Tudor Crown is appearing in Royal Mail cruciform - but very slowly!

Over a year ago Royal Mail announced that they were adopting the Tudor Crown in their logo but that it would be done gradually - and we recently reported that some Downstream Access PPI, which is used by Direct Mailers, so they would use up old stationery first.

But Royal Mail are also moving slowly.  Today I received the latest batch of stamps from the Swapout scheme.  The letter has the new crown - but the Special Delivery postage label - which I'm sure is printed on demand for each item as it contains the name and address and barcode - still has the old.  The envelope that the label was stuck to (ENV 04) also has the old crown.

Special delivery label on the left, and letterhead on the right.

KC reports that he had a statement of account with old cruciform on the statement but in an envelope with the new cruciform (ENV 32)

 

Royal Mail envelope ENV 32

and Order advice note with new cruciform on the advice note but in an envelope with the old cruciform (ENV 10).

JG reports the new crown in use in recent digital stamps - the direct mail with preprinted stamps - both the  Christmas 2nd class and the King Charles III 2nd class, both from The Delivery Group.

 Any more reports?

 

 

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Downstream access Royal Mail logo updated to Tudor crown.

Royal Mail announced a year ago that the adoption of the Tudor Crown by King Charles would mean a change to the cruciform logo.

John G reports that Royal Mail announced on 23 December 2024 that the Tudor Crown was to be included in the RM Access indicia by 23 December 2026, but they would accept and process mail with the Tudor crown before that date.

John includes this image of the new format:

 

Here are two small indicia from whistl (C9 10002) and two large indicia from UK Mail (C9 10001). 

A majority of indicia on mail still show the old St Edward’s crown, but I have also seen the Tudor crown on indicia from C9 10017 (The Delivery Group), C9 10020 (CitiPost Mail) and C9 10090 (licence-holder unknown). 

This will be another variant to look out for on direct mail with the King's head stamps printed on as well.

 

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News snippets June 2024

This post has a collection of short pieces not really warranting a whole blog post of their own.

Beyond the Definitives

Last year we discussed what products would need to change apart from postage stamps, with Horizon and Post & Go Labels being obvious examples.

Horizon Labels bearing the head of the King have appeared, but not Post and Go - although Royal Mail stopped using Post & Go machines at the end of the year, so no replacement was necessary there. The existing stamps continue in use at Post Office self-service kiosks, although there are trials of a new label which does bear the profile of King Charles.

A couple of readers have reminded me that although there is no postal stationery on sale now other than the prepaid plastic Special Delivery bags.  However the Houses of Parliament, and in particular members, are entitled to use prepaid postal stationery which currently still bears the Machin head. Both 1st (provided by RM) and 2nd class (from RW) are in use.

House of Commons prepaid 2nd class envelope used June 2024.

House of Commons prepaid 1st class envelope used May 2024.

Counterfeit Stamps

Thanks to BB for alerting me to more counterfeit non-definitive stamps being sold on eBay.  The current range now includes the Discworld, Cats, Christmas including miniature sheets, Paddington Bear and Children's TV Classics.  OK, they might be genuine, but it's clear from this photograph that there are no phosphor bands whereas there should be two.

2022 1st class 'Cats' stamps which should have two phosphor bands....

Catalogue Numbers

Thanks to CN who has alerted me to changes of numbers of the King Charles booklets in the Stanley Gibbons Concise Catalogue 2024, as follows:

TB2 - 4x 1^st   now    CB1

TC2 - 8x 2^nd   now    CC1

TD2 - 8x 1^st   now   CD1 

TE2 - 4x 2^nd L now   CE1

TF2 - 4x 1^st L  now    CF1 

.............

M24L printings

CN also tells me about the new printing of the booklet of 8 x 2nd class stamps, now with M24L year code.  Here's his picture:

King Charles III 2nd class booklet stamp coded MEIL and M24L, 2024 printing.

JH has provided a good photograph of the whole booklet.

King Charles III 2nd class booklet with stamps coded MEIL and M24L, 2024 printing.

Philatelic Bureau mail

Back in 2014 we reported that Royal Mail was using real stamps (stuck over the PPI) on sendings of bulletins from Tallents House.  Sadly this practice didn't last long.

Set of 2014 Butterfly stamps used on mailings from Royal Mail Tallents House, Edinburgh.

Few philatelic bureaux do use stamps on their sendings (Isle of Man and Greenland do, I think), but Guernsey has made up for not using stamps by advertising them on their envelopes!  My thanks to RM for sending this and other interesting material.

Guernsey Post envelope used in 2024 for sending out stamp orders, illustrated with examples from previous stamp issues.

That's all for now, thanks for reading, and keep sending your news - thanks!

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More shades of King Charles II PPIs and alternative postage.

A post last September showed a number of shades for the 2nd class pre-printed stamps used on postage paid impressions (PPIs), and that continues including these two using the same C9 licence 10017 and the same return address (so the same mailing house or the same client).

Pre-printed 2nd class mail-shots for C9 licence number 10017

My thanks to WU for the above and also for this example where a different account has been used and the imprinted stamp has been overlabelled with one showing a totally different account number.  The C9 license number is either 10031 or 10081, and the new label has Account Postage number AC05353770077.   This is used by Fisheye Opticians.

C9 preprinted stamp overlabelled with an 'Account Postage' label.

UPDATE 22 May 2024: My thanks to JMacL for another 2nd class example, this time with account HQ104259.

2nd class preprinted stamp PPI with used by account HQ104259.

Note: A number of people have asked for examples of these definitive stamp pre-printed envelopes. We actually get very few here: most of the images are just that - images sent by readers but not my scans of actual examples we hold.

I'll be pleased to add other examples - has anybody had a 1st class pre-printed stamp on  a mailshot yet?

 

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More on pre-printed King Charles stamps on Direct Mail (PPI)

We in the UK hear a lot about 'non-doms' in the media and from politicians and tax campaigners.  If you are not aware of this don't worry, this is just a play on words, because here we have what is, as far as I can recall, the first 'non-denom'.  An NVI in the truest sense!

Apparently this is the latest mailshot 'To The Occupier' from the Salvation Army and the picture was sent to me today by DR, who says a number of his friends have received them.  

I don't think we have seen one like this before, nor from the previous reign (though your memory may be better than mine!).

Non-denominated 2nd class green PPI King Charles III definitive on Salvation Army mailshot.

UPDATE 23 April 2024

My thanks to Jon on Stampboards for showing this amazingly poor example of the 2nd class King Charles PPI - it should, of course, be green.

Mailshot from Leaders of Great Britain (LCGB) of London, events organisers, with very poorly printed 2nd class King Charles III imprinted stamp.

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Printed stamps as Postage Paid Indicators - Christmas 2023 and more

In September I wrote about the first King Charles III Postage Paid Impressions using images of stamps, what Royal Mail referred to at one time as 'digital-stamps' printed direct onto mailings by large companies or mailing houses.

Now the holiday season is over I can show two examples of the 2023 2nd class Christmas stamp used in the same way.  Usually it is only the definitive and Christmas stamps are used in this way, but occasionally another 2nd class commemorative is made available - if the copyright is wholly Royal Mail's.

Christmas 2023 2nd class - thanks to JE, these are C9 10017 (The Delivery Group) from House of Bruar [and also Healthspan (no TDG logo) and Operation Smile (with logo)],  C9 10018 (Brightpost) from the Salvation Army, C9 10046 (Mi-Post) from Westminster Collection

2023 2nd class stamp design used as Postal Paid Impression, C9 license 10046, unnecessarily postmarked North & West Yorkshire 16/11/2023

2023 2nd class stamp design used as Postal Paid Impression, C9 license 10017 (The Delivery Group), unnecessarily postmarked North & West Yorkshire 14/11/2023

2023 2nd class stamp design used as Postal Paid Impression, C9 license 10018 from the Salvation Army

2023 2nd class stamp design used as Postal Paid Impression, C9 license 10002, used by Pets VIP Club.

 

Any other pictorial PPIs will be posted on this thread; King Charles examples will, in general, be on the September post linked in line 1.

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More King Charles III PPIs - in a variety of shades!

In March I wrote about postal products which would, eventually, need to be changed following the accession to the throne of King Charles III and then in August the first so-called 'digital-stamp' printed direct onto mailings by large companies, in their Postage Paid Impressions.

My thanks to the people who have sent further examples recently.

These examples are from Bluecrest (Contract 10017), Opus Energy (10002), Vision Express (10001) and Serious Readers (10017).  The last of these is very grey, and is almost the colour of the 2nd Large or £2.20 stamps.

UPDATE 16 January: Bluecrest have changed their mailer, they are now using C9 10079.  (No copy to show, it's damaged!)

King Charles III PPI (digital stamp) from Bluecrest 2023.

King Charles III PPI (digital stamp) from Opus Energy 2023.

King Charles III PPI (digital stamp) from Vision Express and Serious Readers 2023.

King Charles III PPI (digital stamp) from Pets at Home 2023.

It is obvious that the Datamatrix Barcode on these impressions is totally meaningless as they are all exactly the same.  In any event, these mailing would not go through that part of the mail centre where barcodes are scaanned and stamps cancelled.

UPDATE 30 October:

Today's post brought a letter from the Norfolk Wildlife Trust printed in a yellowish-green colour, which is reflected in the colour of the stamp.

King Charles III PPI (digital stamp) from Norfolk Wildlife Trust October 2023, C9 license 10017.

UPDATE 3 February 2024: Another user of The Delivery Group (C9 10017) is Oakhouse Foods, this received today:

King Charles III PPI (digital stamp) from Oakhouse Foods January 2024, C9 license 10017.

 

UPDATE 12 October:

Thanks to JF for sending this first example of the 2nd class Large, this one from Museum Selection of Paignton.  The colour is a good match to the actual stamp, and the barcode is the same as those shown above.

Example of the 2nd class Large King Charles 'digital stamp' used as a Printed Paid Impression.

UPDATE 23 April

My thanks to Jon on Stampboards for showing this amazingly poor example of the 2nd class King Charles PPI - it should, of course, be green.

Mailshot from Leaders of Great Britain (LCGB) of London, events organisers, with very poorly printed 2nd class King Charles III imprinted stamp.

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Now Machin PPIs replaced by King Charles printed 'stamp'.

In March I wrote about postal products which would, eventually, need to be changed following the accession to the throne of King Charles III - post and go stamps (both 'definitive and the pictorial), Horizon & SSK labels, and 'digital stamps' the postage paid impressions used by mass mailers featuring preprinted definitives.

Thanks to a member of the British Postmark Society we can now show the second change, which is to the so-called 'digital-stamp' printed direct onto mailings by large companies, in their Postage Paid Impressions.

Preprinted King Charles III profile 'stamp' used in postage paid impression.

The barcode is the same on both (it reads: 01 plus 14 zeroes) and is presumably from a Royal Mail template for C9 licence holders.  C9 10002 is the the downstream access licence of whistl (formerly TNT Mail) and  C9 10033 denotes Primepost.  (Thanks to JE for these details.)

With the Horizon (and probably SSK) labels already showing the King's head from some Scottish sources, it remains to be seen whether any changes are made to Post and Go stamps or if there are sufficient stocks to satisfy the diminishing number of SSKs in post offices around the country. (See notices of relocations and out-of-service machines in comments on the Post and Go post.)

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May slogans and other interesting postal markings

May's slogan postmarks continued from April with the Coronation commemoration, which lasts until 9th May (probably: although Royal mail say 10th they usually mean the delivery date).

May's slogan postmarks will be shown here; please check for latest updates before spending your time scanning, but if you have something new or another format, then please do send it in for publication. 

My thanks to JE who sent this example of the Coronation slogan used on The Day at Manchester.

Coronation slogan postmark Manchester Mail Centre 06/05/2023

UPDATE 17 August

I've been sent several other May examples, most of which are the same layouts as the April ones, but this reverse layout from Birmingham Mail Centre (probably on a square envelope) seems to be from May but it isn't clear.

Coronation slogan postmark, reverse layout, Birmingham Mail Centre 09/05/2023

Coronation slogan postmark Peterborough Mail Centre 09-05-2023

A reader suggested that there might be a Eurovision slogan, but I understand that this will not be the case. It seems a shame, but maybe there are rights issues over the name.

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My thanks to a host of readers who sent scans of the next slogan which appeared from 13 May.

Mental Health
Awareness Week
15 - 21 May
#ToHelpMyAnxiety

Examples from Swindon on 13-05-2023, and in the other format from Nottingham Mail Centre and North & West Yorkshire (Leeds) 13/05/2023, Gatwick Mail Centre 15/05/2023, Cumbria Dumfries & Galloway (Carlisle) and Chester & N Wales 17/05/2023.  Only the better examples are shown here.

Mental Health Awareness Week - Swindon Mail Centre 13-05-2023

Mental Health Awareness Week - Chester & N Wales 17/05/2023

Mental Health Awareness Week - North & West Yorkshire 13/05/2023

Thanks to OT, MM, JE, JH, and RW.

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My thanks to RW who has sent this example of the default British Heart Foundation slogan, the first use reported in May.  South East Anglia (Chelmsford Mail Centre) 25/05/2023

BHF slogan from South East Anglia Mail Centre 25/05/2023

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Other postmarks, postal markings etc,

On the subject of the Coronation a couple of people have sent pictures of the Postage Paid Impression used by Isle of Man Stamps on some of their recent mailshots.  This features one of the stamps from their Accession set which you can see on the Commonwealth Stamps Opinion blog.  It was issued on 3 April.

Isle of Man Coronation mailshot with printed stamp from the Accession of King Charles III set.

If you have any other interesting postal markings, please send them to one of the email addresses in the top right of this blog.  Thank you.

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I was very pleased to find many post office branches in Cornwall last week, especially in small communities.  A big advantage of this is that post is collected at least in the afternoon, often as late as 5pm.  This is very useful if you are writing postcards to friends and relatives.  There is a chance that they may reach the addressee before you get home!

Remember, all postmarks appearing in May will be added to this post, so check here before you spend time scanning and emailing.  I'll add new ones as quickly as possible.

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The new monarch - beyond the definitives.

With the passing of HM Queen Elizabeth this post looks forward beyond the issue of King Charles III definitives.

Whilst there is no postal stationery all these will need to change.

 

"Digital Stamps" - or pre-printed stamps used for bulk mailings.

Direct Mailers believe (or have been told) that 'stamped' mail gets a better response than that with a different Postage Paid Impression.  As these are printed as required for each client customer, it seems likely that there would not be much difficulty in replacing the Queen Elizabeth Machin design wit another showing King Charles III.  And this is likely to be in green, of couse.

 

Post and Go stamps at Museums and Self-Service Kiosks in Post Office branches

As with Machin definitive stamps, we are likely to see these used to exhaustion - and there will be all sorts of stocks held in branches across the land.  The 2nd class base stock should appear in green and the 1st class in (probably a light) purple with the head of King Charles III.  I would expect these changes to be made this year, but for the old stamps to be used in parallel initially.

Whilst it is unlikely that there will be any totally new designs for pictorial Post and Go stamps, there are many pictorial stamps available for use at specific locations or on specific occasions.  These will eventually be produced with the profile/cameo head of King Charles, probably as used on the forthcoming Garden Flowers special issue stamps.

1.  Union Flag - for Naval anniversaries and patriotic occasions.

2.  Poppy - leading up to Remembrance Day in November.

3.  Winter Greenery - leading up to Christmas.

4.  Mail by Rail: Post Office Underground Railway single design - used at The Postal Museum.

5.  Other 'Mail by...' issues used at the Postal Museum in conjunction with their exhibitions

Any others?

Horizon Labels at Post Office Counters and similar labels at Self-Service Kiosks in branches.  

These are produced in one colour similar to that of the 1st class Post and Go stock, even though they are used for 2nd class, 1st class and ParcelForce transactions.  Again replacement will depend to some extent on existing stocks.

For the present I can't think of anything else postal - although other Post Office products such as Postal Orders do bear a portrait of the monarch will need to be replaced as well.

My thanks to John E for reminding me of these products which will need changing.

If anybody makes a mock-up of any of these with the new head and colours I will be pleased to add them here.  

And if anybody can think of anything I have forgotten - please remind me!

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October slogan postmarks and other interesting postal markings

There has been little news so far of new slogan postmarks. I believe the 'Use your old stamps' slogan for the Datamatrix Swap-Out scheme has continued throughout, although with little stamped mail arriving here I rely on examples sent by readers (thank you WU for this one).

Barcoded stamps swap-out slogan, Manchester Mail Centre 04/10/2022

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This has now been interrupted by the first new slogan this month, marking World Menopause Awareness Day 18 October which was used yesterday - so examples will probably be scarce and I look forward to our eagle-eyed readers sending examples of the other layout!  My thanks to KD for this example from Sheffield Mail Centre.

World Menopause
Awareness Day
18 October
Menopause can affect
everyone - let's talk and
make a real difference

World Menopause Awareness Day slogan Sheffield Mail Centre 17/10/2022

 

Thanks to RW for the other layout from Croydon Mail Centre on the same date.

 

 

World Menopause Awareness Day slogan Croydon Mail Centre17-10-2022

 

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OTHER POSTMARKS & POSTAL MARKINGS

King Charles III mail.

My thanks to BM for sending this sight of the first postal evidence of the new King.  This is not, of course a postmark as such, it is a postage paid impression (PPI) on mail used at Buckingham Palace under contract W7047.  

It's unusual for a PPI because it combines elements of a postmark of franking machine (meter) mark, and a normal PPI.  Normal franking machines do show the date & place of posting and a different type of indication that postage has been paid (I shall show some this month) and a PPI shows the contract number, the postage service (1st, 2nd etc) but not the date and place of posting.

Where the company logo or return address might be shown, this shows the newly-revealed cypher of King Charles III.

Buckingham Palace dated Postage Paid Impression with cypher of King Charles III

 

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UPDATE 25 October.

I've had further information about the new-style counter date stamp already in use at Boscombe. At the end of the trial "the go ahead has been given and they are now bing made available for postmaster across the UK to purchase ALONGSIDE the existing Reiner stamp. "  Thanks to Adam at Boscombe for this.  

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This is the place where all news about October postmarks - provided by readers or discovered by us - will be posted.  Please check back and refresh the page before sending anything which may have already been sent since you last looked: this will save you time scanning and writing.  Variants on postmarks already shown are also welcome.

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