ROYAL MAIL'S FIVE-YEAR PROGRAMME TO COMMEMORATE THE GREAT WAR

Royal Mail will issue a landmark series of Special Stamps each year from 2014 to 2018 to commemorate the Great War. The set will feature 30 stamps, with six being produced each year. The first set of stamps will be issued in July this year.  

From Press Release
"The stamp range will provide a wide-ranging and inclusive commemoration. Themes that will be covered during the five years include:

-      How artists, including writers and painters, interpreted the events

-      The role of non-combatants and civilians

-      The role of the Services

-      The role of women

-      The contribution of the Commonwealth"

These are the stamps that will be issued on 28 July 2014

For this issue a new 1st class Poppy stamp, designed by Fiona Strickland, has been commissioned by Royal Mail Group Ltd © 2014.  The other stamps show:

Poetry: ‘For the Fallen’ by Laurence Binyon, September 1914
Portraits: Private William Cecil Tickle, 9th Battalion, Essex Regiment
War Art: A Star Shell by Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson, 1916
Remembrance Memorials: The Response, Newcastle, sculpted by Sir William Goscombe John RA Artefacts: Princess Mary’s Gift Fund box

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The stamp issue consists of a set of 6 stamps and a prestige stamp book containing the six stamps and two definitive panes.  The usual stamp cards, first day covers and presentation pack will also be issued, along with a Coin Cover.  More details will be on our website later.  See the full Press Release here.

UPDATE 18 August 2014
The pictorial stamps issued in sheets have two phosphor bands except for the 'Starburst' painting and 'We Will Remember Them' poetry stamps which are all-over phosphor.  We now know that all 6 pictorial stamps in the PSB have all-over phosphor which means that at least 4 will have a separate listing in some catalogues.  They are certainly different stamps and we have them in stock now.

Full details, including ultra-violet pictures, on our website.