Guernsey Die

Listen to audio.

The Museum has several metal dies in its collection for a metered post or franking machine. These dies affix the date. With the franking machine another die would show the value of the postage. Since the introduction of adhesive stamps in 1840, the security against stamp theft and how to process mail in a timely fashion was of concern to the postal managers. The meter post machine was invented by a Norwegian, Engle Frankmussler (anglicized to Edward Franks). He obtained a British patent for a device that would print a “stamp” on an envelope and record the amount of postage. Another inventor in Chicago, Arthur Pitney, also developed a mechanical mailing system. Guernsey post was created in 1969 and from then began issuing its own stamps. This included the design of the marks made by the franking machines. The impressions were required to have a town mark with date stamp and a value mark with Royal Cypher or Crest.