Special slot-machines in Poland made by BANPOL S.A.

[Rein]

The Polish philatelic press first mentioned the slot-machines in their magazine Filatelista [page 272] in an article by the Editor in Chief, mr. Bronisław Rejnowski.

Four types of slot-machines were in preparation:
- Postage stamps i.e. self-adhesive stickers ATM's
- Postage stamp booklets
- Postcards and enveloppes
- Telephone Pre-paid Cards

According to mr Rejnowski, the postcards and pre-paid telephone were in all aspects like the items you could get over the counter.

The stamp booklets contained - at first - either four 55gr or four 65gr definitive stamps of the Polish Manor series. The stamps came form the normal counter sheets of 10x10.

to be continued ....

[Rein]

The slot-machine for self-adhesive stickers gives the user the option to select several rates - starting from printing matter, local letter to letters abroad... And also for parcels but not for registered letters! So in the beginning we had 55gr for printing matter, 65gr for local letters, etc..





The green button is for acception, the red one for exit... The 1st blue button is for printing matter, the 2nd for letters, the 4th blue one is for parcels

Mr Rejnowski mentions the slot-machine in Ciechocinek 1 of which he shows us the stamp with the date 98/05/01. Neither place nor date are accidental! The 5th Scientific Polish Philatelic Acedemy Congress was held in the town of Ciechocinek from 1998, May 1th till May 3rd.

As the stamp contains both the name of the post office and the date, the stamp should not bear a cancellation! Is this a mechnical fanking by a franking machine or is it a slot-machine postage stamp [ATM as the German term sounds]????

to be continued .....

[Rein]

In summer 1998 I saw such a slot-machine in the Kraków Head Office at the corner of Wielopole and Westerplatte. In a small hall just oppositie the Philatelic Service Counter!

- It is still there!!!! And Working! After 14 years!

That summer, however, it was not working! A few days later I saw a similar machine at the Post Office in Nowy Targ - this time it was working and the stamps were dated 98/07/30. I took these stamps to Warszawa to show Rejnowski. In Filatelista 1998 nr 10 page 430 Rejnowski makes reference to his foreign guests at the editor's office of Filatelista. It turns out I was there on August, 10th! Back in Kraków a few days later, the BANPOL slot-machine was working again and I could send Rejnowski a copy of the stamp as promised.

to be continued ....

[Rein]

The BANPOL stamps can still be used - should you be so lucky enough to find a working slot-machine! There is NO restriction as to the time nor place when you make use of this stamp. Hence a real postage stamp and not a franking machine print....






to be continued ...

[Rein]

The Polish Fischer Catalogue gives his first reference to this stamp in 1999 as 'znaczki samoprzylepne z automatu firmy BANPOL' i.e self-adhesive stamp from a BANPOL slot-machine. The illustration shows Kraków 1 *NO* dated 98/09/24. The same Post Office I visited the previous month....

In his March 1999 issue of Filatelista [pages 116-117] Rejnowski publishes an extensive article on the BANPOL stamps. First mentioning of these stamps happened to be in April 1998, both of Ciechocinek as of Rzeszów. Stargard Szczeciński with 96/6/19 must have been a mistake of the machine as the BANPOL slot-machine in Stargard.Szczeciński was only installed in 1998 [checked at the very post office!].


to be continued ....

[Rein]

Rejnowski [and Adam Kiełbasa-Schoeni] refer to 4 types of the base print [in typography] of these stamps. However, the type II was completely unknown to me and the publications do not give any details about where this type has been found.



Also no subtypes are mentioned!

I have only a few years seen ONE used copy of it with a 2002 date and used in the Katowice district. I just found this type in the Kraków district ONE year ago!



whatever the distribution over the [two] districts must have been - the other 3 types date from before 2002!


to be continued ...

[Rein]

In order not to collide with my Polish friends I prefer to use a different classification:

- type 1 - as type I - in use since 1998 - last seen in 2008
- type 2 - as type III - in use since 2000 and still there!
- type 3 - as type IV - in use since 2000 and still going strong!
- type 4 - as type II - in use since 2002 [Bielsko-Biała] but only seen in Kraków since August 2011!!!!

to be continued ...

[Rein]

The value of the illustrated stamp appears to be 0.00 złoty. Should this have been accepted for postage?

Phil

Phil,

very clever of you! No, of course not! The 0.00 złoty is supposed to originate from an indecent deal between you and the post office clerk responsible for the slot-machine...

As such some collectors think it is worth a lot more than a normally used copy.... They do not know how this stamp came about, in a completely legal way, using one of the buttons and even producing upto 9 copies in ONE run for a Polish coin that you get back anyway, so nothing was paid at all!

yours, Rein