Autumn Stampex seemed to be a quieter event than usual, possibly because we had already had two events at the Business Design Centre this year. Royal Mail released the new Sea Travel Post and Go faststamps on Wednesday (day 1) but visitors on Wednesday found that once again all was not smooth sailing with the machines.
I haven't heard of any problems with Royal Mail's output but the Jersey and Guernsey (and Gibraltar?) machines were not operational until the middle of the afternoon on day 1 due to card machine problems, and then the meagre supplies of Jersey stamps were exhausted before the end of the day!
Royal Mail's Post and Go news webpage was silent as to what might be expected, although the IAR website once again provided some information in advance.
It was only after I started checking my purchases and found I had stamps from machine A009 that I realised that IAR's statement that A006, A007 and A008 would be present was wrong. A009 replaced A007, although the IAR site still states that A007 was at Stampex, and is silent on A009. (Thanks to Anonymous for reminding me of this.)
The set of
6 Sea Travel stamps were as expected. The BPMA had announced some months ago that the machine in their foyer would be loading a single-design
Lion Heraldic Beast roll (with added BPMA inscription) on 16 September, and in just before Stampex it was confirmed that this would also be available at Stampex, with no extra inscription. Nobody has explained why this roll was produced, nor whether any other Beasts will appear as single-design rolls - maybe the Dragon for PO branches in Wales (or maybe a Welsh museum?).
Vince Patel reports a glitch on the first purchase from the
Guernsey machine, which produced 8 stamps, only one of which had the correct Longest Reign inscription as shown (left). I noticed on eBay a similar error from
Jersey Broad Street (right).
Vince writes that the second collector who purchased stamps spotted the error and reported it: the error was rectified immediately. (See whole strip at the foot of this post.)
One more time: Gibraltar.
Is Royal Gibraltar PO aiming for the most different stamps in the shortest possible time? How many stamps in a Collectors Set? The Collectors Set produced in May at Europhilex is shown at lower left, consisting of
Local Standard, UK 20g and 40g letters, EU 20g letter, Worldwide 20g letter and Registered Fee.
The Collectors Set I bought at Autumn Stampex was quite different, being
GI Standard 50g and 100g, UK Letter 20g, 40g, 30g and 50g [in that order!]
So far so good - things change, if the administration finds that a better mix of services is appropriate. But while the Gibraltar philatelic bureau also sells stamps with the same values, the machines in Gibraltar actually have 12 different service indicators! In addition to the 6 stamps dispensed at Stampex, the machines at the Parcel Office and Main Post Office produce
Spain up to 50g and 100g, EU 20g and 30g Letter, and Worldwide 10g and 20g letters.
RGPO's postage rates to the UK are 64p for 20g and 12p for each additional 10g; EU & Worldwide rates have a similar pattern but letters to Spain are for 50g, 100g, 500g and so on. An odd arrangement but at least the stamps do match postage rates.
Were there 12 Gibraltar stamps at Stampex? I don't know: I used the menu to select the Collectors Strip and
I don't know whether a second Collectors Strip was available. It never occurred to me to look!
All I know is that there are at least
14 stamp values, without looking at variants of additional inscriptions.
Additional images here, including the receipts from Gibraltar Parcel Office showing W Collectors Strip and L Collectors Strip, courtesy of
Thomas von Loeper whose eBay listing can be found here.
