Page 8 - Prepaid Reply Cards
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2.1 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT: ESTABLISHING «THE POSTCARD»
1875: PRIVILEGED ADMITTANCE OF POSTCARDS IN INTERNATIONAL MAIL ACCORDING TO GPU RULES
To end the era of «chaos of rates» was one of the main targets of the «General Postal Union» founded in
November 1874 in Berne. One first goal was the harmonization of the rates for international postcards which in
1874 were set at half the letter rate and in 1879 at the local equivalent of 10 goldcentimes.
1875 UK postal stationery card at the new GPU rate of 1 Penny,
inscribed «international Post Card» and «for Countries included in the Postal Union»
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