I like the early medallion stamps, where a countries leader is presented in profile in the manner of the first stamp, the British penny back, featuring Queen Victoria. This one is both Austrian and Hungarian and features the even longer serving Hapsburg Emperor Franz Joseph. These stamps don’t tell you much of the leader but that just leaves more work for The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This stamp is fairly unique in that it was issued by both Austria and Hungary. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was structured as two realms under one monarch. For the most part therefore the stamp issuances are separate. Since the countries shared a monarch, this issue is the exception. After so much time has past. This stamp becomes harder to identify. There is no country name on the stamp and most representations of Franz Joseph show him as a much older man, he served until 1916.
Todays stamp is issue A9, a 5 Neu-Kreuzer stamp issued by Austria in 1867. There are a great number of variations of this stamp that came out for over a decade. I believe mine is the Type I by Austria judging by the clear printing of the Emperor’s beard. That is unfortunate because according to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is only worth 25 cents, despite it’s age and higher denomination. Quite valuable is a sheet of the 5 Kr stamps with a cache of 3 Krs in the corner. It is worth $37,500.
Franz Joseph took over the Austrian Empire after his uncle abdicated during the unrest of 1848. He was rather warlike and reactionary being on the loosing sides of a war with Prussia and wars of Italian unification. More famously he ignited World War I after declaring war on Serbia after the assassination of his unloved, unworthy heir Arch Duke Ferdinand.
Over his long rule his large empire was beset with troubles over the desires of the various peoples for self rule. The conversion of the Austrian Empire into the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a step toward addressing this and later in his rule there were thoughts of doing the same with Croatia, a separate government still under the Hapsburg Emperor. This was not enough to quell nationalist tendencies. Franz Joseph ruled in an older style that even saw him using his power to veto a potential Pope during a College of Cardinals. The next Pope rescinded this right.
The Royal House was beset by the anarchist that were seemingly all around at the time. Franz Joseph himself was once stabbed in Hungary but was saved by the stiff material of his military uniform collar and quick help from a military aid and a passing butcher. The Emperor immediately made noblemen of his first responders. Later his son/heir Rudolf was found dead with his 17 year old mistress at his hunting lodge. It was thought that they were also set upon by anarchists but the mistresses letters were found many years later indicating an intention to commit suicide together. Suicide being sin that forgoes a Christian burial, Rudolf was declared mentally unstable and the hunting lodge was donated to become a nunnery. To this day the nuns pray daily for Rudolf’s soul. His legitimate daughter also proved somewhat deadly as she shot an actress in Prague involved with her husband. Franz Joseph was so annoyed he skipped her child’s Christening. Rudolf death left the line of succession with Ferdinand who was less than ideal due to his demeanor and his marriage to a lessor noble whose offspring could not be in the line of secession.
Franz Joseph’s wife Elisabeth found the formality of the Royal court in Vienna too stuffy so she spent much time abroad traveling incognito. This caught up with her in Switzerland at a hotel where her presence was leaked. An Italian anarchist waited for her outside the hotel and stabbed her with a poison filled syringe that was found in his room the next day.
After his death in 1916, his nephew Charles became the last Hapsburg Emperor. Seeing the futility of World War I, he sent out offers of peace that involved all nations returning to the 1914 status quo with no reparations acknowledging the war was a mistake for all. His offers were rejected but Pope John Paul II later beatified Charles for his efforts that had the support of the church. When World War I ended, Charles resigned from the governments but did not abdicate hoping that he would again be called on when things settled down. Later while on a vacation in Switzerland, Austria forbid his return and the Allied powers forced his exile to the Portuguese island of Madeira where he died of pneumonia in 1922.
Well my drink is empty so I will open the conversation in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.