Royal Mail has used microprinting in the past to 'hide' the year of issue in many of its special stamps - those printed in litho being more common than gravure. But this stopped a few years ago.
But the Modern British Philatelic Circle has discovered that each litho- printed stamp in the 2025 Queen Victoria set has had a hidden micro-printed ‘2516’ (16th issue of 2025) added within the stamp. I wasn't aware of this as I don't read all the MBPC very often, but here is a 2400 dpi scan of one of the Stranger Things miniature sheet stamps (2601).
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| 2601 microprint on Stranger Things miniature sheet |
Gibbons Stamp Monthly later announced similar date codes have appeared since the Valour and Victory set.
I understand this is always printed in black so some will be easier to
see than others. I have found the printing on all the Concorde MS
stamps, and some of the sheet stamps. (Also six of the Hornby stamps and all of the roses; the latter have a white background making the task much easier.)
See if you can find them on the stamps already issued (starting with the
Valour and Victory issue).
Had a good look with my jewellers loupe & found most of them
ReplyDelete2025 Christmas Stamps have them too, but they are not black, at least not on the 2nd Class one. I can't get a photo as it took two magnifying glasses at the right angle to spot, but on the second class both sheet and mini sheet version there is a hidden date (2025) near the bottom of the stamp next to the golden line which goes all the way from the angel's head. Can't say I noticed before, but it seems to fade if the light is not quite right.
ReplyDeleteChristmas stamps have usually had year dates and I didn't know that they had continued.
DeleteAs these are printed in gravure this is not the same feature as the year+issue number described in the article which are only on litho prints as far as I know.
On the Christmas stamps (being in gravure) the year is usually reversed out of the phosphor.
ReplyDelete