Datamatrix stamps - positional blocks and singles.

I wrote in February about the difficulty in deciding how to collect positional blocks of the new definitive stamps with datamatrix barcodes added.  This post expands on that and explains how to obtain the blocks you want.

Previously sheets of 25 or 50 stamps had cylinder numbers on the left and the printing date on the right, sometimes with colour markers.    Thus collectors generally collected cylinder blocks of 6 and date blocks of 8. 

Most* of the new stamp sheets had a different layout with the stamps printed sideways in relation to the most of the marginal markings.

Here the cylinder numbers and the printing date appear in the same (top) margin and the colour blocks in the right.   This suggests that a block of 10 (the top two rows as shown in the Scotland sheet above) would provide all the detail previously collected over 14 stamps, representing a saving to the collector.

* This applies to all the stamps so far issued in counter sheets, other than the four Machin NVIs which are printed in sheets of 50, with the cylinder number on the lower (left-hand) pane, and the date on the upper (right-hand) pane.

Collectors could still collect just a cylinder block of 6; date blocks were more problematic as mentioned in my earlier post.

However, obtaining the stamps in the required formats is not straightforward.  Whilst it is often possible to obtain some or all in post office branches, not all branches have all the stamps - the high value and airmail stamps could be difficult to find, and the country definitives would be especially difficult outside the country concerned.

Royal Mail's Philatelic Bureau has, for some reason, decided not to supply blocks of 10 which would satisfy collector requirements.  Indeed one reader received the blocks of 10 country definitives with the right margin removed, being told that that is how they had been told to supply them!   

I am not sure that if a collector ordered a complete sheet of any of these stamps and then sought to return 15 of them to leave just the required block of 10, that this would be acceptable with a part refund given.

Which means that collectors are forced to ask dealers to obtain them at increased cost. Even then the dealers have to be sure that ad hoc orders are correctly filled: I use a diagram for this purpose attached to orders.   This gets the required block of 10:

Cylinder and date block of 10 marked for clarity.

Of course one could choose other blocks, especially for subsequent printings with the same cylinder number, when only a block showing the date might be required.  This diagram - confusing as it may seem - covers many other positional blocks.

Choose your block position from a menu of 8.

As yet, despite the existence of several new printings (see recent post) none of these is available from Tallents House.  

We can obtain most requirements for any collectors requiring blocks of 10 or others from sheets of 25 or other blocks from sheets of 50.

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