First Christmas Stamps

Even though many consider this the very first Christmas stamp,
actually it was issued to introduce Penny Postage throughout
the British empire.



Canada's first true Christmas stamps came out in 1964 and although
a very uninspiring design they were well received and have been issued annually ever since.



I think it would be fun to post the first Christmas stamps issued by different countries.

Austria issued a stamp in 1948 to honour the 130th anniverary
of the first presentation of the most famous Christmas carol of
all Silent Night.
Some consider this as Austria's first Christmas stamp.



The first Austrian stamp specifically intended for
Christmas is the 1953 one below.

The cheapest map of the world ever printed.

Cost of producing the stamp was 45c per 1000.

This was taken from the jubilee ode written by Sir Lewis Morris on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, the last stanza of which reads as follows:—

We love not war, but only peace,
Yet never shall our England's power decrease!
Whoever guides our helm of state,
Let all men know it, England shall be great!
We hold a vaster empire than has been!
Nigh half the race of man is subject to our Queen!
Nigh half the wide, wide earth is ours in fee!
And where her rule comes all are free.
And therefore 'tis, O Queen, than we,
Knit fast in bonds of temperate liberty,
Rejoice today, and make our solemn jubilee!

Well labour was probably less than 10c an hour but just image what
one could buy with a nickel in 1898.
It's all relative I think.
Which makes me curious as to what are the current costs in
stamp production.

First US Christmas Stamp (1962) - Scott #1205:

First Australian 1957
(higher value)
IIRC engraving taken from a christmas card

Look out for maxicard of this stamp, it's a beauty.




New Zealand (a guess) 1960
albrect durer : adoration of the magi

Rembrandt : The nativity
(thanks 22crows )

Possibly in dispute.

Austria's first christmas stamp 1937
by willi dachauer






Christmas Mail

In the early years of the century the British Post Office operated
in certain towns a scheme by which mail could be posted in
advance for delivery on Christmas Day.

Special postmarks were applied to explain the delay in delivery.
The scheme began at Rochdale in 1902, spread to various other
Lancashire towns, found its way north to Glasgow, and south to
Reading, but came to a sudden end in 1909 and was never repeated.

The reason for abandoning it is believed to be that the scheme
was too successful; that it was becoming physically impossible
to deliver all the mail on Christmas Day.

In recent years Christmas Day deliveries have themselves been
abandoned. Special cancellations are applied to Christmas mail
at two American post offices -- Christmas, Florida, and Santa
Claus, Indiana.

- R. J. Sutton 6th edition revised by K. W. Anthony
The Stamp Collector's Encyclopaedia
Published 1966

Nice thread!

I like that Australia one, very nice.

Rod, why all the Zodiac, horoscope symbols on that stamp? Not Christmasey really is it?

New Zealand's first Christmas stamp was issued in 1960, SG805. This year NZ's Christmas issues celebrate the 50th anniversary of that stamp:

http://stamps.nzpost.co.nz/Cultures...ormation.htm

Hi Puzzler,
correct you are, however taking a slant on Lithograving's
thread topic, we can go on a tangent ,
and is explained thus :

The first stamps issued specifically for the postage on Christmas greetings cards appeared in Austria in December
1937. Ominously, the stamps the last to be issued by an independent Austrian postal administration prior to the
Anschluss — depicted a nosegay and a curious ghost portrait appeared in the design, one of the roses in the vase
bearing an uncanny resemblance to Adolf Hitler. Austria resumed the issue of Christmas stamps in 1948,
appropriately celebrating the 130th anniversary of Silent Night. Hungary issued Christmas stamps in 1943 and
Cuba from 1951 onwards. The first Commonwealth country to do so was Australia (1957), which has also issued a
Christmas air letter since 1961. Britain adopted Christmas air letters in 1965 and Christmas stamps in 1966.

The 1937 Austrian stamps were not specifically Christmas stamps, even though they were issued on December 12. They were meant for Christmas mail, New Year greeting cards, Birthdays etc.
Michel lists them as für Glückwunsch-Korrespondenz Greeting cards.

Here is a FDC which was canceled Tag Der Briemarke Stamp Day.





There were rumours that Hitler's face was engraved in the large rose.
I think I see the eyes and the hair but no mustache.

West Germany didn't issue a Christmas stamp until 1969.



As did Berlin.