question for you old folks... anyone remember 1975?

[welfareloser]

i don't.

so how much was a first-class stamp in 1975? 18 cents? 15?

i have a bunch of vintage christmas stamps that i am putting on my christmas cards, but there are two sheets from 1975 that just say "1975;" no denomination is given.

i'm having trouble googling the information... all i get is "buy these old stamps for $493! look at these pics of MY stamp collection!"

[WhiskeyPapa]

Are you sure they are genuine postage stamps, and not something like promotional Christmas "seals"?

Anyway, while I was alive in 1975, I couldn't tell you the rate from memory, but I'm purdy dern good at Googling, so here's a chart:
http://www.akdart.com/postrate.html

It says that a 1st class postage stamp in 1975 was 10 cents.

[welfareloser]

thank you! i bow before your googling skills...

and i'm positive they're real postage stamps... and if i'm wrong, that's what the return address is for :P

[WhiskeyPapa]

I see if it looks like an old painting of Mary and Jesus, or a little angel swinging from a bell, they didn't have the denominations on them. I guess the postage increased on 12/31/75, so I suppose they didn't want to print an amount on them, since they were in the middle of a rate increase.

Neat idea, BTW, I'll have to do that some year.

[zippyjuan]

I doubt they are real stamps. Organizations used to send them out at Christmas time to try and solicit donations in return. People usually stuck them on their Christmas cards and packages. I bet they don't say "USA" on them .

[WhiskeyPapa]

As a former philatelist, I couldn't stop thinking about this until I found the definitive answer:

Here it is (http://www.linns.com/howto/refresher/nondenominated_20011231/refreshercourse.asp?uID=)


Sometimes U.S. stamps are printed without a denomination because the U.S. Postal Service does not know well enough in advance what value the stamps will have. When the Postal Service seeks an increase in domestic postal rates, it must wait for a review and recommendation from the Postal Rate Commission, an independent agency of the federal government.

Once a rate change plan is reviewed, the Postal Service may choose to put the new rate into effect very quickly. Therefore, it prints hundreds of millions of nondenominated stamps well in advance that it can sell at the new rate as soon as it goes into effect.

Basically, it says (quite authoritatively) that this: http://www.linns.com/howto/refresher/nondenominated_20011231/rc1_1018.jpg and this: http://www.linns.com/howto/refresher/nondenominated_20011231/rc2_1018.jpg
are valid 10 cent stamps.

[whitak24]

that's pretty cool that you have those old stamps around :thumb:

[bachviet]

Collection items. :thumbup: