Aland in Russia

As a consequence of the Swedish-Russian war in 1808/09, Sweden lost its Finnish territory to the the Russian Empire including Aland. Zar Alexander I, the then ruler of the Russian Empire, granted Finland which was to be named the Grand-Duchy of Finland autonomy. Therefore postal services of the Grand-Duchy were self-controlled.

With the Russification of the later 19th century until 1917, Aland suffered the same consequences postally as the rest of the Grand-Duchy of Finland culminating in the use of stamps of Russian design

1821

The Aland Mail Route

Aland Mail Route invoice St. Petersburg - Grislehamn - Warrington, front

Aland Mail Route invoice St. Petersburg - Grislehamn - Warrington, rear

Letter written on August 23, 1821, in St. Petersburg (Russia). Destination: Warrington (Great Britain).
The letter arrived in London on September 26, 1821. It bears two arrival stamps and a single line reading “GRISLEHAMN.” The letter was transported from east to west via the Aland postal route.
The content is an invoice. FPO (Foreign Post Office) stamp from London, September 26, 1821, and GSE stamp (“G” for device designation; in London, A to G were used, “SE” for September, therefore September 26, 1821). The narrow outer two circles of the stamp indicate that it was stamped in the evening

1908

Stamps with Russian Design