COVER N. 631 - AUSTRIA

Postmark: Illegible 

Posted on ?; Received on the  27th August 2025

_________________________________________________________________________________

It is not the fault of the person sending the letter, of course, but whenever I look at an envelope with a stamp on it without a clear or at least positively visible postmark,  I can't help but feel that there is something missing there. 

Postmarks are as essential to a letter as the punched hole in the bus ticket of yore was to one's journey; they are proof of intent, the confirmation of  a travel history and the indication where it all began... without them, a letter is still a letter, of course, but it is not the message... it is the messenger that's somehow lacking...

A postmark is an essential element of a cover, and it transcends the mere functional aspect of its presence. It is a graphic compositional element, be it an elaborate first day or commemorative cachet or the humble day mark applied at the post office desk, and its presence or lack of it, does impart on the envelope a mark of dignity and purpose that, to me, makes quite a difference.

All this about this nice cover I got from Austria that does have a postmark on it, albeit so subtle that at first look does not seem to be there.

As I said, of course, it is not the sender's fault and I was quite happy to receive it, as usual. Danke sehr Patrik!

The one 2,10 € stamp souvenir sheet on the cover, was issued on 24AUG2019. Themed on Historic Postal vehicles. it is illustrated with a scene depicting one of the carriages of the K.k. Express Post, in the Mariahilf line.

The Kaiserlich und Königlich Express Post was an early form of express mail service in the Austrian Empire, founded in 1823. The Mariahilf Route was one of the routes established by this service, connecting with Vienna to other important cities like Brno, Prague, and Pressburg. These routes used four-horse coaches designed to transport up to twelve passengers and cover distances quickly for the time.