Retail Booklets: thin paper, thick paper, cream pape, white paper.

Twelve months ago I wrote about the thickness of retail booklet covers:

I don't want to start another collecting trend, but....

As readers of the Philatelic Bulletin will know, the Music Giants IV: Queen issue includes a prestige book and a retail booklet.  My retail booklets arrived today.

Some people say you should never touch mint stamps with your hands - well sometimes it's worth it as a hunch sometimes proves right.  I opened the booklet and immediately felt that the backing paper was 'different'.  It felt smoother, and thinner.  

As you can see above, the newer booklet has whiter paper than the previous one. The stamp appears darker, the reflection of the iridescent printing is quite different between the two

 

CH reminded me of this last month when he wrote that the Music Giants V booklets had reverted to cream paper.  Apparently so far we have had:

White paper  PM78 (Fools 'n' Horses) , PM77 (National Parks)

 

Cream Paper PM79 (Paul McCartney)

 

 

As with the thinner paper mentioned last year, this isn't something that I will list in the Checklist, nor will it be mentioned in Gibbons' Concise Catalogue but it is a difference that ought to be included in their GB Specialised, if they ever produce a volume covering the latest security Machins.  

As these booklets are coded MCIL M21L it produces, for those who want to go to that level of detail, two different stamps - and if they appear with both upright and inverted printing on the backing paper.... well maybe four.

As always it is the choice of the collector whether to go to this level; personally I would rather try to find M21L stamps used on cover, especially some of those which have been announced but are not yet available from Tallents House!

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