1960 Great Britain Overseas Registered Letter By Airmail - Calculating Postage Amount

Hello all! I have been getting into postal history a lot more lately and becoming quite interested in covers and calculating the rates used. I obtained a stack of 1960's registered letters from Britain to Canada that all went by Registered airmail. I cannot figure out how they calculated the rates. Just like back in grade school, I'll show my work and how I'm getting my final math answer and then await one of you to bring out the red pen and correct where my error is lol. Thanks in advance! Attached are photos.

Ok, this letter was sent in 1960. Using the table here:
http://www.gbps.org.uk/information/...840-1968.php

It shows the standard inland rate was 3d. On the back of my letter, the cost of a basic inland fee for Registered at £10 is 1sh. Ok so far I think I'm good. If I'm correct in my assumption, this is why the pre-stamped Queen postal card has a default Registration & Postage of both those values (1'3). Good so far?


Next I went here for the overseas airmail rates:
http://www.gbps.org.uk/information/...leaflets.php

In 1960, it shows 6d at the top of the PDF as being the "air letter rate" for all countries on the list. My first question here is what this means versus the left column #2) where it has "Letters per 1/2oz". For Canada, it shows 1s3d here. At the top it talks about Enclosures. What does all this mean? My covers look like something was inside so I'm wondering if that is what is meant by Enclosure (letter inside the envelope) versus the older style of just sticking postage on the actual letter itself??


So my error may already be there, although it still doesn't make sense. My cover has an amount of 3s6d if I'm adding correctly (I could also be wrong here but online showed 12d=1sh. I have 1sh + 30d = 3sh + 6d). Is this correct?

When I look at this - assuming it's an airmail rate, it should start off with the sender sticking a 3d stamp if they wanted just the basic £10 coverage (is this correct??).

Let's say they wanted maximum coverage - the back of the cover says 2s8d fee PLUS I assume you add 6d for sending by airmail - this comes to 3s2d. Is that correct? If so, why the extra 4d??

A couple of possibilities I've come up with:
1. The 4d is for over-weight. I can't find a table showing airmail weight additions unless I missed it in the PDF somewhere. The inland table rate link first posted above has over-weight fees for inland, although none are 4d and interestingly, 4.5d is the next step up. I'd figure the fee for airmail would go up by a higher amount.
2. Perhaps the compensation amount is NOT maxed out and was a particular amount and then the over-weight fee added up for the total on the cover?
3. The airmail leaflet PDF is in fact airmail fee of 1s3. If there was a compensation amount adding up to 2s3d, I guess that adds up.

Or option 4 is I'm wrong all over the place. Bear with me as this is new ground and I'm learning the basics. Hopefully my blabbering post makes some sense and I can be steered right. Maybe the post office overcharged our poor sender or they just over-franked it? Ahhhh!!

One thing I hadn't caught before was the back of the cover has an inland and an overseas fee. It only says the base fee or is this an additional fee above the inland fee?

Also, does £2-18-0 mean £2 + 18sh + 0d?

Indeed.

Ok so then another possibility is this:
- Airmail postage rate in column two of the PDF is: 1s3d per 1/2oz
- Registered letter overseas is a flat 1s

If it weighed 1oz, it would be 2s6d + 1s for the 3s6d.

I don't want to say that's it as I am basically working backwards trying to get that value but just another possibility and the first one that adds up.

The indicium reads "REGISTRATION AND POSTAGE". 1/- for registration as it reads on the back and 3d domestic postage. You also misread the back; the maximum insurance value or compensation for loss is £2/18/0.



That's it. And the envelope looks like it carried something heavier than a sheet of paper or a cheque.

Ok this all makes sense a lot more and now as I go through a few more covers and continue reading that site, it's becoming more clear. Thank you both for the speedy replies! I'll keep sorting through these and hopefully they all make sense. If not, I'll fire off another question. Cheers!!

If you could show us a couple more, it would be of interest and appreciated.

Also, I find it interesting that in 1960, someone was still using a wax seal for important letters.

I can still recall wax at the counter, where I have no idea, perhaps early Australia around 1957 > 1963 , I was fascinated by the stuff, it was a long square pencil shaped thing, sitting in a shallow glass bowl, and it had a very strange feel to it. The colour deep and rich.
Never seen it used in real time. Seen it used to tie / bind string around parcels.