Via the Digital Collections platform, you can now access another special collection – Prof. Günter Schweiger’s Poster Stamp Collection.

What are poster stamps?

The predecessors of poster stamps originated in the mid-19th century in the form of sealing stamps, which replaced seals made of wax and varnish and were used to seal letters. Entrepreneurs quickly recognized the potential of the sealing stamp as a tool for conveying their advertising messages. This is how the cap stamp became the poster stamp.

Poster stamps flourished as a means of advertising from around 1900 to 1914, promoting products, services, and events. Widely utilized on an international scale, they advertised trade fairs, exhibitions, congresses, and various other events across the globe.

A plethora of artists and commercial designers contributed to the creation of poster stamps, including renowned names such as Peter Behrens, Ernst Deutsch, Koloman Moser, Alfons Maria Mucha, Egon Schiele, or Fritz Schönpflug.

Special Collections

You can access each of the 18,245 poster stamps via the Digital Collections platform and view them in detail. The image quality of each stamp is not consistent, so lower quality images will gradually be replaced by higher resolution versions. Higher resolution images can also be provided on request.