On 18 October 2025, Austria Post issued a stamp produced using 3D printing — the first of its kind. The €6.50 stamp features an edelweiss bloom, made up of white bracts surrounding tiny yellow flowers. The new Edelweiss stamp comes 20 years after Austria Post issued its embroidered Edelweiss stamp of 2005.
How the Stamp Was Made
The Austrian embroidery manufacturer Hammerle & Vogel designed and printed the stamp using 3D printing, a manufacturing method that forms three-dimensional objects from digital designs by depositing material in successive layers. Austria Post said Hammerle & Vogel applied liquid photopolymer onto stamp sheets by using ultra-fine nozzles to form microscopic droplets in multiple layers, with each layer cured by UV light before the next was applied.
The bloom design is soft and flexible, according to Austria Post. The text on the stamp was also 3D printed in raised relief — a tactile feature unique to this landmark issue.
The Printing Error Variety
Our Copies Carry an Intriguing Printing Error
The stamp we offer from the 2025 3D printed Edelweiss issue show a notable printing error during the 3D deposition process. Print errors and production flaws like this are highly prized by philatelists — especially on innovative, first-edition issues where each stamp is built up droplet by droplet, making every sheet unique.
Because the stamp is created through additive 3D printing (rather than traditional flat printing), faults in the layered photopolymer deposition can appear as anomalies in the raised relief, the hairs, or the text. Such a variety adds a specialist twist to this already historic issue — a genuine conversation piece for error-stamp collectors.
View the photographs carefully before ordering — what you see is exactly what you get.
Close-up of the printing error on the 3D printed stamp
A World Beyond Stamps
The new technology of 3D printing has already been utilized on traditional paper products outside of stamps, such as in printing books in braille. Others have proposed that 3D printing could be used to guard against counterfeiting. Researchers from Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology published research on 3D printed security features, exploring whether they can better protect banknotes, documents and branded products than 2D security features such as holograms.
Austria Post's 2025 Edelweiss 3D printed stamp is featured with its first embroidered Edelweiss stamp of 2005, along with more of what Austria Post calls its most outstanding philatelic innovations, in a new book titled Innovation available from Austria Post.
Technical Specifications
| Issue Date | 18 October 2025 |
| Issuing Authority | Austria Post |
| Face Value | €6.50 |
| Stamp Size | 33 × 42 mm |
| Perforation | 14 × 13¾ |
| Production | 3D printing by Hammerle & Vogel |
| Printing Detail | 1,800 sheets of 50 |
| Total Quantity | 90,000 stamps |
| Variety | Printing error during 3D deposition |
Why This Issue Matters
The 2025 Edelweiss stamp marks a genuine turning point in stamp production — the first postage stamp manufactured with 3D printing. Coming exactly 20 years after Austria Post's embroidered Edelweiss issue, it completes a remarkable pair of tactile, ground-breaking stamps. For collectors of Austrian stamps, innovative stamp technology, or error varieties, our copies offer a rare opportunity to own a piece of philatelic history — complete with its own unique printing flaw.
One of these 3D printed Edelweiss stamps with the printing error is now available from Philately World. Secure yours before they are gone.
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