 profile of Gustav. In 1924, the Universal Postal Union

Universal Postal Union

The Universal Postal Union is an international organization that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to the worldwide postal system. The UPU contains four bodies consisting of the Congress, the Council of Administration , the Postal Operations Council and the...

 celebrated its 50th anniversary and its Congress was held in Stockholm, so Sweden issued two series marking it, the first with a view of the Stockholm skyline, and the second with two designs; a postrider

Post riders

Post riders or postriders describes a horse and rider postal delivery system that existed at various times and various places throughout history...

 watching an airplane, and a carrier pigeon

Carrier pigeon

A carrier pigeon is a homing pigeon that is used to carry messages. Using pigeons to carry messages is generally called "pigeon post". Most homing or racing type varieties are used to carry messages. There is no specific breed actually called "carrier pigeon"...

 over a globe. Both sets were primarily aimed at collectors, but are nevertheless prized today.

Another major commemorative set in 1936 marked the 300th anniversary of the postal service with 12 values each with its own design noting some aspect of Sweden's postal history to date.

In 1939 a new series used a profile of Gustav for lower values, and the Three Crowns for higher; the crowns design continued in use into the 1960s. Meanwhile, the pattern for commemoratives was to issue about 3-4 each year, typically a single design in two denominations, with the lower value available in both booklet and coil form, and the higher as a coil stamp only.

Gustaf VI Adolf

Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden

Gustaf VI Adolf - Oscar Fredrik Wilhelm Olaf Gustaf Adolf - was King of Sweden from October 29, 1950 until his death. His official title was King of Sweden, of the Goths and of the Wends. He was the eldest son of King Gustaf V and his wife Victoria of Baden...

 appeared in profile from 1951 on.

Czesław Słania began doing engraving for the post in 1959, and so became well-known for work of exceptional quality.

The definitives of 1967 were a major departure from tradition. Instead of portraits of the king, the 18 designs encompassed a wide variety of subjects, including wildlife, scenery, daily life, history, and legend, each realized in radically different styles.

External links

• http://www.posten.se/ http://www.posten.se/m/startpage - Official Swedish postal site (and in English)
• Official list and images of current stamps
• Links to Swedish postal history resources

Sources

• Stanley Gibbons Ltd: various catalogues
• Encyclopaedia of Postal History
• Stuart Rossiter & John Flower: The Stamp Atlas