Postal Stationery - Format and Origin

Format and Origin

In general, postal stationery is handled similarly to postage stamps; sold from post offices either at the face value of the printed postage or, more likely, with a surcharge to cover the additional cost of the stationery. It can take the form of an official mail issue produced only for the use of government departments. It can be an issue of a military force where an army, perhaps in a distant war, issues letter sheets for the use of its troops to write home. Postal stationery can be overprinted by the government or, occasionally, by a private overprint. In emergency situations, postal stationery has been produced by handstamping envelopes with modified canceling devices; many of the rare Confederate postmasters' provisionals are of this form. Finally, some postal stationery can be printed to private order. In this last case, stamped stationery bearing indicia is applied with postal administration approval and with specified regulations, to paper or cards provided by private persons or organizations. Private impressions result in a wider range of denominations and designs compared with governmental issues.