Great Britain : On Steiner Pages.

This is how SG puts it:

Interesting the commentary deems the postage dues as "Labels"

Corrected Postage Due scan.

Limeys rod, The Penny Black was called "adhesive label." Technically, a stamp would be a stamped marking applied to an item of mail.

GB collectors, commonly, refer to postage dues as "To Pay labels."

NSK - I don't think I've ever referred to a "postage due" as a "to pay"! "To pay" would be more accurate if they're being used to collect duty etc.

GeoffHa, I have come across this since I started collecting them in the 1980s. SG used this terminology, as did Royal Mail. The former had a preference for "postage dues."

The postage dues up to 1s had the inscription "postage due." In 1924, the half crown was added to the series. The "high values" from the half crown upwards always had the inscription "To Pay," instead of Postage Due. From decimalisation, they were only inscribed "To Pay."

Close up of the 5 Pound Postage Due / To Pay Label.
The Artwork
Well done Questa ! Beautiful stuff.

I think it would be a hoot if those "To Pay" stamps had a design like this:

Further to the name.

Deegam also calls these "To Pay labels." Douglas Myall informs:

They had two functions:
- as a receipt for unpaid or underpaid postage plus a surcharge due, and
- to collect excise and other duties on mail from abroad on behalf of HM Customs and Excise.

The later function was the principal reason for the existence of the high values and also the reason for abolishing the inscription "postage due" in favour of "to pay."
On 1 April 1973, a VAT of 10% was introduced. This required the introduction of a stamp with a face value over £1. The £5 stamp was introduced on 2 April 1973. At that time, the original coated paper had been replaced by a (fluorescent) coating that had an added optical brightening agent.

That first series is shown on page 14 of this thread (Steiner page 33).

@Rod, if you feel lucky, you may want to check your mint examples.
These come with PVA (uncoloured or slightly brownish) and DEX (bluish green) gum and on OCP, FCP and PCP2 papers. All papers have fluorescent properties. This shows on the back. The OCP has a coating on the front without fluorescent properties that turns dark under uv-light. The FCP has OBA added to the coating on the front and shows a fluorescent reaction (from slightly bright to blindingly bright). The PCP2 has phosphor added to the coating on the front. This reacts greenish to short-wave uv light. The interesting ones are the fluorescent coated paper with PVA-gum stamps.

The 3p, 10p and 20p exist in several varieties. Connoisseur prices:

3p OCP/PVA £0.40 FCP/PVA £20 FCP/DEX £0.30
10p OCP/PVA £0.80 FCP/PVA £60 FCP/DEX £0.35 PCP2/DEX £0.50
20p OCP/PVA £1.25 FCP/PVA £ 120 FCP/DEX £0.55 PCP2/DEX £1.50

And when you are at it, the second series (same post, Steiner page 43) has the 2p value both on fluorescent coated paper (FCP) and advanced coated paper (ACP). The latter has phosphor added to the coating and shows an afterglow after switching of a short-wave UV-lamp (the FCP does not). The FCP stamp is priced £0.40 mint, whereas the ACP one is priced £125 mint.

Wonderful information,
Thanks NSK (and Douglas)
All makes sense now.
I do not have a UV Lamp, but this may encourage me to get off my butt.
UV had been a "step to far", for this collector.

I like the "Connoisseur prices:" ideal verbiage.
Post saved

Earlier on, there were some posts on the use for high value "Queen Victoria" issues.

This website explains:
https://alva5761.wixsite.com/stamp-...-high-values

Primary use: revenue. Cancellations with "Exchange" in it usually refer to a tax on stock trades (stamp duty).
Guernsey and Jersey or cancellations from port towns are often related to tobacco ordered from the isles.

Postal use mostly parcels and often sent registered because of the value of the parcels. Crayon cancellations are related to such use.

Alice, on her very first meeting at her local Stamp Club...
By Charles Lutwidge Dodgson

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

Sc#1541

The 1853 Barefoot 1 takes the cake for all of them, although there are quite a few I saw that I am still hunting for, especially the high value. Nice collection. Thanks for sharing

jeff

West Country Air Service.
How do members view this? Cinderella? Genuine?
Not seen before.
(the bay)

This info may be of interest to you:

http://www.gbintairmail.com/air%20labels.htm

Indeed it was.
Thank you very much.