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.

First red-violet than wine-red

2 kr in two colours

2 kr was the last denomination to be issued in the long running Three Crown series. It was however the second time it was issued. The first 2 kr Three Crown, the red-violet one, is from July 1952. The event that triggered the release was that the rate for domestic parcels 3 - 5 kg was raised from 1.70 kr to 2 kr from 1 July. The last raise to 1.70 kr occurred just a year earlier but the 2 kr rate was effective until 1 July 1961, a long time for a parcel rate.

As usual with the Three Crown series the old rates kind of traveled down the weight classes and 2 kr became the new rate for the next weight class the 1 - 3 kg. The rate 2 kr lasted only a year, until 1 July 1962. After that the 2 kr covered the lowest weight class  - 1 kg. It did so until 1 July 1965. Which meant that the 2 kr red-violet did good service on domestic parcel cards for 13 years in a row. It was also used as single stamps for insured and express deliveries as well as various money orders during those years. 2 kr was also a good denomination to use for higher rates since it was easy to use many 2 kr stamps to count the correct sum. A very versatile Three Crown stamp indeed.

Domestic parcel card 15 kg fee: 14 kr
1952, 1 July. 2 kr red-violet Three Crowns. Qty: 84,800,000
1958, September 17. 5 kr blue Royal Palace, Stockholm II. Qty: 16,500,000 

The parcel address card from 1968 above is an excellent example where the 2 kr was used for higher rates. It was sent from the Post Office Göteborg 2 at 3 Oak Groove Street (Ekelundsgatan 3) in Gothenburg on Friday 1 November 1968 and arrived three days later at the Post Office Stockhom 1, the general post office at 28 - 34 Vasa Street (Vasagatan 28 - 34). Stockholm 1 was also co-located with the head office of the Swedish Post, where the Swedish Post filled up two blocks. Among many functions the stamp print shop was located there at the back towards Klara North Church Street (Klara Norra kyrkogata). Also at the back in the corner of Brewer Street and North Klara Church Street (Bryggargatan/Klara Norra Kyrkogata) was the special parcel office where this parcel was picked up on 5 November 1968.

The parcel card was actually sent just two months before the new version of the 2 kr showed up, the 2 kr wine-red. To me it is puzzling why the Swedish post as the last stamp in this series of 34 stamps choose to issue another version of the 2 kr stamp. Why? They could have kept the 2 kr red-violet. In the end of the 60s the Three Crown series was slowly phased out in favor of the new kind of definitive stamps for parcels that begun with the 3.50 kr olive-grey Ale´s Stones in 1965 and the three new parcels stamps from the spring of 1967, the 3.70 violet the Lion Fortress, the 4.50  red Uppsala Cathedral and the 7 kr blue/red Gripsholm castle.

Below is a domestic parcel card with the new 2 kr wine red Three Crowns, as earlier mentioned the last stamp issued in the series. Yes, it was sent outside the time period for this blog, but it looked so similar to the one above and all the stamps were issued before the end of 1973 so I made an exception . . .

Domestic address parcel card  - 5 kg fee: 9.80 kr + fragile 50% extra fee: 4.90 kr,
over franked with 10 öre.
1969, 20 January. 2 kr wine-red Three Crowns. Qty: 67,700,000
1971, 22 January. 80 öre blue/brown the Waxholm Boat. Qty: 58,100,000
1973, 12 November. 10 kr six-coloured Goosegirl. Qty: 14,700,000

A kilo of boots

Contemporary use of definitive stamps

Here is a good example of how definitive stamps where used in the beginning of the 70s. A mix of old and new. This is yet another domestic parcel and its weight is below 1 kg. The postal rate at the time was 3.80 kr. At the top we find the 1 kr Dancing Cranes from February 1968, the 1 kr was a complimentary denomination. In the middle the 2 kr wine-red Three Crowns from January 1969. It was the last stamp issued in the Three Crown series. The series consists of 30 stamps and they were issued during almost three decades. The Three Crown series was by 1971 aging and the 2 kr was probably the last denomination in use. There was however a single use for that stamp, it covered the rate for domestic letter  - 250 g until October the same year. At the bottom the 80 öre blue/brown the Waxholm Boat issued in January 1971, 80 öre was a complimentary denomination as well. 1 + 2 + 0.80 makes 3.80, three stamps were required this time. That was not always the case further back.

Domestic parcel  - 1 kg fee: 3.80 kr
1968, 21 February. 1 kr green-black Dancing Cranes. Qty: 140,000,000
1969, 20 January. 2 kr wine-red Three Crowns. Qty: 67,700,000
1971, 22 January.80 öre  blue/brown the Waxholm Boat. Qty: 58,100,000

In the 60s the three most common parcel rates for the lowest weight classes each had a stamp covering each rate. Covering those rates was for along time the purpose of the Three Crown series. That changed in the 70s  and one reason is because the rates were raised more often from now on. In the 60s the rates were raised every second year or so, in the early 70s once a year and sometimes even twice a year. Issuing specific stamps for parcel rates were not practical anymore.

According to the parcel address cars the parcel contained boots. It was sent on Friday 13 August 1971 from the Post Office in Stenungsund to the Post Office in Ytterby and picked up there on the following Monday. The sender was the firm Cykel & Fritid in Stenungsund a shop were you could buy bikes, sports equipment, camping gear and other items to make your leisure time more enjoyable. The receiver of the parcel was the incorporated company Hefa AB in Ytterby, outside the small town of Kungälv. Hefa was in those days mainly in wholesales of sports products, shoes, boots, bags and garden furniture. How many boots can there be in a parcel weighing 1 kg? not too many pairs, most likely just one pair. My guess is that this parcel contained a pair of boots that had to be returned to Hefa. A customer complaint.

Where are the places:
Stenungsund is situated 387 km south west of Stockholm.
Ytterby is situated 392 south west of Stockholm.
The distance by road is only 23 km between the two places.

Some domestic parcel rates 1 January 1971 until 30 September 1971:
- 1 kg 1 - 3 kg 3 - 5 kg 5 - 7 kg 7 - 9 kg
[3.80 kr] 4.80 kr 5.80 kr 9.00 kr   10.50 kr

Hefa is still out there: http://www.hefa.se/en/