World War I Centenary – 1918 stamp issue 13 September 2018

This is the fifth and final set in landmark series that commemorates ‘the War to end all Wars’.   Not only did the First World War claim millions of lives, it changed the course of history and transformed the lives of generations to come.  Each year of the war is explored though a stamp which covers six key themes: Poppies, Poetry, War Art, Memorials and Artefacts. These themes combine to form a beautiful and poignant collection which serves as a fitting way to commemorate this tragic conflict. 

 

The stamps in detail
1st CLASS - 100 POPPIES, ZAFER AND BARBARA BARAN
The poppy has been one of the enduring symbols of the First World War and has come to be associated with remembrance. To mark the centenary of the end of the war, Zafer and Barbara Baran photographed one hundred poppy flowers, layering the images together to create 100 Poppies. Each of the poppies was freshly cut and carefully lit before being photographed, to capture the flower’s delicate luminosity. In the final artwork, the light gently filters through the overlapping petals, giving this composite image a ghostly, fleeting appearance and suggesting movement.

1st CLASS - ‘ANTHEM FOR DOOMED YOUTH’, WILFRED OWEN
In ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, British Army officer and poet Wilfred Owen mourns the waste of young lives, cut short by wailing shells and the rattle of rifle fire. Killed in action in 1918, a week before the armistice, Owen has become one of Britain’s most celebrated war poets. In this woodblock print, illustrator Andrew Davidson has hand-carved the opening lines of Owen’s poem. Using an illuminated letter style that evokes the shattered treescapes of war artist Paul Nash, the design reflects the rawness and power of Owen’s words.

1st CLASS - SECOND LIEUTENANT WALTER TULL
Second Lieutenant Walter Tull was born in Folkestone in 1888 and orphaned after the death of his English mother and his Barbadian father. He became known as a professional footballer. After war broke out, he served in the Footballers’ Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment and fought on the Somme. Commissioned in May 1917, Tull became the first mixed-race Army officer to command troops in a regular unit. After fighting in Italy, he returned to the Western Front. On 25 March 1918, he was killed in action. Having no known grave, Tull is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

£1.55 - WE ARE MAKING A NEW WORLD, PAUL NASH
In 1914, Paul Nash enlisted as a private in the Artists’ Rifles and was later commissioned into the Hampshire Regiment. Invalided home in May 1917 following an accident, he returned to the front in November 1917 as an official artist. He was appalled by the sight of the Ypres Salient. In We Are Making A New World – titled with bitter irony – Nash depicts a bleak and hopeless sunrise over a copse of shattered trees. The ground is pitted with waterlogged shell holes. Nash was deeply moved by the destruction of trees, seeing in their degradation a metaphor for human suffering.

£1.55 - THE GRAVE OF THE UNKNOWN WARRIOR, WESTMINSTER ABBEY, LONDON
On Armistice Day, 11 November 1920, an Unknown Warrior was buried at Westminster Abbey, after being chosen at random from several unidentifiable sets of remains and solemnly conveyed from France. Enormous crowds gathered in silence to witness the procession through London, and King George V unveiled the Cenotaph at Whitehall before following behind the coffin to the Abbey. For a nation reeling from the enormous loss of life, the burial of the Unknown Warrior provided a focal point for grief.

£1.55 - LIEUTENANT FRANCIS HOPGOOD’S GOGGLES
Lieutenant Francis Hopgood joined the Royal Flying Corps in March 1918, transferring from the Artists’ Rifles. On 10 April – a few days after the Royal Flying Corps had been incorporated into the new Royal Air Force – Hopgood was shot down. Crash-landing behind German lines, he was captured and held as a prisoner of war. Clear sight was vital to a pilot’s ability to survive aerial  combat. Hopgood’s goggles are fitted with custom prescription lenses in Triplex safety glass, which  survived his crash-landing without breaking into pieces.

Prestige Stamp Book & Retail booklet

 

 

Of interest to Machin collectors is the final pane in the PSB, which includes the 1^st class MPIL stamp with M18L year code.  Unlike the stamps in the Game of Thrones PSB this clearly shows the 'P' in MPIL, although some of the other letters are indistinct. [The phosphor on the Poppy stamps is gradated, and quite different to that on the Machins, although that seems to be unnecessary on these white stamps.]

The retail booklet contains 2014 & 2018 Poppy stamps in self-adhesive form for the first time. The 1^st class Machin is coded MCIL M18L.  The iridescent printing is different (when viewed at an angle) to that in earlier 2018 booklets being not as reflective, but the visibility is the same. The security printing on the background is LsLs, as (some) previous versions.

Cylinder numbers W1 are Cyan, magenta, yellow, black, Royal Mail red, grey (for inscriptions on Poppies), iridescent, phosphor.

Technical details and acknowledgements
Printer: International Security Printers (ISP)
Stamp Size Square, 35mm x 35mm
Print process: Lithography,
Stamp Format: 6 sheets x 50 stamps per sheet
Retail booklet is printed in gravure and self-adhesive by ISP Walsall.


Products: Set of six stamps, FDC, Presentation Pack, Stampcards, Retail stamp book, PSB, Coin Cover x 3, Framed products.  Composite Sheet, Souvenir Pack. First World War Album.

The composite sheet shows the 30 stamps in 6 columns, one for each of the themes, and a row for each year.  The stamps are said by Royal Mail to be the same as those issued originally.  I'll leave it to those who buy them to do the comparison and share any differences found.

 

UPDATE 13.9.18: As mentioned in the comments to this post, there is a barcode printed on the back of the sheet behind the sheet number and onto the first stamp in column 6, as shown below.  This does not warrant the stamp being separately identified in catalogues - and quite honestly I can't understand why it has been done, unless for Royal Mail stock control purposes.  When barcodes were introduced on counter sheets and miniature sheets we were told that it was for Post Office Ltd stock control, rather than retail 'point of sale' purposes - and post offices don't scan the codes when selling at the counter, which bears this out.

We will stock and list shortly, the 1st class definitive from the PSB and a limited number of retail booklets.

Design: hat-trick Design
Acknowledgements: 100 Poppies by Zafer and Barbara Baran © Royal Mail Group Ltd 2018; ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ by Wilfred Owen, quotation used with kind permission of The Wilfred Owen Estate, illustration by Andrew Davidson © Royal Mail Group Ltd 2018; Second Lieutenant Walter Tull, photograph © Walter Tull Archive; We Are Making a New World by Paul Nash © IWM (Art.IWM ART 1146); The Grave of the Unknown Warrior, Westminster Abbey, London, photograph © English Heritage; Lieutenant Francis Hopgood’s goggles, featured with kind permission of The Museum of Army Flying, photograph by John Ross © Royal Mail Group Ltd 2018

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