Austrian First Day Covers

I think I mentioned before that I get the feeling that FDCs
are unloved in the last few years.
Generally collectors look down at FDCs and there
appears very little interest in them.
I recall here on SCF a couple of members saying they
bought in bulk hundreds if not thousands and wanting
to sell them are lucky to get 25c apiece for most of them.

I actually like FDC's and have hundreds,
mainly Canada and Austria.
I like the fact that a First Day Cover usually adds information
about the stamp being issued and many have a pictorial
cancellation.

The Canadian ones I have up to the early seventies actually
went through the mail stream.
I would buy the cacheted covers at Simpson's Stamp Department.
Get a postal money order with the right amount to the Receiver
General and mail it to Ottawa Philatelic Center ,
usually a couple of weeks before the day of issue.
And they would come back in the regular mail.(Not under cover)
Not always how I liked, sometimes bent or with writing on
the cover.
Yes they were a PHILATELIC creation but at least they went
through the mail system and had pre-paid postage on them.

The Austrian FDCs I got in exchange with a collector in Austria.

In 1948 Austria started using an Official postmark,
indicating that it is a FDC.
These were hand stamped somewhere on the cover but never on the stamp.
This type was used between 1948 - 1972



I don't have any real early ones but here is one from
1958 with the S2 denomination from the definitive Building series

The cachet was obviously meant for another stamp.





Another one for the 100th Birth Anniversary of
Gustaf Mahler (composer and conductor)

Between 1973 - 1975 this FDC postmark was used.
The German word ERSTTAG translates as FIRST DAY



The stamp issued was for the 125th Anniversary of the
first Austrian stamp.

From February 25, 1976 till December 13, 1985
this FDC postmark was used.




Here are a couple of FDC from 1980.





For the last few weeks I've been using the SCF Image Optimizer
instead of Photobucket and the images are quite sharp, considering.
Specially when you take into account that the last FDC scanned at 6.85MB and is now resized down to 75.5KB

The ERSTTAG in the curved rectangle is not considered a postmark. Some might consider it an auxiliary markings, others might consider it a crude cachet.

@Glenn Estus, that's a good point you raise there and
I basically agree.

I borrowed this from the Austrian NETTO specialized catalogue.



Offizieller Ersttagsstempel = Official First Day Cancellation

But it also mentions that it will be in the
form of a Zusatzstempel .
Since Zusatz can be translated as supplementary or additional or even auxiliary I suppose
then yes auxiliary markings makes sense.

Austrian FDC's do not have the word Ersttag appear either
in the CDS or in the pictorial cancels like for instance
this Swiss one below.



Ausgabetag = Day of Issue.

From January 24, 1986 till August 26, 1999
this First Day auxiliary marking/cancel was used.




Below are 2 FDC's with this type.

From August 27, 1999 to December 15, 2000 this
type was used.



As of January 1, 2001 this type has been and supposedly
is still in use.



Both of the above images are taken from the
Austria Netto Katalog,Specialized 2014/2015

I stopped collecting FDC's in the late 1980's so I can't show
any examples of the last two types on a cover.
Except for the one below from 2014 which I received from a non collector who knew I liked stamps.
This type is different yet again and is printed
on the envelope not hand stamped.

I always loved the appealing presentation on Austrian FDCs.

Regards,
Stampalotapus

Thanks Stampalotapus. Yes Austrian FDCs are usually quite
attractive especially the ones were the cachets are by
Otto Zeiller who also designed many stamps.


Here are a couple from the " Beautiful Austria " definitive
set issued between 1973 - 1978.
Zeiller designed the whole set of 27.

On the back of these covers is a short explanation
concerning each stamp in German, English and French.

As I stated in the beginning of the thread, the first
official Austrian Post FDC's started in 1948.

But already from the mid 1930's on the post office
would use a special pictorial postmark on the first day of
issue for some commemoratives.

The postmark showed a post horn and was inscribed with
TAG DER BRIEFMARKE which translates as Day of the Stamp
or Stamp Day.

Here is an example from the 1937 semi-postal set
honouring Austrian physicians.

Here are two, but they are on different paper types and have different messages. The one in English appears to be done on typewriter, I wonder why?
Don

These two Austrian stamps issued on December 12, 1937
were meant for Christmas mail & New Year greeting cards.

The cover shows the TAG DER BRIEFMARKE pictorial
cancellation which was used on the first day of issue.

Nice FDC's Don, thanks for showing them.



The message is the same whether in German or English.




Since the majority of the invited guests where Austrians
the German version was printed way in advance probably.

Then someone perhaps realized that maybe it would be a good idea
to invite some of the British and American occupiers and since there
wasn't enough time to print out the English invitations,
they were typewritten on plain paper.

This is purely a guess on my part.

Here is another Austrian FDC where Otto Zeiller designed the
stamp based on a watercolour he painted which is shown on the cachet.

Sebastian Kneipp was one of the founders of the naturopathic medicine movement.

Hello all. Does anyone know of a Austrian First Day Cover price guide? I cannot seem to find one anywhere. Or if you have any other recommendations.

Thanks!

Does the Netto specialised catalogue not cover FDCs?