International Reply Coupon

Maybe not the right forum for this question but here goes: I have three of these mint - are they still used / of value?They are UPU C22 - face language is French.

Is the face languange entirely in French, or is there any other indicator (word, currency...) that would show selling country?

The C22 series was issued starting 1975 and later. The US versions are listed in the 2013 Scott US Specialized at $3.75-$8.

C22 IRC were demonitized internationally many years ago. If they have an indication on the front that says there were issued by the United States they can be redeemed for 1c less than the face value at any US post office. However, don't expect that most post employees would know how this is done. It is a very rare situation.

C22's were used from 1975 to 2002. If there is the wording UNITED STATES / OF AMERICA at the lower left, you have a very rare variety that is greatly underprice in Scott.

That would be #IRC30b, which is $20 in the 2015 Scott (up from the $8 I quoted from the 2013 Scott).

Definitely not that easy to find. The problem is that there aren't that many people looking for it. Price <==> demand - available supply. Most stamp collectors have never heard of International Reply Coupons. I won't even go further about how many postal clerks have heard of them! I didn't see my first one until just a few years ago.

There is no reference to USA on this IRC. As I said, the face is in French.

The face is normally in French for C22, except for at most a couple of words/symbols that might indicate dispensing country. For example on the US IRC for C22, the only English words on it might be the value in the middle block ("95 CENTS" for example). There may or may not be an indicator of US anywhere else.

If it is entirely in French with no other indication of issuing country, I guess it might actually be a French, Swiss... IRC. I don't have the catalogs to cover IRCs issued by other countries. Sorry.

Gracias. I'm figgering it must be European. Thanks for helping.

Here's an example of a USA IRC with C22 at the top. It is called the Lausanne type after the city in which the UPU Congress was held that authorized the design. Denominations can be "26 CENTS", "42 CENTS", "65 CENTS", "80 CENTS", "95 CENTS", or "1.05". After the $1.05, another value was issued, but it was done via adding 70c worth of stamps to the IRC.

Many countries just issued the IRCs with out denomination or country designation. The only way to tell which country issued it is by the postmark at the left.

Many thanks.,..........however if I had a postmark I wouldn't have had to post the question I think. +]

Now you got me curious. Was the center block completely blank, or was there an amount there?

No amount