Historical Ephemera: The Secret Language of Postage Stamps

Before sexting, before coded bracelets, there were...stamps? Rio Wang has written a fascinating piece about how the angle that stamps were placed on the envelope conveys different meanings. According to the OP, the tradition began with the Austro-Hungarians in the 1860's and swiftly spread throughout Europe.

I highly recommend reading the original post, but here are some of the highlights:

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Meanwhile, the English make it exceptionally formal, including the phrase: "Beware your dearest lady-friend!"

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What's fascinating is that the code wasn't local to English speaking nations, there are guides in Russian, in Polish and in other languages I can't identify. Naturally, the French take romance to the next level:

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Go read the full post! http://riowang.blogspot.com/2011/12/language-of-stamps.html

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One Response to “ Historical Ephemera: The Secret Language of Postage Stamps ”

  1. Wow!
    Really nice, you have discussed over here about the hidden language of postage stamps.

    ReplyDelete

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