Recent additions to our online shop.

I'll be posting brief notes about additional items for sale added to our website roughly once a week, as I know that not everybody has time to look everywhere.

The most recent additions have been:

GB: Folded Booklets - back in time to the machine-vended 50p £1 etc booklets.  Not many of any of these, and some have already been snapped up.

Independent Africa postal history - these aren't mainstream but some people are starting to look at post-independent French and British Africa.  Some of these stamps aren't listed in principal catalogues simply because some stamps have never been seen. Some here from Ghana, Benin, Senegal and Malagasy Republic, with more to come.

Benin surcharges 1994.

 

GB Security Machin 2nd class coils used - although these have been generally available mint their availability used has in many cases been confined to direct mail shots within the UK.  Thus they are only seen by overseas collectors in kiloware, and that is not as plentiful as it was (nor as cheap!).  Here are a few of the 2009, 2012 & 2015 versions.

GB 2nd class Datamatrix barcode - now available mint and used on the first day.

GB odds and ends Machin and other - including a used pair of 26p rosine Type II.  Also the Milennium Fire & Light set with altered (and unaltered) date of issue in the sheet margin.

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Always look carefully before you bin it!

I was recently asked to dispose of somebody's incoming papers securely - shredding, burning etc.  Not a problem, and something most of us do.  Included were some of the original envelopes, so of course I did look closely at the stamps.

This one was a nice surprise, and I had to double check in our own Checklist to find out whether it was 'new' or previously recorded - there are so many Machins now that I can't remember which ones we've had (ie most of the counter sheets, business sheets and booklets) and which we haven't (eg the coils). 

It's ordinary commercial mail, until you look closely.  The address is actually not written as it appears (even more so when you can see all of it), but ink-jet printed.  And this is the 1st class stamp.

And of course we have had the vermillion M13L MRIL coil stamp before.  It was first found by us on mail from the Equiniti Share Administration Service (who handle, amongst other things employee, holdings in Royal Mail shares). 


Although not philatelic, that one was closely linked to Royal Mail, so it was nice to find this one from a totally different source.   This is believed to have been posted on behalf of Magdalen College School in Oxford, although we don't know whether a direct mail house was involved (seems likely), or whether they bought the stamps direct from Royal Mail.

Unusually, although produced in coils of 10,000, this was available to collectors and others from Royal Mail from 31 July 2014.  This and the 2nd class were printed by ISP Walsall with numbers on the back of every fifth stamp.

So remember - look before you clip or tear the stamps to dump into kiloware.  The first one sold on eBay raised £51, and these first class coil stamps will always be scarce on commercial cover.  And if you have any other examples that you would like to share, please send them to me at the email address above (right).

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Latest stamps added to our webshop.

The weekend trip to the York Stamp and Coin Fair was successful and uneventful, and I obtained supplies of the two new 2nd class Machin stamps, the 2015 coil and the business sheet with printed backing paper.

Also in this shop update we have added some VFU and fine used definitives, which we know some customers, especially outside the UK, find hard to obtain at reasonable prices.

There are also some Christmas high-values very fine used.  As usual you can find these by clicking on the 'Recent Additions' link.  (Remember, they are shown chronologically according to when they were added to the shop.)

All the used self-adhesive stamps are on white paper.  Many collectors believe that - despite the extra bulk of part of the envelope - the stamps are better presented this way, and will have not suffered any damage during the removal from the envelope by whatever chemical means.

Coming soon: the five airmail NVI stamps in various forms, and the booklets in which they were issued. These are three of them.

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Mint copies Latest Bulk Mailing 2nd class coil stamp now seen.

The latest 2nd class coil - produced for bulk postings by the Direct Mail industry - has now been seen, and we have been sent this picture.

We don't have any stock yet, but hope to be able to supply customers via our webshop after the trip to the York Stamp and Coin fair at the weekend.   More details, including pricing, as soon as possible.

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Take another look at the holiday mail - surprises abound!

If, like me, you don't get round to sorting the Christmas card envelopes that you receive yourself, and from family and friends' hordes until some time in January you should look out for one that is not all it seems.

We all get a lot of red envelopes at Christmas, addressed in a variety of styles.  This one looks like any other unless you really look at it.  The two rows of numbers are the clue, and if you look closely at the apparently 'written' address it is printed with an ink-jet or laser printer in 'joined-up' script.  Look closer at the stamp and you will see that it is the 2015 coil, this time sent courtesy of the Holiday Property Bond.

For me, tearing the stamp off without looking at it was a silly mistake, espcially as JG had emailed me on 5 January with this picture of the stamp on the HPB letter sent to his wife over Christmas :-(

The other thing that you may see on your Christmas post - if it is postmarked at all - are examples of the old Universal-style postmarks.  These ought to be a better clue as to where the item was posted than the 'area' ink-jet postmarks.  (I was told that some mail from North Norfolk was sent to Chelmsford's South East Anglia MC) instead of being processed in Norwich, or even Peterborough as is often the case.

Here's an example of the Chelmsford Universal machine with the Please Post Early 'Snowman' slogan used on 17 December - along with the normal South East Anglia MC 'Last Posting Dates' slogan.   Over on the Stampboards forum some members are recording their finds - but they are few and far between.   So if you have any contribute please pop over - or, if forums are not your thing, send me your image and I'll add it to the records there and for the British Postmark Society.

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At last the 2015 coded 2nd class coil stamp has appeared.

Once again what the industry refers to as Direct Mail and what most recipients refer to as Junk Mail has added to the number of collectable Machin Security Stamps for 2015.  Thanks to a reader in Lincolnshire, I can show the 2nd class coil for this year, coded MRIL M15L.

This comes on a mail-shot from the Samaritans posted via Croydon Mail Centre on 3 November 2015.

What is also interesting is the Postcode slogan, rather than the Rugby World Cup Winners or default Stroke Association slogans, suggesting that maybe machine 6 was used to process these and only these letters, while ordinary mail was processed with the previously announced slogans.  Readers will recall coils used on previous mailshots was cancelled with a wavy-line-only postmark, applied by the mailing house, rather than at the Mail Centres.  (See here and here, for examples.)

I will, of course, be interested to hear of any other users of this new stamp.

Update: 2 reports of mailings from the British Heart Foundation.

Update 31 January 2016.  A further example from finance company IWOCA:

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Surprise new 2nd class coil stamp discovered !

It's the start of 2014 and we thought we knew about all of the stamps were issued - or discovered - in 2013, and they included some surprise 2012 printings.  

In July last we reported the fact that the 2012 2nd class coil (which had been available mint for a while) had now been found used on a bulk mailing.

But now a new version of the 2nd class MRIL has been discovered in kiloware.

UPDATE 28 JAN 14
We understand that this and the 1st class red were printed by Walsall Security Printers in the second half of 2012.  (The 1st class distributed by Royal Mail Tallents House were MA12, from Enschede.)

This clearly shows M12L - MRIL.  We will be interested to hear of any further findings, especially on whole cover, or enough to show the source, so that we can all look out for them!

UPDATE 6 February 2014
Thanks to John for sending this cover from Christian Aid.  You can't see the iridescent overprint, but John assures me that it is the new M12L MRIL

UPDATE 13 February 2014
Another example has been sent, from Queen Elizabeth's Foundation for Disabled People.   Thanks to 'Boweevil' for this.

UPDATE 14 April 2014
Closer to home, a further example has now been received from the British Heart Foundation, with the same postmark as the Christian Aid one.  The return address is Melksham SN12 6WF

UPDATE 21 June 2014
The Centrepoint charity is also using this new stamp, with the same postmark as the QEF one.  Centrepoint's mailing house has used other 2nd class coils - and also M11L business sheet and 2nd Large MA12 business sheet.

UPDATE February 2015
Latest mailshots from CentrePoint are using pre-security coils with ordinary gum.

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Enschede 2nd class coil MA12 MRIL commercial use

We reported in July last year that the 2nd class coil, printed by Enschede, was available in rolls of 10,000 with a 2012 year code MA12.  We've had mint examples available for some time (shop).  Now we can show the first on-cover example from a direct mailing source (rather than from a dealer or collector).

The two variations on the 4-line ink-jet wavy lines came from different mailings, the 'upper' one from March this year, and the 'lower' one from a recent mailing.

So if you support charities, take a good look at their mailings if they use stamps.  You might be the first to find the MA13 version, if it exists!

UDPATE: As you can see in the comments, it is not the MA13 version which has been found, but a new M12L version.  Thanks to the contributor we can show the picture.   This post is now closed for comments and comments may be made on a new current post.

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