For parcel post, as for letter post, the weighting is directly proportional to the rarity of the items. In general, the higher the weight, the rarer the philatelic object.
This parcel card belonged to a domestic parcel weighing 6.4 kg, so it is not particularly rare, the really interesting domestic parcels in this period start at over 10 kg.
Charles IV was the last king of Hungary. Work on the series of stamps for the coronation celebrations on 30 December 1916 did not progress well.
One result of the delay was the poor quality of the design, which was below the standards of the time, and the interchange of colours on the 10 and 15 fillér denominations. Originally, the 10 fillér was supposed to be red and the 15 fillér purple.
The imperforated pairs shown here are proofs on yellowish-brown paper without watermark. Interestingly, Charles ascended the Hungarian throne as Charles IV, but in the meantime became Emperor of Austria as Charles I and King of Croatia as Charles III.
The Hungarian 102 fillér telegram card is a great rarity in Hungarian postal stationery collecting and postal history. In total, less than 20 are known, including used and unused copies.
BUDA / VIZIVÁROS rare postmark on misperforated strip of three 5 krajcar, 1871 engraved issue. Buda and Pest were not united until 1873, so in 1872 they were two cities. Viziváros (Water Town) was a suburb, but it’s now part of the historic city centre.
1874 the Hungarian engraved telegraph stamp of 40 krajcar. On the right stamp, there is spectacular plate wear in the area behind the value number.
1874 the Hungarian engraved telegraph stamp of 25 krajcar. The opposite of the previous post, overpainting below and above the value number instead of wear.
Hungary 5 krajcár type I. – rare stamp with rare postmark GYIMES-CSÍKSZÉK (Transylvania) in greenish color.
The 1874-1899 edition is the most difficult area of Hungarian philately. This 1888 12 krajcár stereo print with BEŠKA (now Serbia) postmark is shown on a parcel card cutout, with an interesting plate break under the postal horn.
In the past, collectors threw perfin stamps away, but nowadays they have a large collector base. This early collecting behaviour also explains why perfin stamps have become rare. It is particularly dear to our hearts to see perfin stamps on postal history items. The parcel card shown here was sent to Switzerland by the Hungarian representative of the YOST typewriter factory. For security reasons, the seal of the package had to be glued on the coupon side of the parcel card so that the addressee could check the package was unopened. This meant that the company’s letter seal also survived with the six Y-punched stamps. The postage for colis postal was 1 korona, which was paid with six stamps. It should be noted that companies rarely kept high value stamps in stock, hence the rarity of high denomination perfin stamps. It is likely that Yost did not have stamps with Korona currency in stock, so they paid the 1 Korona postage with the fillér stamps.
The Hungarian 2 kr imprinted postage stamp is equivalent to 4 fillér which, together with the 6 fillér stamp, makes the correct postage of 10 fillér.
Such use of the postal tariff reply card was theoretically irregular, but the surviving material shows that these cards were accepted.
The mixed use of the krajcár and fillér stamps were possible for 9 months, so fortunately we have several beautiful mixed frankings left.
This period (01.01.1900 – 30.09.1900) is one of the most popular collecting periods of Hungarian philately.
The 6 fillér stamp of the 1900 issue was issued in four colours, the history of which is quite interesting, but I will tell you about it later.
The spice of collecting postal history is always the rarities, the postal items and tariffs waiting to be deciphered, and as an avid collector of postal history I am always on the lookout for them. So it was that I came across a registered letter to Germany marked “Discount rate book”, a discount rate I had never heard of before. As a result of my research, I found the answer to this question in the Universal Postal Convention of 28 August 1924 in Stockholm and the related postal regulations.
Allow me, fellow collectors, to introduce you to the book tariff!
From 1 October 1925 (PTRT 1925 / 38), the book rate was only available for mail sent abroad under very strict conditions:
1. newspapers sent directly by the publishers,
2. scientific works sent between scientific and literary societies, or
3. hardcover or softcover books published by publishers (excluding any advertising).
The range of beneficiary countries varied for the three categories, but we will only consider in detail the book tariff, which at the time of publication of the Regulation was addressed to Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Latvia, Portugal, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Only brand-new, unused copies of books published by the publisher itself could be included in the mailing. For example, ‘The Franklin Society can only send a shipment of books at the above rate if they are self-published and this is stated at the bottom of the title page [or on the back cover] of the book’.
Tariffs at the time of publication of the Regulation:
– 400 Korona per 50 grams,
– a different rate was applied to book tariff consignments to Italy sent directly by publishers: 600 Korona per 50 grams.
However, the restrictions were not limited to the content of the consignment and the country of destination. There was also a further restriction on the sender: the tariff could only be used by a publishing company or a branch of a publishing company located in the area of the post office concerned.
So there were Korona Inflation items under the decision, although I have not yet had the pleasure of coming across any.
The discounted rate was always 50% of the current foreign form rate under the Postal Convention, and subsequently changed with it.
As you can read in the introductory regulation, book-type items could initially only be sent to 11 countries. Any additional service (recommendation, express, airmail, etc.) could be used for book items in the same way as for printed matter. The list of beneficiary countries changed several times over the years: first it was extended and then, after the outbreak of the war, it was reduced. The PTRT 1926 / 61 lists 26 beneficiary countries (for example, in addition to Greece and Saarland, which are relatively far away, there are exotic countries as far away as the Ivory Coast and the Somali coast). The last known extension is the accession of Gdansk on the Baltic coast on 15 May 1930 (PTRT 1930 / 20).
The tariffs were introduced on 1 January 1927, when the Pengő was introduced into the circle of denominations, which by then already included 25 associated countries:
– 3 fillérs per 50 grams,
– For Italy, the rate remained at 4 pfennigs per 50 grams, which was different from the other recipients.
The preferential rate for foreign books was thus linked to the tariff of the foreign publication in question and changed with it, and the number of countries benefiting from it was also reduced in the light of the current war situation. As a result, the change in the printing tariff applicable from 15 September 1941 was also affected, with the following tariff coming into force
– 6 fillér per 50 grams to Germany, Czech-Moravian Highlands, Poland (General Government) and Croatia,
The recipients of other mail sent abroad at reduced rates were then all member countries of the UPU (Universal Postal Union).
Unfortunately I have not been able to find the date of the introduction of the domestic book tariff, the earliest I could find was in August 1941 in Várady: Posta és Távirda tarifák XXXIV:
| until 100g | 4f |
| until 250g | 8f |
| until 500g | 12f |
| until 1000g | 16f |
| until 2000g | 32f |
| until 3000g | 48f |
From 1 July 1943 (PTRT 1943 /32) the tariff was changed as follows:
| until 100g | 6f |
| until 250g | 10f |
| until 500g | 16f |
| until 1000g | 24f |
| until 2000g | 40f |
| until 3000g | 60f |
On 2 July 1945, the reduced book rate was officially abolished, and its replacement was regulated in PTRT 1945 / 6:
“In the future, these items will be subject to the printed matter rates”.
PTRT 1945/6
The introduction of the forint also marked the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the book tariff, and although it was reinstated after its abolition in 1945, it was only used for domestic circulation.
The original article appeared in the March 2022 issue of Bélyegvilág magazine.
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