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1970 Registered airmail to US

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 10:39 pm
by ldhaber
HI,

I have a very large cover, measuring 12 by 5 inches, sent registered airmail to the US, postmarked 17 July 1970. The cover is franked with a 10p and a 5/- Machin, total franking of 7/-.

My read of the tables is that registry was 3/-, leaving 4/- to be accounted for. The 1oz rate was 3/- and the next step would be 4/6 which would put me 6d over.

I have attached an image and as you can see there are no other markings or labels, so no insurance, no express etc etc.

Any thoughts on how to make the franking work? FYI the sender was the National Provincial Bank, Ltd, the recipient being the Camden Trust Company. I doubt there was a stamp collector in the background looking to make a good cover.

Was there some other fee I am not accounting for?

Your help would be appreciated.

best,


Larry

Image

Re: 1970 Registered airmail to US

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 11:46 pm
by mozzerb
I think you're right that this doesn't fit -- there's no suggestion of any other service being used, and there wasn't a 4/- rate for Zone B second class airmail (printed papers etc) either.

It could be that the clerk in the sender's office simply miscounted, but a possible guess given the date is that they hadn't really grasped the idea of the new decimal currency yet, and thought of 10p as being the same as 1/- not 2/-, thus overpaying 1/- for a double weight letter!

Re: 1970 Registered airmail to US

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 10:12 am
by ldhaber
Thanks. I like the idea that the 10p was read as 1s. No way to know, but I like the idea of it. I think i've seen other examples of figures being mis-read during the D Day process.

Re: 1970 Registered airmail to US

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 1:02 pm
by mozzerb
It would probably have been a lot easier for people to adapt if they had gone with 10/- old money = £1 new money (so 120d old = 100p new) or alternatively 1d old = 1p new (so 8/4 old = £1 new), but at the time the decision was made they were worried it would be seen as a stealth devaluation of the pound.

Of course, the pound had to be devalued not long afterwards anyway ...

Are you collecting mixed currency usages specifically or just the pre-decimalisation use of the 10p/20p/50p?

Re: 1970 Registered airmail to US

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 2:13 pm
by ldhaber
I do suppose they could have gone from 10s to 100p. I believe that was the path taken elsewhere. Australia? South Africa? Probably Canada? Even though they might have feared an implied devaluation they got it just the same via inflation. In terms of rates, I'm amazed that 1st class inland went from 5d to 3p on D Day. That's essentially a 50% increase. What is curious is that zone B and C airmail remained the same.

In terms of collecting, I collect decimalisation postal history. I find the process and concept of the UK changing its currency very interesting and of huge import. I think that it is underestimated as a field, as is all of modern PH, imho. And, not terribly easy either.

The large format Machins you've seen from me is mere coincidence.

Re: 1970 Registered airmail to US

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 3:49 pm
by mozzerb
ldhaber wrote:I do suppose they could have gone from 10s to 100p. I believe that was the path taken elsewhere. Australia? South Africa? Probably Canada?
Definitely Australia, I think, not sure about South Africa. Canada was so far back (Confederation in 1867?) it probably didn't matter how they did it!
ldhaber wrote:Even though they might have feared an implied devaluation they got it just the same via inflation. In terms of rates, I'm amazed that 1st class inland went from 5d to 3p on D Day. That's essentially a 50% increase. What is curious is that zone B and C airmail remained the same.
IIRC they were planning a rise from 4d/5d (2nd/1st class) to 6d/7d, but put it back to D-Day on the (cynical but probably accurate) grounds that people would be sufficiently distracted by the currency change that they wouldn't notice.
ldhaber wrote:In terms of collecting, I collect decimalisation postal history. I find the process and concept of the UK changing its currency very interesting and of huge import. I think that it is underestimated as a field, as is all of modern PH, imho. And, not terribly easy either
Agreed. Well, that makes three of us I'm aware of collecting it then. :)

Re: 1970 Registered airmail to US

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 4:21 pm
by ldhaber
Hi,

Back from NY2016.

I had been thinking of other covers which might show early confusion wrt the new decimal stamps.

This is this one:
Image

Postmarked on 15 February 1971, franked with a 5p, perhaps? misfranked by someone confused and mistaking for a 5d??.

Clearly philatelic, but curious.

best,

Larry

Re: 1970 Registered airmail to US

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 8:49 pm
by mozzerb
ldhaber wrote:Postmarked on 15 February 1971, franked with a 5p, perhaps? misfranked by someone confused and mistaking for a 5d??.

Clearly philatelic, but curious.
Could have been, actually, although I suppose it could also have been one of a batch of different values for the FDI. Postmarked at a sub-office which would have remained open during the strike -- may have been handed back over the counter by favour unless there were enough staff for some sort of local area delivery?

Re: 1970 Registered airmail to US

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 11:00 pm
by Tony
Wikipedia entry :

The strike was Britain's first national postal strike and began after postal workers demanded a pay rise of 15-20% then walked out after Post Office managers made a lower offer. The strike began on 20 January 1971 and lasted for seven weeks, finally ending with an agreement on Thursday 4 March 1971. After voting over the weekend, the strikers returned to work on Monday 8 March 1971. The strike overlapped with the introduction of decimal currency in the U.K.

There is no mention of sub-offices remaining open.

Tony

Re: 1970 Registered airmail to US

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 11:08 pm
by ldhaber
Yes, 15 February was during the middle of the 1971 Postal Strike, but a number of small sub-offices remained open. These sub-offices were small fixtures tied to small local retail establishments. I have a number of FDCs actually stuck on the day.

Elsewhere on the GBPS site there is a display by Maurice Buxton on the 1971 strike and he has references to the offices that remained open. See this page in his display http://www.gbps.org.uk/displays/1971-po ... heet11.php

Re: 1970 Registered airmail to US

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 11:16 pm
by Tony
Thanks for that, Larry - yet another iota of ignorance removed from the vast pool I currently wallow in !

Tony