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Postal Stationery Bands

Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 10:09 pm
by mike.mood@talktalk.net
I have no idea whether I am using the correct terminology here or not. What I call bands are the strips of paper, glued into a band, that keep a multiple of items of postal stationery in a manageable shape for Post Office staff.

Specifically, I have some airletter bands that I am trying to allocate to their airletters, without a great deal of success so far.

The violet band in particular is a nuisance. The cost of a Christmas airletter in 1965 was 10d, but then so it was again in 1967. The desgins in 1965 were SNOWFLAKE and NATIVITY, but in 1967 we had PEARTREE and NATIVITY. So which was this, 1965 or 1967?

The blue band - well, after 1969 the year was included on the bands, so surely this has to be 1966 when there was only the one airletter design. 1968 we had two designs to choose from and surely they would have been identified on the band?

The yellow band - well, I'm calling that a definitive issue but it could probably be any issue up until 1966.

Unless anybody out there knows any different?

Re: Postal Stationery Bands

Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 10:34 pm
by admin
The official term was "packet bands", so "bands" is a perfectly reasonable shorthand.

George King is the man who knows most about which band goes with which item of stationery (and has displayed various selections at meetings), but unfortunately he's not online. If you contact me (Maurice) by email, I can arrange to put you in touch with him -- he's generally happy to answer questions.