Back to main narrative | Back to main 'cancels' page | On to Type IV - Date-time cancel with ornaments |
In 1883, all the offices then open were given a standard canceller - a 29mm circle with WIEN in the upper half and the office name in the lower half (except for the Fünfhaus-Schönbrunnerstraße and Lazarethgasse offices, which had no room for the WIEN!) In the middle is the year, month, day and hour; this detail being needed as the pneumatic letter boxes were emptied every 20 minutes. This cancel type remained in service till 1892. |
Type | Text | K/S | ON |
III-02 | WIEN TELEGRAFEN-CENTRALE | K7787b | (Z) |
III-04 | WIEN FLEISCHMARKT | K7788b | 2 |
III-06 | WIEN TABORSTRASSE | K7793b | 23 |
III-08 | WIEN LANDSTR. HAUPTSTR. | K7799b | 40 |
III-10 | WIEN KÄRNTNERRING | K7792b | 15 |
III-12 | WIEN NEUMANNGASSE | K7803b | 50 |
III-14 | WIEN MAGDALENENSTRASSE | K7807b | 57 |
III-16 | WIEN SIEBENSTERNGASSE | K7810b | 62 |
III-18 | WIEN MARIATREUGASSE | K7812b | 64 |
III-20 | WIEN EFFECTENBÖRSE | K7789b | 7 |
III-22 | WIEN FRUCHTBÖRSE [PRODUCKTENBÖRSE after 1890] | K7798a | 36 |
III-24 | WIEN ZIEGLERGASSE | K7809b | 60 |
III-26 | FÜNFHAUS SCHÖNBRUNNER STRASSE | K7822b | 100 |
III-28 | WIEN RATHAUS (See note 1) | [K7790a] | 10 |
III-30 | WIEN REICHSRATHGEBÄUDE (See note 2) | [K7832a] | (R) |
III-32 | WIEN STEFANIESTRASSE (See note 3) | [K7797a] | 34 |
III-34 | K. K. PNEUMATISCHE STATION XVI (in Lazarethgasse) | K7816a | 71 |
III-36 | WÄHRING (See note 4) | [K7827a] | 110 |
III-38 | HERNALS (See note 5) | [K7826a] | 105 |
III-40 | WIEN ROTUNDE (See note 6) | --- | -- |
Notes:
There is no evidence that the pneumatic tube reached the exhibition site. However, at least 59 pneumatic items are known to have been posted here (see illustration; the above was the 57th) so presumably a telegraph office was opened for exhibitions and a special messenger service connected it to the nearest station. A second specimen of this WIEN ROTUNDE cancellation has been found: there is a web site called "Virtual International Philatelic Exhibition" on which is "Pneumatic Mails of Vienna, Prague & Karlsbad" by Henry Hahn. See http://www.japhila.cz/hof/0077/index0077_54.htm for an illustration of a correspondence card, dated 3pm, 24 September 1883, sequence numbered 59, routed to Telegrafen-Centrale. They are both addressed to the same person at the same address.
Further, a card is known from the Kaiser-Jubiläums und V. Österr. Bundes-Schiessen (held between 26 June & 6 July 1898). This is a beautiful card for the shooting competition, with 2, 3 and 5 kreuzer stamps on the address side. The sending Rohrpost cancel on the stamps is Wien 27, and the receiving Rohrpost cancel is Wien 82. The Wien Schützenplatz special cancel is on the side. So it is another example of an exposition from which Rohrpost is known, although there is no evidence that there was an actual pipe connection to the site. Apparently Rohrpost mail was collected at the site’s special post office, and carried to Wien 27 (which was at Praterstrasse 54, near the Prater). This card took 2 hours from start to finish, and has a genuine Rohrpost message: "Today I expect to stay at the Schützenplatz till evening, but come to see me at (unreadable) after 9 pm"
It looks as if this was a routine practice; and Wurth’s book on Special Cancels lists over 26 events between 1864 and 1918 which could have operated a similar service. This is no proof that they did, but does suggest that such items may be "out there awaiting finding".
Back to main narrative | Back to main 'cancels' page | On to Type IV - Date-time cancel with ornaments |