St. Andrew's cross (philately)

In philately, a St. Andrew's cross is a saltire (an heraldic ordinary) or crossed x design that occurs on some philatelic items; on a few sheets of stamps, censor labels and a few British Forces air letter sheets issued during World War II.

With the introduction of the new currency in 1858 (100 kreutzers = 1 florin), the St. Andrew's cross was no longer needed and its use was discontinued.

[citation needed] However, few St. Andrew's crosses have survived from the first issue still attached to an adjacent stamp.

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.

[4] These, St. Andrew's cross censor labels are also recorded on Prize court mail that was detained in Bermuda and released or sold after the war, in late 1945 and 1946.