We don't have much Post and Go news because, frankly, there is little to report. With the lack of use in Museums which were closed and with branch SSKs limited by social distancing there seems little probability of M21L printings being needed any time soon. But what do I know!
My thanks to JF, therefore, for sending in this picture of a real oddity from Bristol, where it all started.
"it would appear that, for some reason, the first label was guillotined about half way down and the first service impression started correctly positioned relative to the top of the half label.
Then it detected an inappropriate start for the second impression and had a hiccup to the third complete label to finish its requested job.
How and why the first label was incorrectly guillotined I do not know. Another question is what did the previous user obtain if there was one? It is interesting to note that the ink of the top part of the first 'up to 100g' has not printed! The labels are 'CL17S2nd'.
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| Mis-cut 2nd class Post and Go strip from The Galleries, Bristol 13 July 2021 |
UPDATE 20 JULY: my thanks to DP for providing some more examples of this, along with an explanation.
When the roll reaches its end, it loses tension and the printer feed had problems in judging the pre-set distance between labels. It can also occur of a part roll which has been left for a while as he correct wound tension is lost.
It occurs on all three labels, 1st 2nd, Large Labels.
I attach scams from Richmond (the receipts are the wrong way round), Emsworth and Windsor, with the correct FAD and the Dummy Office Fad
At a guess the previous customer would have been presented with a label like the one under the Mail by Rail from Richmond or the second one from Emsworth.
News from the Navy.
My thanks to CN for pointing out some news from the IAR website. There was a time when Royal Mail warned us off posting any news from here, until it had been offically announced on their Post and Go webpage. As they have stopped maintaining that, we're back to IAR.
On 31 July 1970, sailors in the Royal Navy were issued with their final daily ration of rum (the daily tot), ending a tradition of more than 300 years. This day became known as ‘Black Tot Day.’
Some sailors wore black armbands, tots were ‘buried at sea’ and in one naval training base, there was a mock funeral procession complete with black coffin and accompanying drummers and piper.
The National Museums of the Royal Navy Royal Mail kiosks, A002, A003, A004, A006 and A007 will celebrate this event with an overprint. ‘Black Tot Day 31st July 1970’ on both Union and Machin stamps.
The overprint will rum from Saturday 31st July 2021 to Saturday? 31st August 2021.*
(*MC has pointed out that 31 August is a Tuesday, which I should have checked, so I don't know when this ends. It may well include the Monday 30th bank holiday.)
The A002 kiosk at the NMRN in Portsmouth has moved from the Visitor Centre to the Pirates Exhibition. This is due to the Visitor Centre currently undergoing a refit.
Collectors are still welcome to visit the Pirate Shop without a museum ticket. The Pirates Exhibition is just opposite of the Visitor Centre, the first building on your right as you enter the site.
UPDATE 9 August 2021: Thanks to CN for images of the Black Tot Day strips. The Machins are to be MA13 (Royal Navy), MA15 (RN Submarine) and the flags are undated.
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| Post and Go strips from Royal Navy Museum and Royal Navy Submarine Museums with Black Tot Day 31 July 1970 inscription. |
UPDATE 11 August: Thanks to JG for further images. They are the Machin MA13 strip from the Fleet Air Arm Museum and a Machin MA15 strip from the Explosion! Museum. The latter strip has the Royal Navy inscription but is on a different Machin stock to that from the National Museum of the Royal Navy.
It's a pity that on the Fleet Air Arm and Submarine stamps the logos were not reduced as they were on the others; it would be better than overlapping the date.
