Royal Mail's Christmas issue this year is reduced to only six stamps and retail booklets, plus the unnecessary miniature and generic sheets.
This year's stamps are illustrated by Katie Ponder, "in her unique style, providing a fresh and contemporary feel but with references to art deco which add a timeless quality to the classic nativity story".
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| 2022 Christmas 1st class stamps |
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| 2022 Christmas 2nd class stamps |
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| 2022 Christmas airmail stamps |
The same designs are included in the Miniature Sheet, in two rows.
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| 2022 Christmas Miniature Sheet |
As usual, the generic 'Colelctors' sheet has been produced even though the Smilers product was abandoned years ago.
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| 2022 Christmas 'Collectors sheet' |
Technical details
The range was designed by Baxter & Bailey using illustrations by Kate Ponder exclusively for Royal Mail ©
The 39 x 30 mm stamps are printed in sheets of 50 by Cartor Security Printers in gravure (ie by Walsall). The Miniature sheet is 179 x 74 mm and according to the FDC insert is printed in litho, but that was not confirmed in Royal Mail's publicity information.
The Christmas 2022 Collectors Sheet includes a set of 20 stamps (8 x 2nd Class, 8 x 1st, 2 x £1.85, 2 x £2.55) set against a beautifully illustrated backdrop by Katie Ponder. The Sheet will be printed in Self Adhesive, and is also likely to be Litho printed thoughthis had not been confirmed in the information provided by Royal Mail.
Retail booklets of 8 will be available for the 1st and 2nd class stamps. The covers are green (2nd) and purple (1st) the same as the definitive stamps.
UPDATE: For production reasons the Booklets do not carry any cylinder numbers. (Thanks Rob)
These are scans of the actual booklets:
Product range
Set, miniature sheet, retail booklets, collector sheet, first day covers (2), stamp cards (7), presentation pack.
The text on the FDC insert has particularly interesting slant on the Christmas story.
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| Christmas 2022 first day cover insert (click to enlarge) |
The Presentation Pack is "written by The Revd Lucy Winkett, Rector of St James's Church, Piccadilly. She explores the relationship between timing, eternity and the significance of the nativity to Christians." I don't know whether she also wrote the text on the insert.
From White Knight - personally, I do like the Christmas story being featured again as the subject of the issue. It doesn’t hurt for everyone to be reminded about what Christmas is and though the country now has plenty of non-Christian inhabitants who also enjoy the festival of Christmas, constitutionally the country remains a Christian state with The King as Head of the national religion, Anglicanism. In fact I think The United Kingdom is the only country in the world where the Head of State is also the Head of the state’s religion, the other being Iran of all places.
ReplyDeleteThe miniature sheet should be a nice item showcasing the art of the stamps but the barcodes ruin it completely and as such the m.s. seems rather redundant apart from being an additional source of income for RM.
My local Post Office sold me 5 × £1.85 stamps yesterday, one day before the issue date. Quite a few spaces on the sheet were empty, so they must have been selling more of them since at least the day before.
ReplyDeleteThis may have been asked / answered before but if Royal Mail say they're not (yet) applying barcodes to non everyday / country stamps how come they're being included for the Christmas issues?
ReplyDeleteThe above correspondent says the barcodes ruin the Xmas sheet. As these stamps are commemoratives there was no need for barcodes.
ReplyDeleteJH
Given the seeming constancy of religious themes in Royal Mail's Christmas offering, it is a little sad that we might never again have an issue featuring the 12 Days of Christmas - unlike Gibraltar's 2023 issue, which I note (thanks to Commonwealth Stamps Opinion) feature King Charles's cipher in place of a monarch's silhouette: will this turn out to be a unique issue (with a new silhouette for 2023)?
ReplyDeleteSince time immemorial Miniature Sheets have have had the stamps in the ascending order of their face value so didn't they realise that '2nd Large' at £1.05 ( a guinea ) is more than '1st' at 95p ?
ReplyDeleteNot so Christmas Miniature Sheets. 2004 was the first Christmas Miniature Sheet; 2nd was first and 1st was last. 2005 was the only Christmas Miniature Sheet.with the stamps in ascending order of their face value according to the postage rates at the time of issue. None of the subsequent years Christmas Miniature Sheets have been in ascending face value order. This year's Christmas Miniature Sheet is the same format of face value order as 2021.
DeleteJackson,
DeleteYes, but weren't the order of the stamps for all the years from 2006 to 2020 varied because of having the two larger ones separate from, to the left or above, the normal sized ones ?
Indeed so Mudgie; the year 'Pricing in Proportion' was introduced.
DeletePutting the 2nd Large after the 1st would mean that you would have Jesus being born before his mother arrived in Bethlehem!
DeleteI'm not sure why there is a worry if the stamps go in price order on the Christmas miniature sheet as they don't on most other miniature sheets that are issued.
DeleteJV,
DeleteSo it should have the donkey on the '1st' and the crib on the '2nd Large'.
I notice the margin on both booklets doesn’t have the white strip where cylinder numbers are printed. Do you know if there are any booklets with cylinder numbers.
ReplyDeleteI don't - I only had one of each.
DeleteAccording to the MBPC report on the Christmas booklets, there are no cylinder numbers visible. Certainly none of my copies had them.
DeleteRoyal Mail did state in the dealer briefing material that there were no cylinders on Xmas booklets this year.
DeleteRob
Thank you Rob, I overlooked that small print in using images of actual booklets rather than the ones were were given.
DeleteThere were some reports in the BBC that the Christmas stamps were the last set that would have the late Queen's cameo on them but I've seen the Tutankhamen set and they still have the same Cameo. It would have been nice that the memorial set for the Queen wasn't followed by further stamps using her image.
ReplyDeleteI think the report - also elsewhere - stated correctly that they were the last CHRISTMAS stamps with the Queen's head on.
DeleteGiven how many are printed - and when (before she died) - it would be surprising if Royal Mail even wanted to do a reprint, and King Charles has already said that he wants waste minimised. It would not surprise me if the January issue also bears The Queen's head. (And I know nothing about next year yet - honest!)
Elliot can you say where you saw the Tutankhamun set please?
DeleteA RM executive made it clear in an interview I heard that they had no plans to pulp anything already printed. The datamatrix date on a 1st class booklet I scanned was 010722, and so (as Ian says) it must be possible that the January issue will still have the Queen's head.
DeleteI have friends in a local post office and they'll show me the stuff that has come in on the proviso I won't photo it nor get them in trouble. Maybe a local larger office will do the same for you.
DeleteElliot thank you I will try my PO
DeleteAre the 2007 xmas also being rereleased and who will be the printer and will they have date of isue in the design?
ReplyDeleteThere are no plans to issue the original 'alternative religious' Christmas stamps in years which have religious Christmas stamps. The 2007 ones were not issued last year, nor the year before.
DeleteColin some collectors are lucky My city center PO is now closed stating for an unknown length of time, but when it has been open there is always a long queue and one staff on duty How are we to get stamps is now a mystery., the nearest is about a mile away.
ReplyDeleteIs there an issue with the Royal Mail shop? I ordered my Xmas stamps on the 3rd and they are still processing the order, its not even been dispatched. Anyone know of issues sending Xmas stock?
ReplyDeleteIn case people have not noticed, RM have changed the last posting dates for Christmas to be a week earlier than previously announced. Second class deadline is now 12th December, first class is 16th. Follow the "Christmas" link on the main page (https://www.royalmail.com/) for full details.
ReplyDelete