LAPE #3 1860 This is the first actual lion stamp of Finland. Although Finland still was a part of Russia, we did already have our own stamps. In the middle is the arms of Finland but there is no name of the country. The value of the stamp is in Russian currency. In this case five kopeks. These and following stamps are called large perforation stamps.
LAPE #8 1866 In this year Finland got its own currency the Finnish mark. Therefor the currency of the stamps were changed.
LAPE #14S 1875 In this model there is already the name of the country printed. However, suprisingly only in Finnish and Swedish but not in Russian. A clear sign of the Finnish independency from the Russian Empire. In the middle is the arms of Finland.
LAPE #28A 1889 In this model there is already all the three languages. Observe the difference in the arms in the middle compared to the previous stamp. Likevise the value is no longer printed in all corners, but in the bottom only in the middle. At the same time here were also used stamps with the Russian imperial eagle. Most of these stamps were still denominated in Finnish currency even if in year 1891 there were stamps which were denominated in Russian currency.
LAPE #74 1917 Finland became independent and published own stamps. This stamp was designed by architect Eliel Saarinen.
LAPE #83 1918 During the civil war in year 1918 the Whites published a slightly different model.
LAPE #151 01.01.1930 In year 1930 the lion stamps were reformed.
LAPE #430 01.06.1954 And again in year 1954... The inflation had already affected the values of the stamps quite a lot.
LAPE #556 02.01.1963 In year 1963 the inflation had gone so far, that marks had to be changed to pennies.
LAPE #776 02.01.1976 Last time so far the lion stamps were reformed in the beginning of year 1975. These stamps are used still today. Mostly, though, in association with other stamps.
LAPE #1425 12.03.1998 In year 1992 Finland began to use so called perma stamps. The idea of these stamps was, that you could mail a letter which does weight under 50 grams with a class 1 stamp and the cost is determined when you buy the stamp. So finally we got rid of the 10 penny stamps after every prize rise. And these were sticker stamps, too. So the fastening has been made as easy as it can be. These stamps have practically replaced lion stamps and at the same time the theme has changed to province flowers.