Philatelistic cancellation of new New Numeral Types

Colour varieties

The postal rate for international letter first weight class (- 20 g) was 50 öre in 1964. This letter uses six stamps to add up to that sum. One of them is a commemorative stamp, the 25 öre green World Ice-hockey Championship from February 1963. The others belong to the definitive low denomination series New Numeral Type. The 5 öre red and the 10 öre brown New Numeral Type, type II. The letter was sent on Thursday 13 August 1964. The New Numeral Type II showed up for the first time in June 1957 but the stamps on this letter cover are pretty much brand new at the time.

International letter - 20 g fee: 50 öre
1964, 25 June. 5 öre red New Numeral Type type II. 3-sided perforation. Qty: 11,000,000 (pairs)*.
1964, 25 June. 10 öre brown New Numeral Type type II. 3-sided perforation. Qty: 2,260,000 (pairs).
1963, 13 February. 25 öre green World Ice-hockey Championship**. 3-sided perforation. Qty: 6.000.000.

* 161st booklet
** commorative stamp

The 5 öre pair can be find in the 161st booklet or in the 15th or 16th slot machine booklets. The latter booklets were not issued until 1966 so this pair must have come from the 161st booklet that contained 20 stamps and was issued on 25 June 1964.

When I think of 10 öre New Numeral Types I see blue colours. Indeed that was usually the colour for 10 öre, but both 10 and 15 öre were issued in a brown colour as well. That is a little odd. The problem was that in 1964 it was still not possible to print different coloured stamp for the same booklet. (That capability came in 1966 when they bought a new press.) There was however a need for a slot machine booklet with the 10, 15 and 25 öre denominations aimed for the postal rate of postcards, which was 25 öre in 1964. The awkward solution was to give up the colouring of the New Numeral Type stamps and print the new booklet in brown, the same colour used for the 25 öre Gustaf VI Adolf, type III. The result was the 13th slot machine booklet by the Swedish Post.

In the 50s and the 60s these kind of booklets came in different varieties combining the se-tenant stamps. The way the stamps were glued on the cover and the way they were cut resulted in four different combination of the 13th 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. That results in the following setup:

Top Left			Bottom Left			Top Right			Bottom Right
<margin>	<margin>		25 öre	15 öre		<margin>	<margin>		15 öre	25 öre
10 öre	10 öre		25 öre	15 öre		10 öre	10 öre		15 öre	25 öre
25 öre	15 öre		10 öre	10 öre		15 öre	25 öre		10 öre	10 öre
25 öre	15 öre		<margin>	<margin>		15 öre	25 öre		<margin>	<margin>

I have previously posted a post that covers this well, you can find it here.

The 10 öre brown pair on the letter cover must come from the Bottom Left or Bottom Right since you can still see the margin.


The letter was sent to West Germany, but not to some average Herr Müller, it was sent to Baron Georg von Blomberg. Baron Blomberg lived at the time in Frankfurt am Main in a pretty modest apartment (according to Google Street view). That had not always been the case the von Blombergs used to live in the castle Buchelsdorf in Silesia. They lost everything in 1945 when that part of Germany became Poland. The Baron did pretty well as a business man in West Germany and he was also a philatelist. The letter was sent by Mr Egon Bernhard Wehner living in the small town of Västervik. Mr. Wehner used to operate a pottery business there. He was also originally from Germany and most likely a stamp collector as well.


Where is it?
Västervik is situated 194 km SW of Stockholm, the distance by road is 282 km.