Another question for somebody in England (cost of stamps)

[junediamanti]

No: HPFGUIDX 87591

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, abbet659 at h... wrote:
> How much is a stamp, is it the same size as a US stamp?  Just 
> wondering how much it would cost to cover an envelope with 
stamps.  
> Seems to me that would cost quite a bit of money for a poor Wizard 
> family, so maybe they made their own stamps.  If they can make 
> stamps, couldn't they make muggle money, have somebody launder the 
> money, then take the real money to Gringotts and exchange it for 
> wizard money?
> 
> Abbet

Belated reply to this, now that I have been allowed out of the 
kitchen.  

First off, the previous prices advised (by Geoff I think) were a bit 
out of date:  the standard first class stamp is now 28 pence and the 
second class is indeed 20 pence.

The episode of the Weasley's letter being covered in stamps made me 
laugh long and loud when I read it because it echoed a true life 
incident I remembered.  I was working in a very small office at the 
time and was left in sole charge one day. I had to get an important 
package sent out - only problem acute shortage of stamps and no cash 
to buy them with.  So I ended up using every stamp in the office, 
some of which were very low in value (one or two pence stamps).  
This meant that the package I sent was covered literally in stamps 
of all values.  The Weasley letter must have looked just like this 
one.  

This episode in the books just must have been modelled on a real 
life incident, I think.

June