Regular readers will recall the announcement in May that production of 1st & 2nd class Country Definitives was transferring to Cartor this year. The Scotland stamps were duly issued on 27 June, and supplied by Tallents House enabling first day covers to be produced.
The England 2nd class has now been found in Post Office branches, without any prior announcement from Royal Mail Stamps. The 1st class is not yet available.
So whilst we may be able to get the England 1st class on FDC if Royal Mail Tallents House make it available on a specific date before or as it is in Post Office branches, there is no known date of issue for the 2nd class. Copies were first found in late August 2012.
We don't yet have stocks of these. (Thanks to RP for the pictures of these.)
UPDATE: See also the next post above, which shows the Wales 1st, probably from the same printing run - see grid positions.
UPDATE 15/11/12: A printing date of 10/07/12 is also reported for the England and Wales stamps.
Bristol Returned Letter Branch
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Bristol Returned Letter Branch handled letters that need returning to the
sender in the south-west. The covers below are from 1887 and 1901, with
"R.L.B...
The grid in the lower left margin shows this 2nd class sheet comes from position one in the grid of four. I wonder what was printed in the other three shaded positions?
ReplyDeleteAlso note that the black cylinder is C2. As Cartor print the date with the black cylinder this would indicate there is possibly another earlier printing date with cylinder C1.
I think your latest entry of the 1st class Wales answers the question I asked earlier. It will still be interesting to see if there is an earlier printing date with cylinder C1.
ReplyDeleteBrian, I wonder if the C1 plate was faulty and never used? Or maybe Swindon just have the later printing on the top of the pallette in the warehouse and the C1 10/07/12 printing will come out later.
DeleteBut expect England 1st and Wales 2nd to be the same, when they appear.
I tried to order them from Edinburgh but they don't have them "but some post offices have them" they said. You would think Philatelic Bureau would get first pickings of all the new releases.
ReplyDelete