Wrapper (philately)
In philately a newspaper wrapper is a form of postal stationery which pays the cost of the delivery of a newspaper. The wrapper is a sheet of paper, large enough to wrap around a folded or rolled newspaper and with an imprinted stamp to pay the cost of postage.
History
The first country to issue newspaper wrappers was the United States in October 1861,[1] followed by New South Wales (1864), North German Confederation (1868),Victoria (1869), Romania (1870), Great Britain (1870), in total 110 countries issued newspaper wrappers.[2][3]
All the countries which issued newspaper wrappers have now discontinued producing them due to the declining usage. Most countries stopped production by 1940, some of the last countries to cease issuing wrappers were Australia in 1980, Ireland in 1984, Barbados in 1990 and Cyprus in 1991.[2]
Collecting
In the early days of philately it was the practice to cut the stamp out and dispose of the rest of the wrapper with the result that some intact wrappers are now rare. Today, collectors prefer to collect the whole wrapper as it may have postal markings that provide interesting additional information.
Stamps cut from whole postal stationary items are known as cut-outs or cut squares.
Stamped-to-order
Some countries permitted businesses and individuals to submit their own plain or printed sheets for impressing with an imprinted stamp. In Great Britain numerous businesses availed themselves of this facility and since anyone could use this service it resulted in private individuals producing "philatelic" newspaper wrappers.[4][5] The stamping-to-order facility was introduced in Great Britain in 1855[6] and withdrawn in 1973.[4]
Stamped-to-order newspaper wrappers are also known from Australia, Austria, Bavaria, France, Germany, New South Wales, Switzerland, Tasmania and Wurttemberg
References
- ^ Perry, Thomas Doane, Guide to the Stamped Envelopes and Wrappers of the United States, p127, The Dietz Press, 1940
- ^ a b Higgins & Gage World Postal Stationery Catalog
- ^ Ascher, Dr Siegfried, Grosser Ganzsachen-Katalog, 1925.
- ^ a b Chandler, John H & Dagnall, H, The Newspaper & Almanac Stamps of Great Britain & Ireland, p265, 1981, ISBN 0 907630 00 6
- ^ Philatelic Stamped to Order wrappers
- ^ Huggins, A K, British Postal Stationery, p31, 1970
Further reading
- Higgins & Gage World Postal Stationery Catalog, 19 volumes covering the whole world.
External links
- Bibliography of literature about Newspaper Wrappers
- stampdomain.com Article on wrappers and images. Long list of web links.
- Wurttemberg Stamped to Order Newspaper Wrappers for Die Briefmarke.