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).

Blue colour - 1st weight class

A theory 

Sweden stopped to be compliant with the UPU-colouring rules in 1953 and the last definitive stamps following the rules were 10 öre green Gustaf VI Adolf (from 1951), the 25 öre red Gustaf VI Adolf and the 40 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf (both from 1952), all of type I. Read more about the UPU colours in this post. (The green colour was used for International printed matter stamps, the red colour for international postcard stamps and the blue colour for international letters first weight class.)

25 öre was from July 1952 the postage rate for domestic letter first weight class ( - 20g), the most common rate. In February 1954 the new 25 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf type I came out and replaced the older UPU-coloured 25 öre. The blue colour became then the colour for the coming Gustaf VI Adolf stamps that covered the rate for domestic letter first weight class for over ten years. First the already mentioned 25 öre Gustaf VI Adolf type I, and then in 1957 the 30 öre Gustaf VI Adolf type II, then the all new 30 öre Gustaf VI Adolf type III from 1961, in 1962 the new 35 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf, the 40 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf came in June 1964 and finally the 45 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf from 1967 that lasted until March 1969 when the 55 öre red showed up and broke the long suite of blue stamps.

First Day Cover for slot machine booklet number 6.
1957, 1 June. 30 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf type II. 2-sided vertical perforation.
1957, 1 June. 10 öre New Numeral Type, type II. 2-sided vertical perforation.
Qty of se-tenant pairs: 7,100,000
Qty of 30 öre pairs: 7,100,000

Somehow it seems like the Swedish Post continued with an UPU-colouring of their own. The chosen blue colour for domestic letter first weight class had the same effect as with the UPU-coloured stamps:
a) Existing stamps of the "wrong" colour had to be replaced and a new blue one was introduced.
b) When the denomination no longer covered the rate that blue stamp had to be cancelled and replaced with a new one in another colour.

In 1957 the rate was raised to 30 öre and the old blue 25 öre was cancelled and replaced with a brown 25 öre stamp. In 1961 a new 30 öre blue Gustaf Adolf of type III was issued. When the rate for domestic letters was raised in July 1962 the blue 30 öre was replaced with the violet 30 öre  and even worse, the existing violet 35 öre was replaced by the new blue 35 öre. When the rate was raised again in July 1964 the blue 35 öre had to be replaced with the new grey 35 öre. The orange 45 öre from 1964 was replaced by the blue 45 öre in 1967. All this stopped in March 1969 when the new stamp covering the new domestic letter rate became red.

I do not think that the main reason for the blue colour was to specifically "mark up" domestic letter stamps of the first weight class even if it seems so. Rather I think that the causes are to be found in printing technique and slot machines.

The first slot machines for booklets came in April 1954, for some of them 2 kr was required, but the vast majority was configured for 1 kr. That was a very convenient novelty, before stamps could only be bought at the Post Offices, most of them opened weekdays at 9am and closed at the latest at 6pm, Saturdays open until 1pm. Sundays and holidays closed. Now customers could buy stamps 24 hours a day as long as they had a 1 kr coin.

The first two slot machine booklet that were issued were aimed for the 2 kr slot machines, the rest was used for 1 kr slot machines (until 1966). As long as the most common rate was 25 öre everything was fine. Four 25 öre stamps in each booklet. The rate had to be raised to 30 öre in July 1957 but it was of course to complex and way to expensive to upgrade all the slot machines to accept 4 x 30 öre = 1.20 kr, which also would required 10 öre coins to be accepted. No way.

Instead the Swedish Post decided on 3 x 30 öre and top up with one 10 öre stamp. That was probably why the 10 öre blue New Numeral Type, type II was born. It is of the same blue colour as the 30 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf type II. The 10 öre blue New Numeral Type accompanied the new blue Gustaf VI Adolf stamp until 1964 (40 öre blue). Sometimes it was a little bit tricky,for example the 35 öre blue booklet had a blank stamp for example - see this post.

Until 1966 the Swedish Post was not able to print stamps of different colours on the same sheet (panes). However they were able to print different stamps of the same colour. That is the main reason why the Gustaf VI Adolf stamps used in slot machine booklets for domestic letter had to be blue! The complementary denomination to the blue Gustaf VI Adolf had to be blue - and the 10 öre New Numeral Type was blue, right? To make things more interesting the Swedish Post printed stamps in different combinations and cuts for booklets thus creating se-tenant pairs.

The FDC above shows one of the two first se-tenant slot machine booklets, the other one was a booklet with 15 öre red Gustaf VI Adolf and 5 öre New Numeral Type (five pairs in each booklet). These new booklets were cut differently and depending on the se-tenant pairs it could be up to four versions of the same booklet. These cuts and combinations can be a little tricky to understand, but there is a post on this blog called The anatomy of slot machine booklets that sort this out for you - you can read that post here.

In the case with 30 öre + 10 öre above it resulted in two versions depending on the cut and how the margin was glued on the booklet cover. The left block is cut on top and the right one at the bottom. There is a pretty long text at the left of the FDC that explains the changes that took place because of the rates that were raised. All the new exciting se-tenant combinations are specially emphasized in the text. Well, the fifties was a pretty boring decade for collecting Swedish stamps and these new varieties, combination and versions were probably warmly welcomed by the collectors.

The anatomy of slot machine booklets

Cuts and more cuts

In younger days I had a hard time to understand the different kind of perforations on pairs. Especially the se-tenant pairs from the 50s and 60s. Some of them had this peculiar vertical 2-sided perforation. One of the lower or upper corner were cut. Why did that occur? My album did not give much further information either.

Puzzling perforation.
1962, 3 September. 35 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf type III. Vertically 2-sided perforation (corner cut).
1963, 3 September. 10 öre ultramarine-blue New Numeral type II. Vertically 2-sided perforation (corner cut).

Those corner cut stamps origin from slot machine booklets. They contained the Gustaf VI Adolf series and was issued from 1954 to 1966, and from 1957 they also contained the New Numeral Type. (After 1967 the slot machine booklets were not corner cut anymore.) During that time the value of a booklet was 1 kr but since the postal rates were  raised constantly new combinations of denominations were required in order to offer useful stamps in the booklets.

We will use the 10th slot machine booklet issued by the Swedish Post to understand the principles of how the cuts were done and what kind of varieties and combinations that became the results.The booklet contains se-tenant pair with one column (vertical row) of two 35 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf type III and one column of three 10 öre ultramarine-blue New Numeral Type type II, and an empty slot, a blank stamp, in order to add up to 1 kr.


The way the stamps were glued on the cover and the way they were cut resulted in four different combination of the booklet. The margin could be at the Top or at the Bottom of the stamps, the stamps could also be placed in the way that the highest denomination was at the Right or at the Left, hence defining the four combinations: Top Right, Bottom Right, Top Left or Bottom Left.


Lets have a look how different se-tentant pairs forms a booklet.

Top Left

Top Left

The margin is above the stamps, on top, and the highest denomination is at the left.

The stamps at the end have their lower corners cut. [Facit: RH]

Top Right

Top Right

The margin is still above the stamps, on top, but the highest denomination is now at the right.

The stamps at the end have their lower corners cut. [Facit: RV]

Bottom Left

Bottom Left

The margin is now below the stamps and highest denomination is at the left.

But the stamps are kind of upside down compared with the Top versions when the margin is glued on to the cover.

The stamps at the other end (actually at the top) have their upper corners cut. [Facit: OH]

Bottom Right

Bottom Right
The margin is below the stamp and the highest denomination is at the right.
The stamps are in this case also kind of upside down compared with the Top version.
The stamps at the end (actually at the top) have the upper corners cut. [Facit: OV]

The principles of the combinations

This is how it works:

Overview of the parts of the booklet and the configuration of pairs.

If the stamps have the margin above them it is the Top version. The stamps at the other end have their lower outer corner cut.

When the stamps have the margin below them it is the Bottom version. The stamps at the other end have their upper outer corner cut.

When the highest denomination is at the left it is the Left version.

When the highest denomination is at the right it is the? . .           yes, the Right version.

The reason why the Top or the Bottom versions occur is because how the stamps are printed and cut. Six rows of stamps are printed with two margins in between and then they are cut into a block of six stamps with a margin.

This is why there are a Top and a Bottom version.

How about the Left and Right versions? The reason why its shifts between high denominations to the right and to the left is that the vertical cuts, because of some technical reasons, shift a stamp column. At least that is how it is described in the literature. I have not figured out how that works in detail. The sheet is 270 mm wide and a pair of stamps are 44.1 mm which makes it possible to print six columns of stamps. Six is an even figure  . . .

I think that the Swedish Post maybe also wanted to create some more interesting combinations. During the 50s the Swedish Post was criticized rather heavily by philatelist for issuing to few stamps and boring stamps. Maybe this was one way to do stamp collecting more challenging within the rather rigid issuing policy that was in effect. Just a thought.

Note about Facit abbreviations :

The Swedish well-known stamp catalogue Facit uses the term normal mounting for what I call Top. It is abbreviated R (as in "rättvänd"). If the marging is below the stamps Facit calls that inverted mount, abbreviated O (as in "omvänd"). If the lowest denomination is at the right Facit calls it right and it is abbreviated H (as in "höger"). Or if the lowest denomination is to the left Facit calls it left and it is abbreviated V (as in "vänster").

Top Left is then RH, Top Right is RV, Bottom Left is OH and Bottom Right is OV.

The big change

Old school vs. modern times

One significant changed when it came to Swedish stamp issuing policy occurred during spring 1967 with the release of a completely new kind of slot machine booklet. So far the classic lower denomination definite stamps were used for slot machine booklets, the Gustaf VI Adolf series of type I, type II, type III and the New Numeral Series. In 1966 the price for those booklets was raised from 1 kr to 2 kr and it became a little easier to fill up the booklet with useful denominations.

The first 2 kr slot machine booklet was was issued in April 1966 and it was the sixteenth since 1951. Its denomination was 5, 10, 15 öre as complementary stamps, 30 öre covered domestic postcards and 40 öre domestic letter  - 20 g.

Top: 1966, 18 April, 16th slot machine booklet. Qty: 1,270,000 [the old type of booklets]
Bottom: 1967, 17 May, 17th slot machine booklet. Qty: 3,770,000 [the new type of booklets - what a difference]

The stamps involved were:
1964, 25 June (pair). 5 öre red New Numeral Type, type II. Qty: 45,300,000. 3-sided perforation.
1964, 25 June (pair). 10 öre blue New Numeral Type, type II. Qty: 8,800,000. 3-sided perforation.
1965, 26 May (pair). 15 öre green New Numeral Type, type II. Qty: 20,800,000. 3-sided perforation.
1966, 18 April (pair). 30 öre red Gustaf VI Adolf, type III. Qty: 2,600,000. 3-sided perforation.
1964, 25 June (pair). 40 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf, type III. Qty: 94,200,000. 3-sided perforation.

The 16th slot machine booklet was the last appearance of the New Numeral Series.


The next slot machine booklet released was the Iron Age, Öland about 500 A.D. The kind of motifs that were used were not completely new. Pre historical inspired motif had been used before for Swedish definitive stamps like the Rock Carving series from the 50s and the Ale Stones from 1966. But the difference was that these new stamps were not part of a definitive series consisting of many denominations and different varieties. It was a one time definitive series just for this booklet release. No coil versions. No more long series of definitive stamps issued for several years. The stamps were also of a smaller size than usually. From now on there would be no more slot machine booklets with stamps of the king. All later slot machine booklets were based on their own themes and motifs. It was also the goodbye and farewell to the New Numeral series which was replaced with this booklet, the Definitive Stamps of 1967 and the 20 öre Posthorn.

The denomination was 10 öre, and 15 öre  as complementary stamps, 30 öre still covered domestic postcards and 35 öre international postcards in May 1967. But not for long, from July 1967 35 öre was required for domestic postcard and domestic letter  - 20 g was raised to 45 öre. The Swedish post planned for the postage fee raises and the booklet was still useful since 10 öre blue plus 35 öre brown summed up to 45 öre and the 15 öre brown plus 30 öre rose also summed up to 45 öre. 35 öre was the new rate for domestic postcards. Wonderful, well, it was less wonderful for stamp collectors who wants pairs with the same denomination, for example 35 öre brown and 35 öre brown. Most cancelled pairs of this series is of course 10 öre + 25 öre or 15 öre + 30 öre.

The stamps of the all new 17th slot machine booklet were: (all were released on 1967, 17 May)
10 öre blue Man holding bear. Qty: 17,600,000
15 öre brown Man fighting bears. Qty: 8,800,000
30 öre rose/brown Warrior disguised as a wolf. Qty: 8,800,000
35 öre brown/rose Helm crested warriors. Qty: 8,800,000

The design was made by Czesław Slania and Arne Wallhorn, and they were engraved by Czesław Slania. The motifs was enlarged parts of helmet-crests that were found on the island of Öland.


Lets have a look at the covers as well:

Top: the cover of the 16th slot machine booklet
Bottom: the cover of the 17th slot machine booklet

The 16th slot machine booklet front cover has a pretty general design just listing the different denominations. The backside has an add that tries to convince you to invest in stamps, it is an add by one of the by the time leading Swedish stamp dealer Frimärkshuset. Frimärkshuset was the publisher of the Facit catalogue as well.

The 17th slot machine booklet front cover has instead a motif that connects with the motifs of the stamps. The back of the cover is an add for the airline SAS. SAS wants to take you to America in this add.

Even the cover was new on this all new type of slot machine booklet.