The Post Discovers the Handstamp

The higher the number of items carried by the post, the greater the need became for records and order. In ancient times, records of forwarded letters had been kept; the same became a necessity in modern times. It was no longer sufficient just to list the letters; they had to be marked with all sorts of service data, as for instance; the place, hour and day of posting and the postage rate. At first, this was done by handwritten remarks on the cover, and later by handstamp.

It has long been forgotten who invented the handstamp and where it was used for the first time. The oldest surviving handstamp comes from Venice and dates back to 1435. This handstamp was not printed in ink on the cover, but was embossed on the letter. It is quite possible that the Republic of Venice had accepted this invention from another Italian town.

Neither is it known for certain when handstamps using ink were first introduced. The oldest handstamp printed with ink on a letter also came from Italy in the year 1454. The Sforza family used a handstamp showing the coat of arms of the family surrounded by the text ‘Corriere Mediolanum’ (Post of Milan). In 1661, Henry Bishop introduced into England a circular handstamp with the month and the year. The London City Post, established by Robert Murray and shortly after taken over by Robert Dockwra, also used handstamps in about 1680. The triangular handstamp bore the text ‘Penny (Post) Paid’, and in the centre a sign giving the post office where the letter was posted. Dockwra opened post offices in all London districts. Letters were accepted at the seven borough post offices, at the main office in Lyne Street and at four or five hundred mail collection stations. The London City Post showed such a profit, although the postage was very cheap, that the State did not want to miss the chance and took it over in 1698.

Postal handstamps were so successful that every postal service in the world accepted them in due course. In Austria-Hungary, a decree by the Postmaster General of 23 July 1781 ordered that all dispatched mail should be cancelled with a handstamp. In addition to the handstamp showing the name of the post office where it was posted, another handstamp with the word Franco was in use for letters where the postage had been paid in advance.