UPDATE 28 August: Although it seems that the logo is on a label affixed to the stamp (Smilers-style) no Smilers sheets or Commemorative sheets have been produced for sale.
Of additional interest to postmark collectors, especially those who have sport or golfing as one of their collecting areas, is the advance news that a special slogan postmark will be in use nationwide "from 15 to 29 September". (NB, this usually means"mail delivered on.." these dates, so it is lilely that the slogan will be in use on Friday 12/Saturday 13 September.)
The image in the Press Release shows the Ryder Cup logo (and the 'Delivered by Royal Mail' slogan) with a postmark from Edinburgh Mail Centre, but sthe cancelling machines at Edinburgh don't have the capability of printing logos. They did print the 'Homecoming Scotland' slogan in April, but not the Commonwealth Games Logo slogan in July. (Thanks to Adrian for pointing this out.)
So it seems likely that there will be two versions of this slogan, one with an one without a logo - let us know what you find.
In the United Kingdom there are two types of ink-jet cancelling machines in use. The 'Delivered by Royal Mail' add-on, and slogans with logos, are generally applied by Integrated Mail Processors (IMP).
Intelligent Letter Sorting Machines (iLSM) generally do not include logos and don't add the 'Delivered by ..' slogan, although they do produce Prostate Cancer slogans with the figure of a man, and did produce the boxed script 'Homecoming Scotland' slogan, with the remainder being just text.
More about postmarking later. Meanwhile thanks again to Royal Mail's media department for giving us 3 weeks' notice of this slogan!
UPDATE 15 SEPTEMBER
The special handstamp being used on the commemorative cover has now appeared in the Postmark Bulletin. Collectors can obtain this from the Scotland & Northern Ireland Handstamp Centre at Royal Mail, Tallents House Edinburgh, reference number 13226
Several examples of the Ryder Cup slogan have been found, and they show that the logo is now produced by both types of machine. Unfortunately postmarks don't show on Post and Go stamps and labels, so the North & West Yorkshire MC slogan (17 September) is illegible.
Looks like the stamp/label combination comes from a RM 'Smilers'-type sheet. Any idea if they are likely to make this sheet available for purchase?
ReplyDeleteI thought that as well ! I've just this minute finished the phone call that confirmed that there are no other products for sale.
DeleteThe logo alongside the stamp does appear to be on a Smilers-type label but I couldn't even find out whether it was a perforated label or not.