February 2011 - Classic Locomotives and Stage Musicals

Details of the February 2011 stamp issues have now been announced.

On 1 February the first in a series of miniature sheets showing Classic Railway Locomotives will be issued, this one for locos which operated in England.

Details of the locos, etc, on our website.

Later in the month we have the postponed-from-autumn-2010 'London Stage Musicals', which is now only 8 stamps, not 6 plus a miniature sheet which was suggested last year.  One can only guess at the reason for the postponement and change, but I note that no Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals are included.  Full details and images on our website, including the multitude of copyright holders who will have to be approached by any FDC producers and postmark designers wanting to have their designs relevant to the stamp images.

What do you think of these stamp designs, and is it right to include commercial activities like these and Harry Potter on our stamps?  Let us know - leave a comment.

Update on Gerry Anderson Thunderbirds issue.

More about the Gerry Anderson Thunderbirds issue, especially the lenticular MS on the Creative Review Blog.

As our anonymous commenter has written, that CR blog entry has now disappeared.  I've tweeted them to ask where it is!

The Creative Review blog entry is now back online, but changed.  The picture of the miniature sheet with moving images has been replaced.

We're off! First Christmas Slogan received today!

Christmas has arrived in the form of the first slogan postmark in our mail.  Posted by a customer in Swanley, Kent, the postmark location is unknown and the date slug is inverted!  But the Snowman is clear and has made a good impression!

 

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Machin MA10 - 1st class Large counter sheet reported

We have received a report that the 1st class Large stamp from counter sheets, with MA10 code has been found in Devon.  See the summary of earlier MA10 stamps here.

We are awaiting a picture which will confirm this,
We now have the picture (thanks, Richard) and limited stocks which we are offering to existing customers first. As soon as we have sufficient stock this will be added our online store.

Birds Faststamps 2 - update

The December issue of Stamp Magazine reports that the second Birds Faststamps set will only be sold from the same 30 Post & Go machines that the first set was sold from. I'm awaiting confirmation.

Update: A Post Office Ltd spokesman has now confirmed that only the same 30 (+ Ludgate Circus presumably) will dispense the birds in January.

RAF Uniforms PSB error reported - missing stamps!

Not long after they were issued we had reports of the RAF Uniforms prestige stamp book with extra panes of stamps.   Now we have a report from Dave C about a missing pane!

When I received my 2 ordered RAF Uniforms Prestige Booklets, one of them had the page with Spitfires stamps completely missing.

These are difficult to photograph, especially two at a time, but here is Dave's photo, showing the normal book at the top, and the book with no 'Spitfire' stamp pane below it:

Cartor seem to have had good quality control in 2010 with only one duplicate pane error reported (in the King George V PSB) - it will be interesting to see what 2011 brings.  Let us know what you find!

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More Horizon Gold from Wales - Airmail

Part 2 of the Welsh journey and I can now show the airmail labels sent to the USA.  (For part 1 - inland - see here)

Firstly, two Airmail labels produced on the same day from different offices in Pembrokeshire, one type 1 perforated, the other type 2, unperforated:

Second, one which should have been an A but through selecting the wrong on-screen options the branch produced an FP label, normally only used when an international item has been returned to sender for additional postage to be added.

Lastly, showing the whole cover, an Airsure letter that has the correct AAX label.  These can only be obtained by paying the £4.90 (currently) premium for the tracked-but-not-signed-for service.

Charity FDC Auctions now live

Coming on Friday November 19th - the BBC marathon event that is 

Children in Need

All these covers are from the January 2010 'Classic Album Covers' stamp set, which was our biggest seller of all time.  

First up, BBC Radio 1 DJ, Annie Nightingale!  Glastonbury postmark.  

Bid now on eBay - click here

Next, Terry Pastor, who designed the David Bowie 'Ziggy Stardust' album sleeve

Bid now on eBay - click here

Third well-known cook and majority shareholder of Norwich City Football Club, Delia Smith - who designed baked the cake pictured on the cover of the Rolling Stones "Let it Bleed" sleeve.  The whole-set cover has the Glastonbury postmark...

Bid now on eBay - click here

.... and the single Let it Bleed cover has the Rolling Stones 'Olympic Studios' postmark:

All these covers will be auction on eBay with proceeds from the sale of the first covers going to Children in Need.

Fundraising for Children in Need and Cancer Charities

Coming on Friday November 19th - the BBC marathon event that is 

Children in Need

 

Royal Mail is doing it's part with this slogan postmark being applied by many ink-jet machines, and we are doing our part with the auction of some autographed first day covers for which we are very grateful to the people who have signed.

All these covers are from the January 2010 'Classic Album Covers' stamp set, which was our biggest seller of all time.  

First up, BBC Radio 1 DJ, Annie Nightingale!  According to her profile, "She has been on the road with some of the world’s most notorious rock bands such as Primal Scream, The Who and The Rolling Stones, was once ship’s DJ on the QE2, and motor raced at Silverstone and Brand’s Hatch as part of a Radio 1 racing team."  She's also made several appearances at Glastonbury, so this FD postmark is appropriate.

Next, Terry Pastor, who designed the David Bowie 'Ziggy Stardust' album sleeve and who now has the Bowie stamp on his home page!  We've got the London "Classic Album Art' postmark on these covers.

Third & fourth, well-known cook, television presenter, writer, and majority shareholder of Norwich City Football Club, Delia Smith - who designed & baked the cake pictured on the cover of the Rolling Stones "Let it Bleed" sleeve.  The whole-set cover has the Glastonbury postmark...

.... and the single Let it Bleed cover has the Rolling Stones 'Olympic Studios' postmark:

All these covers will be auction on eBay with proceeds from the sale of the first four covers going to Children in Need.  Cancer Research UK will benefit from the sale of the second batch of covers.  

Keep watching for a further announcement when the auctions are live.