Red Mercury (newspaper stamp)


The Red Mercury is the rarest of Austrian newspaper stamps. It was issued for the mailing of newspapers in Austria and Lombardy-Venetia.

History

Austria's newspaper stamps first appeared in 1851. They depicted a profile of Mercury, the Roman messenger god, and were not denominated, the color of the stamp indicating the value. Blue indicated the 6/10 kreuzer rate for one newspaper, yellow for ten newspapers, and rose for 50 newspapers. The higher denominations franked wrappers of bundles of newspapers and were frequently discarded.
In 1856 a red, or scarlet, stamp with the Mercury design, sold for six kreuzer - 30 centesimi to frank a bundle of 10 newspapers, was issued. However, it was soon superseded by a new design depicting Franz Joseph which came out in 1858, and only a few copies have survived.

Valuations

An unused copy, without gum and short at the left side, was auctioned for 23,000 DM by Grobe & Lange in 1996. Recent auctions have valued it at about US$40,000. The 2005 Yvert catalog values it at €60,000.
On 7 February 2008 an unused copy was auctioned in Vienna for 26,000 Euros.
An unused Red Mercury with original gum was auctioned for a hammer price of €40,000 plus commission, by Auktionhaus Felzmann on 5 November 2015.