3
commissioned purchases.
Commonly the period of sale "over the counter" is up to 3 months. It is much better to limit the period of open sale to 2 or 3 weeks at the most and then transfer the unsold stocks to a separate "philatelic bureau" available to the public as well as for foreign, mail-order, business. Since the cost of producing commemorative is almost invariably greater than that of producing definitive issues, it is wasteful to have both sets on sale along- side each other, since people will buy the commemorative versions for ordinary mailing purposes at an unnecessary cost to government. Moreover, if commens. are on ordinary sale for postal purposes for more than a couple of weeks it will be difficult to gauge the demand for particular commem. issues when budgetting for how many units of new issues should be ordered do as to maximise profits without having too many stamps left to burn at the end.
The practice of the British Post Office in this respect is to ask local postmasters to orcer 2 weeks' supply for over-counter sales so that stocks will run out in a reasonably short time, sub- sequent sales being made from the philatelic bureau.
These notes are, of course, directed to the production of additional, i.e., philatelic, revenue from the sale of stamps ete, other than as prepayment for orinary postage. There may well be occasions when a country wishes to honour a distinguished states- man or citizen, who is greatly respected locally, but not very well known abroad, by a stamp issue and different conditions apply when the main, or one of the main objects of the issue, is not the pro- duction of extra revenue.
As mentioned the main selling of a commemorative issue is done in the early weeks, and 3 months is usually the limit for the active promotion of sales. Sales will, however, continue to be made both locally and abroad for the remainder of a period, usually of 12 months. At the end of 12 months from date of issue it is usual to cestroy remaining stocks. If this is the practice of the issuing country, the fact should be made quite clear to the public and to dealers, and reminders of the forthcoming withdrawal of the issue made in newsletters sent out by the philatelic bureau and in other announcements There is likely to be a minor flurry of sales just before the terminating date, and dealers must know the precise position on supplies of issues if they are to conduct their businesses satisfactorily. The very fact that dealers may advertise particular issues at a premium over face value, which they cannot do until they are sure no more supplies are available from official sources, although it does not bring direct profit to the issuing government, ensures a good reception for future issues from the same country as one whose stamps are liable to appreciate in value. The "12-month rule" is not universally adopted - the Scandinavian countries, for example, retain stamp issues for longer periods on sale, but it is recommended as a reasonable period for most practical purposest*.
A new definitive issue, which may contain anything up to about 15 stamps, is a much bigger undertaking than the usual commemorative issue which wil usually run to no more than 2, 3, or 4 stamps. Accordingly, such issues should not ordinarily be made at more than at the most once every 3 to 5 years. In the year in which a definitive issue is made, it may not be prac- ticable to have more than 3 other, commemorative,
issues. The same considerations about the final flurry of sales taking place in the last few weeks in the life of an issue, apply to definitives, so it is important (a) to ensure that all potential customers know in good time about the imminent demise of the issue, and (b) to have adequate remaining supplies on hand to fulfil last-minute needs before calling in remaining stocks on the day of launching the new definitive issue, and finally destroying the old stocks**. (** It should be noted that the above notes about the destruction of stocks of old stamps does not involve specimens of the stamps in question which have been placed on first-day covers, or in presentation packs (see below). Such specimens enjoy a kind of