Monday 19 November 2012

Special printing of Hytech Faststamps from Camden Pop-Up Christmas shop, sold for Charity

We have been advised by several collectors about some new Faststamps listed for sale on the online auction site eBay. 

These stamps are printed from Hytech Post and Go machines A3 and A4 (the ones used at Stampex were A1, A2, B1, B2) and both the Machin and the new Robin stamps have been used.  This means that the Robin is in strips of 6 for the first time. 

All the sales so far seen are for the benefit of Royal Mail's 2012 charity, Prostate Cancer UK.

Full details are awaited, but my guess is that these are not available anywhere with public access.  We will provide more details as soon as we have them.

We now have details from Postagelabelsuk:

Hytech Machines A3 and A4 Pop-Up in London Post Office with some very exclusive products!


In a new venture for Post Office and Royal Mail, a totally new type of Post Office (Similar to ‘Pop- Up Shops’ previously seen in shopping malls in the lead up to Christmas)  opened last week in the very busy Camden Market,  London NW1. This new branch is called ‘Camden Christmas Post Shop’.

christmaspostshop
This new outlet is offering selected items from the Royal Mail ‘Collectibles’ range ,  personalised  Christmas 2012  Instant ‘Smilers’ and, more importantly from a Post and Go collectors point of view, it has given rise to the first outing of the brand new Royal Mail ‘Hytech’ Next-Generation machines No. ‘A3′ and ‘A4′.
 
This new branch offers full Post Office ‘Postal’ facilities where purchasers can post their gift  items  purchased from the shop or elsewhere worldwide.

Camden Town Christmas Postshop
The Post Office is open seven days a week from 10am to 8 pm every day apart from Sundays when it opens at 11am. Machines A3 and A4 are visually identical to those previously seen at Stampex – and appear to function the same, although, as they are in a full functioning Post Office branch rather than in an Exhibition setting , they do not have any overprints.

It is worth noting that this is the first time Hytech units have been  primarily positioned for Post Office customers-  posting mail specifically  Christmas cards and gifts– and not for stamp collectors purposes.
camdena3a4
Each of the twin-reel Hytech machines are loaded with Christmas (MA12) Robin stamps as well as Machin Stamps – which for the specialist gives rise to two totally new and exclusive products to this Branch.

The Hytech Machin ‘Worldwide 40g’ stamps have not been previously issued - as when un-overprinted Hytech Machins previously appeared at Stampex, the WW40g had yet to be added to the range.

Additionally, this is the only outlet where ‘Hytech Christmas Robins’ (MA12), printed in strips of six, will be available. (These are not expected to appear at Spring Stampex 2013).

For Postmark Collectors the counter datestamps in use at the Post Office are ‘Equipment Team Temporary’ No. ’32′ and No. ’42′.

DID ANYBODY PRODUCE ANY FDCs ?  Cusomers asking!


Pictures of the two Collectors Strips available:

7 comments:

  1. I've searched on ebay, including completed listings, but can't find these. I've kept up with P&Gs so far (including Perth) and the BPMA is easy for me to get to, but if they start being done randomly like this I think it's time to give up and stick to the basic sets. There are a lot more classic stamps (with some sort of investment value) I would rather spend my money on!

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  2. If you search for 'Post Go A4' or 'Post Go A3' you will find them.

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  3. If these items are for charity, and I hope there is more than 1 strip why not sell them [limited to 1 etc] to all who want and not going through the ePay cycle?

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  4. I think that it is the Ebay vendor who is selling for charity and not the Post Office. According to the informative postagelabelsuk.com website, which has just been updated, the machines are located in Camden Market. Thank you for pointing out that the Ebay sale is a charity sale -- I had seen the Ebay listing but I had missed that.

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  5. It's not the easiest of places to find. Each machine has both Machin (reel A) & Robind (reel B).

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  6. Camden Market (the area) is quite sprawling and there is a mix of stall and undercover outlets and railway arches. It's an Aladin's Cave and network of passages. To find the Post Shop from Camden Town Underground station: Use the exit marked "to Camden Market" and walk northwards up Camden High Street for about 5 minutes and walk over the canal (Camden Lock). The market (called Stables Market)commences on the left hand side of the road (as you are walking away from the station) The shop is inside the market just as the market begins. If you are 'lost' then the landmark to look for is the Cuban Bar. Staff very helpful and machines working OK.
    Doug (Enfield)

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    Replies
    1. I visited the Post Shop today and also found all the staff very helpful and very friendly towards the customers.
      Both machines were working well but did have the odd problem which was soon sorted out by the staff on hand.

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