AB-GX-31

Australia - Brown years: 1923-1939.
1931 Christmas and New Year Greetings: AB-GX-31.

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Special aspects

General characteristics:

Heading and notes:	No form number. CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR GREETING TELEGRAM.
Message area:	Blank.
Reverse side:	Blank.
Colours (text & form):	Multicolour on cream.
Size of form overall:	138 × 214 mm.

Distinctive characteristics of this form:

no "s" on "GREETING" in heading as on the previous form;
the main distinctions between the varieties are:
Forms:
F-31A: sheet format with text for heading in orange;
F-31B: roll format for teleprinter with text for heading in maroon;
Envelopes:
E-31: window envelope without a border.

After the success of the 1929 design for a Christmas and New Year Greeting telegram, a new design was issued from 16 December 1931 to 7 January 1932
(a shorter time than previously). The new design featured Santa circumscribed with a holly wreath at left and a country house at right with the word
"Send your reply by Telegraph. It is warmly personal".

Sales of the Christmas Greetings telegram forms continued to rise with 184,142 ordered in 1931/32 and 191,156 ordered in 1932/33.

Old stock from the 1929 issue had to be used before the new designs - and using that took several years in many post offices. Hence date stamps are known for the previous design through to at least 1935.

	AB-GXF-31A. Unused Specimen form (see "358"). Characteristics: heading is in orange text; the sun and the flowers in the decorations are orange.
	AB-GXF-31B (roll form). Townsville to Sydney (Ashfield) with date stamp at the Chief Telegraph Office on 24 December 1931 - the week after issue. Characteristics: heading is in maroon text; the sun and the flowers in the decorations are maroon. The unevenness of the top shows where the previous form has been carefully torn off in the teleprinter.
	AB-GX-31B: Part of a roll showing 3.5 forms (part folded at back).
	AB-GXE-31. Characteristics: window envelope with the same heading; Santa on the left has been replaced by an advertising logo from the top right of the form; there is no border around the window. This envelope accompanied the above delivery form for 24 December 1931. Given its scarcity, it is assumed that the two items met at the Telegraph Office the day before Xmas 1931 :-).

Details of use and rarity.

Form sub-number	Schedule number	Earliest recorded date	Rarity rating
GXF-31	None	24 December 1932 at Sydney CTO.	RRRR (used)
GXE-31	None	None known with a date stamp but the above image is taken as being used on 24 December 1931,	RRRR