A while back, Kathy and I were in her kitchen, I think she was making cookies and I was writing letters and we were being a perfect picture of idyllic homebodies. She asked me, "Why do so many postal logos use the horn?" And I spun her some story based on half-truths {as is my nature}, but eventually fessed up that I had no real idea and that I would investigate the matter.
The horn shows up in many European postal icons- Iceland, Finland, Sweden. My inquires eventually led me to the Postmuseum website, Sweden's postal museum. I picked them because their logo and postboxes show up most prominitely in my memory banks as being associated with that horn. I didn't find anything specific on the website, but I did find the email address for Bosse Andersson of the Postal History Collections and decided he would be the proper person to bother ask.
Mr. Andersson got back to me right away with the following information:
"The first use of the post horn gose back to the south of Germany in the middle age. It was the couriers who when they came close to the fortified towns gave the signal for the gates to be open.
In Sweden, the first time post horn is mentioned, is in the Royal decree 1636 that declares the founding of the Post office. Already in the first paragraph of the decree it is declared that when the farmer hears the signal from the horn he is to be ready to take on the letters and bring them forward. At this time it is consequently the signal and not the post horn in itself that is the symbol for the Post office. The post horn was also used to clear the roads; it was an offense to obstruct the post.
In the 17th and 18th century the post horn was used as a sign in seals and also in the shields that the couriers wore to show that they were in the service of the king.
The first established postal symbol in the Swedish Post office is from 1912."
Well, I thanked him and look at that. All that history, just because Kathy asked me a question in her kitchen over cookies. Know we know why the horn shows up so much, and I don't have to make anything up.
{P.S. Icelandic postbox photo from massdistraction}
Okay, that's a totally awesome explanation of the post horn! I always sort of wondered how it got associated with the delivery of mail. Very cool to know the answer at last. Thanks for inquiring!
Posted by: CMN | December 30, 2010 at 12:43 PM
Excellent! Thank you for sharing this, I always assumed that it might have something to do with announcing arrival but had no idea if I'd just made that up.
Posted by: Ashley B. | December 30, 2010 at 01:04 PM