News from the world of philately

250 years of the Albertina - Great art for everyone

The Albertina in Vienna, which nowadays houses one of the world’s most significant graphic art collections, was founded 250 years ago.

The Albertina’s art collection can be traced back to Archduchess Marie Christine, one of Maria Theresa’s daughters, and her husband Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen. Both were extremely interested in art, and the generous dowry that Marie Christine brought to the marriage enabled the couple to systematically collect works of graphic art and drawings with the intention of providing an overview of developments in art entirely in keeping with the Age of Enlightenment. The Albertina was founded on 4th July 1776, subsequently being housed in the state rooms of the Palais Erzherzog Albrecht in the Augustinerbastei section of the city’s fortifications. A view of the palace created by Jakob Alt in 1816 is featured on the stamp, along with a stylised red “Dürer hare”, probably the best-known work in the Albertina’s collection. After the fall of the monarchy, the Albertina was taken over by the state. Nowadays it also includes the Albertina Modern on Karlsplatz and the Albertina Klosterneuburg.

The holdings have been continuously added to with contemporary works since the museum’s inception, and in 1920, it also acquired the copper engravings from the former imperial court library. As well as works of graphic art, the Albertina is also home to paintings, sculptures, photographs and architectural drawings. The permanent exhibition Monet bis Picasso presents works of classic Modernism from the Batliner Collection ranging from French Impressionism to Expressionism. This collection is on permanent loan to the museum. 

Graphic design: Regina Simon
Value: 3.50 euros
Pre-issue day: 03.07.2026
First day of issue: 04.07.2026
First day: 1010 Vienna
Stamp size: 45.00 x 22.47 mm
Perforation measurement: 13¼ x 13½
Printing technique: Offset printing 
Quantity: 110,000 stamps on sheets of 50
Order no: 226300

David Alaba - A maestro with the ball

With the new “Sport” series, Austrian Post is celebrating outstanding Austrian athletes from various disciplines. The series is kicking off with David Alaba, Austria’s most successful footballer of all time.  

David Alaba was born in Vienna in 1992 and started his footballing career with SV Aspern in Vienna’s Donaustadt district. In 2002 he moved to FK Austria Wien, and in 2008 to FC Bayern Munich. After a brief spell on loan to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, he rejoined Bayern Munich, remaining with them until 2021. From July 2021 until the summer of 2026, he played for Real Madrid, the “Kings of Europe”. Alaba debuted with the Austrian national team in 2009 at the age of 17, leading the team onto the pitch as its captain for the first time in 2017. His successes include winning various national championships as well as a total of four UEFA Champions League wins with Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. With his normal position previously being left back, Alaba now mostly plays as a central defender. In the national team, he wears the number 8 jersey. He is left-footed and is regarded as a multi-talented and tactically strong defender.

David Alaba has already been crowned Austrian footballer of the year on ten occasions. His discipline, ambition and mental strength make him a great sportsman, while fans and team-mates value his modesty and his leadership qualities. The combination of his successful international career and his personality make David Alaba a good role model for many young athletes.

Series NEW: Sport
Graphic design: Melanie Mussegg
Value: 4.50 euros
Pre-issue day: 03.07.2026
First day of issue: 20.07.2026
First day: 1030 Vienna
Stamp size: 33.00 x 46.78 mm
Perforation measurement: 14½ x 14
Printing technique: Offset printing
Quantity: 160,000 commemorative mini sheets of 2 unit each
Order no: 226310

White Baroque donkey - The donkey with the blue eyes

As the only breed of donkey indigenous to Austria, the Austrian Hungarian white Baroque donkey, the animal featured on this year’s stamp in the “Rare farm animal breeds” series, is a rare breed indeed.

The Baroque donkey is unmistakeable thanks to its almost white coat, the colour of which is designated “cremello”, and its blue eyes. This light colouring is termed flavism, with the skin and hooves also evidencing only weak pigmentation. The animal is medium-sized with a normal length coat and the upright mane typical of donkeys. 

During the Baroque era, the colour white was a status symbol of the nobility. White animals were considered “light bringers”, which is why it is thought that the white donkey originates from this period, bred in the lands encompassed by the Habsburg Empire, especially eastern Austria and Hungary. Over time the breed was forgotten about, and it was only in the 1980s that it was once again brought to the attention of the public. The white Baroque donkey has been recognised as a breed in its own right since 2016, with the Stadl-Paura breeding association in Upper Austria being responsible for breeding. The Verein zur Erhaltung der Weißen Barockesel (association for the preservation of the white Baroque donkey) is striving to ensure survival of the highly endangered breed, for which only a few hundred specimens are listed in the studbook. The main population centres in Austria are at Schloss Hof in the Marchfeld region and in the Neusiedler See National Park. Like all donkeys, white Baroque donkeys are robust, undemanding and fearless. The white donkey can be ridden by children or used as a draft animal for light coaches and in animal therapy. In the Seewinkel region they are also used in landscape conservation. 

Series: Rare farm animal breeds
Graphic design: Kirsten Lubach
Value: 1.00 euros
Pre-issue day: 03.07.2026
First day of issue: 31.07.2026
First day: 2294 Schloßhof 1
Stamp size: 40.00 x 27.45 mm
Small sheet size: 134.00 x 193.00 mm
Perforation measurement: 14 x 13¾
Printing technique: Offset printing
Quantity: 250,000 on small sheets of 10 units each
Order no: 226250
Small sheet order no: 226770

Gitta Mallász – Döblinger Strandbad, 1927 - Art as a mirror of the times

The focus of the new series “Poster art” is on historic posters and their designers. We are kicking it off with a poster designed by the Hungarian graphic designer and author Gitta Mallász.

Gitta (full name Margit) Mallász (1907–1992) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest, where she met Hanna Dallos. Together with Hanna and Hanna’s husband Joszef Kreutzer, she founded a successful atelier, where, among other things, they worked together on designing advertising posters for the tourist industry. Their circle of friends also included Lili Strausz, who, like Dallos and Kreutzer, was of Jewish descent. In her book “Talking with Angels”, Mallász, the only one of the group to have survived the war, subsequently moving to France, published the spiritual conversations and experiences that the four friends shared during the Nazi occupation. In recognition of her saving hundreds of Jewish women and children in Budapest, she was posthumously honoured as “Righteous among the Nations” by the Israeli Holocaust Memorial Center Yad Vashem.

Posters illustrate how graphic design transitions between art, communication and advertising. They not only send a message but also reflect the spirit of the particular era. During her younger years, Gitta Mallász was a successful swimmer, and this fits well with the poster entitled “Döblinger Strandbad” from 1927. A public swimming bath was once located at the given address, with the sign “Entrance to the baths” on the building’s façade still reminding us of this. The poster is taken from the Vienna City Library’s poster collection.

Series NEW: Poster art
Graphic design: Anita Kern
Value: 1.25 euros
Pre-issue day: 07.08.2026
First day of issue: 12.08.2026
First day: 1060 Vienna
Stamp size: 45.00 x 29.47 mm
Small sheet size: 124.00 x 181.40 mm
Perforation measurement: 13¼ x 13½
Printing technique: Offset printing
Quantity: 220,000 on small sheets of 10 units each
Order no: 226270
Small sheet order no: 226780

Angela Eisenköck – Fragments 44 - The aesthetics of transience

A new stamp in the “Art from Austria” series features a work by the artist Angela Eisenköck taken from her “Fragments” series.
Angela Eisenköck was born in Gumpoldskirchen. She studied architecture at Graz University of Technology and for a long time worked for architectural companies in Graz, where she still works today as both an artist and a Feldenkrais teacher.

Artistic creativity was her passion from an early age, originally being expressed through portraiture. However, from 2018 on, her motifs and technique changed with the “Fragments” series, in which nature, with its fascinating shapes of flowers and leaves, but especially its transience, became the focus of her works. The design on the stamp, “Fragments 44”, is also taken from this series, a work measuring 160 by 180 centimetres executed in pastels, charcoal and acrylics. Through a time-consuming process of transformation, Angela Eisenköck reworked the original photograph of a withered plant and then transferred the image onto canvas. Through further reworkings in multiple layers on the canvas, she continuously developed the image further, so that what was already past ultimately gained a new expression and identity. In this way, in the end it is not just a copy of nature that is created, but rather an entirely new image, which, through the fine details and delicate shapes, nevertheless still reminds us of a notional, almost spectral plant. 

Series: Art from Austria
Graphic design: Regina Simon
Value: 3.50 euros
Pre-issue day: 07.08.2026
First day of issue: 12.08.2026
First day: 1060 Vienna
Stamp size: 42.00 x 33.80 mm
Perforation measurement: 13¼ x 13½
Printing technique: Offset printing
Quantity: 110,000 stamps on sheets of 50
Order no: 226260

Steyr Saurer 4 SHFN-OL - Mobility for all

This year’s design in the “Historical postal vehicles” series features a Steyr Saurer 4 SHFN-OL post bus from 1965 that was used for regular service. 
The vehicle was constructed by two traditional Austrian companies. In 1959, Steyr-Daimler-Puch became the majority shareholder in the Austrian Saurer Works, and together, from 1961 on, the two companies designed the Steyr Saurer 4 SH-O bus with various different models and levels of equipment. Most of the vehicles were sold to Austrian Post, but some went to the Austrian Federal Railway. 

The Steyr Saurer 4 SHFN-OL is based on the 4 SH-O and was built until 1971. Like the base model, it was a forward control bus – prior to that the “Schnauzer buses” were in operation – with a self-supporting chassis and a gently sloping rear. Thanks to its slightly longer construction, it provided seating for 43 and standing room for 21, with luggage stored in a luggage compartment and not, as previously, on the roof. The 4 SHFN-OL was driven by a rear-mounted engine with an output of 150 HP. It was a four-stroke, six-cylinder Saurer diesel engine with a maximum design speed of 92 km/h. The eight-gear transmission was designed by Steyr. Austrian Post had a fleet of around 190 of these buses operating throughout Austria. As the most common post bus of the era, in the classic yellow Post Office livery, they were a common sight on Austria’s roads for many years. Still today, a few of these vehicles can be admired in museums or at classic car association events, and they are occasionally also used for special journeys.

Series: Historical postal vehicles
Graphic design: David Gruber
Value: 2.00 euros
Pre-issue day: 07.08.2026
First day of issue: 28.08.2026
First day: 4810 Gmunden
Stamp size: 40.00 x 29.00 mm
Perforation measurement: 13½ x 13¾
Printing technique: Offset printing
Quantity: 100.000 stamps on sheets of 50
Order no: 226280

Fool’s mushroom - Deadly poisonous

It may look attractive, but this is one of Europe’s most poisonous mushrooms: the white fool’s mushroom causes life-threatening poisoning.

The fool’s mushroom (Amanita verna), also known as the spring destroying angel, is a member of the genus Amanita. A characteristic feature is its colour: the cap, stipe, gills and flesh are all white, even after having been cut. The thin stipe is surrounded by a fine, hanging annulus, while the volva can still be clearly seen at the thickened base of the stipe. In young specimens the cap is hemispherical, subsequently flattening out. The fool’s mushroom has a slightly sweet odour, turning to a carrion smell as it gets older. It primarily grows in deciduous forests and parks, especially under oak and beech trees. In Europe it is mostly found in the southern regions. Unlike many other mushrooms, it is not only found in the autumn but can also be found in spring, hence its alternative name: spring destroying angel.

Amatoxins and phallotoxins make it one of the most poisonous and most dangerous mushrooms in Europe. They primarily affect the liver and kidneys and, even in small quantities, are fatal if not treated immediately. Consequently, the mushroom should never be ingested, not even in small amounts. Symptoms of poisoning often manifest only hours later, making any mistake even more dangerous. The mushroom can be confused with the edible field mushroom, for example, which differs from it thanks to its pinkish-brown gills, as well as with other species of Amanita.

Series: Austrian mushrooms
Graphic design: Marion Füllerer
Value: 1.00 euros
Pre-issue day: 07.08.2026
First day of issue: 28.08.2026
First day: 4810 Gmunden
Stamp size: 31.80 x 50.00 mm
Small sheet size: 193.00 x 134.00 mm
Perforation measurement: 13¾ x 14
Printing technique: Offset printing
Quantity: 220,000 on small sheets of 10 units each
Order no: 226290
Small sheet order no: 226790