Great Britain: The 1929 Postal Union Congress Issue

In this insightful article from Gibbons Stamp Monthly, the UK’s best-selling stamp magazine, Richard West explores the story behind Britain’s striking 1929 Postal Union Congress stamps.

GREAT BRITAIN: THE 1929 POSTAL UNION CONGRESS ISSUE

By Richard West

On 10 May 1929, Britain hosted the ninth Postal Union Congress – a formal meeting of the Universal Postal Union, which was held every four years. The previous two Congresses had each been marked with a set of commemorative stamps and in 1928, despite the initial reluctance of King George V, the decision was made for Britain to do the same. The resulting issue was a five-stamp set which included one of Britain’s classic stamp designs – the celebrated PUC £1. Richard West talks us through the development of these key British commemoratives.

The Ninth Postal Union Congress opened in London on 10 May 1929. Although there had only been one previous occasion for which the Post Office had issued special stamps, the British Empire Exhibition, it was decided to repeat the idea this time. This was partly because Spain and Sweden, hosts for the previous two congresses, had met the costs through the sale of stamps. However, King George V, conservative in his views about stamps, was not immediately in favour.

It was decided there would be four stamps – ½d., 1d., 1½d. and 2½d.: however, soon after, a £1 value was added (Fig 1). The reason is not clear. Some believe it was felt that presenting each delegate with stamps totalling 5½d. would seem rather mean; others believe the Post Office was fully aware of the revenue a £1 stamp, sold mainly to philatelists, would generate.

Producing the designs

To help the Postmaster General (PMG) reach decisions about the design and printing of the stamps, an advisory committee was established. It was agreed that the low values would be definitive size, using the same basic colours. The £1 would be larger (35mm×25mm) and in a colour to be decided. A list of artists to approach was drawn up, those responding being Noel Rooke, Eric Gill, Harold Nelson, C L Doman, Eric Ravilious, E Linzell, F W Farleigh, plus the printing companies Waterlow and Sons and Bradbury, Wilkinson. Waterlows suggested that a ‘new’ process might be tried, photogravure; however, rather than be adventurous, it was decided to keep to letterpress for the low values, but recess was chosen for the £1.

From the designs submitted, the committee selected two by F W Farleigh for the ½d. and 2½d., one by E Linzell to be used for both the 1d. and 1½d., and one by Harold Nelson for the £1 that was similar to a design he had submitted for the British Empire Exhibition (Fig 2 to Fig 4). The Linzell design would later create problems for the engraver because of the limited space allowed for the denomination. Nelson’s design had initially included the words ‘POSTAGE’ and ‘REVENUE’: as the £1 was not to be used for revenue purposes the latter was replaced by ‘ONE POUND’. Although the Farleigh design only included the word ‘POSTAGE’, it was decided not to make an alteration.

The designs naturally needed Royal approval, but the King was extremely ill and so the matter was deferred. The King happily improved: nevertheless, it was Queen Mary who approved the designs.

Printing

Die proofs were produced for the low values, to which various modifications were made (Fig 5). Colour trials were also provided, with the committee making the final selection from the range of shades suggested: middle chrome green (½d.), permanent vermilion (1d.), chocolate or art brown (1½d.), and steel shade blue (2½d.). The PMG opted for chocolate for the 1½d.

The low values were printed by Waterlows using plates produced at the Royal Mint. A considerable number of plates was needed as the stamps were produced in sheets, rolls and booklets.

The PUC £1

The engraving of the die for the £1 was entrusted to J A C Harrison, who was employed by Waterlows, but seconded to Bradbury, Wilkinson for the purpose. It’s interesting to see the estimates for printing this stamp – the total cost was just under £145. It was suggested that an additional £38 be spent on a comb perforator, but this was rejected by the Post Office on cost grounds. It was also agreed that the stamp would be printed in sheets of 20, as this was cheaper than preparing a plate that printed 40 stamps. However, permission was granted for a special watermark for the £1 stamp, the GvR and Crown occupying the area of one stamp.

Following approval of the £1 die, various colour trials were submitted, initially ten, followed by a further six, of which one was black. The Advisory Committee selected black.

The issued stamps

The stamps were issued on 10 May 1929, although not all post offices received stocks of the £1 (Fig 6). The high face value was criticised in philatelic circles. However, there was general praise for the design of the £1, but not so for the lower values.

The four low values were each printed in sheets of 240, with the Block Cypher (GvR and Crown) watermark. All have been found with the watermark inverted, but care is needed as all except the 2½d. were issued in booklets, where the production method results in half the supply having the watermark inverted.

All four low values are known imperforate and overprinted ‘Specimen’. In addition, the ½d. to 1½d. exist overprinted ‘Cancelled’ (Fig 7) and the 2½d. overprinted ‘Specimen’. The £1 exists overprinted ‘Specimen’ in red.

Constant varieties are found on the sheet stamps as follows: ½d. – ‘C’ and ‘O’ joined; 1d. – broken wreath at left, ‘C’ and ‘O’ joined, ‘1829’ for ‘1929’; 1½d. – ‘1829’ for ‘1929’, blob on ‘1’ of ‘1929’ (Fig 8).

Rolls and booklets

From the outset, it had been decided that the low values would replace the corresponding definitives during their period of sale. Consequently, it is understandable that there would also be booklets and rolls for three of these stamps (not the 2½d.).

The ½d., 1d. and 1½d. were issued in rolls with sideways delivery (Fig 9). To print the continuous rolls (issued in rolls of 480 stamps) meant the stamps had to appear sideways on the cylinder, and hence show the watermark sideways (the only source of stamps with sideways watermark). The code letters (appearing on the leader attached to the first stamp in the roll) given to these rolls were P (½d.), O (1d.) and N (1½d.). The 1½d. is known with the variety blob on ‘ES’.

These three values were also issued in rolls for vertical delivery, these having the normal upright watermark. These rolls were produced in three sizes. For those of 480 stamps, the code letters were G (½d.), E (1d.) and L (1½d.). For rolls of 960 stamps, the code letters were D and W (½d.), B and X (1d.) and K (1½d.). Finally, rolls of 1920 were produced for the ½d. and 1d., these having code letters Y and Z respectively.

The same three values were also issued in booklets, selling at 2s. and 3s. The 2s. booklets contained six of the ½d. in one pane of six, six of the 1d., again in one pane of six, and ten of the 1½d. in one pane of six and a second pane of four stamps attached to two advertising labels (Fig 10). The 3s. booklets contained six of the ½d. in one pane of six, six of the 1d. in one pane of six, and 18 of the 1½d. in three panes of six. All four of the different panes (6×½d., 6×1d., 4×1½d. plus two labels and 6×1½d.) exist with the stamps overprinted ‘Cancelled’.

For ease of production and to provide a margin for binding the booklets to the left of the stamps on each pane (so that when the booklets are opened, the stamps are always upright), the cylinder was configured with half the panes upright and half inverted. Hence half the panes have the watermark upright and half inverted.

Constant varieties are found on two panes. Broken ‘O’ in ‘POSTAL’ on the six of the 1d., and ‘Q’ for ‘O’ in ‘UNION’ (Fig 11) on the six of the 1½d.

The booklet cover designs give the cost (2s. or 3s.) and the contents, plus the GvR cypher and an advertisement (Fig 12). Along the top reads the text: ‘POSTAL UNION CONGRESS, LONDON, 1929.’ Trials were produced of the 2s. front cover showing alternative type styles for the inscription, and with a cover advertisement for Burgoyne’s Tintara (an Australian tonic wine). These trial covers also show the edition number (102) positioned just above the price of the booklet – 2s.

There were five editions produced of the 2s. booklet, which were given edition numbers 103 to 107 (positioned above the price) and these showed the following advertisers respectively on the front cover: Punch; The Prudential; BP gives you more; Basildon Bond; and Burgoyne’s Tintara.

It was the 2s. booklets that contained the pane of four 1½d. with two advertising labels. The advertisers on the labels were: Atlantic Transport Line (edition 103); F S Cleaver of London advertising Cleaver’s Terebene (104); J and J Cash for Cash’s Washing Ribbons (105); Chas Nissen, stamp dealers, and Desti cigarettes (106); and the telephone service and air mail (107).

For the 3s. booklet, there were again five editions given the edition numbers 168 to 172, for which the front cover advertisers were respectively: Burgoyne’s Tintara; BP gives you more; Punch; BP gives you more (again); and The Prudential.

The issue was certainly a success with the low values selling out prior to the planned withdrawal date in October. Nevertheless, it was not until May 1933 that the £1 was generally withdrawn, although it remained on sale at the London Chief Office until 1937. A total of 66,788 of the £1 were sold from the 69,340 printed. It was the first change of design for the £1 since that issued in 1913, and it is regarded to this day as one of Britain’s classic stamp designs.

Acknowledgements

The Postal Museum Stamp Histories; Stanley Gibbons Specialised Great Britain Catalogue Volume 2: King Edward VII to King George VI; British Stamp Booklets Part 3 by Jean Alexander and Leonard F Newbery. Images courtesy of The Postal Museum and Stanley Gibbons.