BEST OF RAPP

Classic Switzerland 1843–1862

The «Pilatus» Collection

 

The postal administration of Zurich was the first one on the continent that followed the British example and introduced postage stamps of its own. Geneva followed in the same year, the demicanton of Basle did so in 1845.

 

After the constitutional reform of 1848, the monetary and postal systems both became federal issues as of 1 January 1849. Before the introduction of Ortspost / Post Locale, compliant with the district circular of 5 April 1850, the rest of Switzerland had no postage stamps of its own.

 

The local stamps supplemented the transitional stamps, which had been issued from October 1849 in the cantons of Geneva and Zurich. They had been issued by these two cantons, at their own expense, for use in the recently established postal districts. From 1 October 1850, in addition to the local stamps two «Rayon» stamps became available for the payment of postage dues in four letter districts [Briefkreise].

 

The various different currencies in the cantons caused major problems for commerce and postal traffic. From the beginning of 1852, all old currencies were abolished, and the Centimes (Rappen) and Francs currency that already was current in the canton of Geneva was adopted for all cantons.

 

At the same time, a novel stamp issue, «Sitting Helvetia imperforated», was to denote this new currency. Current coinage displayed the ‘Mother of the Nation’. Due to technical problems, the issue was not available before September 1854. Therefore, per 1 January 1852, a Rayon III stamp was introduced. With the end of the validity of the imperforated stamps per July 1863, the classical period of Swiss philately was terminated.

 

The «Pilatus» collection mirrors this complicated background and the relevant developments in the following way:

 

–  the stamp issues of the cantons Zurich, Geneva and Basle

–  the period of the confederate postal administration, executed by the cantons Zurich and Geneva

– postal use from 1 October 1850, arranged according to cantons and postal districts

– postal use from the currency reform

– postal use of «Sitting Helvetia imperforate» stamps

 

Result: approx. 2.4 million Swiss francs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Highlights of the «Pilatus» collection