Lovrenc Košir

Life & Legacy

Lovrenc Košir, also Laurenz Koschier (29 July 1804 – 7 August 1879) was a Slovenian accountant and civil servant in the Austrian Empire, who worked in Ljubljana. He is notable as being one of the claimants to the title of the inventor of the postage stamp, besides Rowland Hill and James Chalmers. His claim was widely supported in Austria and Yugoslavia, and he was recognized as undisputed "conceptual inventor" of postage stamps in those two countries. Today, those claims are controversial and he is not seen as undisputed inventor any more, as there is evidence that his claims were based on misconstructions.