The blue stamps of Gustav VI Adolf type III

Why did they have to be blue?

When you look at the Gustaf VI Adolf type I, II and III series an observation is that  some denominations change in colours. The colour changes for type I is mostly connected to the UPU-colouring rules but another reason was that the Swedish Post thought that the colours were too light. They definitely abandon the UPU-colouring in spring 1953. After the UPU-colouring rules blue was the colour that became established for the stamps in the series that covered the postal rate for domestic letter  - 20 g, the most common postal rate. The first one to become blue was the 25 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf type I from February 1954.

In April 1954 the first booklet for slot machines was issued. One batch of slot machines were configured for two 1 kr coins and hence the booklet contained eight 25 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf stamps. The other and bigger batch of slot machines were configured for one 1 kr coin and a booklet consisting of ten 10 öre green Gustaf VI Adolf was released for those machines. In addition a 1 kr booklet of the 25 öre Gustaf VI Adolf was released as well. As long as 1 kr could evenly be divided by the stamp denomination life was easy.

That changed from 1 July 1957 when the postal rate for domestic letter first weight class was raised to 30 öre. Three 30 öre stamps makes 90 öre - 10 öre is missing. The way the Swedish Post solved that was to add a 10 öre stamp to the new booklet. That 10 öre stamp had to be of the same colour as the 30 öre stamp. The reason is that the Swedish Post's printers at the time had no multi colour capability, but they could print different stamps at the same time. That is why the 10 öre blue New Numeral Type type II was created. They also made a booklet with five 15 öre red Gustav VI Adolf and five 5 öre carmine-red New Numeral Type type II, also a new stamp. The 15 and 25 öre Gustaf VI Adolf were new too since the Gustaf VI Adolf type II was launched at the same time. This was the first time the Swedish Post issued se-tenant stamps, which was regraded as pretty exciting by the stamp collecting community. Read more about slot machine booklets and the different varieties that occurred here.

Se-tenant pairs from slot machine booklets:

Booklet* 3: 30 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf type II + 10 öre blue New Numeral Type type II. Qty: 3,550,000 (pairs)                        
Booklet 8: 30 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf type III + 10 öre ultramarine-blue New Numeral Type type II. Qty: 1,200,000 (pairs)    
Booklet 10, 11: 35 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf type III + 10 öre ultramarine-blue New Numeral Type type II. Qty: 1,270,000 (pairs)
Booklet 12: 40 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf type III + 10 öre ultramarine-blue New Numeral Type type II. Qty: 1,955,000 (pairs)  

Note that all pairs are vertically cut and the stamps are glued to the booklet cover on the Top Left format. (Facit: RH).
* Slot machine booklets issued by Swedish Post

The cause of the changes of colours for the Gustaf VI Adolf type III series is the mono colour printing capability and the slot machine booklets which value had to sum up to 1 kr. In 1961 the Gustaf VI Adolf series got a face-lift and the type III replaced the type II. The change was not caused by raised postal rates, Swedish Post just wanted a more modern design for the sixties. The blue colour of the old 30 öre Gustaf VI Adolf type II was passed down to the new 30 öre blue. Later in the year the 35 öre violet and the 40 öre green was issued. The green colour had became the colour for International letters  - 20 g (first weight class), but there were no booklets issued with that stamp.

That is basically the line-up in the beginning of the sixties. Now, lets have a closer look at the effects of the forced colour changes.

Overview of changes in colours

The mono colour printing capability and the slot machine booklets, which value had to sum up to 1 kr, caused the blue colour to follow the denomination for domestic letter during the first half of the sixties.
(The blue colour for the postal rate for domestic letter - 20 g was inherited from the older type II series.)

July 1962

The postal rate for domestic letters  - 20 g was raised in July 1962 to 35 öre. Then the blue 30 öre was replaced by the 30 öre violet. The colour violet was taken over from the old 35 öre violet which now was replaced by the new 35 öre blue.

Replaced stamps in 1962:
1961, 20 March. 30 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf  type III . Qty: 184,000,000 (2-sided perforation)
1961, 23 October. 35 öre violet Gustaf VI Adolf type III. Qty: 26,100,000 (2-sided perforation)

New stamps in 1962:
1962, 2 July. 35 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf type III. Qty: 366,000,000 (2-sided perforation)
1962, 2 July. 35 öre violet Gustaf VI Adolf type III. Qty: 123,000,000 (2-sided perforation)

July 1964

Two years later it was time to raise the postal rates again. The same procedure as in 1962: the 35 öre blue was replaced by the 35 öre grey and the existing green 40 öre (which earlier was primarily used for international letters  - 20 g) was replaced by the new 40 öre blue. The 45 öre orange was issued in the fall 1964 and the purpose was to cover the Collect On Delivey fee so the relase of that stamp had nothing to do with mono colour printing or booklets, but it would be affected later on.

Replaced stamps in 1964:
1962, 2 July. 35 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf type III. Qty: 366,000,000 (2-sided perforation)
1962, 23 March. 40 öre green Gustaf VI Adolf type III. Qty: 51,700,000 (2-sided perforation)

New stamps in 1964:
1964, 25 June. 40 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf type III. Qty: 416,000,000 (2-sided perforation)
1964, 25 June. 35 öre grey Gustaf VI Adolf type III. Qty: 26,000,000 (2-sided perforation)
and
1964, 12 October. 45 öre orange Gustaf VI Adolf type III. Qty: 128,000,000 (2-sided perforation)

1966 and 1967

The Swedish Post invested in a new printer in 1965, a printer with multi colour capability and now the restrictions of mono colours was gone. They issued the first multi colour slot machine booklet in April 1966 with two colours, red and green. Two stamps was of red colour the 5 öre red New Numeral Type type II and the completely new 30 öre red Gustaf VI Adolf. That stamp is unique in the sense that it was never issued as a coil stamp which was the standard option for Swedish definitive stamps so far. The green colour was used for the 15 öre green New Numeral Type type II.

The postal rates were raised again in 1967 but unlike before the 40 öre blue was not replaced by a new non-blue 40 öre. A new ultramarine 45 öre stamp was issued though and replaced the 45 öre orange. This time the new stamp could be of a different blue colour as you can see. Keeping the 45 orange stamp was maybe to much of a change as the customers was used to the blue colour as the right colour for domestic letters. The next change in postal rates would introduce completely new colours, but that might be a topic for a future blog post.

New stamps in 1966 and 1967:
1966, 18 April. 30 öre red Gustaf VI Adolf type III. Qty: 2,750,000 (vertically cut pairs)
1967, 16 June. 45 öre ultramarine Gustaf VI Adolf type III. Qty: 364,000,000

As we have seen the new postal rates introduced new stamps of the blue colour and in that meaning replaced the old non-blue ones. However, they were still used here and there by the Post Offices as long as their stock of the old stamps lasted, an exampel of that can be found in the previous post before this one, look at the second address parcel card.

By the end of the sixties the rates were raised more often and the actual raise was relatively higher than in the beginning of the decade. Another substantial change was the new stamp issuing policy of Swedish Post that came in effect in 1967. More stamps were issued, often as single stamps or short series. The stamps were simply more short liven because of the frequent rate raises. That reduced the Gustaf VI Adolf type III series in to be only a provider of stamps for either domestic letter or international letter of the first weight class. Stamps of all other denominations faded away . . .


Some domestic postal rates [in öre]:

	Postcard	- 20 g	- 125 g	- 500 g	- 1000 g	Printed matter
1957	20	30	50	75	120	15
1962	25	35	70	105	150	20
1964	30	40	80	120	200	25
1965	30	40	80	150	230	25
1967	35	45	90	180	270	30

Remark: the New Numeral type in brown

The Swedish Post believed that there should also be slot machine booklets for domestic and international postcards as well. The problem was that before spring 1965 it was still only possible to print mono colour booklets, but in the summer of 1964 it was so urgent to release booklets for postcards that they changed the colour of the 10 öre and the 15 öre New Numeral Type. The 10 öre and 15 öre had to be printed in the same brown colour used for the 25 öre Gustaf VI Adolf. The awkward solution was the 13th slot machine booklet. By choosing two 10 öre, two 15 öre and two 25 öre stamps it was possible to cover both domestic postcards (30 öre) and international postcards (35 öre).

First violet, then blue and finally grey

35 öre stamps of Gustaf VI Adolf type III series

The  Gustaf VI Adolf definitive series was given a face-lift in 1961. It was the second time since the series was introduced in 1951. This time not only the background was re-engraved, the portrait was redesigned and it became slightly different from type I from 1951 and II from 1957. The background was engraved tighter than type II as well, which made the stamps much more colourful, but with the same pattern. Another difference was that the numeral and the word “Sverige” (Sweden) now became white coloured.

Another novelty was that for the first time the denomination 35 öre was introduced in the series. Last time a stamp with the king's portrait had that denomination was the Gustaf V right profile type II. The new 35 öre got the same colour as the old one, violet.

October 1961 to June 1962

Domestic collect on delivery parcel,  - 3 kg, fee: 2 kr + C.O.D. fee: 45 öre; sum: 2.45 kr
1961, 23 October. 35 öre violet Gustaf V Adolf type III. Qty: 26,100,000.
1952, 10 December. 2.10 kr blue Three Crowns. Qty: 15,600,000.

From its release in October 1961 the 35 öre violet was just a complimentary denomination. That lasted until 1 July 1962 when 35 öre become the new postal rate for domestic letter  - 20 g.

July 1962 to July 1964

Domestic parcel  4 kg fee: 4.50 kr + bulky fee 50 % 2.25 kr; sum: 6.75 kr  
1962, 2 July. 35 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf type III. Qty: 366,000,000 (2-sided perforation)
1958, 17 September. 5 kr blue Royal Palace, Stockholm II. Qty: 16,500,000 (2-sided perforation)
1948, 1 April. 1 kr 40 öre dark green Three Crowns. Qty: 72,900,000
This address  card was originally presented in this post - here.

But suddenly there was a new 35 öre issued, a blue one. The reason for that was that Swedish Post also needed to issue new slot machine booklets with the 35 öre denomination and until 1966 the Swedish Post stamp printers could only print one colour at the time. Blue had since 1954 been the colour of the stamp for domestic letter  - 20 g. In the booklets it was accompanied by the 10 öre blue New Numeral Type type II. That was most likely the reason the new 35 öre had to be blue. Such a booklet is shown here. However, Swedish Post also issued a slot machine booklet with 25 öre brown Gustaf VI Adolf and 10 öre New Numeral Type type II, but then both stamps became brown because the 25 öre was brown.

35 öre for domestic letters lasted until July 1964. The blue 35 öre was then replaced by the blue 40 öre, but from July 1967 until  December 1968 35 öre was the postal rate for domestic and Nordic postcards.

The parcel address card above was cancelled as late as December 1968 but the blue 35 öre was still used by the Post Office in Karlshamn.

From July 1964

Domestic parcel,   - 7 kg fee: 7 kr + bulky fee (50%): 3.50 kr; sum: 10.50 kr
1964, 25 June. 35 öre grey Gustaf VI Adolf, type III. Qty: 51,700,000. (2-sided perforation)
1962, 15 October. 15 öre green New Numeral Type type II. Qty: 22,300,000
1958, 17 September. 5 kr blue The Royal Palace, Stockholm II. Qty: 16,500,00 (2-sided perforation)

The blue 35 öre was substituted by the grey 35 öre in the last days of June 1964, but they seem to have co-existed . . .


Some postal rates for domestic and Nordic postcards and domestic letters:

	Postcard	- 20 g
. . . 1961	20	30
July 1962	25	35
July 1964	30	40
July 1967	35	45

Missing addresses

Something went wrong here, the red boarded white label to the left signals error . . .

The company Sunne Textiles Inc. (Sunne Textil AB) had to deliver a box of clothes to Mr. Lindell living in the village Ytterby outside of Kungälv. The weight of the parcel was 3 kg so there must have been quite a lot of clothes. The problem was that the Sunne Textiles did not fill in the address at all. They just wrote "Mr. Lindell Ytterby" and added the postal code "440 32" as well. Maybe they thought that Ytterby was a small place and that Mr. Lindell was well known. The parcel took of for Ytterby on Thursday August 5 1971 and arrived on the Saturday.

. . .  the error is that the address is missing (option: utelämnad) and the label urges the receiver of the parcel to get in touch with the sender and sort that out. As you can see Sunne Textiles did not even add there own full address.

It looks like Mr. Lindell was well-known after all since a man called Lennart Lindell paid, signed the card and picked up the parcel on the Monday. But the story do not to end there. The next Friday the card and presumably the parcel were back again at the Post Office in Ytterby, according to the last cancellation stamp. It looks like the word canceled (makulerad) is written over the cancellation stamp. Lennart's signature was also crossed out. I guess it became a return.

Domestic parcel,  - 3 kg fee: 4.80 kr
1971, 22 January. 80 öre blue/brown the Waxholm Boat. Qty: 58,100,000.
1971, 22 January. 4 kr black "Blood Money" Coins, 1568. Qty: 33,300,00

In the fall of 1971 the older Three Crowns series had start to fade away. It used to be the backbone of parcel stamps, but not anymore. The Waxholm Boat and the "Blood Money" Coins was issued oat the same time in February 1971 and both did good service on parcel cards.

The 4 kr black the "Blood Money" Coins was the one of the higher denomination definitive stamps with a medieval theme that were issued at the beginning of the seventies, the other ones were 5 kr blue-green National Seal 1439, 2.55 kr light blue Seal of King Magnus Ladulås 1285 and 3 kr green-blue Seal of Duke Erik Magnusson 1306 from 1970, followed by the 4 kr stamp above and in 1972 the 6 kr blue-grey Old Swedish Coin.

The 80 öre Waxholm Boat would during 1971 get company by more definitive stamps in the lower denomination range. Each and every one a stamp of its own, no more long definitive series of the same motif as before.


Domestic Parcel rates effective by January 1971 until October 1971: (an unusually short period of time)

- 1 kg	1 - 3 kg	3 - 5 kg	5 - 7 kg	7 - 10 kg
3.80 kr	[4.80 kr]	5.80 kr	9.00 kr	13.00 kr

Where are the places:
Sunne is situated 283km NW of Stockholm, the distance by road is 377 km.
Ytterby is situated 392 km SW of Stockholm, the distance by road is 492 km.
The distance between Sunne and Ytterby is 231 km by road.

Relatives on 55th Street

It seems like Mrs. Bertha Ahl mailed  a letter to a relative in New York City on Wednesday 9 March 1949. Maybe Mr. Walter E. Ahl was her brother that immigrated to America some decades earlier? We do not know . . .   but it looks like an older person's handwriting and an old fashioned ink pen was used as well. According to the backside of the letter Mrs. Ahl lived in a village called Skruv just north of Klavreström, a small place between Växjö and Vetlanda in the province of Småland, (299 km south west of Stockholm, 380 km by road.)

It is an air mail letter and the fee paid by Mrs. Ahl was 95 öre which indicates that the letter was weighing 5 g or less.

Air mail  - 5 g, fee: 95 öre
1941, 23 January. 35 öre carmine-violet Gustaf V, right profile, type II. Qty: 20,000,000.
1939, 10 February. 60 öre red-carmine Three Crowns. Qty: 77,900,000

The clerk at the Post Office in Klavreström used two stamps; the 35 öre carmine-violet Gustaf V, right profile, type II and the 60 öre red-carmine Three Crown. The 60 öre Three Crowns was a pretty common stamps in the forties, its main purpose was to be used for domestic parcels weighing up to 1 kg. It was also the first stamp in the long running Three Crown series - read more about that series here. The 35 öre carmine violet is a little bit rarer, in 1949 there was no obvious single use, but earlier it could be used as a single stamp for registered domestic letter - 20 g until April 1942.

Valuable books

Businesses have to get their books reviewed at least annually. In the fall of 1968 the Stockholm based cooperative the Milk Central  (Mjölkcentralen) had their books reviewed by a chartered account in Gothenburg (Göteborg). The Milk Central was a cooperative owned by Swedish farmers, its successor Arla still exists and the Arla brand can now be found in quite many countries outside Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

The chartered account Mr. Ruhne was employed at a subsidiary to the Federation of Swedish Farmers (Lantmännens Riksförbund - LRF) and was responsible for the review. It seems like he was done with his work on Monday 21 October because then he sent back the books to Stockholm. Better safe than sorry he insured the package for a whooping 25,000 kr, close to $5,000 USD in those days.

Domestic parcel   - 3 kg, fee: 3.70 kr; insured for 25,000 kr, fee: 3.90 kr
1961, 7 June. 10 öre ultramarine-blue New Numeral Type, type II. Qty: unknown.
1961, 28 August. 2.50 kr light green Three Crowns. Qty: 19,600,000.
1958, 17 September. 5 kr the Royal Palace, Stockholm II. Qty: 16,500,000.

The red label marked with a capital V for value marks that the item is insured. In 1968 the fee for insurance was 1.40 kr + 0.10 kr per 1.000 kr insured. It took only one day to get the parcel to Stockholm and two days later the parcel was picked up by the General Manager Mr. Pehrsson.

The stamp at the left is the 10 öre in the low denomination series New Numeral Type, the two others are typical parcel stamps: the 2.50 from the Three Crowns series and the 5 kr Royal Palace. Originally the 2.50 kr was used to cover the fee for parcels weighing between 3 and 5 kg from 1961 to until July 1964 when it instead covered the weight class 1 - 3 kg until July 1965.