Szekula Philately

Eugen Szekula

“Free Prussian stamps for your address!”
(Am häuslichen Herd 1916/1917)

“We will pay high prices for your stamps!”
(Nebelspalter 1944)

Eugen Szekula was born in Szeged on March 9, 1888. On August 19, 1912, he married Elisabeth Zenner in Budapest. First ads for buying stamps appeared in Swiss newspapers as early as 1915, and in January 1917 he opened his own “Briefmarken-Import und -Export” (= stamp import and export) business “Eugen Szekula” in Lucerne. On July 5, 1919 he became a naturalized Swiss citizen of Geuensee. In September 1919 Eugen closed his business at Grendelstrasse 19 and reopened it as “Briefmarken-Import und -Exporthaus” (= stamp import and export house) at the new address Hertensteinstrasse 56. Like the rest of the family he changed the spelling of his name to Sekula in March 1923. Apparently his business went well for the next ten years, but in 1933 he was facing bankruptcy. As a result, in August of that year Eugen’s stamp import and export firm was converted into a corporation, “Eugen Sekula A.G.,” with him as director. In August 1934 the Eugen Sekula A.G. changed its name to “Atlas Briefmarken A.G. in Luzern (Atlas Stamp Ltd. Lucerne).” In February 1935 the board of the Atlas Briefmarken A.G. in Luzern decided to leave Lucerne and move to Lugano; the corporation was renamed to “Atlas Briefmarken A.G. in Lugano (Atlas Stamp Ltd. Lugano).” After less than three years, In November 1937 the Atlas Briefmarken A.G. in Lugano moved again, this time to Zurich, and became “Atlas Briefmarken A.G. in Zurich (Atlas Stamp Ltd. Zurich).” Director at that time was still Eugen Sekula. However, he probably turned his back on the stamp business many years before the Atlas Briefmarken A.G. in Zurich went bankrupt in April 1950.
Although he was much less of a traveler, Eugen Sekula’s “business qualities” probably came close to those of Béla. A failed attempt to establish his own stamp-like labels in the Swiss postal system in 1930 shows that he was similarly creative, but he also employed the same sale tactics as Béla sending out unwanted stamp selections and then aggressively demanding payment — eventually with the same result. In 1934 the U.S. Post imposed a short-lived embargo on both of them, even marking postal money orders as “fraudulent” and returning them to the sender.

1916-02 Cover

Sent on February 10, 1916 from Luzern to Helsingborg, Sweden.

Scan provided by Max Brack.

1920 Return Envelope

Pre-addressed envelope sent registered in August, 1920 from Copenhagen, Denmark to Eugen Sekula.

1920-10 Cover

Sent on October 29, 1920 from Helsinki, Finland to Eugen Szekula in Lucerne.

1921-02 Cover

Cash paid printed matter sent on February 19, 1921 within Lucerne to Eugen Szekula at “Villa Sonnenhof”.

Scan provided by Max Brack.

1921-05 Postcard

Sent on May 25, 1921 by Eugen Sekula from Lucerne to Millville, New Jersey, USA.

1921-08 Cover

Sent on August 7, 1921 from Nysted, Denmark, to Eugen Szekula in Lucerne.

1923-02 Cover

Cover sent on February 9, 1923 from Valletta, Malta, to Lucerne, Switzerland.

1923-05 Cover

Cover sent on May 19, 1923 from Saint Pierre and Miquelon to Lucerne, Switzerland.

1923-11 Cover

Registered cover sent on November 2, 1923 from Roustschouk (= Ruse), Bulgaria, to Lucerne, Switzerland.

1924-01 Postcard

Postcard sent on January 7, 1924 from Lucerne to Brussels, Belgium.

1924-10 Cover

Registered cover sent on October 7, 1924 from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Lucerne, Switzerland.

1924-10 Return Envelope

Pre-addressed envelope sent registered on October 6, 1924 from Bordeaux, France, to Eugen Sekula.

1924-11 Cover

Registered cover sent on November 23, 1924 from Varna, Bulgaria, to Lucerne, Switzerland.

1925-01 Cover

Registered cover sent on January 27, 1925 from Strasbourg, France, to Lucerne.

1925-03 Return Envelope

Pre-addressed envelope sent registered on March 30, 1925 from Diessenhofen to Eugen Sekula in Lucerne.

1925-04-08 Cover

Registered cover sent on April 8, 1925 to Dole, Jura, Switzerland.

1925-12-09 Postcard

A postcard from Eugen Sekula to the editor of the “General Anzeiger für Philatelie”, where he complains that his advertisement was not printed correctly. The advertisement contained the phrase “ordinary nominal value”, but he insists on never having used the word “ordinary” and therefore refuses to pay for it.

1925-12-21 Cover

Registered cover sent on December 21, 1925 to Bruges, Belgium, redirected to Namur.

1926 Cover

Sent on July 15, 1926 to Caxias do Sul, Brazil.

1927-06 Cover

Registered cover sent on June 7, 1927 to Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany.

1927-08 Cover

Sent on August 20, 1927 to Montclair, New Jersey, USA.

1927-12 Cover

Registered cover sent on December 24, 1927 to Reading, Pennsylvania, USA.

1928-05 Cover

Cover sent on May 11, 1928 from Harburg-Wilhelmsburg (now part of Hamburg), Germany, to Lucerne, Switzerland.

1928-06-25 Cover

Special cacheted cover for the benefit of war invalids sent on June 25, 1928 from Riga, Latvia via airmail to Eugen Sekula.

Scan provided by Albert Little.

1928-07 Postcard

Sent on July 4, 1928 from Lucerne to Montreal, Canada.

1928-07-04 Postcard

Advertising postcard sent to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

1928-07-20 Cover

Sent on July 20, 1928 to New York City, USA.

Scan provided by Albert Little.

1928-09 Cover

Registered cover sent on September 26, 1928 to Corvallis, Oregon, USA.

1929-03 Return Envelope

Pre-addressed envelope sent on March 8, 1929 from Berlin to Lucerne.

Scan provided by Albert Little.

1929-08 Covers

Sent registered in August 1929 to Bad Homburg, Germany.

August 9, 1929.

August 20, 1929.

1929-11 Picture Postcard

Sent on November 2 from Friedrichshafen, Germany, to Lucerne. Carried by the airship “Graf Zeppelin” making her first trip to Switzerland. The postcard was printed on thick paper rather than cardboard to reduce the weight.

1929-12-03 Cover

Sent on December 3, 1929 to Effretikon.

1929-12-31 Cover

Sent on December 31, 1929 to Alfred, New York, USA.

Scans provided by Albert Little.

1930 Postcard

Payment reminder sent on October 4 to Lübeck, Germany.

1930-02 Cover

Sent on February 25, 1930 to Gabolshausen (today part of Bad Königshofen), Bavaria, Germany.

1930-04 Cover

Sent on April 17, 1930 to Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

1930-05 Postcard

Sent on May 28, 1930 to Osijek, Yugoslavia (today in Croatia).

1930-05 Return Envelope

Pre-addressed envelope sent on May 23, 1930 from Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, to Eugen Sekula in Lucerne.

1930-06 Cover

Sent in June, 1930 from Triebendorf, Czechoslovakia (today Třebařov, Czech Republic) to Lucerne, Switzerland.

1930-09 Cover

Sent on September 2, 1930 to Bern, Switzerland.

1930-09 Postcard

Sent on November 14 from Geneva to Lucerne. Carried to Zurich by the airship “Graf Zeppelin” (LZ 127) on her way back from her first trip to Geneva.

1930-09 Vignettes

In 1930, Eugen Sekula had a very special idea for injecting his own creations into the philatelic market: instead of printing or writing the words “Porto bezahlt”, “Port payé” or “Porto pagato” (German, French and Italian for “Postage paid”) on envelopes meant to be sent out as cash paid printed matter, he started using stamp-like labels he had produced himself for that purpose. On September 24 the post office no. 6 of Lucerne granted permission to use these labels. After preparing a few hundred covers he began sending them out on October 10. His marketing ploy only lasted 10 days. On October 20, as soon as the postal administration of Lucerne became aware of this, further use of these labels was prohibited.
Instead of feeling defeated the businessman Sekula immediately saw an opportunity. Pointing out the rareness of his vignettes in ads placed in various philatelic journals he began selling his leftovers at high prices! Complete sets of all four stamps were offered in special glassine booklets in German, French, and English. The ones shown below contain the scarcer set of tête-bêche printed pairs.

1930-10 Postcard

Picture postcard sent to Denmark on October 16, 1930. Due to the short period of time the Sekula labels were accepted by the Swiss post office in Lucerne, traveled covers with these labels are rare.

1931-02 Cover

Sent on February 19, 1931 to Vienna, Austria.

1931-05 Cover

Sent on May 27, 1931 to Columbus, Ohio, USA.

Scans provided by Albert Little.

1931-06 Postal Card

Postal card sent on June 17, 1931 from Terrassa, Spain to Lucerne.

1931-07 Return Envelope

Pre-addressed envelope sent on July 29, 1931 from Valparaiso, Chile, to Eugen Sekula.

1931-08 Postcard

Sent on August 28, 1931 to Brooklyn, New York City, USA.

Scans provided by Albert Little.

1931-09 Postcard

Postcard sent on September 17, 1931 via airmail to Vienna, Austria, to collect payment by cash on delivery. Returned to Lucerne on September 21 (backstamp) because receiver refused delivery.

1931-12 Cover

Sent on December 31, 1931 to Schenectady, New York, USA.

1931-12 Postcard

Postcard sent on December 12, 1931 via airmail to Oberifflingen, Germany, to collect payment on delivery.

1932-03 Cover

Sent registered on March 17, 1932 to Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA.

1933-05-05 Cover

Sent on May 5, 1933 to Liestal.

1933-05-27 Cover

Sent on May 27, 1933 to Ennenda (today Glarus).

1933-08 Cover

Sent registered on August 26, 1933 from Lucerne to Königstein, Saxony, Germany.

1933-12 Cover

In 1933, Eugen converted his company into a corporation to avoid bankruptcy. On August 22, the “Eugen Sekula” company was replaced by the “Eugen Sekula A.G.” (Eugen Sekula Inc.) with him as director.

Registered cover sent on December 21, 1933, by Eugen Sekula Inc. from Lucerne to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, USA.

1934-04 Cover

Registered cover sent on April 7, 1934, by Eugen Sekula Inc. from Lucerne to Reading, Pennsylvania, USA.

1934-06 Cover

Sent registered on June 18, 1934 to Linn’s Weekly Stamp News in Columbus, Ohio, USA.

1934-08 Letter

On August 20, 1934, the “Eugen Sekula A.G.” in Lucerne changed its name to “Atlas Stamp Ltd. Lucerne.”
The letter below was sent one week later to inform a customer in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, about the name change.

1935-04 Cover

Sent registered on April 16, 1935 from Castagnola (today part of Lugano) to Brooklyn, New York City, USA.

1936-05-01 Cover

Registered cover sent on May 1, 1936 from Castagnola to Maplewood, New Jersey, USA.

1936-05-21 Cover

Sent registered on May 21, 1936 from Castagnola (today part of Lugano) to New York City, USA.

1936-07 Cover

Philatelic cover sent registered on July 29, 1936 from Brussels, Belgium to Lugano.

1937-02 Cover

Sent on February 4, 1937 from Lugano to Peterswald bei Karbitz, Czechoslovakia (Petrovice u Chabařovic, today Czechia).

1937-04 Postcard

Sent on April 12, 1937 from Montreux to Atlas Stamp Ltd., Lugano, on the occasion of the Montreux Convention Regarding the Abolition of the Capitulations in Egypt.