United States: International Reply Coupons: UPU IRCs
The Scott U.S. Specialized Catalogue has an good listing of U.S. IRCs, but does not separately assign catalog numbers or values to all the sub-varieties. For more complete information, see the primary worldwide catalog of UPU International Reply Coupons (IRCs), which is Yao's Catalogue of Worldwide Reply Coupons, Volume I: The UPU Coupons, published in 2017. The catalog is completely sold out and quite difficult to obtain; I found out about it too late and then it took me two years to find a used example for my own use. Work on a new edition is said to be underway, but I do not have any information about a potential publication date. Other than Scott and Yao, I do not know of any other modern catalog listings of only U.S. IRCs.
U.S. IRCs are fairly often encountered, but given all the possible variations that can exist, some of them are somewhat scarce. I am especially interested in buying all Scandinavian IRCs, but also groups and collections of IRCs from the U.S. and all countries. If you are seeking U.S. or Scandinavian IRCs, please let me know -- I usually have more IRCs in stock that are not on the website.
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US$
249693
UPU IRC Yao 2017 #17 (Type B7u), Scott #IRC15 "u" variety ["London" Design, "FORMULE C22" at upper right, 13 CENTS; Yao Records Used 1954-07-01 through 1959-04-30] VF quality. Sold, not redeemed, thus only postmark at left: Magenta two-ring "RED LODGE / MONT." dated April 20, 1959 (a few days before the end of the 13 cent rate period).
ACTUAL item.
SOLD
249694
UPU IRC Yao 2017 #17 (Type B7u), Scott #IRC15 "u" variety ["London" Design, "FORMULE C22" at upper right, 13 CENTS; Yao Records Used 1954-07-01 through 1959-04-30] VF quality. Sold, not redeemed, thus only postmark at left: Black one-ring "RED LODGE / MONT." dated April 20, 1959 (a few days before the end of the 13 cent rate period).
ACTUAL item.
6.00
249695
UPU IRC Yao 2017 #17 (Type B7u.s or .t), Scott #IRC16 "u" variety, surcharge variety ["London" Design, "FORMULE C22" at upper right, 13 CENTS, RUBBER STAMP SURCHARGED with Magenta "15" and with "13" CROSSED OUT BY PEN. Yao records the 15-surcharged were Used starting 1959-05-02, but with either only used that day or with an open-ended use period] VF quality. "NH", Not Sold, Not Redeemed, thus NO postmarks. The Yao listing is confusing, with two or more options: a) ".s" surcharge "ms, rs", which means manuscript and/or rubberstamp surcharge (??); b) ".t" surcharge "rs, scd", which means rubberstamp surcharge and/or ???? -- I cannot find a Yao definition for "scd". The Yao value for .s is $5 (which is more than double unsurcharged) and the Yao value for .t is $20 (which indicates it is very scarce in the Yao system). I am not sure which this, or if it is something else. Scott has a footnote that states that the individual post offices all around the country were instructed to use their own methods to surcharge from 13 to 15 cents, thus there are many different variations and styles. Thus any one style of this surcharge is likely to be extremely scarce. A couple of this item came to me long ago from the estate of the retired Postmaster of the tiny RED LODGE, MONTANA post office -- he was Postmaster during the time period including 1959 and he was a client of ours.
REPRESENTATIVE image of stamp design.
9.00
249696
UPU IRC Yao 2017 #17 (Type B7u.s or .t), Scott #IRC16 "u" variety, surcharge variety ["London" Design, "FORMULE C22" at upper right, 13 CENTS, RUBBER STAMP SURCHARGED with Magenta "15" and Magenta SQUARE covering the "13". Yao records the 15-surcharged were Used starting 1959-05-02, but with either only used that day or with an open-ended use period] VF quality. "NH", Not Sold, Not Redeemed, thus NO postmarks. The Yao listing is confusing, with two or more options: a) ".s" surcharge "ms, rs", which means manuscript and/or (??) rubberstamp surcharge; b) ".t" surcharge "rs, scd", which means rubberstamp surcharge and/or ???? -- I cannot find a Yao definition for "scd". The Yao value for .s is $5 (which is more than double unsurcharged) and the Yao value for .t is $20 (which indicates it is very scarce in the Yao system). I am not sure which this, or if it is something else. Scott has a footnote that states that the individual post offices all around the country were instructed to use their own methods to surcharge from 13 to 15 cents, thus there are many different variations and styles. Thus any one style of this surcharge is likely to be extremely scarce. Only TWO of this item came to me long ago from the estate of the retired Postmaster of the tiny RED LODGE, MONTANA post office -- he was Postmaster during the time period including 1959 and he was a client of ours.
REPRESENTATIVE image of stamp design.