Illustration of a historical stamp for learning, shown at screen size. Not valid for postage.
How to read it
SVERIGE at the top: Sweden, even when the colour is wrong.
- 1SVERIGE
- 2TRE SKILL. Bco
- Inscription
- SVERIGE · TRE SKILL. Bco
- Meaning
- SVERIGE is Sweden. TRE SKILL. means three skilling, but this stamp is yellow, the colour of the 8-skilling value.
- Issued by
- Kingdom of Sweden
- Today
- Sweden Flag of Sweden
- Year
- 1855. Printed 1855; this copy was postmarked in 1857.
- Made by
- Pehr Ambjörn Sparre (die and printing, died 1921)
One fact
This is the Treskilling Yellow: a 3-skilling stamp printed in yellow instead of blue-green, probably after an 8-skilling plate piece was swapped in. Only one copy is known.
Source and public-domain rule
Creators died more than 70 years ago. Sparre died 1921; any other workshop hand was an adult in 1855 and is long dead. Copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years, counted from 1 January of the year after death. Every named designer and engraver of the stamp died before 1 January 1956; any contributor who was never named counts as anonymous, whose term is 70 years from publication, and the stamp was published before 1956. Legal sources: Directive 2006/116/EC, Art. 1(1) life + 70 years; Art. 1(3) anonymous works 70 years from publication; Art. 7(1) comparison of terms for works from outside the EU; Art. 8 terms run from 1 January, Switzerland, Norway.
Scan: Gul tre skilling banco.jpg on Wikimedia Commons (revision 1058984747), licence templates {{PD-old-auto-1923}}. Downloaded 2026-10-19, sha256 69fa90f54393…; cropped and cleaned for this site. Facts checked 2026-10-19 against source 1 and source 2. Research record, not legal advice; a human rights review is pending. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
