Page 2 - Prepaid Reply Cards

PREPAID REPLY CARDS

IN INTERNATIONAL MAIL

BACKGROUND: From the very first introduction of double cards with prepaid reply, their usage was
permitted across different postal regions. As a consequence, «international» stamps were accepted

as regular franking. In 1879 double cards with prepaid reply became a standard form of mailing
under UPU regulations on a voluntary basis. Their acceptance was declared mandatory by 1892,
and remained so until the termination per 30.06.1971.
In a philatelic perspective reply cards eke out a fringe existence and suffer only superficial
knowledge. Still, the fact, that returned reply cards combine franking and postmarks from two
different countries give them a fascination of their own.

OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE: The main objective of this exhibit is to lead «International Reply Cards»
out of their fringe existence in philately and enhance the common knowledge. Thus this exhibit is
both, lexical and educational. It aims at giving a holistic view on international reply cards, with
historical development, areas of usage, regulations, and alternatives. A specific focus is given to

postal practises and the frequent occurrences of misunderstandings and misuses so profoundly
typical for a form of mailing that breaches one of the basic paradigms – the fact that foreign
stamps are not valid for postage outside the country of issue.

MATERIAL AND AVAILABILITY: To highlight the internationality of reply cards, a wide variety of
philatelic artefacts from almost 80 countries and postal regions are shown. In general, reply cards
truly used back internationally are hard to find and are «exots» among philately. The exhibit
shows many rarities, some of them well known ones, like the Heligoland or Rhodes reply cards,
some scare only due to their handling marks. Even though it is difficult to judge scarcity, the
exhibit highlights remarkable items through red ink for the description.

PLAN:
1 Structure of a Double Card with attached Reply Part
2 Historical Development
3 Areas of Application
4 Regulations and Practices
5 Errors, Misunderstandings and Misuses
6 The Search for Alternatives to the Double Card with prepaid Reply

LITERATURE: Convention and proceedings transcripts of the General/Universal Postal Union, national postal
regulations, various postal rate tables, various catalogues (Michel, Higgens & Gage, Ascher, Scott); articles on
UPU history by JP Gough and the development of postcards by HP Frech; Online boards (BDPH-Forum,
Stampboard.com, Philaseiten.de, stampsx.com)

Please feel free to contact me at schererzh@gmail.com

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