Mixed stamps from Stockholm to Malmö

New and old stamps meet

Parcel address cards are of course more interesting than clips. A card gives you much more information. However there are much more clips around and why not study them as well. Sometimes they might give you some new insights or different perspectives. Lets have a look at two clips stamped Wednesday 6 December 1939.

Domestic Parcel 5 - 6 kg fee: 1.80 kr

Left: 60 öre red-lilac Crown and Posthorn. Issued 6 March 1925 and
1 kr 20 öre pink Three Crowns. Issued  22 November 1939

Domestic Parcel 3 - 5 kg fee: 1.20 kr
Right: 1 kr orange Crown and Posthorn. Issued 17 November 1921 and
20 öre red Gustaf V, right profile , type I. Issued 10 February 1939

The left clip is from a parcel address card covering the 1 kr 80 öre fee for a parcel 5 - 6 kg. The right one is from a parcel address card covering the 1 kr 20 öre fee for a parcel 3 - 5 kg. Pretty heavy parcels, but it was getting close to Christmas and the gifts have to be sent all over Sweden. These two clips from the parcel address cards were sent the same day from Stockholm and arrived the next day at the Post Office Malmö 1 Skeppsbron 1 (1 Ship's Bridge) in Malmö 514 km south west of Stockholm.

The left one was sent from Post Office Stockholm 9 Hornsgatan 160 - 168 (160 - 168 Horn's Street). At that office they apparently had to mixed the old series for parcel fees the Crown and Posthorn with the successor the Three Crown. Maybe they still had a big surplus of  the old 60 öre Crown and Posthorn? Considering that the new 60 öre red-carmine Three Crown that replaced it by that time had been around for almost 10 months it is a little bit puzzling that the old one is still used. It seems like the 120 öre Crown and Posthorn was already replaced by the brand new definitive stamp 120 öre Three Crown. The 120 öre had been in use just for two weeks that day.

The right clip was also sent from Stockholm but from the Post Office Stockholm 7 Norrlandsgatan 11 (11 Norrland Street). Here the 1 kr orange Crown and Posthorn was still in use but they had started to use the new definitive stamp of king Gustaf V, type I. The latter had been around since February so that made sense, but the type II was in progress with the first release on 11 December (the 10 öre violet) and the new 20 öre red type II would show up in April 1940. The new 1 kr orange Three Crowns was issued in September but not used yet at Stockholm 7, apparently.

It is interesting to see that the post offices first had to use the old stock of stamps before they could use the new ones. There were a lot of parcels sent in December so my guess is that pretty soon both Post Offices were using the new definitive series.

Read more about the Three Crowns series - here, and about the ill fated Gustav V, type I series - here. The Crown and Posthorn is briefly described - here.

Here is the beautiful building where the Post Office Malmö 1 used to be (Google)

Above is a street view from Google Street View showing the building were the Post Office Malmö 1 used to be. There are no Post Offices left in Sweden for the public anymore. All postal services can be found in corner stores, gas stations and other kind of convenience stores.