2016-09-01 Thu

Austria Post is known for making philatelists all over the world bewilder with their annually released experimental or innovative stamps. They use unusual printing methods and non-paper stamp material every year to come up with some fascinating high denomination stamps.

On 10th June, Austria issued a €6.30 stamp made of glass using the reverse-glass painting tradition of the municipality of Sandl in Upper Austria on a miniature scale of a postage stamp. The Vienna Porcelain Manufactory Augarten used the silk-screen method on glass to print the stamp. The perforations are back-printed on the glass to give the stamp a smooth rectangular edge.

The first-day cover features the glass stamp on a generic Austria Post envelope with a black pictorial digitally applied postmark cancelling. The issue that could arise is that the cancellation stamp could be erased easily by anybody.

A porcelain stamp was issued by Austria Post on 20th March 2014 which featured a beautiful floral image and the 5.90 denomination.

Three-dimensional souvenir sheets made with Swarovski crystals were also issued by Austria post including the 2006 Fireworks joint issue with Hong Kong. Lenticular printed stamps have a higher relief and depict three-dimensional moving images.