Machin Definitive first day cover offers at reduced prices.

Some collectors collect first day covers (FDCs) because they are attractive with a cover design which complements the stamps.  Others collect because they are also a reminder of the date the stamps were issued, and in the case of definitives it helps to identify different versions of the same stamp when comparison of mint stamps might be more difficult.

Official first day covers have been produced for basic new definitives and for prestige book definitive panes (usually the only panes they provide on first day covers).

But there are variants for which there is no official FDC, because Royal Mail do not regard the stamp as new.

FDC for new 1st class security stamp
from Olympic retail booklet

When we started producing FDCs we tried to fill those gaps, not with especially designed covers but in the main with the covers that Royal Mail produced for the issue. We generally used standard definitive covers for definitive variants, or the cover produced for a special stamp issue, such as a retail or prestige booklet.

Recognising that the PSB panes often contained duplicates or stamps which were not new, we gave our customers a cheaper option than Royal Mail by using just singles of the new stamps in the panes.

Reviewing our stock of Definitive FDCs I find that there are some which never made it to our web-shop, and have only ever been offered at the time of issue on our website, and those which were are now offered at lower clearance prices.  I hope there will be some of interest to more recent followers of the blog and long-time readers.

The list is a pdf file which will remain listed in the Links table to the right of this page. A separate file, linked from that one, has illustrations of some of the covers, and scans can be provided for any others.

Because it's a pdf file you cannot leave comments there, so please follow the usual pattern and leave a comment here for any covers that you want.  As usual, there are several of some, and only one in stock for many.

To order:

- please leave a comment here with your name, and then 

- send an email with your Name and Address and Blog Follower ID to my usual address - see top right.  And indicate which item you want (A, B, etc) in case more than one is available.  Please check the existing comments before you write.   

I will process requests in the order they are received but not always immediately - I am not checking every five minutes!   If other people have already asked, by all means put your name down, but we have very low stock of some of these covers.

Thank you for looking - further discounts for larger orders.

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Post & Go and Self-Service Kiosk News for 2026

This post and its comments will hold all news on Post and Go stamps, machines, and PO Self Service Kiosks (SSKs).   

For details of new Post and Go stamps issued by the postal authorities in Guernsey and Jersey I recommend WhiteKnight's Commonwealth Stamp Opinion. All issues from the islands, and Gibraltar and the SOAR stamps from Isle of Man and Ireland will normally be pictured there as announced.

Any late news for PO SSKs will continue to be added on the 2025 blog post. Please continue to make comments there until it is closed for comments or send me news/images by email.

Crown Office Franchising

In June in 2025 Post Office Ltd announced that the remaining Crown Offices would be franchised before the end of the year.  Locally this only meant a change of operator and personnel as Dereham has never had a Self-Service Kiosk, but around the country there were many mixed messages - and outcomes - as to whether existing machines would continue to be used by the new operator, which often operated out of different premises.  

Our correspondents have kept us updated with all that news and other news of just where SSKs are still on-site, which of these (if any) are working, and what they are dispensing.

There has been a gradual move to card-only, or shut-down, especially where staffing does not permit the previous 'floor-walker' assistance.  In these cases it's difficult to know if the machines were serviceable or not.  

There is no major news yet, but I know Malcolm and Trevor (and others) will be keen to add details from their travels in this new year, so I'll start with just this image as typical of what they will find!  Any specific, especially illustrated, news will be added just as soon as we get it.

8 January 

From Trevor's report in the comments

Shrewsbury 7th Jan SSK68 Machin R21YAL & CL19S (missing print in middle of stamp on 2nd Class)

Chester 7th Jan SSK67 Machin R20YAL (2nd on 1st stock) 

10 January Another picture from Trevor showing perfectly centred printing on the 2nd class kiosk 68 at Exmouth.

UPDATE 13 February - Trevor's photos from Edinburgh (see comments).

Edinburgh Self-service kiosks - RIP!

Edinburgh's 'collectibles' - which appear to include the new 1st class Large business sheet (row 2)

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UPDATE 13 July Morrisons move means 52 Post Office branches closing this summer

See full article here - if any of these contain SSKs, active or not, please let me know and I'll add them here.

UPDATE 24 August.  Here is Malcolm's photo from Leeds Market branch, probably of K67 now that the others have been removed. (see comments)

Leeds Market branch PO reduced to one SSK.

Over to you, readers! 

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I have compiled an alphabetical list by location of the comments on closures, and those kiosks still working.  This does not repeat the contents of the machines at any given time.  The table is based on reports in 2026 and will be updated with new content as reports are made, but probably not immediately: I'll do batches as I remember (or am asked!).

There may be errors of transcription from the blog comments to this table - those are mine, hopefully not many. 

Progress to removal of all NCR Self-Service Kiosks

Location	Report date	Comment - Kiosk Numbers shown. OOS=Out of Service	Rep-orter
Aylesbury	15 July	To close 18 August	M
Barnstaple	2 March	Both OOS	T
Basildon		To close 21 September	M
Bath	18 April	67 active 68-71 OOS	T
	24 July	To close 1 September	M
Birmingham Pinfold Street	7 January	all OOS	T
	20 January	Branch closed	T
Bognor Regis	13 June	67 OOS 68 active	T
Bristol Galleries	25 March	71 active 67-70, 72-3 OOS	T
	14 September	All removed prob late August	T
Brixton Ferndale Rd.	21 September	Removed in April 2026	T
Bury St Edmunds		To close 30 September	M
Cambridge City	20 January	67-69 active 70/1 OOS	JG
	16 June	All 5 OOS, three different printed messages	JG
	6 August	All removed 2 weeks ago	JG
Cardiff	25 March	67,69 OOS, 68,70,71 active	T
Chester	7 January	active	T
Chesterfield	30 July	removed a few weeks ago	PW/I
Chichester	13 June	67 OOS, 68,69 OOS fault notice	T
Coventry	17 June	All OOS	M
Darlington	24 August	Removed in last 3 weeks	M
Durham	24 August	67-69 all active	M
	29 August	Withdrawn 26 August	M
Eastleigh	13 June	67,68 OOS fault notice	T
Edinburgh	13 February	All switched off	T
Emsworth	13 June	67 active	T
Exeter	24 April	All OOS, 69 switched off	T
	16 May	All OOS	T
	14 September	All removed prob late August	T
Exmouth	9 January	67 OOS 68 active	T
		To close 28 September	M
Fareham	13 June	67-69 active	T
Gt Portland St	10 February	69,73 active other 5 OOS	JG
	2 March	70, 73 active others OOS	M
	20 April	69, 70 active others OOS	M
Glasgow Penny Black Gt Western Road	4 August	Turned off	M
Halifax	22 January	67,68 OOS 69 active	M
	21 August	All removed	M
Harbourne	17 June	67, 68 active	M
Harrow	1 October	all removed with the last week	C
Hayes	29 July	To close 12 September	M
Hereford	17 June	All OOS	M
Honiton	25 September	All removed, date n/k	M
Huddersfield	21 January	2 active 2 OOS	M
	11 August	To be removed soon	M
	25 August	Now removed	M
Kennington Park	2 March	67 active, 68 OOS	M
Kensington High St	10 February	All removed for closure on 14th	JG
Kensington, Raphael St	26 September	All removed 26 Sept.	T
Leeds Market	21 August	Last one should have gone but van was full!	M
Leicester	12 September	To close 23 Sept not 3 Oct	M
Middlesborough	1 June	All OOS	M
	10 September	All removed since 31 August	M
	9 July	Both OOS	M
	24 August	Both on but OOS	M
Milton Keynes	10 June	Last day of use before relocation	M
Newcastle	1 June/9 July	All OOS / no future use	M
	8 September	Last one should have gone but van was full!	M
Norwich	17 June	4 machines status n/k	IB
	4 August	All 4 removed	M
Orpington	28 August	To close 28 October	M
Paignton	9 January	67,69 active 68 removed	T
	15 July	67,69 switched off	RW
Plymouth	9 January	67,69 68 OOS	T
Pontefract	22 January	67 active 68 OOS	T
Poplar	27 April	67,68 OOS	M
Reading	23 April	67,68,70 active, 69 OOS	M
	13 June	All OOS for some time	T
Rotherham	22 January	67 active 68 OOS off	T
St Fagans Rd	29 January	OOS since 8/25	M
St Helens	21 January	67,68 active	M
	8 September	Removed Aug 2026	M
Sevenoaks	14 May	All OOS	M
	8 September	Removed Aug 2026	M
Sheffield Charles St	30 July	2 m/c removed at least 6 months ago	PW/I
Shrewsbury	7 January	active	T
Solihull	16 June	All: OOS labels removed but can't be turned off as sockets inaccessible	M
Southampton		To close 22 September	M
Southend	15 July	To close 23 September	M
South Shields	8 September	Removed Aug 2026	M
Strand	10 February	67,68 active 2 more active but payment not taken	JG
	20 April	67-69 active 70 OOS	M
Sunderland	8 September	Removed Aug 2026	M
Swindon	2 February	67-69 active	T
	17 April	67-69 active	T
	24 July	To close 14 September	M
	11 August	All switched off	T
Sydenham	10 February	67 OOS 68 active	M
	25 April	67,68 active	M
Taunton	2 October	Both kiosks removed, date unknown	T
Trowbridge	21 April	67 OOS, 68,69 active	M
	17 September	All kiosks removed last week of August	T
Truro		To close 6 October	T
Uxbridge	30 April	All OOS	M
Walsall	20 January	67,68 active	T
Wakefield	21/22 January	67,68 active	M / T
Warrington	21 January	2 active 2 OOS	M
Watford	8 September	To close 27 Jan 2027	M
Winchester	13 June	67,69 active 68 OOS	T
	21 September	Removed last week of August	T
Windsor	9 June	All OOS	M
Wokingham	15 April	Both OOS	M
	8 September	Removed Aug 2026	M
Worcester	15 June	All off permanently	M
Wrexham	7 January	active	T
	29 July	To close 12 September	M
Yeovil	17 September	All Kiosks removed first week of September	T
York	8 September	To close 14 October	M

If you wish to check the comments, then the date in the Report date column is usually the date the blog comment is made but occasionally comments are made days or even weeks after the sighting, and that is reflected if mentioned in the comment.  

I hope this is useful, if only to show the sorry state of SSKs in modern post office branches.   As I showed on my report from Ireland, although not many people seem to buy the stamps from the An Post machines, they are used by people dropping off parcels.  

 

 

 

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Machins: it's not over until everything has been discovered!

I had thought that I had written my last post about Machin discoveries and, indeed, it may well be that someone has seen and reported this before, maybe nearly 25 years ago!

Regular contributor MM sent me this image of a clipping from an envelope purchased from Norway. Eagle-eyed readers will see that there are no values on the stamps, and that the 'postmark', dated 24 November 2002, isn't.

In fact the whole thing is printed - 'stamps', postmark, even the shadows aside the stamps.  The image of the Christmas stamp is of the 1981 18p set designed by Lucinda Blackmore (then aged 6), whilst the Machin image may be imitating the £1 value from April 1997.

I asked the Norwegian Seamen's Mission in London whether they could tell me any more (with no response received as yet), but further investigation shows that while the item of mail may have originated with them, it was actually processed IN Norway.

B-BLAD, at the right of the Christmas stamp is a marking for the Norwegian postal service, Posten Norge for a specific, lower-priority bulk mail service for periodicals and membership magazines.

So it appears that it was from a Christmas newsletter/magazine produced in the UK but posted to Norwegian addresses using the Norwegian domestic postal system.   

Royal Mail did not introduce stamp images printed onto Direct Mail envelopes until 2015 but there had been examples of stamps used on publicity material before then.  

It seems unlikely that the Seaman's Mission obtained permission from Royal Mail to use the copyrighted Machin image as their rules say that stamps must be used unaltered, apart from overlapping of different images.

Another one, closer to home 

Although I headed this 'closer to home' it originated almost as far away as it could, in Warrnambool a city in Victoria, Australia, used on the council's recycling flyer.  

It's 'closer to home' because the person who sent me this picture was convinced that the image was taken from our website.  OK, it could have been taken from any other, but the black border and placing of the coloured chevron against the perforations appears to be exactly the same.

 

If you have any other pre-2015 examples of stamps being used on marketing or other mail, please let me know.

 

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Random Offers - quirky and unusual - Week 47.

It was a busy weekend, partly dealing with customer orders for discount postage so this is the first offer for this week.  Update: second offer added (E)

Items offered have now been consolidated to one place, which is a linked page, rather than a blogpost.   

D. Ephemera mixed bag, pick and choose - Free to blog followers!

D1 - Machin black postcard from the National Postal Museum 1981, printed by the House of Questa, issued to mark Ten Years of Decimal Machins.  [One available].

D2. - Machin blackprint by Harrison & Sons 15 February 1971 [One available].

D3. - British Postal Order Gift Card (undated).  Designed to hold a standard postal order of the time in the same way as Book Tokens and Store Gift Cards, for sending through the post.  [Two available.]

 

D4. - Telephone Stamp Card issued by Post Office Telecommunications in 1979, before British Telecom - and I thought Busby was a BT mascot.  Inside there's room for up to 20 Telephone stamps and this too could be used as a gift card to a friend or relative. Telephone Stamps could only be used to pay for telephone charges which, at the time, you could pay in cash at the PO counter.  [only 1 now available]

D5. Lastly a proper postal item - a parcel tag for the Royal Mail Parcels Direct Bag Service for mailings to Charities.  When this was used mailbags would be delivered to the charity intact, which made handling easier for Royal Mail and for the charity.  This may have been for the children's TV programme Blue Peter in 1994.  Just one of these available.

 

Pick and Choose: if you are interested in any or all of these, leave a comment which I shall publish as soon as I can, and say which ones you would like.  Then send me an email with your name and address and blog follower ID.

I'll mark the blog as soon as I can as individual items cease to be available.  

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E. It's what's inside that counts - Kent Air display 1935 - £10 including postage

When you buy mixed lots of covers you get some good, some ordinary, and some in quite poor condition.  Certainly this isn't a cover that would make it into a collection or display.

1935 cover posted locally at Margate with 1½d Jubilee stamp.

There isn't even anything on the even grubbier reverse to indicate where it cam from: without the contents it is nothing.  The letter, however, reveals that the addressee is a lucky prize-winner in the Isle of Thanet Gazette contest to win a free flight in an air display by Sir Alan Cobham.  

After service in WWI in the Royal Flying Corps and then the RAF he joined De Haviland as a test pilot. He flew around Europe, to Cape Town, and then to Australia leaving from the River Medway in Kent.

In 1932 he started the National Aviation Day displays – a combination of barnstorming and joyriding. This consisted of a team of up to fourteen aircraft, ranging from single-seaters to modern airliners, and many skilled pilots. It toured the country, calling at hundreds of sites, some of them regular airfields and some just fields cleared for the occasion. Generally known as "Cobham's Flying Circus", it was hugely popular, giving thousands of people their first experience of flying, and bringing "air-mindedness" to the population.  From 1933-35 there were two simultaneous tours throughout the season but these stopped after a fatal mid-air collision over Blackpool.

Letter from Gazette to lucky winner (divided scan - letter complete)

National Aviation Displays Ltd Display Flight Ticket.

Just one available, so if you would like this leave a comment which I shall publish as soon as I can.  Then send me an email with your name and address and blog follower ID.  I'll provide payment details as soon as I can.

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F. Welsh local? No, Argentine Cinderella!   -  SOLD.

This might appeal to collectors in Wales, or of Welsh material - especially if they live in Argentina - buenas tardes!

In 1865, a group of Welsh people grew tired of the English domination of their land and peoples. Led by the Reverend Michael Jones, this group took their ship, the Mimosa, and sailed to what became Port Madryn in Argentina. The group of about 150 people wished to find vacant land to occupy where they could preserve their culture and avoid the economic oppression they felt in Wales. 

In September 1965 the Argentine Government issued an 8 pesos stamp to commemorate the centenary of the Welsh colonisation of Patagonia. The stamp design shows the tea clipper Mimosa, which was specially converted into a passenger vessel for this voyage, against a map of the Province of Chubut, where the Welshmen made their settlement. They landed at Puerto Madryn, Patagonia on July 28, 1865, sailing from Liverpool on May 25. [Ships Stamps website]  

8 pesos Argentina stamp marking the centenary of the Welsh colonisation of Patagonia, depicting the Mimosa.

The early settlers livied in caves or pits dug into the ground, but they persevered until the building of the Patagonian Railway in 1886, which precipitated the expansion of the settlement. In 1965, their descendants issued a commemorative label to honor the centennial of the colony's founding.

Since the inscription "Post Cymru" (Welsh Post) occurs at both the right and left sides of the stamp, it is easily mistaken for a regional postal issue. Done in green with black, the stamps were issued in rouletted sheets of 50.

"Cwladfa Patagonia" (Colony of Patagonia) appears at the top right above a vignette of a black sailing ship approaching green cliffs. At the bottom, in black, is the inscription "Mimosa, Porth Madryn, 28 VII '65", indicating the date in July, 1865, that the colonists arrived. [Cinderellas Riga Stamps website]

"Cwladfa Patagonia" (Colony of Patagonia) commemorative label to honor the centennial of the colony's founding.

Again just one available - free of charge - so if you would like this leave a comment which I shall publish as soon as I can.  Then send me an email with your name and address and blog follower ID. 

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More to follow as I delve deeper into the boxes.  If you are looking for something unusual, drop me an email about it and if I have any, I'll let you know.

All offers are now in a separate page - see link on right under 'LINKS'   ➡︎➡︎➡︎➡︎➡︎➤

This will be expanded with more offers, and a brief post will be added in the blog for each week. 

Thanks for looking!

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Post and Go News 2025 - includes PO Branch self-service kiosks.

This post and its comments will hold all news on Post and Go stamps, machines, and PO Self Service Kiosks (SSKs).   

For details of new Post and Go stamps issued by the postal authorities in Guernsey and Jersey I recommend WhiteKnight's Commonwealth Stamp Opinion. All issues from the islands, and Gibraltar and the SOAR stamps from Isle of Man and Ireland will normally be pictured there as announced.

Anything about the old Royal Mail machines and any later news for PO SSKs will continue to be added on the 2024 blog post. Please continue to make comments there or send me news/images by email.

 

Self-Service Kiosks

All readers and collectors should be indebted to Malcolm, Trevor and a few other people for their continued perambulations around the country reporting on the rapidly diminishing estate of Self-Service Kiosks in Post Office branches.

These will continue to throw up errors and surprises and they will be reported here either as comments or, if significant enough, as edits to this original post.

The reducing number of machines in use means that the large stocks of Queen Elizabeth Machin blanks will be spread even more thinly and take longer to use up, especially as branches now offer different service, such as Tracked24/48 or Evri, DPD, etc as alternatives to Royal Mail services.

Whereas the casual poster of packets might have visited the SSK they may now think twice (if the queues are not too long) and use a counter service.

So to start this year off with a picture last week, I don't know when this fault occurred at Cheltenham (WHSmith) PO.  The black ink is missing in the centre, leaving 2nd class short of an s and truncating the datastring.   The base stock is CL16S.  Thanks to JG and his friend for supplying this.

Machine fault causing omission of some of the black inscription on 2nd class (CL16S) stamps at Cheltenham PO.

UPDATE 13 January.

If you read the comments you will see that Post Office Ltd (POL) has awarded a contract for the supply of new SSKs to imageHolders - that may mean new stamps, time will tell.

Trevor has added this information from the imageHolders website website:

Post Office branches continue to play a vital role in communities
As Post Office branches continue to play a vital role in communities, this initiative ensures they meet the evolving expectations of today’s customers. The new self-service kiosks will enable quick access to key services, like:

Postal Services: Send parcels, buy stamps, and more.
Home Shopping Returns: Return items without the hassle.
Electronic pre-advice and overseas services
Printed confirmation and tracking detail
By streamlining these services, the kiosks will allow staff to focus on complex queries, enhancing overall customer satisfaction.

Kiosk Accessibility at the Forefront
We’re committed to ensuring these kiosks are accessible to everyone. Our design is focused on inclusivity, with features like ergonomic screens and assistive technology support, including screen readers and braille interfaces. It’s all part of making sure that every visitor to the Post Office has a positive experience.

Richard Satchell, our CEO, shares:

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Post Office to help deliver more efficient and accessible services to customers across the UK. Our self-service kiosks will not only reduce wait times and improve customer satisfaction but will also ensure that these essential services remain inclusive to everyone, regardless of their abilities.”

Kiosks Rolling Out Across the Nation

The nationwide rollout is set to begin in Spring 2025, with self-service kiosks being introduced in a select number of Post Office branches before expanding to more branches across the country. This partnership signifies a major milestone in both imageHOLDERS’ and the Post Office’s ongoing missions to modernize service delivery, enhance customer experiences, and meet the changing needs of today’s consumers.

“Post Office is committed to enhancing customer service across the network, working in partnership with our Postmasters and retail partners,” commented Neal Newbrook, Propositions Manager, Post Office.

“Introducing these new self-service kiosks will make it easier and more efficient for customers to access the Post Office mail products they require. We are excited to work with imageHOLDERS on this key project that will help postmasters and our retail partners meet evolving customer needs.”

We look forward to this new chapter and can’t wait for you to experience our kiosks in action!

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Update 28 April

Various contributors have mentioned kiosks now being 'Card Only'.  (See details in the comments.)

From RW here is a picture of the screen as it now appears.

New screen display showing 'CARD ONLY' on self-service kiosk in PO Branch Paignton.

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UPDATE 8 May 2025.  In connection with Trevor's comment of today, this is the label on the machines in Sunderland.

Added to NCR SSK machines at Sunderland. (Thanks Trevor)

UPDATE 5 June 2025

The Postage Labels UK blog has been revived and contains information about the machines which will replace the currently failing SSKs.  The new machines will be non-cash (as the old are becoming), with more details, picture, and links here.

UPDATE 10 June 2025

I asked Post Office about the situation at Sheffeld and Chesterfield (see comments). I didn't get  an answer about those branches, but they did say:

"We are continuing to develop and test new look SSKs over the summer and launch initial capabilities in the autumn with the existing 200 or so branches with SSKs getting these new machines by March 2026.

"The SSKs will continue to be developed and we expect other designs becoming available and further expansion of automation solutions over the next 2-3 years and this will be spread out to big branches across the country."

UPDATE 21 June 2025

Here is the error described by Trevor in the current note.  This occurs at Gt Portland Street branch on kiosk 67, with the 1st class stamp printed from the second class slot and the 2nd class stamp was printed on the top half of a standard QE label from the third slot.

Errors on kiosk 67 at Great Portland Street June 2025.

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UPDATE 17 April 2025

RW sent this picture of a Guernsey Arms Post and Go stamp with the inscription G.I.C. and reports that the kiosk that they used to print this stamp was being moved and they dropped it.

It's reported that they can't repair it and the one in the Bureau is not compatable so there is some question about what will happen with the 'Visiting Cruise Ships' overprints.

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UPDATE 9 September.  News from RW of Singapore's POPDrop machine, of which more details here on their website.

Singapore Post's POPDrop machine

We don't have any examples of the labels or stamps from this yet. 

Update 7 October.  My thanks to KR who provided this image of a label (of Aug 2025) from the General Post Office machine. 

KR writes: Singapore is celebrating her 60th birthday in 2025 (National Day is 9 Aug) (hence the SG60) on the label.
It may be a time-limited label for National Day - I will update on what labels it dispenses should I visit the GPO again.
The dragon playground is nostalgic for Singaporeans as it was built in the 80s around the neighbourhoods  

Singapore POPDrop machine 5c label with SG60 logo.

Update 11 November

KR reports that the National Day labels are no longer in use and these are now dispensed.

For more information on similar (ATM) labels worldwide visit the Gulfmann ATM Collection blog. 

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We're near the end of the road
In the latest Journal of the British Postmark Society, John Gray starts the report as follows:

The end of the era of NCR Post & Go kiosks is rapidly approaching. More and more kiosks are being retired from use, or not being serviced when they break down. In several of the newly franchised post office branches, particularly those run by UOE, all the NCR kiosks have been cordoned off to prevent use. 

NCR Post & Go kiosks were first introduced at Harpenden post office on 28 February 2014, and over 650 kiosks have been rolled out across the country. The kiosks had an expected life of 10 years, and the Post Office started a market engagement to find the Next Generation Self Service Kiosks in July 2020. 

The new imageHOLDERS kiosks were announced on 19 November 2024 but are not due to be introduced until Spring 2026, so there is likely to be a hiatus of several months without Post & Go kiosks in many post offices.

Some machines have an explanation on the 'No Longer in Service' notice:

They've served us well - until they didn't.
They're officially too old to function - but our team is here to help.  

We will replace them as part of our branch upgrade plans in 2026.

 

In the article John acknowledges the work done by contributors to this blog to whom all who are still interested in Post & Go should be eternally grateful.

Next year I will find some Post & Go oddities which may be of interest to readers who weren't involved when these were first produced.  Watch the sales list - but I will also post something on the Post & Go News 2026 blogpost in January.

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All news about P&G in 2025 will be here, and comments for the old (January 2024) post have been closed.

News about 2026 should be posted as a comment on the new year post and important information will be added in detail there.

This post will be closed for comments by the end of January: please comment only about 2025 here.  

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Small stock of Regional Machins found - were we sold out when you ordered?

In a stockbook which I though had all used stamps in,  I found a very small stock of later Regional Machin definitives.

All at our usual low prices, there are no more than two of each.  If you ordered before and I told you we were sold out, email again and remind me when you placed the original order. Those people will get priority, but if anyone else needs these, please email very soon. 

I'm listing the SG numbers only, you all have a version of the Concise catalogue don't you?  😁

Northern Ireland: 

39 - 40 - 44 - 47 - 49 - 51 - 55 - 56  - 57 - 58 - 61 - 63 - 65 - 66 - 67 - 68

Scotland:

54 - 55 - 56 - 58 - 60 - 62 - 64 - 66 - 67 - 69 - 70 - 73 - 75 - 77 - 78 - 79 - 80

Wales:

40 - 41 - 45 - 48 - 50 - 52 - 56 - 57 - 58 - 59 - 62 - 64 - 66 - 67 - 68 - 69 - 70 - 73 - 76 - 77

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Still with Machins: add something different to your collection?

The Machin portrait used on the definitive stamps from 1964 was also used on postal stationery including Envelopes, Postcards, Letter Cards, and Air Letters or Aerogrammes.

Whilst some products continued into the 21st century, Letter Cards were discontinued in 1982 and were replaced by Postnotes.  These were in a similar format to Air Letters but are printed on cream laid paper with text in shades of brown, and two phosphor bands (which are visible in this picture). They were valid up to 60g (although now they would be valid up to 100g).  

I don't know the selling price but the postage rate at the time was 15½p, which rose to 16p in April.

Address panel of basic Postnote

The unfolded size is A4, 210 x 297 mm (excluding the flaps)

1. Unfolded Postnote with text* - a 'Royal Mail' product

I don't know whether Postnotes were sold singly, but they were definitely sold in packs of 5.  

2. Pack of 5 Postnotes - front 1982

 

Pack of 5 Postnotes - back 1982

A well-known variation to the Postnotes were those sold in a promotion with the Milk Marketing Board (MMB).   There's an article about them here.  Buying fresh cream in pots would enable you to buy a pack of 7 special Postnotes for 84p (12p each) if you sent in two cleaned foil tops!

Unfolded Dairy Postnote with inscription at foot Post notes: a 'Royal Mail' product

 

The four different 'Dairy' designs on Postnotes - Strawberries, Church, Farm, Milk Churn (my identification names).

 

3. Dairy Postnotes pack of 7 - 2 each of 3 designs plus one other, 1983.

Dairy Postnotes pack of 7 with small Fresh Cream Recipe Book and Film Processing envelope.

The Welsh aspect

There were three other variants of the Postnotes, all apparently available from some Post Offices in Wales. Two showed buildings in Cardiff - Cardiff Castle and City Hall - while the third promoted the Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod.  The exact status of these is uncertain.

4. Postnote promotoing the Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod. The internal inscription on this one is Postnotes: a 'Royal Mail' Product with Postnotes all one word, and Product capitalised.

For Sale

1. Single original Postnote - £2.00

2. Pack of 5 original Postnotes (opened) - £9.00

3. Pack of 7 Dairy Postnotes (opened but with additions) - £25.00

3a. Single Dairy Postnote. These designs only: Strawberries, Church and Farm - £3.50 each

3b. Dairy Postnote (Farm) with BPF 68th Congress Norwich 1986 (see below) - £1.50

4. Eisteddfod Postnote - £5.00

3b Dairy 'Farm' Postnote with 1986 British Philatelic Federation 68th Congress Norwich postmark.

 

UPDATE 4 August 2025.   I found some more Postnotes including this one given away by the magazine Woman's Realm by which the price was 21p (or £1 for a pack of 5).  [Corrected typo; thanks M&M]

Postnote given away by the magazine Woman's Realm - date uncertain.

UPDATE 9 September 2025

Thanks to JW for sending this example of a Postnote properly used in 1999, sent to Edinburgh's best stamp shop, Robert Murray.

 

I wrote earlier that the Postnotes were based on Air Letters or Aerogrammes.  These were printed on light-weight blue paper in various shades.

Example of 5p Air Letter illustrated with the VC-10 Jet Airliner

The Air Letter had been introduced into the Iraqi postal service in 1933 by the then Inspector General of Posts and Telegraphs, Major Douglas William Gumbley CBE DSO Royal Engineers. The original form, on thin paper sized 124 mm x 99 mm, greyish in colour, with bluelined framing and with the designation legend on the front. It had an embossed effigy of Faisal I of Iraq and was printed by Bradbury Wilkinson.

Lieutenant Colonel R. E. Evans, Royal Engineers, Assistant Director Army Postal Service Middle East Force (MEF), proposed that a lightweight self-sealing letter card that weighed only 1/10 oz (2.8 g) be adopted by the British Army for air mail.  

The private nature of the air letter ensured its popularity among its users and that popularity, with its lightness, brought about its continued use as the civilian air letter (aerogramme). The aerogramme cost 6d to send anywhere in the world from 1943 to 1966, increasing to 9d until 1971.  (Wikipedia)

Normal aerogrammes sold by the Post Office were prepaid postal stationery, but private forms (approved by the PO) with postage paid by adhesive stamps were acceptable. No enclosures were permitted in either.

1948 Olympic Games 6d stamp imprint on Air Letter

The King George VI issues used a 6d purple printed stamp and the 6d Olympic Games stamp in 1948. The first of the new reign used the design of the 2½d Coronation stamp revalued six pence in deep red in 1953. The first definitive design showed the Houses of Parliament and was issued in 1954. Various other imprinted stamps were used, including Christmas, and the long-running VC-10 stamp shown above spanned the conversion to decimalisation, being issued in 9d, 4p, 5p, 6p, 8½p and 10½p values until 1974. 

The Machin head was introduced in 1972 as a 6½p value.  NVI 'stamps' were introduced in 1989.  The last Air Letter was issued in 2007 but they remain valid for postage. By themselves as Air Letters they would need additional stamps, but the NVI ones remain valid at the current international airmail rate of £2.20.  

There is no Air Letter service now: I asked in my post office what would happen if inserts, such as extra pages or a postcard, were included and I was told that the NVI (= £2.20) Air Letters would be valid up to 100g.

Small-format Air Letters as the VC-10 are 150 x 316 mm (excluding flaps), but the 1972 Machin design was the first in 'A4' size, 209 x 294-8 mm.  The final cost in 2011 was 85p according to the Great Britain Philatelic Society website.

1972 6½p value A4 aerogramme

1993 50th Anniversary NVI Postage Paid aerogramme.

The postal stationery catalogue Collect British Postal Stationery records 150 different special issues including this pictorial one issued in 1979 for the Golf Open Championship.

1979 Golf Open Championship aerogramme partly captioned in Gaelic.

I have a number of Air Letters/Aerogrammes for sale, NVIs at less than the new (October '25) postage rate of £2.50 £3.40!   Please ask for details or let me know which ones you are interested in.

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