Norvic Philatelics

Flag Faststamp re-used from 21 or 27 May for Coronation anniversary.

2013-05-22T11:50:00.001+01:00

The latest issue of Royal Mail's Philatelic Bulletin shows this entry in the 'diary' page:

27th May: Post & Go Union Flag re-issue for the 60th anniversary of the Coronation of HRH Elizabeth II

However, this is not a re-issue with an overprint, it is simply a re-use of the Union Flag stamp to coincide with the Coronation anniversary. But - and there always seems to be a 'but' - there is some confusion over the dates.

Post Office branches with Post and Go machines have been told:

On Tuesday 21 May you will need to change the stamps in your Post and Go machine to the “Union Flag” Post and Go stamps. These are being re-released as part of the Queen’s Coronation Celebrations in June.

They should be used in your Post and Go machines until June 25^th when the next set of Pond life (Lakes) series will be issued.

You should have stock remaining from Queens Diamond Jubilee in 2012 however if you do need more, you can order more via Horizon

As this is not a new stamp, no First Day Cover envelopes, First Day Postmarking facilities or Stamp Packs have been issued.

So, if you visit Post and Go offices you ought to find the Flag already in use - indeed some offices with many machines may have had the Flag in continuous use alongside the Machin head and Freshwater Life stamps.

More Prestige Stamp Book Errors - from 1986/89

2013-05-21T22:00:00.002+01:00

There were no starting new discoveries of modern stamps at Sunday's meeting of the Modern British Philatelic Circle, but a couple of members had some interesting Prestige Stamp Book errors to show. My thanks to Vince P for using his iPad to produce much better images than I could have done with my phone!

From 1986, the Steel Wheel British Rail booklet.
I'm sure this has been reported before, but it's nice to see, and thanks to Les G for bringing it along. Unfortunately not affecting the stamps, but a striking absence of the yellow on the captions and, less obviously, on the picture of mail sorting:

The Scots Connection 1989
This is a significant error which I don't recall seeing reported before, and Richard M is a lucky man to have found it. At first sight one might think that the pages have been inverted:

Here's the back cover, with the normal for comparison.

So in fact, only the front cover was differently aligned. This provides us with an explanation of how this could happen. Remembering that each page was printed in a sheet of something like 12 or 16, assembly would require all the original sheets, from back cover to front cover, to be stacked prior to stitching.

Stitching down the left edges of the front cover would probably then take place in the sheet, before the sheets were guillotined into individual books, and the binding material stuck over the stitching.

The obvious explanation for the error is that when the stack was knocked up and prepared for stitching, the front cover was damaged - or pre-existing damage or misprinting was noticed. A new front cover sheet was drawn from the reserve pile, and placed on the stack in the wrong orientation!

The stack then entered the stitching process, and the stitching duly applied down the left edges of the front cover. The stack was then guillotined and bound, and the individual books packed in 10s. That would have dispersed the errors through several different shrink-wrapped packs. From the top, and to the casual observer, the unopened books would have appeared to be correct.

So where are the remainder of the errors ?

New Post and Go machines in Sheffield's latest post office.

2013-05-21T21:41:00.004+01:00

Vince P. reports the opening of another new post office branch with Post and Go machines, this time in Sheffield.

Replacing the branch at Co-op premises Castle House, Angel St., Sheffield, S3 8LN, the new branch is located on the rear of the upper floor of Wilkinsons store at 34-36 Haymarket, Sheffield S1 2AX.

Thanks to Vince for these images:

Modern British Philatelic Circle Meeting Sunday 19th May

2013-05-16T14:13:00.001+01:00

The next meeting of the

Modern British Philatelic Circle

will be held on: Sunday 19 May 2013

It will be at a new venue – the Function Room at The Crosswells Inn at Langley.

It is very close to the old venue at Rhodia.

The address and contact details are: Whyley Walk Oldbury West Midlands B69 4SB
phone 0121 552 2629 email info@crosswells.co.uk

You may also view their web site http://www.crosswells.co.uk/

I'm sure some readers and contributors to these pages are members and I hope some will be there on Sunday.
I will be there and I look forward to putting some faces to names.

Non-members will also be welcome, and there will be several dealers present.

If you aren't a member
you ought to visit the Circle website - http://www.mbp-circle.co.uk/

There are many pages only available to members, but a few sample pages are there in the non-members' section to show you what you are missing.

New Post Office for Derby, with 4 Post and Go machines

2013-05-15T09:46:00.001+01:00

Derby has a new post office branch at Babington Lane, replacing two crown offices at Midland Road and Victoria Street. The new office, which opened recently has longer opening hours, 8.30 am to 6pm, and includes four self-service Post and Go machines.

Thanks to Vince Patel for these pictures. There is a report and video at This is Derbyshire.

British Classic Auto Legends includes 2013 Post Europ (Europa) issue

2013-05-14T08:42:00.000+01:00

On the anniversary of the birth of Henry Royce (of Rolls Royce fame) and the centenary of the foundation of car-makers Aston Martin, Royal Mail are issuing a set of six stamps featuring classic cars. The theme of the Europa stamps 2013 is postal vehicles, so Royal Mail have added a miniature sheet to this issue, with one stamp showing a Morris Minor postvan. The stamps will be issued 13 August 2013.

The three 1st class stamps show a Jaguar E-type, Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and Aston Martin DB5. The three £1.28 stamps show the MG MGB, Morgan Plus 8, and Lotus Esprit.

The 4 x 1st class stamps in the miniature sheet show workhorses of the British car industry. It features a Royal Mail Morris Minor van, a distinctive feature on British roads from the 1950s right up to the 1980s. Next the world famous London Black Cab with this version featuring the Austin FX4, and the original blue and white Police Panda cars, this a Ford Anglia 105E. More up to date, the Land Rover Defender 110 is a Coastguard Vehicle, first produced in 1990. As this is the PostEurop Issue the logo is shown in the bottom right of the Post Van stamp.

The stamps are designed by Why Not Associates and litho-printed by Cartor.

Not just George Best slogan - in fact the whole team

2013-05-13T12:47:00.000+01:00

Following on from the special slogans for the Doctor Who stamp issue, we have been told that there is a George Best slogan being used on all UK mail posted to BT addresses in Northern Ireland from 9 to 15 May.

As far as I know it is triggered at certain (not sure if all) the intelligent mail processor centres in the UK when a BT postcode is recognised.

A picture will be added if anybody in Northern Ireland sends us one!

Update 15 May:
Thanks to John & Patrick we now have confirmation that there were indeed 11 different postmarks in use for all the team members. However, until examples are found, nobody will know whether any of them was actually used and from which sorting offices.

This is the list:

S (Sheffield) Banks

WD (Watford) Barnes

BT (Belfast) Best

SA (Swansea) Charles

NE63 (Ashington) Charlton

E12 (Manor Park/Redbridge) Greaves

DN3 (Doncaster area) Keegan

AB10-13, 15, 16, 21-25 (Aberdeen area) Law

EH (Edinburgh) Mackay

IG11 (Barking) Moore

DH2,3 (Chester-le-Street) Robson

As before - please send your images of these if you find any!

[Details of the stamps, booklets etc including retail cylinder book are in the main post.]

Report from Australia 2013 Stampshow Melbourne

2013-05-10T08:47:00.000+01:00

The first overseas venture for the Post and Go machines to Melbourne has not been without its problems. Sadly Murphy seems to have made an appearance and anything that could go wrong.....

From our correspondent at the show:

The machines were supposed to arrive on Monday, but got delayed by Customs.

They finally arrived today at 10am (2 hours before the opening). The poor bloke looking after them had only one machine that worked (at least initially) and the other crashed after each transaction (due to internet problems, they chose an unreliable provider here).

Anyway, for your edification, attached is a scan of the collector strips from the second machine (A4 - the one that kept crashing). A3 was finally got working and I got a few from it as well. The queue was building and, with a limit of 99 stamps in one transaction, I felt a little bad trying to monopolise slow and troublesome machines.

These are the images Peter sent us:

It is because of the uncertainty that I have been unable to say whether we will have any supplies for other than regular customers. It does seem likely that we will have supplies from both machines but at this stage we don't know what the price will be because the costs are not finalised.

Chris has sent a picture of the Machin strip received from Tallents House together with the receipt. I imagine that this is an accurate facsimile of the ones issued in Australia, but it is quite misleading suggesting that the receipt was produced at the Exhibition Building in Carlton, Vic. And the overprint from Edinburgh doesn't include the word World that the Edinburgh overprint does (thanks for the report 'Anonymous'). What a blunder!

The cheapest way to have an obviously local product is to have a joined pair of 1st class stamps - disappointingly Edinburgh only produced collectors strips of 6. Collectors could be forgiven for giving this all a wide berth!

UPDATE 13 May 2013
We're now able to show you the Personalised Smilers sheets available from Australia 2013. These are available customised with a photo or with the show logo, which appears in position 1 on all sheets of 10:

Some misalignment occurred in printing some sheets, resulting in the partial omission of the 'f' in the word 'of' on the labels. The grey vertical band at the centre of the images is where the clear plastic of the carrier overlaps.

UPDATE 15 May
Thanks to Alec W and his contact for providing pictures of Australia 2013 covers with the Faststamps affixed, and a pseudo-postmark or cachet.

UPDATE 16 May
Another correspondent sent us these images showing the pair from each machine

Stamp News update 8 May 2013

2013-05-09T08:58:00.000+01:00

As we have been away for a few days, here is another brief post to provide news of various matters.

Faststamps overprinted with 'Australia 2013 World Stamp Expo'

The UK-printed versions of the Australia 2013 Faststamps (with location-code GB) may now be ordered from Royal Mail Tallents House, in collectors sets of 6 at £6.42 ONLY:

Stock code ZS022 - Union Flag with Australia 2013 overprint
Stock code ZS023 - Machin head with Australia 2013 overprint

New Tariff Machin definitives 27 March

Official first day covers distributed by Royal Mail were all believed to have stamps printed by De La Rue all coded MA13. However, we understand that some have the De La Rue Signed For stamps, but 78p, 88p and £1.88 stamps by Walsall coded M13L. These may have been covers made up manually to be used as replacements for any which had been damaged in transit to standing order customers.

88p Amber De La Rue sheet printing seen

The 88p DLR sheet-printed stamps have now appeared on eBay. We hope to have these in stock soon.

New Exhibition Sheet 2 August 2013

The Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (FIP) nominated Thailand as the country to host the World Stamp Exhibition in 2013, which will be held in Bangkok from 2nd to 14th August 2013, and will commemorate the 130th anniversary of Thai postage stamps and the establishment of the Thai postal service. Royal Mail will issue the usual style of exhibition sheet, printed by Cartor Security Print and containing 20 x 1st class Hello stamps and 10 different pictorial labels.

Stamp News roundup 30 April 2013

2013-04-30T13:46:00.000+01:00

I'm aware that finding all the news when it is scattered through many posts is difficult, and leads to mutliple duplication of comments, or comments where the answer is already shown on a different post. So I've simplified things this week by putting all the news back in the original posts.

Details of the Football Heroes isssue, including pictures of the definitives from the Prestige Stamp book - which we now know has self-adhesive footballers in - are here.

The picture of the 1st class stamp in the "Queen's Portaits" set has now been released and can be seen here.

We have images of the Perth Congress Faststamps and will add these when there is time.
There are also some more new Machin definitives but we don't have all details or images yet. To whet your appetites here is the first of the new high value printings - remember these haven't been printed since 2009 when they were in cylinders of 6 panes, ie 3 guttered sheets of 50. Now the £2 has been printed in a cylinder of 12* panes/sheets of 25 stamps.
* - see comments.

With De La Rue's MA13 code, and - we're told - with no date or sheet number in the margin. It seems that DLR still haven't got all their kit in order - or else Royal Mail have told them that this data is no longer necesssary.

UPDATE 16 May
~~We've been told that this stamp is now included in the High Value Definitive presentation pack~~ The writer has withdrawn the statement.

Freshwater Life and Butterflies stamps coming in the summer

2013-04-16T14:23:00.000+01:00

We're now able to show you the images for two sets of stamps to be issued in the summer. On 25 June the second set of 'Freshwater Life' Faststamps will be issued from (Wincor-Nixdorf) Post and Go machines in Post Office branches throughout the country.

Water creatures from Lakes are, shown from upper left to lower right:
Perch, European Eel, Crucian Carp, Cadis-fly Larva, Arctic Char, Common Toad.

As usual these will be available for 6 service-indicators, with a total face value of £6.42. At Autumn Stampex it is expected that these will be available from Hytech v2 machines.

Official First Day Postmarks (other special postmarks will be on our website)

The 10 x 1st class Butterfly stamps will be issuedon 10 July just before the National Butterfly Count campaign run by charity Butterfly Conservation.

Row 1: Comma, Orange Tip, Small Copper, Chalkhill Blue, Swallowtail

Row 2: Purple Emperor, Marsh Fritillary, Brimstone, Red Admiral, Marbled White.

The 37 x 35 mm stamps will be printed in two sheets of 25/50 by Cartor Security Print in litho. The design agency is MARC&ANNA.

Two/Three more new Machin definitive stamps for 2013

2013-04-15T15:33:00.000+01:00

Following the issue of the Royal Mail red series of stamps on 3 January (with 2012 year codes) we reported the sale of the 1st class booklet of 6, and the 2nd class booklet of 12 with M13L codes.

As reported last week, the new tariff stamps have MA13 codes, except for the Walsall printing of the specific valued stamps which have M13L. Apparently all should have had M13L but for some reason De La Rue used cylinders with MA13 on.

Late last week came the discover of two more M13L/MA13 stamps. The 2nd class Business Sheet M13L was first discovered in used condition (so remember to look at all your incoming post, carefully!), and then the £1.28 sheet stamp was found from a new De La Rue MA13 printing with no date or sheet numbers. (Thanks again to Richard P for these images.)

UPDATE: De La Rue's printing of the £1.88 has now been found, still with no sheet number or date.

Doctor Who gets more complex: Tardis has two perforations!

2013-04-10T09:33:00.000+01:00

In an earlier report we calculated that there were 30 different stamps in the Doctor Who issue, although there is still some confusion about who printed what.

But amongst all the confusion we dealers and collectors often forget philatelic basics - and we have to acknowledge that we were not the ones to discover that the Tardis stamps exist with two different perforations!

The stamp from the miniature sheet is perforated 14¾ x 14, whilst the one from the miniature sheet pane in the prestige stamp book is 14¾ x 15. (The perforations of the 2nd class 'Enemies' stamps are the same from both sources.)

The difference is easy to spot without even resorting to a perforation gauge because the miniature sheet stamp has 11 holes above the elliptical one, and the pane stamp has 12. The stamps in the Retail Booklet & Generic Smilers Sheet also have 11 holes.

Addition
Royal Mail have usually made it easy for the self-adhesive sheets and panes to be removed from the backing paper for fixing to FDCs (or even postal packets) by ensuring that the die-cut perforations are interrupted. And this factor also demonstrates that perforators were used.

On the Miniature sheet the Tardis stamp perfs are interrupted on the end of the 3rd tooth in from the corners, on each side, except that the interruption is on the 2nd tooth from the bottom on each vertical side (8 in total).

On the PSB pane there are just four interruptions: top left and top right are on the lower side of the first tooth, lower left is on the upper side of the last tooth, and lower right is on the lower side of the last tooth. There are no interruptions on the short side of the stamp.

Thus 3 are within the sides, and the lower right is right on the corner. This can be seen in the images as an uneven tear of the paper, rather than a clean die-cut, most noticeable on the top of the right-hand stamp in the image.

Similar differences occur on the 2nd class stamps. The MS has interruptions on the top of the 4th tooth on each side (hence 8 in total). The stamps on the PSB pane have just 4 interruptions, in various positions and various sizes, on the last tooth on each vertical side (as with the Tardis).

Incidentally the size of the Tardis stamp image is different on the Retail Booklet.

The stamp design on the Retail Booklet is 17.5 x 21.5 mm but on the stamps on the Generic Sheet, Miniature Sheet, and MS pane from the PSB have images only 17 x 21 mm.

2013 New Tariff definitive stamps: De La Rue printing in Presentation Packs

2013-04-09T11:35:00.000+01:00

Readers will recall Royal Mail's warning that delivery of the new tariff stamps to collectors would be delayed but that stamps (but not presentation packs) would be in Post Offices by the issue date.

We later found this was because of De La Rue's production difficulties associated with the move from Dunstable to Gateshead, difficulties which saw production of the 78p, 88p and £1.88 stamps sub-contracted to Walsall Security Print. De La Rue printed the new Signed For stamps.

Now that the Presentation Packs are available, we find that that they contain stamps which are not the same as those printed by Walsall SP, which almost certainly means that they were printed by De La Rue. How can we tell, from single stamps? The Walsall stamps have a year code of M13L - those in the pack have a year code - like the Signed For stamps - of MA13.

Presentation pack (with guillotined edges)

Original supplies:

We don't of course, know the printing dates for the De La Rue printings yet but will report them as soon as we do.

~~Meanwhile, can anybody tell us which stamps are on Royal Mail's official FDCs?~~

UPDATE 11 April
Thank you all for the contributions, we now know that Royal Mail's official FDCs have the De La Rue printings of all stamps. The presentation packs were available from Friday 5th April, which ought to make that the official first day of availability of the 78p, 88p and £1.88p despite the 27 March date that will be on those covers.

The stamps on the FDC received here are noticeably different to those in the pack. The text in the iridescent layer is noticeably 'blotchier', reminiscent of the late printings of the 2009/10 stamps. On most values the M of MA13 is almost a rectangle of dark, with very little definition.

The Walsall and Signed For stamps, of course, were available on 27 March, so those should be more collectable. Anybody doing double-dated covers?

UPDATE 12 April
It is now clear that some Tallents House subscribers for single stamps are receiving De La Rue (cut) examples whilst others are receiving Walsall examples. This may be because the DLR stock left over from producing FDCs and Presentation Packs is now all exhausted, or it may just be that the stock of singles is mixed and customers will get one or the other or a mixture. It seems that at this stage there are no sheets of De La Rue printing available.

UPDATE 9 May
De La Rue sheet printings are now appearing in post office branches. The £1.88 (and £1.28 MA13) were reported in mid-April, the 88p (and £2 MA13) at the end of the month.

End of Packets and Standard Parcel Post service means more Horizon Labels to collect

2013-04-03T13:20:00.002+01:00

Yesterday's change to postal tariffs meant little to ordinary users of the letter post, but those who send small and larger packets now find that the Packet and Parcel Post services have changed with some very high increases for bulky lightweight packets. This is because transportation costs vary by volume more than by weight. 1 kg packet that was £3.50 last week is £5.20 this week if over the size limits for a small parcel. (More on Royal Mail's website.)

Letters are now confined to ordinary and Large Letters (1L, 1LL, 2LL) and the 1PK. 2PK, and SP codes have been replaced by 1SP, 2SP, 1MP, and 2MP codes for small and medium parcels. As the size-based-prices system also applies to British Forces mail corresponding indicators of BSP and BMP were also introduced.

Here are examples of some of the new indicators, including examples on white labels so that they can be seen more easily. As usual the changes exist in both English and bi-lingual versions. More on this website, where they are also for sale.

M12L high value Machin definitive stamps WERE printed on 25/01/12

2013-04-02T14:12:00.002+01:00

The 2011 new tariff stamps included 76p, £1.10 and £1.65 printed side-by-side on a single 3-value cylinder, with a 68p printed in three columns on a single-value cylinder. (The stamps are shown on our website.)

Further printings took place through the year including 10/01/12 all with the M11L year code.

Later in the year, it became obvious that Royal Mail would not be able to change postage rates again at the end of March 2012, and that the announcement of new rates and implementation of the change would be delayed. A further printing of the much used 76p (airmail letters outside Europe 10g and worldwide postcards) was necessary.

This printing took place on 25/01/12 but despite the fact that the grid showed this to be a 3-value printing (as above), the £1.10 and £1.65 values were apparently not placed on sale at post office branches, and they were never on the date/cylinder list provided to dealers by Royal Mail Tallents House.

However we have now been sent a scan of the two values from that printing. Sheets from this printing are not, as far as we know, in the hands of any collectors or dealers**, although it has been suggested that they may have been obtainable from Royal Mail's online shop. However, as the values ceased to be available there with effect from the introduction of the new tariff when they were replaced by the £1.28 and £1.90 values, I find this hard to believe.

These sheet numbers (007319-) are higher than the ones we have in stock for the 76p (0039977) so a considerable number of sheets were printed.

It made economic sense to continue to use the D1 cylinders even if a new iridescent M12L cylinder was needed, even if it meant some stamps would never be sold. (Indeed if what we now know was correct then, that the year code depends on when the contract was placed, which would explain why the 10/01/12 printing had the M11L code.)

But if these stamps from this printing were made available to anybody, then they should have been made available to everybody. If they were sold from Royal Mail Direct (in Edinburgh) then they should have been available from the Philatelic Service (in Edinburgh). After all, the Philatelic Service stands to profit from sale of stamps which won't be used, so it makes much more sense for Royal Mail to sell them to collectors. The gap between the left hand and the right hand seems to be one into which any number of stamp printings could fall.

If anybody does hear of the £1.10 and £1.65 M12L stamps existing with collectors or dealers we would be delighted to know more, and we would protect our sources as always. Do let us know.

**And note: we do not have any of these; and to the people who read about them here and then go to Richard P in Norwich as their usual supplier, he doesn't have any either!

Following the comment regarding scans of the iridescent code on the above, I'm adding the 76p image which we know came from the same date's printing. The iridescent cylinder is one cylinder across all three columns so they must all be M12L.

(To wrap up the story so far, eventually an extra single-value printing of the 76p from cylinder D2 was made on 30/03/12.)

Doctor Who Tardis Smilers stamp now on iPad, Android to follow

2013-03-28T09:10:00.000Z

The Tardis stamp from the Doctor Who stamp issue, which is in the miniature sheet, retail booklet and generic Smilers Sheet is now available on the iPad app.

As with the 'Future Gold Medal' label, this one allows for additional text to be added to the label (see above).

Not only does this system include the add-text option, but the postage and packing appears to be cheaper than buying online through the Royal Mail/Snapfish link up.

This version is available for V4.0 iphone 3GS and later. The Android version will be released soon.

UPDATE 30th March

A new Android version of Smilers (with Dr Who), is now on the Android Play Store, for phones and tablets.

In addition both Android and Apple releases also have Dr Who accessories which can be added to the ‘normal’ stamp image. Scarves, Bow tie and Glasses.

This is just the latest in a series of innovations being added to Smilers.

Look out for local postmarks for Doctor Who

2013-03-27T10:27:00.002Z

In addition to the Dr Who stamps, Royal Mail is also creating unique postmarks in each of the Doctor’s hometowns, meaning that post mailed in Northampton, for example – where Matt Smith is from – will feature a postmark with the actor’s name and the length of time he’s played the role.

This is where the postmarks are in use (two in Liverpool, a clash of the Time Lords?)

William Hartnell	London St Pancras NW1
Patrick Troughton	London Mill Hill NW7
Jon Pertwee	London Chelsea SW3
Tom Baker	Liverpool L
Peter Davison	Knaphill Surrey GU21
Colin Baker	Rochdale OL11
Sylvester McCoy	Paisley PA23
Paul McGann	Liverpool L
Christopher Eccleston	Salford M
David Tennant	Dunoon PA1
Matt Smith	Northampton NN5

We'll be looking our for these on our post, but can't recall any customers being in these areas! We'll be pleased to post images here if anybody sends them to us.

Update 5 April
Thanks to Mike B we can show two examples of the Dr Who postmarks for Christopher Eccleston. Mike writes:

The first one is one posted in Manchester with a Sylvester McCoy stamp (Dr Who No. 7)

The second one is one sent from Lancashire & South Lakes again with the Christopher Eccleston postmark.

This one I cannot understand since Manchester is 100 miles south of the Lake District (although this letter was posted in Lytham St Annes, which is 55 miles from Manchester)

Surprise omission from Royal Mail Signed For Stamps!

2013-03-27T09:51:00.002Z

The new tariff and Royal Mail Signed For stamps have arrived in Post Office branches on the day of issue, enabling collectors and dealers to get their first day covers with CDS postmarks.

But for those collecting date blocks, or simply recording printing dates there is a surprise, as these details are missing from both values that we have seen.

These strips are from the lower pane of the guttered sheet of 50. The sheet number and printing date would normally be in this margin.

Perhaps some exist with the date? I'm sure somebody out there will tell us - and send pictures. Thanks!

UPDATE 28 MARCH:
1. All reports so far indicate that the date & sheet number are absent on all stocks.

2. My postmaster told me today that Branches were told yesterday afternoon to stop selling these Royal Mail Signed For stamps and that they should not be sold until Tuesday 2 April. Tallents House subscribers will have received their 'first' announcement of these stamps: I've sent this image to Post Office and Royal Mail Stamps by twitter.

This explains one of our correspondent's experience at York where he was told that they would not be on sale until Tuesday (and they didn't have any anyway). Distribution seems to have been sporadic with rural sub-post offices receiving them but Norwich's main crown office (said they) had not.

Post-Easter update: As Brian reports in Comments, below, the instruction to postmaster was to hold back the Stationery associated with the new branding ie Royal Mail Signed For, not the stamps. My postmaster sheepishly admitted this today - and also said that they hadn't had any of the new stationery anyway!

BPMA to sell rare stamps to fund new home

2013-03-26T16:52:00.001Z

From a Press Release 26 March 2013:

SOTHEBY’S TO SELL DUPLICATE STAMPS FROM
THE BRITISH POSTAL MUSEUM & ARCHIVE
IN LONDON IN JULY 2013

The Most Important Archival Sale of Stamps Ever To Take Place

Auction To Benefit a New, Publicly Accessible and Permanent Home for BPMA’s Collections at Calthorpe House in London, Due To Open in Early 2016

Second Auction To Take Place in February 2014

Sotheby's is delighted to announce a sale of stamps from The British Postal Museum & Archive in London on 11 July 2013. The auction will comprise material duplicate to the archive collection, with proceeds to benefit the new home of The British Postal Museum & Archive, which will be situated at Calthorpe House on London’s Mount Pleasant site and is scheduled to open in early 2016. A second sale, comprising entirely different duplicate material to the first auction, is scheduled to take place at Sotheby’s in London in February 2014.

Stamps from ‘Registration’ or ‘Imprimatur’ sheets are among the most highly prized items among stamp collectors. Only two of these special sheets were ever produced for each stamp in this sale. The BPMA is to retain the original sheet which, due to its protected status, will never be sold; Sotheby’s will present for sale elements of the duplicate Registration sheets. Sotheby's auction is a unique event, since no other examples of these items will be made available, and as such, represents a once-in-a-lifetime event for collectors.

Commenting on the collection of stamps to be offered for sale at auction, Richard Ashton, Sotheby’s Worldwide Philatelic Consultant, said: “This selection of material from The British Postal Museum & Archive includes numerous items that are of the utmost rarity. Now in my 50th year as a professional philatelist, I have never seen such an important sale of its type. Many are the only examples of their kind ever to come on to the market. Quite aside from their rarity, these extraordinary stamps are also of great beauty – engraved to the highest standard by leading masters of the day. There are magnificent sheets of the 'Seahorse' stamps of King George V, and important blocks with Registration Certificates on the reverse of the reigns of King Edward VIII and King George VI. Collectors will never again have such an opportunity to purchase such rare and beautiful items.”

Commenting on the sale, Adrian Steel, Director of the BPMA, said: “As well as offering collectors an exciting opportunity to acquire rare and important philatelic material, we are thrilled that this sale will directly support the development of the BMPA’s new home. Whereas currently our world-class collections are held in storage and therefore largely hidden from public view, the new British Postal Museum & Archive will make our collections, and the story they tell of British communication, industry and innovation, available to everyone. We hope that everybody who supports this sale will feel proud to be playing their part in restoring Britain's postal heritage to its rightful place on the national and international stage.”

The first stamps printed from an approved and finished printing plate are called ‘Imprimaturs’. Once printed these would be taken from the printers to two receiving 'officers' who would subsequently type an endorsement on the reverse of the sheets and would often pencil annotations on the front side. The resulting sheets are called ‘Registration’ sheets; they are characterised not only by the endorsements and annotations mentioned above, but also by the fact the sheets have no perforations. These magnificent signed and dated 'Registration' blocks have never previously been available to collectors. The sale will include some 50 or so complete Registration blocks, as well as stamps (‘Imprimaturs’) taken from the Registration sheets: single stamps, pairs, blocks of four, and larger blocks which contain important archival notes in the margin.

In the July sale, collectors will have a choice of selected issues from the reigns of King George V (Seahorse issues), King Edward VIII and King George VI (definitive issues). The auction comprises 191 lots and is estimated to bring in excess of £5 million. Details of these stamps will be available in due course. The second sale in February 2014 comprises entirely different material.

27 March New Tariff Machin and country definitive stamps

2013-03-24T11:22:00.003Z

Thanks to Richard we can now show scans of the new stamps scheduled for issue on 27 March - they may or may not be available in your post office branch!
78p Orchid Mauve, 88p Amber Yellow, £1.88 Sapphire Blue.

Sheet format showing printing by Walsall Security Print, with italic date and sheet number

England 88p Cylinder block showing sheet grid layout.

UPDATED 25 March
Royal Mail have now confirmed that the valued stamps were printed only by Walsall Security Print, the country stamps only by Cartor (in litho), and the Royal Mail Signed For by De La Rue (in gravure).
I have had confirmation from Post Office sources that the Signed For stamps have been delivered to the Swindon Supplies Depot and are being distributed to Branches by special delivery this week. My local office has no Signed For yet.

Printing dates seen so far are:
78p - 05/02/13
88p - 04/02/13
£1.88 - 07/02/13 (06/02/13 has been reported by Stamp Magazine)
England 14/01/13

Post and Go Faststamps from the Scottish Congress in Perth

2013-03-23T10:01:00.001Z

Edited From a Press Release:

The Annual Congress of the Scottish Philatelic Societies at Perth on 19-20 April 2013 will again have new items of interest to collectors.

Post and Go Machines numbers 3 and 4 will be used for the first time in Scotland and Collectors Strips with a Congress overprint will be available from both machines.

As before the ASPS has made arrangements for collectors to buy these direct to avoid the long trek to Perth.

EDIT: Royal Mail have advised the organisers that both Machin and Flag stamps will be available.

Collectors Strips will be available at cost (£6.42) plus postage and, if used, a PayPal surcharge as shown below.

Also available are ‘Post and Go Smiler sheets that will have a unique Panda image alongside each stamp. The sheet will cost £10 plus postage etc as detailed below.

POSTAGE for Collectors Strips and Smiler sheets

UK
Up to 10 items ------ £2
Over 10 items ------- £5
Special Delivery if required £7.50 extra for £500 value; £10 extra for £2500 value.

Europe*
Up to 10 items ------ £4
Over 10 items ------- £6

Rest of the World*
Up to 10 items ------ £6
Over 10 items ------- £9
*Signed For covering a value to £500 - £15 extra.

PAYMENT

PAYPAL Surcharge
Payment may be made by PayPal to dundeephilatelic@btinternet.com
4% must be added to the payment amount to cover PayPal deductions.

Cheques/Postal orders in sterling should be made payable to ‘ASPS’

Orders should be sent to

Colin G Campbell, 11 Denoon Terrace, Dundee DD2 2EL, Scotland, UK

or to dundeephilatelic@btinternet.com

For more information on Congress see www.scottishphilately.co.uk

Other souvenirs:

Commemorative cover or postcard cancelled with the Congress handstamp

Cover or postcard with one Post and Go stamp: £4 each inclusive of postage for up to 5 items.

Cover or postcard with both Post and Go stamps: £6 each inclusive of postage for up to 5 items.

Note: the covers and postcards are limited in number and orders are accepted on a first come basis.

Special posting requests for all the above items will be costed and advised prior to sending the items.

All readers requiring any of these items should order direct. We will have very few sets for local customers.

New stamp sheet will feature Northern Ireland Classic Steam Locomotives

2013-03-19T15:22:00.002Z

Following on from the Great British Railways set of 6, and the subsequent Classic Locomotives of England and Scotland miniature sheets issued in 2011 & 2012, this year sees the Classic Locomotives of Northern Ireland miniature sheet which will be issued on 18 June.

Designed as before by Delaney Design Consultants and printed in litho by Cartor Security Printing, the 179 x 74 mm sheet contains four stamps 41 x 30 mm. The picture shows pre-increase postage rates as originally designed.

These show:

1st Class – Ulster Transport Authority W Class No. 103
The W Class locomotive Thomas Somerset pulls an up-express through County
Donegal in 1950

78p – Ulster Transport Authority SG3 Class No. 35
The SG3 Class locomotive shunts wagons at Portadown in 1963.

88p – Peckett No. 2
Peckett No.2 reverses wagons into the British Aluminum Works at Larne in 1937.

£1.28 – CDRJC Class 5 No. 4
The Class 5 locomotive Meenglas shunts a carriage at Strabane in 1959.

The Miniature Sheet Background image is: Glynn Lagoon, Larne Line, 1968

Booklet
The associated retail stamp booklet will be issued on the same day, containing 4 x 1st class red Machin definitives (which should have codes MA13, MCIL) and 2 x 1st class UTA W Class stamps, all self-adhesive in gravure by Walsall Security Printers.

FDCs, a Presentation Pack, Stamp cards and a nameplate cover will also be available from Royal Mail.

Photo Acknowledgements: UTA W No. 103 © Dr C Kenneth Benington; UTA
SG3 No. 35 © Colin Boocock; Peckett No. 2 © railphotolibrary.com/Richard Casserley; CDRJC Class 5 No. 4 © Colour-Rail; background image of UTA
Class Z No. 27 Lough Erne crossing Larne Lough courtesy of and © Derek JA Young.

Official first day postmarks

Special postmarks for this issue will be shown on our website in due course.

Post and Go stamps (Faststamps) news round-up

2013-03-19T14:25:00.001Z

A number of people sent information and images during and immediately after Spring Stampex and the Salisbury Stamp Fair, but it seemed sensible to wrap the news into one consolidating news item rather than scatter them in daily posts.

The first Stampex report is here. This shows the 2nd class and Machin Coronation stamps and receipts, and a photo of the Smilers sheet.

These are the Pond Life stamps from the Presentation Pack, Stampex Hytech machine, and Trafalgar Square PO's Wincor-Nixdorf. (Click on any for larger images):

The presentation pack was printed using unit C2 and retained the indented second row of text. Stampex had kiosks A2-A4 with the second row of text as normal.

The Coronation overprint exists in two forms, as did the Diamond Jubilee; oddly these are both from machine B1, the later one (on the left) showing a more balanced alignment of the commemorative lines. Now all we need is for the standard service indicators to show some balance. You'll note that the 'Worldwide' line seems to be inset from the weight indicators all the time.

As previously mentioned the option exists on the Exhibition Hytech machines to pay for a half-sheet of 10 Smilers stamps. Here are some images of the screen displays, the printer and a sheet showing a Hytech screen shot.

Thanks to John McC, Malcolm B and others for new images here.

Salisbury Stamp Fair.
Most of the detail is shown on Brian Sinott's postagelabelsuk blog but here are some of his pictures. The Machine set-up at Salisbury, and a Smilers Sheet. Although photographs of the customer are the norm, sometimes an alternative is a good idea. I believe some alternative images were available on the Royal Mail iPad.

Brian also reports that some 2nd class Post & Go Faststamps sold at Stampex (identified by the coding at the foot) have appeared with a Salisbury Stamp Fair overprint, postmarked Southampton. I have a good idea who might have produced these, but investigations are continuing.

UPDATE:
I discussed this with Allan Grant of Rushstamps earlier this afternoon but decided at the time to wait to see if anybody else had the same guess as I did ! Now that the story is also on another forum, we can tell you about it here.

Rushstamps purchased the labels at Stampex so that they could overprint them using a 100-year-old letterpress machine. This was a deliberate decision once it was clear that the Faststamps sold at local events such as York, Midpex and Salisbury would not have overprints.

These were used on mailing out Rushstamps pricelists as promotion for the fair. Remainders were used on ordinary mailings, which is why this piece has at least 3 or 4 examples.

No mint copies exist. Allan subsequently told the Royal Mail representative at Salisbury about the overprinting. Clearly RM Southampton revenue Protection is used to Rushstamps' mailings and didn't give them a second glance.

No mint copies exist, and none have been available for sale.

Comment.
Although the overprinting of miniature sheet margins and 'Boots' sheetlets was accepted, these overprints are on actual stamps so it would not have been surprising if they were rejected by Royal Mail's revenue protection department as defaced stamps!

Salisbury a success!
I wasn't able to go to Salisbury but both dealers and collectors have heralded it as a huge success. One of the organisers, Tony Hender of Arun Stamps, told me that the attendance was over 1,500 - about 1,000 on Friday and 500 on Saturday, so clearly some collectors had a day off work to be there for the early bargains.

Speaking to the Salisbury Journal, Tony said:

“There has been so much interest already shown,” he said. “Dealers came from across the country, and there is a significant need for the two-day event.

“It’s the biggest stamp show in the south of England, and based on today’s popularity we will hopefully have another show next year.”

Delivery of the new tariff stamps will be delayed

2013-03-14T10:35:00.000Z

Delivery of the new tariff stamps from Royal Mail Tallents House will be delayed

Malcolm put this comment on our original post:

"I have today received a letter from the bureau that dispatch of this issue is delayed from the 27th March until the 11th April due to circumstances beyond our control.
It also states that stamping facilities will be extended to the 24th April for those who want to create their own FDCs"

I checked with the trade side of Tallents House and received this reply:

"Unfortunately I am unable to guarantee that the issue will be with you for the 27th March (dealers normally get them well in advance) we will however endeavour to have them with you as soon as we can. I am led to believe that the stamps will be available at PO Counters on the 27th. (however, no packs or other products will be available). "

As Royal Mail knew that the tariffs would change around the end of March, requiring a number of new stamps, one might question the choice of the 26th March as the issue date of the Doctor Who commemorative issue, which has surely placed Tallents House under the same sort of pressure as previous big issues - The Beatles, the Gold Medal stamps?

UPDATE 24 March
We understand that printing problems are the cause of the delay. We have been told, but not officially, that while the valued stamps are in POs already, the Signed For are being printed in Litho by Cartor and they will be late. If that is the case, then once again the dating of First Day Covers for 27 March would seem to be wrong.