Once again I am able to refer you to the website of Buckingham covers for your first sight of a new stamp issue that Royal Mail won't allow me to show* here.As you can see from the page showing the Buckingham FDCs, the issue consists of a set of 6 stamps and a miniature sheet of 4. The set consists of se-tenant pairs of 2nd class, 1st class and £1.45 (the basic rate to Australasia) stamps, and the miniature sheet has a pair of 1st class and a pair of £1.45.
One first class stamp shows the familiar picture of James Cook, with an unidentified* ship in the background. Also shown are Sir Joseph Banks (2nd class), naturalist and botanist, and Sydney Parkinson (£1.45), artist, who drew the picture of the Blue-black grassquit (bird) as well as the self-portrait. The other stamps in the set show the Chief Mourner of Tahiti (2nd), the transit of Venus (1st), and portrait of a Maori Chief.
* I have been told by the artist Robin Brooks that this is from his original painting completed in 1966 TRIUMPH OF THE NAVIGATOR which does, of course, show the Endeavour.
The miniature sheet shows a chart of Cook's discoveries, canoes on Raiatea, a Maori clifftop fort on an arched rock, and repairs to the Endeavour in Australia.
The stamps will be issued on 16 August to mark the 250th anniversary of Cook's three-year expedition. By including talented artists and scientists Cook's voyage provided never-before-seen information about the lands on the other side of the world.
Cook last appeared on a British stamp in the Travellers' Tale Millennium series in February 1999.
* Part of the reason is so that they can do their own publicity of the stamp issue and events surrounding it, and they don't want big splashes on social media such as Twitter, which is exactly where I picked up Buckingham's news. Comments not really necessary, but Royal Mail do read, so go ahead!
To be honest I find the secrecy applied by RM to be really silly, look at the online shop they still have Christmas stamps as #1 on the list 6 months later. Plus they really do not publicise any of the new stamp issues. Rant over.
ReplyDeleteIs this practice, the current Royal Mail management Consignia moment?
ReplyDeleteMaybe just ignoring a few issues, especially if it involved on of their ‘biggies’, might show Royal Mail that obstructing free (positive) is detrimental to their business by encouraging free (negative) publicity.
But the again is there any such thing as bad publicity?
There is no excuse for Royal Mail applying this secrecy, in doing so they show absolute contempt to the very people these special issues are aimed at. Strictly speaking there is no real need for these "Special* issues, the machin series would serve all postage needs. The special stamps are aimed at collectors like us; we will never want to ignore any issue, as this would leave gaps in our collections. I tried it for a year once, now I'm playing catch-up.
DeleteEvery year there is at least one "TBC" issue, don't they know what there is to commemorate, or are they just scratching around for something to commemorate, so they can screw us for more money, rather than not issue something to issue that month?
Can you remember the last time there was a poster for the special issue stamps in a post office? Even if it isn't financially feasible for them to do all the issues, surely a stamp calendar could be displayed with space on the poster for updates to be applied? I notice some post offices have screens showing adverts but I don't recall seeing stamps on them.
ReplyDeleteAt least the stamp values make some sense, although missing the postcard rate to Australia.
There is a sneak peak of these stamps on Bradbury covers site, they look pretty impressive.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, this year the release schedule seems to have gone tits up, they seem to be moving goalposts with the release dates. The Old Vic stamp set getting later and later. And talking of goalposts will there be another stamp set if England win the World Cup
I see the Philatelic Bulletin shows the Old Vic issue on (Saturday) 11 August - wrong. The issue date is 30 August.
DeleteIndeed, I agree there will be a MS for England winning the World Cup, just as there were for other sporting events.
It's a beautiful set of stamps!
ReplyDeleteNot much danger of a Miniature Sheet celebrating England's 2018 World Cup win I'm afraid!
ReplyDeletePerhaps Royal Mail will issue one if they finish in third place?
How about coming forth? or better still a Stamp for Harry Kane (Tottenham) Golden Boot.
DeleteJust noticed that RM have revamped their online Stamps & Collectables site, very fresh with the newest stamps in 1st position, about time too, though they don't include any technical details of the issues which is a shame.
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame.
DeleteAnother problem (for me) is that you can sort alphabetically but not reverse the chronology, thus enabling older stamps to be shown first.
Since Royal Mail were privatised the company has gone downhill rapid now their terms & conditions for delivery of 'special Stamps' states 5 days when you delivery is late or lost (which happens all to often) the staff say 10 days - One thing the are extremely good a though is collecting payment. I think new online shop is another backwards step, it now takes much longer to make a multiple purchase because the back button has been removed and you have to restart our search from the beginning of the page
ReplyDeleteTell them; I'm sure they value feedback.
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