Imperial Reply Coupon - Australia

I was going through stuff over the weekend that I got out of storage and came across a mini hoard (16) of the below that I had completely forgotten about:





As they relate to an area that I have absolutely no knowledge of any information as to their use, value etc would be greatly appreciated

I'd hang on to those,
can be valuable.

Referred to as International Reply Coupons
Have sent some myself over the years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intern...reply_coupon

Very sharp.

are those 16 available for swap / buy? I collect on ships thematic, and I have the same Imperial Reply Coupons of 'Federated Malay States' and 'North Borneo'.

I have seen Imperial Reply Coupons in far inferior condition for sale so your lot could fetch quite a bit in a right auction.

You might get more information if you would post the picture in another forum than Cinderellas, as by definition reply coupons are official issues by postal authorities used for delivering messages, which Cinderellas are not.

You can still go an buy a reply coupon and send it to another country and the recipient can return it for you free of charge. A bit useless nowadays when email does the same job quicker.

Olympiccollector, your answer is a bit off. IRC's are indeed officially issued by postal authorities, but those in Geneva, Switzerland, to any UPU member states' postal authorities. Their purpose was to pay someone in a foreign country to answer your mail. A self-stamped envelop would do the same thing inside one's country!

"Off"? I maintain that Reply Coupons, Imperial or UPU, are used to pay for postage revenue, which Cinderellas are not (they look like postage stamps but are not used to pay for postage revenue). Cinderella Collectors Club does include also revenue stamps as well as private and local posts. Were IRC delivered by the national postal authorities or did they have own private delivery system?

There is a lot containing Imperial Reply Coupons for sale at Gaertner auctions right now with 1600 Euro estimate.