Revenues

During the 1960's Czeslaw Slania has engraved three revenues for use in Sweden.  They are unlisted in Scott or any of the other major catalogues.  They are no longer in use, but as they are part of Slania's works I have chosen to show them on this site.   When they were taken out of use they were never released for public sale in mint condition, and are therefore only obtainable in used condition.  

The black/white images are copied from the hard cover catalogue issued by the Czeslaw Slania Study Group, Milwaukee, USA.   

• Radio License Label
  A crown with radiating electricity.  It was issued in booklets of 10 labels, and exists only in the red colour.  The text on the label's tabs says:  "Control Label.  Not valid as receipt for paid Radio License Duty".  The label is shown largely oversized.  The true size is 2,2 * 2,5 cm.  
• To the far right a label signed by Slania.  The scan is kindly provided by Mr. Harold A. Short (USA). 

The labels served as receipt for paid license for household- and car radios.  When the license was paid, the red 30-kr label was affixed to a special form, and the control label was to be kept in the booklet.  There were two different forms for paid license: one for the household-radio license on thin, brownish paper, and another one for the car radio license on thicker grey paper.  The forms, with affixed and cancelled labels, were receipt of paid license.   (Information provided by Mr. Jerzy Krysiak (Sweden)).  

In April 2005 Mr. Jay Smith (USA) has "discovered" another type of ca.1960 Swedish radio license
form that has Slania's red stamp design OFFSET PRINTED (lithography) directly onto the form, just like the various postal stationery of Slania's designs. Below are images of a "normal" engraved item affixed to the form (left), and -- for the comparison -- the printed indicia (right).  Click on either of the below images to see enlarged version.  The links will open in a new window.  While it is hard to call the printed indicia a "rarity", it is at least "unusual".  

• Sweden 14th December 1959.  "Normal" engraved Radio License stamp affixed to the form.  
• Sweden 11th December 1960.  Lithographed Radio License indicia printed directly onto the form.  

a) The forms with stamps (indicia) PRINTED on them are Form #548 which was used only for new license subscriptions and for replacement of licenses which had been lost or damaged.  This form #548 is a different form than the licenses with stamps affixed (those are form #564).  Form #548 was in existence since 1928 (of course with earlier non-Slania stamps PRINTED on them), but all are quite scarce.  The "Slania Form #548" apparently came into being at the same time the 30 kr stamp was issued.  The 30 kr stamp was announced 22 May 1957, however, but may not have seen use until June 1957.

b) Background: Since at least 1940, but probably back to 1928, Form #564 was a two part form.  The license stamp was placed on the part given to the radio owner.  The control stamp was placed on the part retained by the authorities.  One can rarely find incorrect (reversed) usage. One can also rarely find examples of the control forms; they were supposed to be eventually destroyed by the authorities.

c) It is known to some Slania collectors that the 30 kr stamp exists with straight-edge on the right or the left side.  However, this is NOT the result of the usual situation of Swedish booklet stamps issued in pairs. THESE TWO STAMPS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED TO BE DIFFERENT STAMPS.

All the radio license tax stamps (apparently going back to the beginning of the stamps in 1928, but certainly back to 1940) were issued in a format of pairs; normally a "control stamp" on the left and a "license stamp" on the right.  Prior to the 30 kr stamp, they were issued in sheet format. 

The Slania 30 kr stamp was issued in BOOKLETS (complete booklets are rare).  In the first year (1957), the booklets were issued in the reverse format from the normal described above, i.e. with the control stamp on the RIGHT and the license stamp on the LEFT.  Thus, at first, the 30 kr Slania stamp had a straight-edge on the LEFT.

In 1958 the layout of the booklets changed back to normal and thus the new printing of 30 kr Slania stamps have the straight-edge on the RIGHT. The use of this stamp and format continued until the radio tax stamps ended in 1962.

PAIRS with the control stamp are rare and would exist either Mint or remainder-canceled; if used properly the pairs would have been divided and the control stamp placed on the part of the two-part form retained by the authorities.

d) My sources have indicated that there is "some doubt" about whether or not Slania engraved the "control stamp".  Personally, I suspect that he did engrave it -- he was the "new guy" and at first probably got the jobs nobody else wanted.  Knowing Slania, I know that he would not have considered the "control stamp" to be a STAMP, thus he would not have been likely to count it among his works. 

• Images and information by courtesy of Jay Smith (USA). Contact Jay Smith at js@JaySmith.com for further information as it becomes available. 

Postal Savings Labels
Three Crowns Arms, each value issued in two different colours.  Slania has not engraved the 1956-issue of 2000 SEK, since he had not yet arrived in Sweden at the time it was issued.  Only the 1000 SEK (shown below), 5000 SEK and 15,000 SEK are by Slania.  

Duty Stamps (Revenues)
These are used for government revenue purposes, such as passports or other registrations.  The design is vertical, with the word "Stämpel" (= Stamp Duty) reading up left and down right on the borders.  

They are very scarce, even in Sweden, and if at all available they exist only used.  They were issued in the period 1968-1992 with the same design for all stamps, but different colours.  The values range from 1 SEK to 1,000 SEK.  Some of them are known in less than 15 copies, and it is doubted if others are available at all.  

• Swedish Revenues.  The used revenue to the left is cancelled by the Fiscal Authorities in Enköping (Sweden) on 21st January 1974.  The cancellation is "signed" by the employee named "4c".  This means that his/her family name begins with the letter C, and that he/she is the fourth employee with a C-name.  The true size is 2 * 3.5 cm.  

• Scan of the blue 100-SEK revenue is kindly provided by Mr. Harold A. Short (USA). 

Below is a table of all values of the revenues,  copied from the official checklist of the Czeslaw Slania Study Group.  

Value	Colour	Notes	Value	Colour	Notes
1 SEK	brown		100 SEK	cyan
2 SEK	brown		110 SEK	cyan
3 SEK	brown		115 SEK	cyan
4 SEK	brown		120 SEK	cyan
5 SEK	brown		130 SEK	cyan
8 SEK	brown		135 SEK	cyan
10 SEK	red		150 SEK	cyan	Less than 15 copies exist
15 SEK	red		160 SEK	cyan	Unknown if any exist
20 SEK	red		175 SEK	cyan	Less than 15 copies exist
25 SEK	red		180 SEK	cyan	Unknown if any exist
30 SEK	red		200 SEK	cyan
35 SEK	red		250 SEK	cyan	Less than 15 copies exist
40 SEK	red		290 SEK	cyan	Unknown if any exist
50 SEK	red		300 SEK	cyan	Unknown if any exist
55 SEK	red	Less than 15 copies exist	350 SEK	cyan	Unknown if any exist
60 SEK	red		500 SEK	cyan
70 SEK	red	Unknown if any exist	1000 SEK	orange
75 SEK	red
80 SEK	red	Less than 15 copies exist
90 SEK	red