Big Blue 1840-1940

A is for Aden and Z is for Zanzabar

Sunday, January 25, 2026

Switzerland - Bud's Big Blue

1854-1863 Switzerland in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

(From Jim: Bud is well, but has a lot of non philatelic obligations and responsibilities at the moment. With his permission, I will upload country pages in his complete '69 Big Blue that so far has not been shown. He might add his observations later. Enjoy!)

Jim's Observations

Switzerland (Helvetia) is at the European junction of Germanic and Romance language and culture, and hence has four linguistic/cultural regions: German, French, Italian and Romansh. Although the majority of the population is German language speaking, the self identity of the Swiss is molded more through the shared alpine geography, the shared historical background, and the long history of direct democracy and federalism. Traditionally, the Swiss have maintained their neutrality as a means to keep their (relatively) small nation from being overwhelmed by their more populous and bellicose neighbors. That, and the self defense protection afforded by the alpine ruggedness and isolation.

By Napoleon's time (1803), Switzerland was a Confederation of 19 cantons, Each canton had a good deal of autonomy within the loose confederation framework. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna affirmed Swiss independence and Swiss neutrality.

From 1843-51, the cantons of Zurich, Geneva, and Basil produced their own stamp issues. These are some of the most valuable stamps ever produced (CV $1,600-$40,000).

A new constitution was formed for the Federal State in 1848, modeled on the U.S.A. example. The constitution provided for a central Federal authority, while leaving the cantons to self-rule on local matters.

Stamps for the Federal Administration were introduced in 1850, as well as the new Swiss franc.

The initial stamps produced between 1850-1852 had a central vignette of the Swiss "Coat of Arms"

This was followed by the "Sitting Helvetia" type from 1854-1864.

Bern was selected as the "federal city" (Bundesstadt), and the Swiss population grew to 4,200,00 by 1941.

The International Committee of the Red Cross was formed in Geneva in 1863.

The League of Nations was based in Geneva in 1920.

Because of Switzerland's firm neutrality stance (and plain good luck!), the country was not invaded in either WW I or WW II.

In 2002, Switzerland became a full member of the United Nations.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for 1843-1942 Switzerland, 637 major descriptive numbers. The categories include the ultra-expensive Cantonal Administration stamps (1843-1850), regular, semi-postals, air post, postage due, official, official for the War Board of Trade, official for the League of Nations, official for the International Labor Bureau, and Franchise stamps. Of those (all the categories), 323 are CV <$1-$1+, or 51%.

Switzerland has a stellar reputation (and expense!) for the 1843-1850 Canton issues, the early 1850-1852 Federal Administration issues, and some of the non-perforated and perforated 19th century "Helvetia" issues. This is the playground of the philatelic rich and famous.

The 20th century regular issues, though, are generally at modest expense, as many were collected and saved. The semi-postals, which are lovely, are inexpensive to moderately expensive. Other categories ( air post, postage due, official) are a mixed bag: some inexpensive, some fairly expensive.

Big Blue '69, on eleven pages, has 321 spaces for regular, semi-postal, postage due, franchise, and air post stamps. No official stamp spaces were included. Coverage is 50%.

Of the 109 1913-1940 semi-postals in the Scott 1840-1940 catalogue, BB has spaces for all of them after 1918, save for the souvenir sheets. Nice! Of interest, none of the semi-postals in BB reach the CV $10 mark, although some are close.

The "Most Expensive" (CV > $35) eight stamps needed to fill BB spaces include ....

1858-62 Scott 35 2r gray ($275) !

1855-57 Scott 25 5r dark brown ($40)

1862-64 Scott 46 30c vermilion ($47.50)

1862-64 Scott 47 40c green ($65)

1882-89 Scott 75 15c yellow ($40)

1882 Scott 84 40c gray ($50)

1938 Scott 246 10fr green/greenish ($35)

1929 Scott C14 dull green, yellow green, & blue ($57.50)

There are an additional seventeen stamps that are "expensive" (CV $10+-$30+).

For more on Switzerland and the stamps themselves, click on the links below.

Switzerland Blog Post & BB Checklist

Switzerland Semi-Postals