Basel pigeon
| Basel pigeon | |
|---|---|
|
|
| output | |
| country | Canton of Basel-Stadt |
| Face value | 2½ cents |
| First day | July 1, 1845 |
| Date of Expiry | September 30, 1854 |
| layout | |
| Motif | White Pigeon |
| colour | multicolored |
| draft | Melchior Berri |
| Sting | |
| Print type | Letterpress |
| perforation | Cut |
| particularities | first multicolored postage stamp in the world |
| Edition | |
| Edition | 41,400 copies |
The Basler Taube , also called Basler Dybli in Switzerland (original name in Basel German ), is the first and only postage stamp issued by the Swiss canton of Basel-Stadt .
The Basler Taube was issued on July 1, 1845. At that time, there was no uniform postal system for all of Switzerland. Each individual canton was responsible for its own postal service. It was not until January 1, 1849 that a separate Swiss postal service was founded , which issued general postage stamps for all of Switzerland from 1850 onwards. Until then, apart from Basel, only the cantons of Zurich and Geneva had issued their own postage stamps .
The postage value of the Basler Taube was 2½ cents and was intended for letters up to 1 lot (15 grams) in the city of Basel. The design was done by the architect Melchior Berri . He chose a white dove as a motif , which is surrounded by the inscription Stadt-Post-Basel . The special thing about the stamp, however, is the color. The stamp motif was produced in the three colors black, blue and carmine and is thus the first multi-colored stamp in the world.
The stamp was made using the letterpress process. The pigeon was minted and therefore protrudes slightly from the stamp paper. The Basler Taube was released cut . This means that it has no perforation and therefore had to be cut from the arch with scissors . The stamp could be used until September 30, 1854.
The high collector's value of the Basel pigeon is made up of its rarity and its wide popularity. Along with the Double Geneva and Zurich 4 and Zurich 6, it is one of the most popular stamps among Swiss philatelists .
literature
- 150,000 francs for a pair of pigeons. In: Deutsche Briefmarken-Revue issue No. 7/2012, p. 48
- Anton Abele: The Basler Taube: The postage stamp of the Stadtpost Basel 1845 , Buchdr. Bühler & Werder AG. 1945, 16 pages
- Jean-Paul Bach, Felix Winterstein: Basler Taube , Multipress 1995, ISBN 3952083720 , 148 pages
- Peter Fischer: Record letter with Basler Taube. In: Deutsche Briefmarken-Zeitung issue No. 3/2015, p. 22
- Torsten Berndt: 170 years of Basler Taube. In: Deutsche Briefmarken-Zeitung issue No. 13/2015, pp. 18–22