365 Stamps Project 102: Austria 1973

This is a Europa stamp from Austria. Each year several European nations issue a stamp with the same image or on the same theme. In 1973, when this stamp was issued, the image for Europa stamps was a Post Horn, with the design representing posts as well as telegraphs and telegraphs.

The designer was Leif Erimann Anishal of Norway.

Post horns were used by mail carriers, who often rode in the Postillion position on inter-city wagons. That position is on the front left horse of a team. A postilion is anyone who rides in that position, but it was so often a mail carrier in the 18^th and 19^th centuries that the term “post” became another word for the mails they carried.