Back of the postcard with postmark of teh postal depot office of Mauren and circular cancel of Nendeln on 10 Heller stamp.
Front of the postcard with images of 11 Liechtenstein municipalities.
Another card from Sieghard’s collection as cover of the month. It is a card that was posted at the Mauren “postal depot office” to be taken to Nendeln, where it was postmarked on 31.5.1908 with a 10 h stamp for postcards abroad to be sent to Walenstadt in Switzerland. The content of the card is purely family-related: a family visit to Maria Einsiedeln at Pentecost is arranged between mother and son.
“Postal depot offices” are collection points for incoming and outgoing mail of an official nature in areas whose low postal traffic does not permit the establishment of a post office. According to the Circular Ordinance of the Postal and Telegraph Directorate for Tyrol and Vorarlberg, issued in 1910, the postal depots were open from June 16 to September 15 of each year, i.e. the mail carrier of the post office to which the postal depot was assigned went to the postal depot on his daily or weekly rounds to deliver or deliver mail items. The postal items were marked with the “postal depot stamp” and postage stamps were canceled regularly at the relevant post office.
Parish church of Mauren (stamp from the year 1944)
Parish church of Mauren (stamp from the year 2000)
Before an official post office under Swiss administration was opened in Mauren on July 1, 1925, there had already been an Austrian postal depot office from April 1, 1907. The postal depot office was located in the house of the then post office keeper of Mauren, Martin Matt, in house no. 156, in Pritschen. The postal depot was subordinate to the Nendeln post office, and so Martin Matt brought the mail from Mauren to Nendeln and vice versa every day. As far as local mail was concerned, the postal depot office was independent.
In the ordinance for the establishment of this postal depot office of March 21, 1907, all regulations and provisions were listed in detail, as was Martin Matt’s marching plan. The equipment of the postal depot office was also listed, including:
- A plaque with the inscription “k.k.Postablage”, which was to be attached to the outside of house no. 156.
- A letter collection box with two keys
- A lockable messenger bag
- A rubber hand stamp marked *Mauren in Liechtenstein* with a stamp box and ink bottle. This was used to cancel the postage stamps for local mail (official cancellation mark), otherwise as a secondary postmark next to the official postmark of Nendeln, as on the cover above.
- An armband to identify the postman (later this was a service cap)
- Stamp and postcard stock, tariff sheets, directories of post and telegraph offices in Austria, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, service instructions, etc.
The postal depot office was closed on 1.3.1912. However, the cancel was used further by the postman Martin Matt. From 1.12.1921 to 30.6.1925 there was another Mauren postal depot office with a different postmark. The postal depot office was then subordinate to the Eschen post office.
Ref: Ringmitteilungen 1971; S.27ff – Ring der Liechtensteinsammler e.V.