REL1948
Member 
Posts: 583 
What I collect: 1840-Pre-Decimal, GB and Colonies, 1840 1 penny reds, Postal Histories
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Post by REL1948 on Mar 19, 2023 14:28:16 GMT
I ran across this envelope on eBay this morning. I have no familiarity with Great Britain stationery but I'm quite familiar with classic United States stationery. I've never seen multiples on a piece of stationery before. In my experience the printing process only creates one stamp, one value per envelope at least on US versions. Does anyone know how these come about. Are these commonplace? Who printed these multiples? Why do they exist? I can't imagine a need for this type of postal product with two different monarchs.
Help please, does anyone know more about these?
Rob
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vikingeck
Member
Posts: 3,261
What I collect: Samoa, Tobacco theme, Mail in Wartime, anything odd and unusual!
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Post by vikingeck on Mar 19, 2023 17:43:52 GMT
zipper has shown 3 or 4 double embossed Victorian stationery envelopes in the mixed franking thread. I can’t find out how to link it here. Your cover must have been created very early in Elizabeth’s reign (1953) I suspect these are individually embossed when a rate change is needed.. usually regular stamps would be added but if a company was likely to be using a number of such mailings they probably requested a batch from The GPO . The George VI dies would still be available and Elizabeth ones not yet created.
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Post by daniel on Mar 19, 2023 19:21:49 GMT
I ran across this envelope on eBay this morning. I have no familiarity with Great Britain stationery but I'm quite familiar with classic United States stationery. I've never seen multiples on a piece of stationery before. In my experience the printing process only creates one stamp, one value per envelope at least on US versions. Does anyone know how these come about. Are these commonplace? Who printed these multiples? Why do they exist? I can't imagine a need for this type of postal product with two different monarchs.
Help please, does anyone know more about these?
Rob
Hi Rob, I can give you some information. It is an example of a compound registered envelope. That is, in this example, multiple embossed stamps paid for postage and registration fees. It is possible that some of the postage elements would have paid for extra registration fees. But since the envelope was never used, it is difficult to know the exact purpose of this particular item. I agree with Alex, vikingeck , that the George VI embossed stamps were applied since these values were not yet available for Queen Elizabeth. The other point of interest is the address shown: 8 Sedley Taylor Road, Cambridge. That address is residential and the Reverend George Whitworth lived there with his family from c1955. This tells us that the envelope was produced to order. Further examples of similar registered unused envelopes with that address can also be found on eBay which date their production to later than 1955. Precisely why these envelopes were ordered is unclear but it is likely that they were sending cash, the registration fees paid suggest that they were insuring amounts of £180+. An interesting find for sure. Daniel |
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REL1948
Member
Posts: 583
What I collect: 1840-Pre-Decimal, GB and Colonies, 1840 1 penny reds, Postal Histories
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Post by REL1948 on Mar 22, 2023 18:37:54 GMT
The following excerpt comes from the archives of the Great Britain Philatelic Society. I'm still very interested in finding out more about how the additional embossings were actually applied on the existing stationery and by whom and where.
Rob
King George VI Stamped to Order (STO) Postal Stationery of Great Britain Although the use of stamped stationery in Great Britain was declining somewhat in the mid-20th century, given the availability of alternatives such as the Business Reply service, Stamping To Order remained a popular choice for many users who needed stationery that was ready to go.
A range of King George VI head STO dies were used, both embossed and letterpress, with values from ½d to 1s. Examples of all the known dies are included here, both solo and in combination.
Of course, not all commercial KGVI STO material consists of straightforward single die stampings! Changing postal rates often meant that envelopes prepared for one rate had to be returned for additional stamping when rates were increased. In particular, numerous unusual combinations were used on newspaper wrappers, which had to cover a wide variety of rates.
As with several GVI adhesive stamps, STO dies to replace KGV values were not available until 1939, but only one example of a dual reign combination is recorded.
At the other end of the reign, several of the QEII values were not available as STO dies until 1961, and so the KGVI dies saw an extended usage well into the following reign. In this case there were a number of commercial dual reign combinations, both embossed and letterpress.
Some stamp dealers with an interest in the Stamping To Order facility were infamous for producing many envelopes with odd combinations of dies. The main emphasis here is on commercial usages for specific requirements where available, showing why the stationery was produced to cover the changing postal rates of the era.
Note:
The stamping to order rule for a rate that required the use of multiple dies was for these to be struck in ascending order of value from right to left. Thus, combinations with lower values to the left must be uprates of the previously stamped material.
By Alan Huggins and Colin Baker, Great Britain Philatelic Society
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stanley64
Member
Posts: 1,818
What I collect: Canada, USA, Netherlands, Portugal & Colonies, Antarctic Territories and anything that catches my eye...
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Post by stanley64 on Mar 23, 2023 8:42:59 GMT
Whilst researching my own interests in "Printed To Private Order” (PTPO stationery), i.e. the covers of the Romanian polar group, " Filatelie Tematică Polară" as shown here, I found this bit of history regarding PTPOs published in the journal of the United Postal Stationery Society that may also be of interest to others reading this thread,
“The British post office was the first to offer to the public the facility of stamping the public’s own stationery paper stock with postage dies. This service was begun only 15 years after the issuance of the Penny Black and Mulready. There were several demand factors that led to this service: ... by notice of October 8, 1855 the Great Britain Board of Inland Revenue announced that the public could bring its blank paper into stamping facilities, where it would be embossed with dies of the desired denominations, for a fee plus postage.”
Further reading:
Schumann, S. and Menuz, W. (2001) “Australia's Printed To Private Order Envelopes,” Journal of the United Postal Stationery Society, 43(3), pp. 36–48.
Have fun and happy collecting!
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