Esperanto - The International Language

Esperanto is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by Leyzer L. Zamenhof (1859-1917) in 1887, it is intended to be a universal second language for international communication, or "the international language" (la Lingvo Internacia).

I don't collect Esperanto stamps but I have a small collection of 20 postmarks, several on cacheted covers and I start this thread to show them. I encourage other members to show their Esperanto items for those interested and collect this theme.

Leyzer L. Zamenhof (1859-1917), issued by Israel to commemorate 120th anniversary of Esperanto. It shows Zamenhof on a background of Esperanto text describing his life. On the tab, a phrase from Genesis book, written in Esperanto and Hebrew: "And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech" (Genesis, 11, 1):

The 75th Esperanto congress in Havana, stamp issued by Cuba on March 7, 1990 on maxicard with commemorative postmark and cachet:

The 55th Esperanto congress in Wien, Austria, postmark and Cinderella label issued August 3, 1970:

I don't collect Esperanto stamps but I have many cinderellas and a few postcards related to this international language in my Estonia collection

Many thanks, Vayolene. Could you, please, tell how these labels related to Esperanto?

Austria has issued a couple of stamps to promote the Esperanto language


Austrian Esperanto Congress at Graz in 1949

Scott 563





50th anniversary of Esperanto movement in Austria in 1954

Scott 593

Monuments of Tartu,Estonia (Estonio in esperanto language)
The other names are written in esperanto too.

Pärnu & Haapsalu

Thanks Vayolene and lithograving

The 27th IFEF Congress, Villach, Austria, postmark issued by Austria on May 12, 1975. Note the special cachet.

IFEF stands for International Federation of Esperanto-Railway workers or International Railroad Esperanto Federation (Internacia Fervojista Esperanto-Federacio)

International Esperanto week 29.6.90-6.7.90, postmark issued by France on April 19, 1990:


Like the Esperanto label with the slogan: 'We want to learn Esperanto at school!":

Kessulaid & Vormsi (Estonian islands)

Esperanto was first published in 1887, but Esperanto cinderellas didn't start appearing until the first decade of the 20th century. Here are the earliest dated examples in my collection, promoting the 2nd World Esperanto Congress in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1906 (Glumarkoj #4c and #4e in Richard Hirsch's Katalogo de la Tuta Esperanto-Filatelio).


It's worth noting that the postal use of Esperanto likewise didn't take off until after the turn of the century. In my 28 years of collecting this topic, I've only seen two pieces of Esperanto postal history on ebay from before 1900; both were written by L.L. Zamenhof himself, and I was outbid on both. Here's the earliest piece of Esperanto postal history in my collection, a postcard mailed from Antwerp, Belgium, to Lima, Peru, on 26 September 1902:

It would be another two decades before Esperanto-themed postage stamps would appear. The Soviet Union was the first country to issue these.

The first were in an issue commemorating the 20th anniversary of the death of Aleksandr Stepanovich Popov, described in the Esperanto inscription as "Inventisto de Radio" (Inventor of Radio).

Scott #328 7k (October 1925) 3,000,000 issued
Scott #329 14k (October 1925) 2,000,000 issued
Scott #353 8k on 7k (December 1927) 700,000 issued
(Dates and quantities are according to Song Shengtan's Katalogo de Esperantaj Posxtmarkoj)

Further Esperanto-themed stamps were issued by the Soviet Union in the following years.

1926: Commemorating the 6th Congress of the SAT (Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda, World Anational Association) in Leningrad.

Scott #347 7k (July 1926) 750,000 issued
Scott #348 14k (July 1926) 750,000 issued
Scott #356 8k on 7k (December 1927) 200,000 issued


1927: Commemorating 40 years of Esperanto.

Scott #373 14k watermarked (May 1927) 750,000 issued (pictured)
Scott #374 14k unwatermarked (May 1927) 750,000 issued
500 imperforate specimens were also purportedly issued, both with and without watermarks. I don't have any of these.

I do have a used example of this issue on a cover that once held fan mail to silent movie actress Mary Pickford, "America's Sweetheart" and one of the founders of United Artists.


1930: Depicting the Central Telegraph building in Moscow, with an inscription in Russian and Esperanto.

Scott #436 1r perf. 10½ (1930) several million issued (pictured)
Scott #467 1r imperf. (1930) unknown but small quantity (I don't have this)
Scott #469 1r perf. 12 x 12½ (1930) several million issued
There are also rather rare local overprints of stamps from this issue that were produced during the war. I don't have any of these, either.


1930: Depicting the Lenin Power Plant on the Volkhov River, with an inscription in Russian and Esperanto.

Scott #437 3r (1930) several million issued
Minor variations in color and perforation exist.

Also beginning in 1925, the Soviet Union issued over a hundred different postal stationery items that included Esperanto text. This continued well into the 1930s. Usually these had the descriptor (post card, sealed letter, etc.) in French, Esperanto, and one of the official languages of the Soviet Republics. Here's a postal card from my collection, inscribed in French, Esperanto, and Armenian.