2018-04-28 Sat

The Oval Issues refer to the first stamps of Finland which appeared in 1856. They are also known as the Stamps of Grand Duchy of Finland.

The Finnish postal administration's history dates back to 1638, that time General Pieter Brahe founded a postal service in the eastern part of the Swedish Empire in Finland. Two centuries later, Finland area was incorporated into the Russian Empire which led to the Establishment of the postal administration of the Grand Duchy of Finland.

The First stamps were issued in the year 1856. At the time Finland was still an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire. During the time, the currency of Finland was the Russian Ruble with an exchange of 100 Kopecks. The stamps before 1860 came the denomination “Kopecks”.

The first stamp aka the Oval Issues had the value of “5 Kopecks”. It was an oval shape and was stamped on a white paper with blue Ink. It depicts the Coat of Arms of the country with the value printed around it.

In the midst of the Russian Revolution, Finland declared its independence from the Russian Empire on December 6, 1917, and since then, the country has been a parliamentary republic.

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