Postage rates effective April 1942

Raises of the postage rates were still decided by the Swedish Parliament in the 40s and it was not always that they granted a raise. In spring 1942 the second world war was going on in Europe and sometimes the war was awfully close to the Swedish border. Both fiscal years 1940 and 1941 had meant drastically increased defense costs and a higher inflation. The Swedish government introduced in 1942 both a price and a wage freeze to get control of things. They also wanted to raise the postal rate for domestic letters in order to bring in more income to finance the defense. The Swedish parliament granted that request. This raise was therefore unique since it was not required to cover increasing costs for Swedish Post and also it only affected a few postage rates.

Domestic Postal Rates

From left to right:                                                                                             

1939, 12 November. 10 öre violet Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 367,000,000
1940, 13 April, 20 öre red Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 880,000,000
1940, 8 April. 40 öre olive-green Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 84,100,000
1939, 10 February 10. 60 öre red-carmine Three Crowns. Qty: 77,900,000
1941, 23 January. 5 öre green Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 415,000,000
1940, 13 April, 20 öre red Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 880,000,000
1940, 8 April. 30 öre blue Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 57,300,000

The Gustaf V right profile type II definitive series covered well almost all rates except one, the heaviest weight class that required 60 öre. There was no 60 öre in the series and there were not supposed to be one either. The reason was that one of the purposes of the Three Crowns definitive series was to cover the three lowest weight classes for parcels. 60 öre was the rate for a parcel  - 1 kg, as well as for domestic letter  - 500 g. Besides the raise of the  - 20 g letter from 15 öre to 20 öre the  - 250 g weight class vanished and the rate for  - 125 g was raised from 30 to 40 öre.

Local Postal Rates

From left to right:                                                                                          
1939, 12 November. 10 öre violet Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 367,000,000
1940, 13 April, 20 öre red Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 880,000,000
1940, 8 April. 30 öre blue Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 57,300,000
1940, 8 April. 40 öre olive-green Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 84,100,000

This is a beautiful suite of Gustaf V right profile type II, 10 - 20 - 30 - 40 öre in a row. The special postal rates for local letters still existed in 1942 and would do so for ten years more. There is an extra weight class compared with the domestic postal rates. The   - 125 g weight class was kept for local letters, to the benefit of the customers. There were no changes of these rates either.

International Postal Rates

From left to right:                                                                              
1940, 13 April, 20 öre red Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 880,000,000
1940, 8 April. 30 öre blue Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 57,300,000
1940, 8 April. 40 öre olive-green Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 84,100,000
1939, 10 February 10. 60 öre red-carmine Three Crowns. Qty: 77,900,000
1939, 12 November. 10 öre violet Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 367,000,000
1939, 22 September. 90 öre light blue Three Crowns. Qty: 29,700,000
1939, 22 September.1 kr orange Three Crowns. Qty: 141,000,000
1939, 12 November. 10 öre violet Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 367,000,000

So far single stamps have covered each rate. In 1942 there was not yet a 70 öre Three Crown nor a 1.10 kr stamp either so two stamps were required for  - 60 g and  - 100 g letters. As you can see the stamp for postcard and letter  - 20 g are UPU-coloured. Red for postcard and blue for letter. The rates were not changed.

From left to right                                                                                    
1941, 23 January. 5 öre green Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 415,000,000
1940, 13 April, 20 öre red Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 880,000,000
1939, 10 February 10. 60 öre red-carmine Three Crowns. Qty: 77,900,000

The stamp for printed matter has also the right UPU-colour which is green in this case.

Parcel Postal Rates

From left to right
1939, 10 February 10. 60 öre red-carmine Three Crowns. Qty: 77,900,000
1939, 22 September. 90 öre light blue Three Crowns. Qty: 29,700,000
1939, 22 September. 1 kr 20 öre rose-lilac Three Crowns. Qty: 9,200,000
1939, 20 November. 1 kr 45 öre yellow-green Three Crowns. Qty: 2,800,000
 1941, 23 January. 35 öre carmine-violet Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 20,000,000
2 x 1939, 22 September.1 kr orange Three Crowns. Qty: 141,000,000
1940, 8 April. 40 öre olive-green Gustaf V, right profile. Qty: 84,100,000

The parcel rates were not raised and they had been the same since 1922. As mentioned above one of the purposes with the Three Crown definitive series was to cover the most common parcel weight classes and it did for many years.

Overview

Domestic [öre]

Postcard	- 20 g*	- 125 g*	- 500 g	Printed matter	Registred fee	Express fee
10	20	40	60	5	20	30

*) raised from 15 öre to 20 öre and from 30 öre to 40 öre

Local [öre]

- 20 g	- 125 g	- 250 g	- 500 g
10	20	30	40

International [öre]

Postcard	- 20 g	- 40 g	- 60 g	- 80 g	- 100 g	Printed  matter	Registred fee	Express fee
20	30	50	70	90	110	5	20	60

Parcels [öre]

- 1 kg	1 - 3 kg	3 - 5 kg	5 - 6 kg	6 - 7 kg
60	90	120	180	240

Read more:

You can read more about the Gustaf V right profile type II series - here and 

more about the Three Crowns series - here.

The last of its kind - the UPU-colouring principle

UPU colours and its consequences on the Gustaf VI Adolf type I series

UPU, the Universal Post Union, was founded in 1874 in Bern Switzerland. Among other things they established uniform flat postal rates for the most common internationally sent items; letter (first weight class), postcard and printed matter; to be sent anywhere in the world. That was quite an achievement and made things much easier for the postal administrations. Some years later, in 1897, UPU decided that the stamps used for these international flat postal rates should each have a distinct and uniform colour. Blue was choosen for letter, red for postcard and green for printed matter. In order to make things even easier for the postal administrations. That seemed like a pretty good idea.

There was also another rule connected to the rules of colours and that stated no other colours were allowed for the stamps with the these particular denominations (for letter, postcard and printed matter). The implication was when ever those postal rates were changed, often raised, the existent stamps have to be cancelled and new ones issued in the right colours.

An interesting matrix of Gustaf VI Adolf type I. From top left . . .

1951, 1 June, 10 öre green Gustaf VI Adolf type I. Qty:      7,900,000

1954, 12 April. 10 öre brown Gustaf VI Adolf type I. Qty:320,000,000

--

1951, 1 June. 20 öre red Gustaf VI Adolf type I. Qty:     70,100,000

1952,25 July. 20 öre grey Gustaf  VI Adolf type I. Qty:231,000,000

--
1951, 1 June. 25 öre grey Gustaf VI Adolf type I. Qty:      161,000,000
1952, 25 July. 25 öre red Gustaf VI Adolf type I.  Qty:      286,000,000
1954, 4 February. 25 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf type I. Qty: 456,000,000
--
1951, 1 June. 30 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf type I. Qty: 21,800,000
1952, 1 July. 30 öre brown Gustaf VI Adolf type I. Qty:   9,300,000
1954, 15 March. 30 öre red Gustaf VI Adolf type I. Qty: 14,900,000
--
1952, 1 July. 40 öre blue Gustaf VI Adolf type I. Qty:          12,600,000
1954, 20 January. 40 öre green Gustaf VI Adolf type I. Qty: 24,300,000

In June 1951 the new definitive series of the new king Gustaf VI Adolf was issued. Sweden still tried to be compliant to the UPU-colours and the 10 öre had to be green, the 20 öre had to be red and the 30 öre had to be blue.

International postal rates affected by the UPU-colours in June 1951:

Postcard	Letter - 20 g	Printed- matter
20 öre	30 öre	10 öre

As a comparison some domestic postal rates effective from 1 June 1951:

Postcard	Letter - 20 g	Printed- matter
15 öre*	25 öre	10 öre

* since 1948

Swedish post was UPU compliant in 1951, still in 1952, but they had gave up in 1954.

The rates for international postcard and letter  - 20 g was raised in June 1952, but the rate for printed matter was untouched.

International postal rates from June 1952:

Postcard	Letter - 20 g	Printed- matter
25 öre	40 öre	10 öre

UPU-colour consequences after June 1952.

The  biggest change in the Gustaf VI Adolf series were caused by the raise of the postcard rate. First the old 20 öre red had to be cancelled and since a 20 öre denomination still was needed a new 20 öre stamp had to be issued, it became grey. Since there already existed a  grey 25 öre stamp and grey now was the wrong colour it had to be cancelled. It was replaced with the new 25 öre red - right colour for postcard. The new 40 öre blue was a new denomination in the series. Therefore the old 30 öre blue had only to be replaced by the new 30 öre brown. This time seven stamps were affected.

This was the problem with the UPU-colours. The changes "consumed" a lot of stamps if the old rate's denomination was going to be kept and if there already existed a denomination of the new rate, which of course was of the wrong colour. In addition a new stamp in the right colour had to be issued, just in the case with the 20 to 25 öre raise above. In worst case four stamps were affected by each raise.

Up to four stamps were affected by the UPU-colouring principles.

Further back, especially before the first world war when the rates were changed after many years, sometimes after over a decade, this was not a big deal. However the postal rates were changed quite often in most countries during the first years after the first world war which caused quite a few countries to choose to be not complaint anymore. Sweden hanged on to the UPU-colours and issued compliant stamps until 1953*. Swedish Post was one of the last postal administrations that tried to be compliant.

No more UPU colours for the Gustaf VI Adolf series.

Even if Swedish Post could have kept the UPU-coloured stamps and not issue new ones in 1954 they choose to change the colours. The major reason was not to make a clean break with the UPU rule, instead the Swedish Post was not pleased with the colouring of the Gustaf VI Adolf type I series, they thought the background was not coloured enough. It was believed to to be too light. The next raise of the postal rates occurred in June 1957 and that brought the updated Gustaf VI Adolf type II series with a better background.



* The last stamps that complied to the UPU-colours were from the commemorative series 50th Anniversary of the National Athletic Federation in May 1953.