As well as the 2024 Christmas stamps Royal Mail have also put on their website for pre-order two new Wales Country definitives with the profile of King Charles III.
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| Queen Elizabeth II Wales 2nd class definitive |
As standing order customers will know from their advance notice, the Wales Definitive has been billed at a value of £2.50, leading some to think that it is erroneously an airmail stamp at the pre-October 7th rate. But of course the sum of the 2nd class and 1st class is now £2.50, and it is these two values which are being issued on 14 November, the King's birthday.
The stamps can be seen here.
In accordance with Royal Mail’s environmental policy, all existing stock of definitive and country definitive stamps featuring the portrait of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II are being issued to exhaustion, and new Definitive stamps with the King Charles III portrait will be issued according to supply and demand.
The Welsh 1st and 2nd Class Definitive stamps will be available for the first time featuring the King’s silhouette.
The stamp designs featuring Welsh national symbols have been retained from previous country definitive designs. The Welsh Dragon has been forged from Welsh steel, whilst the Leek has been carved from Welsh sycamore.
Country Definitives will now be limited to 1st and 2nd Class NVIs and no longer include international values.
The 39 x 30 mm self-adhesive stamps are printed in sheets of 25 by Cartor Security Printers in lithography.
When they will be available generally in Post Office branches is anyone's guess! Please send your reports.
Ah, they still haven't fixed the glaring Welsh language error ... The word for "second" in Welsh is "ail", it really should read "2il" on stamps, not "2ail".
ReplyDelete"1af" (cyntaf) for "first" is correct.
There is no mention of a presentation pack as yet!
ReplyDeleteI suspecta presentation pack will be produced when there are 8 stamps to put in it. Otherwise there would have to be one now, and one for the next country/ies etc.
DeleteI suppose we should be thankful that no one has thought of the extra/excess profit that would come from issuing four separate presentation packs.
DeleteIf we have to wait until the fourth nation runs out of QE2 stamps, I wonder which that will be (and when).
At least the have some of their own country definitives. I have not been able to get any in an English post office for years.
ReplyDeleteI got some in the post office at Paddington Quay (Praed Street) last year. What struck me as odd though, was they had zero commemoratives.
DeleteJust as I was thinking of going to Praed Street next time I shall go to London they have announced today that this Crown Office will close. I should go to another there for the Winston Churchill stamps but most of the POs in central London that I can think of are st to close too. No English stamps for me then!
DeleteRandom thought... Are the Welsh editions used up faster because those who are proud to be Welsh seek them out? Or Welsh subpostoffices request them?
ReplyDeleteOr because they print so few?
DeleteLast time there was an error on some printings of the first class Welsh with the wrong typeface - I guess we need to watch for that again.
ReplyDeleteThe new Welsh definitives (1st and 2nd class) were available on the first day of issue from Cambridge City post office. John
ReplyDeleteI have also found the Cambridge main PO to be very helpful. My usual philatelic branch is Stevenage, but it does not receive the Welsh definitives, only the English. However, I happened to be going into London yesterday, so I popped into 1 Broadway by St James Park. Even at 15:30, I was the first person to ask for them!
DeleteDid you get any though? In my wanderings through Essex Kent and Sussex I have not been able to get any of the country definitives since the philatelic- friendly one in Colchester was closed. I may have to book a holiday to Stevenage...
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