Postage stamps and postal history of Lübeck

After the foundation of the German Hanseatic League (1241) regulated messenger routes developed. In Lübeck the placement of the letter traffic was under the supervision of the mercantile council of the Scania market, which also appointed the messenger master (postmaster) and the rest of the personnel.

Around 1579 the Reichspost of Thurn und Taxis arrived at Lübeck, it existed besides the Hanseatic post, which lead to minor tensions. In 1683 the post offices of Platen, later Hannover (until 1844), and Wismar were established. Together with the Danish post these were merged in the Schütting-post.

During the French era Napoleon unitied the three Hanseatic cities and northwestern Germany with France under the name Bouches-de-l'Elbe with the decree from December 13, 1810. It was the era of the Continental System against Great Britain.

The Scania market took over the postal system again. But the postal administration worked only for the city treasury. The Scania market received an annual remuneration of 2,000 Lübeck Courantmarks.

In 1848 apart from the city post office there were a Taxis letter post, riding and errant posts of Mecklenburg, Hannover (until 1845), and Denmark, as well as a Prussian postal agency.

When the job of a deputy of the postal departement had to be newly filled, on April 1, 1851 the choice was made for the grand ducal Mecklenburg-Strelitz postmaster Carl Hermann Lebrecht Lingnau, who received the title postal director. The lower officials were called the "Litzenbrüder".

On the postal congress in Berlin (1851) a contract, which exactly laid down the competences, was closed between Lübeck and Thurn und Taxis for January 1, 1852. It was similarly dealt with the Danish post. The construction of the Lübeck-Büchener Railway and in return the Royal Danish Chief Post Office in Lübeck was allowed.

During the changeover of the postal administration to the North German Confederation on January 1, 1868 the city post office became the chief post office of the North German postal district and Mr. Lingnau became chief postal director. The Danish post office as well as Thurn und Taxis cancelled their posts. In Lübeck there were two stable post offices and seven letter collections for 50,339 inhabitants. The currency Lübeck Courant = 16 Shilling, whereas 1 shilling was equivalent to 2 "Sechsling", was valid.

tamps

Stamps were introduced on January 1, 1859. They depicted a two-headed eagle with spread wings. On one ribbon, the one which encloses the eagle, "Postmarke" (postage stamp) and the indication of the value in characters can be read. On the upper side is the word "Lübeck" and in each of the four corners a number can be found, which indicates the value of the stamp. The stamps from 1863 depict the same eagle in an oval and in relief, at the top the word "Lübeck", at the sides the indication of value, and at the bottom the word "Schilling". Concerning the configuration and value the postal stationaries were similar to the stamps.

Literature

* B. E. Crole: "Geschichte der Deutschen Post". 2nd edition. Publishing house W. Malende in Leipzig, Leipzig 1889. The author is Bruno Emil König from Berlin.
* Wilhelm Kähler: "Die Lübecker Briefmarken." In: Der Wagen 1960, pp. 56-59.