Telegrams

For a long time, telegrams could be used to send a message quickly over a long(er) distance. With a telegram, derived from the Greek words for ‘far’ and ‘to write’, only the message is sent.
The first experimental telegraph was the optical telegraph of Claude Chappe, between Paris and Lille. By using fifteen signal posts, a message could be transmitted in thirteen (!) minutes in 1793. For comparison: a rider on horseback took 20 hours to do this. Until 1850, when the optical telegraph was replaced by the electric telegraph, the network was perfected to such an extent that it lay like a web across the whole of France, with Paris as its centre. The total length of the network eventually amounted to 5000 km and it had approximately 500 signal towers.

An optical telegraph signal post

Around 1835 the electric telegraph was invented. The principle is simple. An electric current is interrupted and switched on again in a certain pattern. A text is transmitted in code and deciphered at the receiving end, written down and delivered as a telegram to the addressee. The code, often the well-known Morse code of Samuel Morse, is entered with a signal-key.

The telegraph lines along which the signal was transmitted were initially constructed in conjunction with the railways, which were beginning to expand around the same time. Later, telegraph lines were constructed separately from the railways.

At a (telegraph) office, a form could be filled in by the sender. After the message had been paid for, with or without telegram stamps, a telegrapher sent the message to a receiving office. Here, the text was written or typed on an arrival form. The telegram was then delivered by special deliverers.

Form filled in by the sender of the telegram

Partly under the influence of Marconi, it became possible to send telegrams via radio waves from the beginning of 1900: wireless telegraphy.
The arrival and spread of the telephone led to a decrease in the use of telegrams. The need for it diminished. After the invention of the telex, this medium, which was linked to the telephone network, was used to send telegrams. However, fax and later email gave the telegram the final blow. In many countries, it is no longer possible to send regular telegrams.
Telegrams were often regular forms that sometimes contained commercial advertising in addition to the normal postal information and the telegram message.

Backside of a telegram with advertisement message

The inside of the telegram with the actual message

A special kind of telegrams are the good luck telegrams. These telegrams are often provided with beautiful images but cost a bit more. A good luck telegram that many MFN-ers will probably have is the Greetings Telegram from the British post shown below.

But also the Benelux countries Netherlands and Belgium used to have such kind of good luck telegrams.

In April 1995, PTT successor KPN Telecom issued a series of 17 telegrams with various subjects.
The telegram cost 23.50 guilders plus a few quarters for each word.
Because the average Dutch person did not receive a telegram every day, the only way for collectors to obtain one was to send a telegram to themselves. At the post office, you could choose the desired image. When ordering by telephone, this option was not available.

Dutch goodluck telegram designs from which a choice could be made

Example of the address on a telegram

Example of the message in a good luck telegram

In 2001, KPN Telecom also stopped the possibility to send telegrams. This service was then taken over by Telegram.nl, a private company. UTS is the owner of this official telegram service of more than 45 countries. UTS is located in Baar (Switzerland).

Postograms were issued by the Belgian Post between 1984 and 2002. The one pictured below is number 79 from 1993. What was special about these Postograms was that you could enter the date of receipt. At the bottom left of the envelope there are a few boxes available for entering the delivery date. Delivery on Saturday was also possible. The original price was 50 BEF (Belgian Franks) for the illustration, including the envelope. The expensive Dutch Harley Davidson without duo was exchanged for a cheaper Japanese model at the Belgian Postogram. But with a bride on the existing duo seat.

The Belgian good luck Postogram

Envelop of the Belgian good luck Postogram

It goes without saying that telegrams with advertising and good luck telegrams with special images can be used very well in thematic collections.

Nico Helling

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