Along with several other nations, the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

 maintained its own post office

Post office

A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

s in Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

 in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The three post offices, in Chania

Chania

Chaniá , , also transliterated Chania, Hania, and Xania, older form Chanea and Venetian Canea, Ottoman Turkish خانيه Hanya) is the second largest city of Crete and the capital of the Chania peripheral unit...

, Heraklion

Heraklion

Heraklion, or Heraclion is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete, Greece. It is the 4th largest city in Greece....

 and Rethymno

Rethymno

Rethymno is a city of approximately 40,000 people in Greece, the capital of Rethymno peripheral unit in the island of Crete. It was built in antiquity , even though was never a competitive Minoan centre...

, operated from 1890 until 1914, replacing earlier Austrian Lloyd postal agencies and official Austrian postal agencies which operated in turn in these towns starting in 1837 and 1845 respectively.

These offices used Austrian stamps denominated or surcharged in various currencies (Lombardy-Venetian soldi, Turkish paras and piastres, and French centimes and francs) or, much more rarely, used regular unsurcharged Austrian stamps.

Many stamp collectors and catalogues have traditionally referred to just the French currency issues as "Austrian Post Offices in Crete", distinguishing them from the Turkish currency issues which have been referred to as "Austrian Post Offices in the Turkish Empire" or as "Austrian Levant". However, stamps in both currencies were in use both in the offices in Crete and in many other Austrian post offices within the Ottoman Empire so this distinction is misleading.

The French currency stamps were first issued in 1903 with the last set in 1908 in designs similar to the Austrian set commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Emperor

Franz Joseph I of Austria

Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...

's accession.

Sources

• Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue - Part 2: Austria & Hungary, 6th Edition 2002, pp 148-152
• Rienk M. Feenstra
  Rienk Feenstra
  Rienk Feenstra was an international expert in Greek philately, writing and editing key reference books in this area, especially on the stamps and postal history of Crete....
  
   & Friends, Crete: Postal History, Postage and Revenue Stamps, Coins & Banknotes (collectio, 2001, ISBN 960-85275-6-2)
• Encyclopaedia of Postal History retrieved 12 October 2009.
• Rossiter, Stuart
  Stuart Rossiter
  Percival "Stuart" Bryce Rossiter was a renowned British philatelist and postal historian who wrote extensively about British postal history and postage stamps of British colonies in Africa and was actively involved in numerous philatelic institutions...
  
  & John Flower. The Stamp Atlas. London: Macdonald, 1986, p.331. ISBN 0356108627