Stamp on stamps

Receipt

Some postal matters do not give you hardly any additional information. Often there are more question marks than answers. This is one of them, it is a receipt from the Post Office Tyringe in the south of Sweden. This receipt form could be used for several purposes:
    - Stamps
    - Postage due
    - Christmas stamps
    - Stamp taxes, excise duties
    - Custom duties
    - Cash on delivery fee

There are five stamps on the receipt, four green 80 öre Rock Carvings type II issued in 1957. Type II means that the stamps belongs to the second or third issue of the Rock Carvings, the first one came 1954. Type II also meant that the initials of the designer (del. = latin  delineavit) and the engraver (sc. = latin sculpsit) were both added at the bottom of the stamps. A feature introduces by the Swedish Post in 1957. That feature is the easiest way to distinguish between the two types.

A fee of 3.60 kr was probably paid, but for what?
1957, 1 June. 80 öre green Rock Carvings type II. Qty: 57,000,000
1957, 15 October. 40 öre green Gustaf VI Adolf type II. Qty: 38,400,000

The Rock Carvings was an attempt to modernize the Swedish definitive stamps and it mostly complemented the long running Three Crown series that was issued from 1939. The design of the Rock Carvings felt fresh and modern at the time and it connected to Swedish ancient history instead of the usual theme for definitive series like the king or formal Swedish symbols. The motif was modern in a modest way.

The 40 öre green Gustaf VI Adolf type II was aimed to cover the rate for international letters  -20 g. The background of type II consisted of a cross pattern, which resulted in a tighter background pattern and the colours became more noticeable. Compared with type I that had a linear background engraved and that turned out to be to light and the colours were not distinct enough. The type II also got the initials of the designer and the engraver added at the bottom of the stamp.

A 40 öre green Gustaf VI Adolf type II was applied, this is an old stamp since the receipt is from September 3 1962. Why use an old stamp? The successor 40 öre green type II was issued already in October 23 1961 and should by September 1962 be already in use at the Post Office Tyringe. That is puzzling. It does not stop there.

The sum of the stamps are 3.60 kr but we do not know what was bought. Stamps? The receipt is not filled in correctly. There is no signature by the Post Office clerk, it is not specified what kind of purchase that have been done. Maybe they were a little careless that day in Tyringe and just hand over the receipt in a hurry?

Or maybe the purchase did not happen? Something went wrong . . .


Tyringe is situated 442 km SW of Stockholm. The distance by road is 532 km.

International letter for Christmas

1972 Christmas stamp

This letter has a yellow label where the sender informs that the letter has a philatelic franking and advises that the cancellation stamping should be done with a light hand. The philatelic arrangement of the stamps was not that well done and the cancellation stamp was done by a machine, not by hand. Well, sometimes the Swedish Post did not care about philatelists' demands.

This was an international letter  - 20 g and the fee was 1 kr. A 15 öre blue Mailplanes and a 75 öre multi-coloured 1972 Christmas stamp did not quite add up to the fee. The Mailplane stamp was taken from the 21st slot machine booklet issued in September 1972. The motif is the mighty Junkers Ju-52 with pontons. The plane was called Södermanland and own by ABA, the predecessor to  SAS. The 75 öre Christmas stamp had been issued just two weeks before the letter was sent. The motif is a S:t Lucia procession and was from a drawing competition for children. A 15 öre stamp had no single use in 1972, but the 75 öre was the postal rate for domestic letter   - 20 g.

1972, 8 September. 15 öre blue Mailplanes. Qty: 4,600,000 (21st slot machine booklet)
1972, 6 November. 75 öre multi-coloured Christmas stamp. Qty: 18,200,000

On Tuesday 21st November 1972 Mr. Alf Lilja in Luleå decided to cheer up his stamp collecting friend Mr. Stefan Münch in East Germany. The letter was handled by normal procedures by the Post Office Luleå 1 and no consideration was taken to Mr. Liljas request for a nice cancellation of the stamps. Maybe because only 90 öre was paid? The letter went to the small city of Meerane in Saxony. Hopefully Mr. Münch appreciated the letter anyway.

One went flying, the other went by ship

These two letters were sent the same day Thursday 3 August 1950 by the same sender. The peculiar thing is that one was sent as an air mail letter and the other one as an ordinary international letter to the same address. The airmail letter has three  20 öre red Gustaf V, right profile. They are all perforated on three sides, one pair and one single stamp and hence came from a booklet, actually from the 64th booklet by Swedish Post first issued in 1942. It contained 20 stamps and the cost was 4 kr. Three 20 öre stamps makes 60 öre and that was the fee for   - 5 g air mail to North America in 1950. The other letter, which is a  - 20 g international letter, has two 15 öre brown Gustaf V, right profile. They are also perforated on three sides and they are from the 71st booklet first issued in 1945. A closer look at the 15 öre stamps tells me that these are of version I. For example the band of medals on the king's chest are less detailed and light. (This post deals with the two versions.)

Top: airmail letter to North America fee: 60 öre
7 March, 1942, 20 öre red Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 98,000,0000 (pairs), 3-sided perforation
Bottom:  - 20 g international letter fee: 30 öre
14 February, 1945, 15 öre brown Gustaf V, right profile, version I. Qty: 18,400,000 (pairs both versions), 3-sided perforation

The letters were taken care of the Post Office Stockholm 1, the Post Office was co-located with the head quarters of the Swedish Post at 28 - 34 Vasa Street (Vasagatan 28 - 34), where the Swedish Post filled up two blocks.

On the the other side of the letter covers the following is printed "Josef Kastengren, Buhlsjö, Österbymo". It turns out that Mr. Kastengren got the first formal driver license in Sweden in January 1907. Well, people were driving along without a license in those days, but this guy was the first one to get a permit the right way. He was a driving instructor and taught the Swedish royals to drive as well, actually he taught the king on the stamps, he was also a car salesman and a business man in the Swedish car industry. Quite a legend.

Eventually both letter reach their destination. 1100 E. Hector Street, Conshohocken, PA.
(Google street)

43 years after he got his license he still seemed to be in the business because the letters were sent to the well known Lee Tire and Rubber Company in maybe less known Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Famous for its car tires.The factory was built in 1910 by John Ellwood Lee, in 1965 it was bought by Goodyear and it closed down in 1980. But it did not end there. The old factory ground was turned into offices and called Lee Park and lately it has undergone some major renovations. It got a new name too, Spring Mill Corporate Center. In 1984 it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

The odd thing is that the letter that not was sent as an air mail letter has "5 gr" written by hand, indicating that some one bother to put in on a scale. It seems like it was supposed to be sent by air too, the way that the stamps are applied and that they are from booklets indicates to me that it was most likely not done by Swedish Post.
. . . ah well, the mystery will remain unsolved.

Postage rates effective April 1942

Raises of the postage rates were still decided by the Swedish Parliament in the 40s and it was not always that they granted a raise. In spring 1942 the second world war was going on in Europe and sometimes the war was awfully close to the Swedish border. Both fiscal years 1940 and 1941 had meant drastically increased defense costs and a higher inflation. The Swedish government introduced in 1942 both a price and a wage freeze to get control of things. They also wanted to raise the postal rate for domestic letters in order to bring in more income to finance the defense. The Swedish parliament granted that request. This raise was therefore unique since it was not required to cover increasing costs for Swedish Post and also it only affected a few postage rates.

Domestic Postal Rates

From left to right:                                                                                             

1939, 12 November. 10 öre violet Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 367,000,000
1940, 13 April, 20 öre red Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 880,000,000
1940, 8 April. 40 öre olive-green Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 84,100,000
1939, 10 February 10. 60 öre red-carmine Three Crowns. Qty: 77,900,000
1941, 23 January. 5 öre green Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 415,000,000
1940, 13 April, 20 öre red Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 880,000,000
1940, 8 April. 30 öre blue Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 57,300,000

The Gustaf V right profile type II definitive series covered well almost all rates except one, the heaviest weight class that required 60 öre. There was no 60 öre in the series and there were not supposed to be one either. The reason was that one of the purposes of the Three Crowns definitive series was to cover the three lowest weight classes for parcels. 60 öre was the rate for a parcel  - 1 kg, as well as for domestic letter  - 500 g. Besides the raise of the  - 20 g letter from 15 öre to 20 öre the  - 250 g weight class vanished and the rate for  - 125 g was raised from 30 to 40 öre.

Local Postal Rates

From left to right:                                                                                          
1939, 12 November. 10 öre violet Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 367,000,000
1940, 13 April, 20 öre red Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 880,000,000
1940, 8 April. 30 öre blue Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 57,300,000
1940, 8 April. 40 öre olive-green Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 84,100,000

This is a beautiful suite of Gustaf V right profile type II, 10 - 20 - 30 - 40 öre in a row. The special postal rates for local letters still existed in 1942 and would do so for ten years more. There is an extra weight class compared with the domestic postal rates. The   - 125 g weight class was kept for local letters, to the benefit of the customers. There were no changes of these rates either.

International Postal Rates

From left to right:                                                                              
1940, 13 April, 20 öre red Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 880,000,000
1940, 8 April. 30 öre blue Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 57,300,000
1940, 8 April. 40 öre olive-green Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 84,100,000
1939, 10 February 10. 60 öre red-carmine Three Crowns. Qty: 77,900,000
1939, 12 November. 10 öre violet Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 367,000,000
1939, 22 September. 90 öre light blue Three Crowns. Qty: 29,700,000
1939, 22 September.1 kr orange Three Crowns. Qty: 141,000,000
1939, 12 November. 10 öre violet Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 367,000,000

So far single stamps have covered each rate. In 1942 there was not yet a 70 öre Three Crown nor a 1.10 kr stamp either so two stamps were required for  - 60 g and  - 100 g letters. As you can see the stamp for postcard and letter  - 20 g are UPU-coloured. Red for postcard and blue for letter. The rates were not changed.

From left to right                                                                                    
1941, 23 January. 5 öre green Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 415,000,000
1940, 13 April, 20 öre red Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 880,000,000
1939, 10 February 10. 60 öre red-carmine Three Crowns. Qty: 77,900,000

The stamp for printed matter has also the right UPU-colour which is green in this case.

Parcel Postal Rates

From left to right
1939, 10 February 10. 60 öre red-carmine Three Crowns. Qty: 77,900,000
1939, 22 September. 90 öre light blue Three Crowns. Qty: 29,700,000
1939, 22 September. 1 kr 20 öre rose-lilac Three Crowns. Qty: 9,200,000
1939, 20 November. 1 kr 45 öre yellow-green Three Crowns. Qty: 2,800,000
 1941, 23 January. 35 öre carmine-violet Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 20,000,000
2 x 1939, 22 September.1 kr orange Three Crowns. Qty: 141,000,000
1940, 8 April. 40 öre olive-green Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 84,100,000

The parcel rates were not raised and they had been the same since 1922. As mentioned above one of the purposes with the Three Crown definitive series was to cover the most common parcel weight classes and it did for many years.

Overview

Domestic [öre]

Postcard	- 20 g*	- 125 g*	- 500 g	Printed matter	Registred fee	Express fee
10	20	40	60	5	20	30

*) raised from 15 öre to 20 öre and from 30 öre to 40 öre

Local [öre]

- 20 g	- 125 g	- 250 g	- 500 g
10	20	30	40

International [öre]

Postcard	- 20 g	- 40 g	- 60 g	- 80 g	- 100 g	Printed  matter	Registred fee	Express fee
20	30	50	70	90	110	5	20	60

Parcels [öre]

- 1 kg	1 - 3 kg	3 - 5 kg	5 - 6 kg	6 - 7 kg
60	90	120	180	240

Read more:

You can read more about the Gustaf V right profile type II series - here and 

more about the Three Crowns series - here.

Heavy forms

Epoch-making stamps on parcel address card

There is only one thing that could come from the village Tandsbyn in the northern Swedish province Jämtland - paper forms. The print shop in Tandsbyn was where almost all bank paper forms were printed in Sweden. At least in the old days. The sender is just "Tandsbyn", as printed on the parcel address card, no more information was needed and of course the content is "printed matter", as always.

This time it was the Bankgirocentralen that had ordered 12 kg of paper forms. The Bankgirocentralen is the money transfer system, clearing service, that is owned jointly by the banks in Sweden. The Swedish Post's Postgirot was the main competitor from 1959 and for many decades until the Swedish Post sold the Postgirot to one of the Swedish banks when it ceased acting as a bank. Bankgirocentralen or rather Bankgirot is still prosperous, but hardly any paper forms are used anymore.

Domestic parcel 10 - 15 kg fee: 14 kr.
1966, 18 April, 3.50 kr grey/olive-green Ale's Stones,. Qty: 24,500,000

The postal rate for a 12 kg parcel was 14 kr since January 1967 and it would remain so until January 1969. The stamp used are the beautiful 3.50 kr grey/olive Ale's stones, four was required in this case. The Ale's Stones was a new kind of definitive stamps when it came in April 1966. The Ale's stone was a single definitive stamp aimed for domestic parcels. One stamp only, no series. Until this stamp showed up covering the rates for the three most common parcels rates was the job of the the Three Crowns definitive series and before that its predecessor the Crown and Posthorn definitive series. Not anymore.

Domestic parcel rates from January 1967 until January 1969:
- 1 kg 1 - 3 kg 3 - 5 kg 5 - 7 kg 7 - 10 kg   10 - 15 kg 15 - 20 kg
2.80 kr 3.70 kr 4.50 kr 7.00 kr   10.50 kr   [14.00 kr] 17.00 kr

In 1966 the Ale's stones covered parcels of a weight between 3 and 5 kg, it did that until January 1967. After that there was no obvious single use for a 3.50 kr stamp. As  you can see above the Post Office in Tandsbyn had good use for the Ale's stones anyway, but from January1969  it became even better when the postal rate for parcels  - 1 kg required 3.50 kr. What happened to the three Crowns series? well it faded away slowly along with the raises of the rates.

This heavy parcel was sent from Tandsbyn on Friday 5 July 1968 and it arrived at the Post Office Stockholm 1 the next day. On Monday it was picked up by Bankgirocentralen at the special parcel office in the corner of Brewer Street and North Klara Church Street (Bryggargatan/Klara Norra Kyrkogata). The funny thing is that the parcel office was facing the building where the competitor Postgirot was located. Another funny thing is that they had to pick up the parcel at Stockholm 1. There were Post Offices much closer to S:t Paul Street where Bankgirocentralen had their office. One might wonder why?

Tandsbyn is situated 446 km NW of Stockholm.

Hardware for hardware store

Pair of Three Crowns

A parcel with spare parts and accessories, at least according to the printed text in the box where the sender declares the content. It seems reasonable, the receiver is the Bergman's Hardware Inc. in Hudiksvall. They had probably good use for spare parts. The parcel was picked up at the Post Office Hudiksvall 1 located at 1 Station Street (Stationsgatan 1) on Wednesday 24 July 1968 and it was sent two days earlier from Post Office Stockholm 23 at 16 Yngliga Saga Street (Ynglingagatan 16), the Ynglinga saga is an old Icelandic traditional folk saga. The weight of the parcel was under 1 kg so there might not have been much metal in that parcel.

Cash on delivery; domestic parcel   - 1 kg fee: 2.80 kr  +  C.O.D. fee: 70 öre
1939, 22 September. 1 kr orange Three Crowns. Qty: 141,000,000
1961, 21 August. 2 kr 50 öre green Three Crowns. Qty: 19,600,000

The weight was under 1 kg and that required 2,80 kr, since the amount of 51.50 kr was paid to the Swedish Post's money transfer system, the Postgiro, the C.O.D fee was then 70 öre and the the total sum of the postal rate became 3.50 kr. Often the customer paid for the postal rates as well and it is probably included in the sum 51.50 kr. The stamps of the Three Crown series was made for this type of postal services and the two denominations 1 kr and 2.50 kr came in very handy in this casew. Easy to sum up. The 1 kr orange had at the time been used for almost 29 years. Quite a long time even for a definitive stamp. However the denomination 1 kr was always easy to use.

This a beautiful pair of Three Crown stamps. Things were changing tough. In February 1968 the 1 kr Dancing Cranes was issued and that stamp would eventually replace the 1 kr orange Three Crowns. It looks like that the Dancing Cranes stamps had not yet reach the Post Office Stockholm 23 in the summer of 1968. The 2.50 kr green was a left over from previous parcel postal rates, in 1961 it covered 3 - 5 kg domestic parcels and after the raise in 1964 it covered 1 - 3 kg parcels. It could be used for other less common rates through out the 60s.

The Swedish Postal History Society (SSPD) has a really good website about single use of the Three Crowns series, among many other things. Check it out - here.


Where are the places:
Hudiksvall is a coastal town situated 272 km N of Stockholm.
The distance by road is 298 km between Stockholm and Hudiksvall.

A parcel that never was

Bank notes for the country side

This domestic parcel was not sent . . .
On Tuesday 9 October 1962 a parcel with bank notes was meant to be sent and for that purpose the parcel was handed over to the Post Office Uppsala 1 at 3 Railroad Yard Street (Bangårdsgatan 3). It was the Swedish Bank of Commerce (Svenska Handelsbanken) that wanted to distribute some bank notes from its head office in Uppsala located at the Big Square (Stora Torget) downtown Uppsala to Österbybruk, a distance of 40 km. The weight of the bank notes was not more than 2 kg. Two kilos of bank notes sounds like a lot of bank notes. May be not, in the sixties a Swedish bank note weighed about 9 to 11 grams depending on the size and denomination. That would be about 200 bank notes in this parcel, two bundles. The parcel is insured for a 1,000 kr and there might be 200 bank notes in there, may be it was 5 kr bank notes? Most likely.

Domestic parcel 1 - 3 kg fee: 2 kr + insurance 1,000 kr fee: 80 öre
1962, 2 July. 1.05 kr blue-green Three Crowns. Qty: 9,300,000
1957, 1 June. 70 öre orange Rock Carvings type II. Qty: 10,900,000

The parcel address card has a pink insurance label marked with the letter "V" as in V for Value. Two 1.05 kr blue-green Three Crowns and one 70 öre orange Rock Carvings were required for the postal rate that summed up to 2.80 kr. The insurance fee was since June 1962 70 öre + 10 öre for every 1,000 kr. This is a nice set of definitive stamps and shows well how the Rock Carving series with its lower denominations complimented the Three crown series. The 1.05 kr Three Crowns stamp was pretty new, issued as late as in July 1962. Its single use was domestic letter  - 500 g. The 70 öre Rock Carvings could be used as a single stamp for domestic letter  - 125 g. The stamps have cancellation stamps and it seems that the parcel is ready to go, but it did not.

Why was it not sent? We do not know. Maybe the bank just changed there mind, or maybe it was meant to be sent to Östhammar instead, Österbybruk and Östhammar tends to get mixed up sometimes. Östhammar is also close to Uppsala (60 km).

Here is were the head office for Svenska Handelsbanken used to be in Uppsala. (Google Street)

The parcel was meant to be sent to this bank office. Still in business. (Google Street)

Where are the places:
Uppsala is situated 63 km NW of Stockholm.
Österbybruk is situated 97 km N of Stockholm.
The distance by road is only 45 km between the two places.