Monday 3 September 2018

Validity and Value of stamps with no Value (NVI)

It is over four years since we first had to consider the change in letter weight steps and the question of stamps pre-printed with obsolete weights.  A reader asked the question on the latest Revenue Protection post last month, and so I'll give this important subject it's own entry on the blog.

The question was:
There is another issue, as touched on, in that what postage rate do some of the perfectly legal NVIs and earlier Post & Go stamps now pay. A number of the original rates no longer exist.
I assume an "E" value will probably still pay the Europe rate of up 20g. Where is this set out, either for the public or the Royal Mail staff?
We have Overseas booklet stamps showing Worldwide postcard rate? Originally apparently 43p. What does that pay for today? Ditto Europe up to 40g - no longer a published postage rate. Worldwide up to 40g & 60g likewise both as booklet stamps and/or Post & Go values. Europe up to 60g and so on.
Does anyone know whether the answer set out anywhere or where the contact point is to enquire?
The answer is buried deep in a blogpost of April 2014, so I'll repeat and expand on it here.
UPDATE 10 April 2014
Regarding the future value of obsolete Post and Go stamps Royal Mail have advised:

Existing P&G stamps for WW 10g and WW40g and other previously issued NVI’s for which there is no current postage value e.g. WW Postcard, will continue to be valid for the next applicable weight step up from its stated value i.e. WW 10g stamp will be valid at the WW 20g value and the WW 40g stamp will be valid at the new WW 60g value.
Although they were asked specifically about Post and Go stamps, the reply covers the self-adhesive booklet stamps, including the airmail postcard rate stamp, which is the same rate as the Europe 20g/World 10g. The following year the 60g step was replaced by the 100g step and the same principle applied.  In other words, the stamps showing 40g are now valid for 100g.  The 10g and 20g stamps are still valid for the weights shown, as before.


Users of Stanley Gibbons' Great Britain Concise catalogue will know that the introduction includes some tables of postage rates.  One which is missing is this table which, apart from indicating the original selling price of some of the stamps, explains why certain definitive stamps were issued and, in the case of the £2.25, reiussed after being replaced.


Europe 20g
World 10g
World 20g
World 40g
April 2009
56p
62p
90p
-
April 2010
60p
67p
97p
£1.46
April 2011
68p
76p
£1.10
£1.65
April 2012
87p
£1.28
£1.90
April 2013
88p
£1.25
£1.88

E20/ W10
Europe 60g
World 20g
World 60g
April 2014
97p
£1.47
£1.28
£2.15

E20/ W10
Europe 100g
World 20g
World 100g
April 2015
£1
£1.52
£1.33
£2.25
April 2016
£1.05
£1.52
£1.33
£2.25
April 2017
£1.17
£1.57
£1.40
£2.27
April 2018
£1.25*
£1.55
£1.45
£2.25



* error corrected
I hope readers find this useful.  It is probably worth reminding everybody that these are also all valid at the rates shown for inland postage, just as the 2nd, 1st, Large, Signed For, and Special Delivery stamps are all valid for services other than those shown and on inland and international mail.


3 comments:

  1. Thank you Ian for the very useful chart explaining the various postal rates of all the earlier European and Worldwide NVI stamps. I'm sure like me many collectors and dealers have alot of these to use up.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shouldn't the April 2018 price for Europe 20g be £1.25?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, thank you. And of course I have used a generic 'April' when some were actually at the end of March, the stamps almost always being issued 6-7 days earlier.

      Delete

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