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.