This note is repeated from the 2019 Stamps Programme post back in Janaury.
Customers have started to receive their DD notices from Tallents House, and from this it is established as likely to be a set of 10 stamps.
UPDATE 18 February - We have today been provided with full details of this blockbuster of stamps and associated 'stuff' which, we must remember, is mostly aimed at fans and collectors outside the philatelic market. Our instructions are that the information is embargoed until the public launch tomorrow (19th) which makes it all the more bizarre that Royal Mail can't manage to delay the 'go-live' time for their sales pages until midnight tonight UK time (although of course it is, even as far west as Tokyo, already gone 1am tomorrow as I write this!). Everything is visible on Royal Mail's website here.
The 10 x 1st class stamps (conventional gum) feature Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Hulk, Doctor Strange, and Captain Britain in one sheet; and Peggy Carter, Iron Man, Union Jack, Black Panther, Thor on the other sheet.
A self-adhesive miniature sheet at £4.71 - containing 3 x 1st class and one each £1.25 (lower right) and £1.45 (top left). This will be particularly sought-after by Marvel fans as, according to Royal Mail:
This set of five bonus Marvel stamps form part of a ten-panel comic book strip in which the Mad Titan, Thanos, launches a deadly attack on the world. This original, never-seen-before story with a unique British twist (look out for Trafalgar Square and the Gherkin!) has been specially written and designed by Marvel and is available exclusively through Royal Mail.
A mixed-content retail booklet. I've had a report that the Machins have M19L code which, while not a surprise, is good to have confirmed.
a prestige stamp book, more expensive than usual at £17.45.
The M18L MPIL Machin pane contains 1 x £1.45, 2 x £1.25, 2 x 1p, and 3 x 20p, which means only one new stamp, the £1.45, and a lot of left-over postage, which will make that single stamp relatively expensive. The other stamps appeared in last year’s Harry Potter PSB, unfortunately. We will be offering this in our shop in due course.
And a Generic Sheet (self-adhesive so different stamps, but only the two in the retail booklet will have separate SG Concise numbers).
There are also framed stamp sets/sheets, medal covers, blow-ups of the art-work in a set or framed, etc etc, and a Limited Edition PSB in a tin, with the stamps exactly the same as the basic book, but with a different Spiderman cover.
Meanwhile, this is what another reader has provided from their advice note:
Stamp Set £6.70.
Generic Sheet £7.70.
Mini Sheet [BC ?] £4.71.
Retail Book £4.02.
Prestige Book £17.45.
AND Postage & Packing 62p.
UPDATE: It seems that Royal Mail's invoicing system has been completely wrecked for this issue as readers are reporting a diverse range of 'postage and packing' charges, including this shocker from Chris. However, RM confirm that p&p remains the same as usual, ie 45p.
Even these prices are not all correct, but apparently are showing VAT-exclusive prices (where VAT applies), thus the £8.60 set FDC is shown as £7.17. The VAT is probably included in the P&P total!
As somebody wrote - and you thought having a 12-stamp Leonardo da Vinci set was bad!
PM 19 February: As expected there has been much criticism already, but if Royal Mail Stamps & Collectables sell many of these, the income will reduce what is expected to be sold to stamp collectors. Which is possibly one reason why there are no new Post and Go stamps to buy - whether you like them or not!
At £80, £145, and £195 there are just not aimed at us!
With so much British culture to be celebrated on Royal Mail stamps, this is the best they could come up with?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there will be plenty of grumbling about this being a cynical marketing exercise as it is released around the same time as the Captain Marvel movie! The connection to the UK is tenuous but at least RM did manage to find 2 British superheroes in the Marvel canon - then missed a trick by not making those the features in the retail booklet...
ReplyDeleteWe've finally descended into the Trucial States wallpaper era, following the Channel Islands lead! Tacky, tacky, tacky. Others may of course love them!
ReplyDeleteDo we really need this stamps issue? The answer is simply: NO! It is as superfluous as is the Brexit!
ReplyDeleteAny more mentions of the B-word will be rejected!
DeleteBut surely the mini-sheet contains a thinly-veiled anti-Brexit message! :-)
DeleteThe limited edition (4995) £64.99 prestige booklet, that they claim is a tiny fraction that will want to own one. I will make a prediction on, if they have printed them already they will make a loss and be sold cheap in about 18 months time. Lets see if they know their own market, i doubt it.
ReplyDeleteHas that been the case for any other similar special edition PSBs? The Star Wars ones were taken to Star Wars Conventions and probably sold well. These will go to similar events; RM will promote them to tie in with the three films that I'm told are happening this year. I think they will sell.
DeleteOne other aspect of this and other recent issues annoys me. I make my own First Day Covers; has anyone tried to peel off a self-adhesive miniature sheet and attach it tidily to an envelope without it disintegrating along the die-cut perfs? Maybe there is a technique, I don't seem to have it. The initial separation at a corner is almost impossible. Why can't mini sheets be gummed?
ReplyDeleteIan, County Durham
Whilst I agree with your last point, if you have the MS with the barcode you should be able to peel from there by bending the corner, and then remove the barcode section altogether.
DeleteWhat I used to do when I produced our own FDCs for self-adhesive issues, including some part-sheets of smilers, was to peel away the whole of one end, then attach that to the FDC (being careful to get it square with the cover) and then pull the backing paper off from underneath while simultaneously smoothing down the sheet with the other hand.
Try it with a few ordinary large labels to get the technique right. That's how I did this one http://tinyurl.com/yy9erlbe But it's not easy.
Thank you Ian, that method worked brilliantly! A good FDC and no mini sheets ruined in the attempt!
DeleteIan, County Durham
What mysterious hold does The Walt Disney Company have over Royal Mail bosses?
ReplyDeleteNot content with subjecting us to increasingly tiresome Star Wars issues, now RM feels the need to laud Disney's other blockbuster brand Marvel.
(I hope that Disney is paying Royal Mail for the privilege, and not the other way round.)
Nine comments and nobody has even mentioned two PSBs in the space of 4 weeks!!!
ReplyDeleteYes they have, see comment 15th Feb in the 2019 Stamps Programme posting.
ReplyDeleteEh? Yes, I see mention of the PSBs, but I thought two inside 4 weeks might have excited a bit of comment.
DeleteThere is always so much hate for "populist" issues but I really don't see the problem with one of this type of pop culture issues per year. The connection with the UK is tenuous but the same can be levelled at much pop culture. In addition if more people take an interest in stamps then that has to be good.
ReplyDeleteI agree: and if this enables Royal Mail to generate considerable sums outside the stamp hobby then it makes sense. Where I would be unimpressed would be if they didn't sell them over the counter in ordinary sheets, like some products sold by Australia Post. Take a look at these and weep! http://tinyurl.com/y6pbp2ws
DeleteNo thought has gone into this issue, not at least for genuine stamp collector. Only one new Machin from the prestige book and one from the Customised book. Who advises these people?
ReplyDeleteWhilst I agree that the PSB could be better thought out at least the stamps are in usable combinations this time, unlike the Harry Potter one. As a dealer I would have wanted two x £1.45 stamps but that would increase the cost unless the £1.25s were replaced with less postally useful values.
DeleteAnd there aren't many options for that: 1p, 2p 5p, 10p, 20p 50p, £1.25 have all already been used with M18L codes - that only leaves the £1 which has no use. I'm not quite sure what you would have wanted RM to do Roy? The world does not revolve around Machins.
RM have slipped up this time in my view as a collector, since SG introduced a supplement to the definitive section 2 years ago to accommodate the different year codes, collectors now have to get 2 copies of each new MPIL stamp 1 for the album page & 1 for the supplement, this issue means, we will have to buy a £1.45 to keep our albums up to date oh well c'est la vie :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your rely Ian,
ReplyDeleteI agree the world does not revolve around Machins. Why add a Machin pane for comic collectors? Royal Mail want the best of both worlds. This IS a collectors item and this is a big BUT. How many actual stamp collectors use these booklets or postage? There are a lot of Machin collectors and many many values that could have been made available for them on this pane. 58p, 67p, 78p 1.01p. 1st large, 2nd large etc. Comic collectors and stamp collectors would have both been happy. Saying this we would still moan about the cost.
As a dealer you use a lot more postage than most, your customers would love these values (above) as mint or postally used and although dated 2018 they would still have been a new issue. All I ask for when they add a Machin pane is a bit of fore-thought.
You know me Ian , I love a good moan :-)
I agree with Roy regarding the Machin Pane. I can see no other reason for these than for collectors, so new values should be de rigueur. A little bit of my world does revolve around Machins :-)
ReplyDelete