In philately

Philately

Philately is the study of stamps and postal history and other related items. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting, which does not necessarily involve the study of stamps. It is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps...

, a St. Andrew's cross is a saltire

Saltire

A saltire, or Saint Andrew's Cross, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross or letter ex . Saint Andrew is said to have been martyred on such a cross....

 (an heraldic ordinary

Ordinary (heraldry)

In heraldry, an ordinary is a simple geometrical figure, bounded by straight lines and running from side to side or top to bottom of the shield. There are also some geometric charges known as subordinaries, which have been given lesser status by some heraldic writers, though most have been in use...

) or crossed x design that occurs on some philatelic items; on a few sheets of stamps

Sheet of stamps

A sheet of stamps or press sheet is a unit of stamps as printed, usually on large sheets of paper based on the size of the printing plate, that are separated into panes that are sold at post offices. Where more than one pane is on a printed sheet they are arranged in a table-like arrangement...

, censor labels

Postal censorship

Postal censorship is the inspection or examination of mail, most often by governments. It can include opening, reading and total or selective obliteration of letters and their contents, as well as covers, postcards, parcels and other postal packets. Postal censorship takes place primarily but not...

 and a few British Forces air letter sheets

Aerogram

An Aerogram, Aérogramme or Air Letter is a thin lightweight piece of foldable and gummed paper for writing a letter for transit via airmail, in which the letter and envelope are one and the same. Most postal administrations forbid enclosures in these light letters, which are usually sent abroad at...

 issued during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

Stamps

The first St. Andrew's crosses are found on the first Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n stamp issue from June 1, 1850 printed by the Vienna State Printing Works. They are colored crosses found in place of the last four stamp positions on each sheet as sold to the public. Leaving the last four labels free created a problem; the blank labels could be used by forgers to produce counterfeit stamps

Philatelic fakes and forgeries

In general, philatelic fakes and forgeries refers to labels that look like postage stamps but are not. Most have been produced to deceive or defraud...

. For that reason, it was decided to make them unusable by printing the St. Andrew's cross design.

The crosses are the same color as their respective stamps and occur in two different types. They are either colored on a white background or the other way around. They are always found in the last row of the sheet and can either be placed in the center or on the left or the right edge.

At the time, the sheet of stamps as printed contained four panes, or counter sheets, each with eight rows and columns with 64 cliché

Cliché

A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning,...

s per pane. It was considered important that there not be an uneven payment when several sheets were purchased (for instance, by businesses). The extant Austria currency was the Gulden

Austro-Hungarian gulden

The Gulden or forint was the currency of the Austrian Empire and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire between 1754 and 1892 when it was replaced by the Krone/korona as part of the introduction of the gold standard. In Austria, the Gulden was initially divided into 60 Kreuzer, and in Hungary, the...

, each worth 60 Kreuzer. For that reason, the idea of leaving the last four fields of a sheet free was considered. For example, when buying seven 6-Kreuzer sheets, the price was 42 Gulden instead of 44 Gulden and 48 Kreuzer. With the introduction of the new currency in 1858 (100 Kreuzer = 1 Gulden), the St. Andrew's cross was no longer needed and its use was discontinued.

The St. Andrew's crosses were again used for a short time during the 1917 issue of special handling stamps that consisted of 13 rows and eight columns, so that 104 special handling stamps were on a pane. The middle four stamps in the bottom row were replaced by St. Andrew's crosses. The issue and printing of these sheets with St. Andrew's crosses was not originally planned but because of the public disapproval of the triangular predecessor, it was decided to change to horizontal format for this stamp issue.

St. Andrew's crosses are very popular with collectors today. However, few St. Andrew's crosses have survived from the first issue still attached to an adjacent stamp. They were hardly noticed at that time and nearly always torn away, or cut off. Some St. Andrew's cross labels were used to seal letters because they were gummed, so there are still several individual pieces or strips of four extant. Because philately was more widespread at that time many more St. Andrew's crosses exist from the 1916 issue.

Censor labels

In the Imperial postal censor station in Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

 St. Andrew's crosses were usually applied in crayon, red, blue or black, to censor resealing labels or tapes used to seal mail being referred to a DAC, deputy assistant censor, or to another department for evaluation. Some of the crosses were applied after the censor labels had been stuck to the cover

Cover (philately)

In philately, the term cover pertains to the outside of an envelope or package with an address, typically with postage stamps that have been cancelled and is a term generally used among stamp and postal history collectors. The term does not include the contents of the letter or package, although...

 due to the cross only showing on the front of the label. These, St. Andrew's cross censor labels are also recorded on Prize court

Prize court

A prize court is a court authorized to consider whether or not a ship has been lawfully captured or seized in time of war or under the terms of the seizing ship's letters of marque and reprisal...

 mail that was detained in Bermuda and released or sold after the war, in late 1945 and 1946.

An Imperial censor label, P.C.90, with the censor identity number 1000, occurs with the words "School use ONLY" at the top of a censor label that was used for training purposes. However, the location of use is unclear and could have been in the UK, Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

 or Bermuda.

Air letter

A postal stationery

Postal stationery

A piece of postal stationery is a stationery item, such as a stamped envelope, letter sheet, postal card, lettercard, aerogram or wrapper, with an imprinted stamp or inscription indicating that a specific rate of postage or related service has been prepaid...

 airmail letter sheet, entitled "Forces Letter Card", now commonly known as an aerogram

Aerogram

An Aerogram, Aérogramme or Air Letter is a thin lightweight piece of foldable and gummed paper for writing a letter for transit via airmail, in which the letter and envelope are one and the same. Most postal administrations forbid enclosures in these light letters, which are usually sent abroad at...

, was made available during World War II for British military forces and a few were issed with a large St. Andrew's cross printed on the front portion of the air letter.

External links

• X is for X-cancel Alphabetilately
• Austria & Lombardy Venetia issue of 1850
• AskPhil.org Collectors Club of Chicago