Virtual Exhibits at Alternative Scottish Congress - until 31 August 2021.

"Due to the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic The Association of Scottish Philatelic Societies Scottish Congress which was due to be held in April and hosted by Kirkcudbright Philatelic & Postcard Society and Dumfries Stamp & Postcard Club has been cancelled."

Instead the ASPS has hosted the displays online here.

Note that this ends on 31 August 2021 - I have only just discovered it.

Exhibits list:

Traditional Exhibits:

Canada Definitives 1992 - 1998
Scouting pre-printed Stationery
The Helsingfors Local Post
Agriculture
Henry
The Romance of Central Africa's British Commonwealth
Tobago - An Island's Stamps in One Frame
New Zealand Circular Kiwi Stamps
The Village of Borgue
General de Gaulle
Admiral Issue of 1912 - 20 Cents Value
The ‘Dienstmarken' (or 'Official Stamps') of Switzerland
Early QV Designs, Nordic Countries & 1893 New Zealand Advertising Stamps
"Blue" Stamps & Selected Macau "Crown" Pages
Traditional Christmas Issues
Sarawak Stamps - The First 50 Years
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
Queen Elizabeth Commemoratives
New Zealand Roses Issue
Beyond the Stuffed Monkey
France
King Christian X of Denmark
So What is a Stamp
The Haji
Revenue Stamps
Bertil Skov Jorgensen
Samoa 1850 - 2000 A Transition
Steam Locomotive Development in Malaya

Postal History Exhibits:

Scottish Postmasters
Twopenny Blue Usage
WW2 in East Africa: Polish Refugee Settlements
Queen Victoria Post
Early US Temperance Movement
The History of the Nova Scotia Provincial Exhibition
19th Century Victorian Hand-Illustrated Covers
O.A.S. in WWI
Galloway T.P.O.
19th Century Kirkcudbright
1915 War Charity Issue
Aspects of the Russification of the Finnish Postal Service from 1899
The German Post Office in Zanzibar
Scottish Experimental Duplex Cancellations

Thematic Exhibits:

Circus
Wildlife on Stamps - Big Cats
Energy and the Environment
Preserved Ships
The Life of an Insurance Policy
Butterfly Hierarchy
Switzerland - Costumes and Coats of Arms 2021
Mutiny on the Bounty
U.S. Transportation
1813 A Momentous Year for Opera Guiseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner
That's Entertainment
Bird Watching in Kirkcudbright
The Rose

Postcard Exhibits:

Happy Days at Carnoustie
Italian Consolata Missions: Missione del Kenya Postcards
An A-C of Lanarkshire Postcards and Postmarks 1900 - 1914
Places of Education
Greenland Life
Flights of Fancy
The Zeiss Planetarium Projector
Andrew Gardiner, The Great War, Lockdown Diary, HMTS Mars on the Tay
Scottish Islands - St. Kilda
Kirkcudbright
William Burn

Aerophilately Exhibits:

Aviation
American Airships
Early Scottish Aviation
Newfoundland: Winter Air Mail Flights (1921 - 1923)
Austria - Hungary 1st Airmail Service
Disruption of BOAC Services in June 1940

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Post and Go at Scottish Congress

As previously announced there will be no Royal Mail P&G presence at the Scottish Philatelic Congress in Perth this year (20-21 April).

However, the offshore islands and Gibraltar have been persuaded to attend and IAR reports that they will each be dispensing two types of stamps.

Congress organisers have confirmed that there will be no facility for orders by post this year.

With Royal Mail having postponed attending events and having looked at previous years it was felt there was not a significant demand for Jersey stamps.

Collectors who are interested in obtaining these stamps are advised to contact the relevant postal authorities who may be selling them via their bureaux.

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Post and Go News: ASPS Scottish Congress, Perth 21-22 April 2017

Once again the Association of Scottish Philatelic Societies meet up in Perth for the annual Congress, and this year there will be two Post and Go machines dispensing souvenirs.  The organisers have again made arrangements to supply collectors with Post and Go and other souvenirs. 

Press Release

Royal Mail will again be attending Congress with their Post and Go kiosks. This year they will be bringing along two kiosks, A012 and A014.

Kiosk A012 will print

• Thistle (from the Symbolic Flowers Set) and,
• Machin

Kiosk A014

• Thistle (from the Symbolic Flowers Set) and,
• Heraldic Lion

The cost of Collectors Strips at new postage rates is £8.04, while a strip of 6 x1st Class will be £3.90.  All will have the additional inscription:

88th Scottish Congress 2017

[Note that this is the first appearance of the Thistle on a single-design reel.  It is a new digital printing, and its introduction means a new stamp, albeit one that is not available without the Congress inscription, nor from any other source at this time.]

All items are charged at cost (see above) plus postage and packing as detailed below.

UK Customers:

• Up to 5 items £4
• Over 5 Items £8
• Special Delivery £10 Extra

Europe/International Customers:

• Up to 5 Items £20
• Over 5 Items £25

All overseas items will be sent using International Tracked and Signed. Tracking information will be sent to customers once despatched. Customers should note that once the item has left the UK ASPS cannot be held responsible for non-delivery. The Customer should then contact the postal authority of the relevant country.

Large Orders:

The association is happy (as a service to collectors) to provide these items to collectors at face value with a modest additional charge to cover postage and packing. Where the order (or multiple orders) exceeds £100, we regard these as ‘trade’ orders and will make an additional 10% handling charge to reflect the time and effort involved in fulfilling the order.

Ordering:

Please use the interactive pdf form on the ASPS Website www.scottishphilately.co.uk and either:

1. print the form and send it to Norman Kelso

28 Applehill Drive

Wellbank

Dundee

DD5 3UD

United Kingdom

or b) save the completed form and e-mail it to aspspostgo@yahoo.com

Payment:

Use Paypal account: aspspostgo@yahoo.com

There will be a surcharge of 4% on the total order for payments made by Paypal.

or Cheque in Sterling made payable to ‘ASPS’ and sent to the above address.

More information on the ASPS Congress can be viewed at www.scottishphilately.co.uk.

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Because the Thistle is a new stamp we will obtain supplies of the 1st class stamp purely for the record.  We will not be stocking the Machin or the Lion.

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Stamp, Postmark and Post & Go News update 27 April 2015

It's been another busy philatelic week while we've been away again.  Thanks to our readers for the following reports, linked to the original blog entry if relevant.  In most cases clicking on the picture will show an enlargement.

        Slogan Postmarks

Martin reported that these slogan postmarks would be in use last week:

1. Queen's Award on Monday 20 April, on iLSMs and IMPs.
(UPDATE:  John E writes: "slogan does not appear to have been used by IMPs on 20 April - only by iLSMs - despite the expectation it would be used on both.")

Adrian sent this example from Peterborough:

2. St George's Day on Wednesday 22 April, on IMPs only, and possibly only on mail addressed to English addresses.

I've seen no examples yet of the St George's Day postmark.
Thanks to John I can show these examples from Swansea and Preston.  John writes: "The slogan was used on 22 April by IMPs, only on mail to addresses in England - but this did include use by IMPs in Wales!", these using the English inscription.

The surprise is that this slogan was applied to 2nd class mail on 22nd, even though there would be no expectation of it being delivered on 23rd.  It would not have been surprising to have it used on 2nd class mail on 21st, and 1st class mail on 22nd.

3. Anthony Trollope from Thursday 23 April until 1 May, on iLSMs and IMPs
 
I received these in my own post, one type from Bristol Mail Centre and the other from Peterborough both on 23 April:

 

       Post and Go

Malcolm sent a photo of the Fleet Air Arm Museum Post and Go machine A003 which now correctly identifies the Museum (with it's harrier logo) on the screen.  No word yet on when the harrier will appear on the stamps.

The chaos of Post and Go at the 86th Scottish Philatelic Congress continued.  Several people reported the omission of the year on the Machin and Flag stamps produced to pre-order on the 'back-office' machine B001 in Bristol.  Jersey Post's machine also produced stamps without 2015.

In Perth, the stamps from machines A006 and A008 did show the year, but receipts from machine A008 initially showed this as the 85th Congress!  This was updated later on day 1.

After the debacle at Spring Stampex 2014 which included almost every conceivable type of error we were assured by Royal Mail that they would stress to the contractor the need for better quality control to ensure that such errors were fewer in future.  Of course operationally - to the extent that the stamps are used for postage - the errors do not matter to Royal Mail.  But RoyalMail are aware that the unintentional variations do reflect badly on them, with people suggesting that they are intentionally made to fleece collectors.  They are also aware of comments made by both collectors and dealers - and also recognise that with every such situation there are some collectors who decide not to continue with their Post and Go collections, so reducing revenue.

      Banbury Trials

John E was able to obtain some samples of the handstamps used in trials at Banbury as part of the revenue protection exercise on uncancelled mail.  As John wrote,"A shame that the 'Banbury Cross' will not be used generally!"

The three show Large Wavy Lines with Maltese Cross, same but smaller, and wavy lines with no cross.

      Machin definitives

John F reports another new printing date for the £1 M15L sheet stamp - 22/01/15.

This is in addition to the already reported 13/01/15 and 09/03/15.

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Post and Go at the Scottish Congress, Perth 17-18 April 2015

Once again Post and Go machines will be at the Scottish Congress in Perth.  The organisers have again made arrangements to supply collectors with Post and Go and other souvenirs.  I'll not be stocking these and you are advised to make your own arrangements to obtain them.

     Final u                  pdate - see foot of post    
     Absolutely final update - see foot of post    
     Final                   update - see foot of post    
   

Press Release

The Association of Scottish Philatelic Societies

The Annual Congress of the Association of Scottish Philatelic Societies will be held at Perth on 17-18 April 2015. Once again there will be new items of interest to collectors.

Royal Mail Post and Go kiosk numbers A003 and A006 will be used at Congress for both Machin and Union Flag stamps. Congress overprints will be available from both machines for the Collector’s Strip (£7.68), or strips of six of each of 1st Class (£3.78), Large (£5.70), Europe 20g (£6.00), and 60g (£9.12), World Wide 20g (£7.98) and 100g (£13.50).

Also available are two Post and Go Smiler sheets (Union Flag and Saltire Flag) whose designs are being finalised. The sheets will each cost £18.65 (A4).

All items are charged at cost plus postage and packing as detailed below.

UK		Europe		Rest of World
Up to 5 items	Over 5 items	Up to 5 items	Over 5 items	Up to 5 items	Over 5 items
£3	£6	£6	£8	£8	£12
Special Delivery up to value of £1000: £10 extra £2500: £15 extra		International signed for up to value of £500: £15 extra

Purchasers will be advised if the weight of their order exceeds the above costs and additional payment is required.

Special posting requests for all the above items will be costed and purchasers advised prior to sending the items.

Large Orders

The Association is happy (as a service to collectors) to provide these items to collectors at face value with a modest additional charge to cover postage and packing. Where the order (or multiple orders) exceeds £100, we regard these as ‘trade’ orders and will make an additional 10% handling charge to reflect the time and effort involved in fulfilling the order.

Guernsey Philatelic Bureau

Will be attending Congress with Post and Go Kiosk number GG01. This will print stamps with the Guernsey flag and with an overprint. Collectors Strip: £3.73

{Update 12 March 16:00}  Jersey Philatelic Bureau

Will be attending the 86th Scottish Congress with Post and Go Kiosk number JE01.  This will print stamps with either the Jersey flag or the Protected Species stamps. The flag stamps will carry the inscription 86th Scottish Congress 2015.

Collectors Strip (including 20% VAT):  £4.88

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Ordering

Paypal account: dundeephilatelic@btinternet.com. Paypal surcharge on all orders: 4% of total order.   Cheques/Postal Orders in sterling should be made payable to ‘ASPS’.

Orders for Post and Go stamps should be sent to:
Norman Kelso, 28 Applehill Drive, Wellbank, Dundee DD5 3UD, Scotland, UK or use the ASPS Website: www.scottishphilately.co.uk/orders.html

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Commemorative Cover 

The Falkirk and District Philatelic Society is celebrating its 50th birthday and hosting Congress. The Society has designed a commemorative cover which depicts Callendar House, located in Falkirk. The House is also featured on the special postmark being used at Congress.

Unserviced covers are available for 50p each. Serviced covers will be available for £1.50 each.

Postage and packing will be £1 (UK) or £2.50 (overseas) in addition per order.

For the covers, cheques should be payable to ‘Falkirk Philatelic Society' and mail orders may be sent to:Dr J M Anderson, ‘Taradon’, Wallacestone Brae, Wallacestone, Falkirk. FK2 0DH - ianma1999@hotmail.com

Please note that if you require a Post and Go stamp on a serviced cover you must specify this when ordering from the Society.

This item and more information on the ASPS Congress can be viewed at www.scottishphilately.co.uk

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Updated: Now, here's a thing.  When the Congress organisers first sent me information to publish - which I am quite happy to do - they had had 'official' information about the machines to be taken to Perth.  But machine A004 was included, rather than A006, and the UK prices quoted were then current prices, which would increase as usual by April 17th.  There was also a discrepancy with the content of the Guernsey machine which, as we know had different service indicators at Stampex to those originally publicised by Guernsey Post.

The organisers have not received a requested update from official sources, so the Press Release above is based on logic and a bit of 'digging'.  But further exploration of the IAR site has quite different information, which cannot be verified from official sources.

According to the Events page on that site, machines A003 and A006 will be in Perth, and so will JE01 dispensing Jersey Flag and Threatened Species.  And on the 'Kiosks' page, no future events are shown for GG01 of Guernsey Post.

Update: Via Twitter, Jersey have confirmed the revised information in the body of the post.  Guernsey have now replied that they will not have a machine in Perth.


  Last update  -  18 March 2015 / 09:55
Although not yet announced by Royal Mail, pre-order facilities are now available. I originally said that this would be for the B001 machine, although as the form indicated A003 and A006 I changed it. Now, I'm told that it pre-orders are for B001 only.   As you have to collect them at Perth, it seems sensible to ignore the uncertainty and buy them from the A machines.  But if you do want to get them from B001 you can do so via the IAR website here.
This covers Royal Mail stamps and Smilers Sheets but not the Jersey stamps. 

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SPS Annual Congress at Perth: Post and Go arrangements.

The following details have been provided by the organisers of the Scottish Philatelic Societies' Annual Congress in Perth.  Two innovations make things interesting and more complex.  Stamp dealers have been notified of arrangements for pre-ordering from Royal Mail, the stamps being printed on machine B001 and B002, and Jersey Post will attend for the first time but with their stamps will not have also carrying the Perth Congress caption.

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The Annual Congress of the Scottish Philatelic Societies at Perth on 11-12 April 2014 will again have new items of interest to collectors.   For the first time Jersey Philatelic Bureau will be attending Congress with Post and Go machine J001.  This will print stamps with the Jersey flag and with the Union flag – both with the Congress overprint. For those not attending Congress details of ordering Jersey Post materials will appear on www.jerseystamps.com and orders for Jersey materials must be sent to the Jersey Philatelic Bureau. (See below *)

Post and Go Machines numbers A003 and A004 will be used at Congress for both Machin and Union Flag stamps. Congress overprints will be available from both machines for strips of six of each of 1st class (£3.72), 1st Large (£5.58) Europe 20g (£5.82) and 60g (£8.82) and Worldwide 20g (£7.68) and 60g (£12.90). The Collector’s Strip is £7.42.

Similar stamps will be issued by back of office machines B001 and B002.

Also available are two Souvenir Smiler Sheets, one with the Union Flag and one with the Scottish Saltire flag, the latter having a Scottish Postal History and Perth Lamb image alongside each stamp. The background will feature the badges of the Scottish battalions that fought in Wold War I. Designs are being finalised. The sheets will each cost £10.20 (A5) and £18.65 (A4).

Unless otherwise requested, orders may be made up using stamps from machines B001 and B002.

All items are charged at cost plus postage and packing as detailed below.

POSTAGE and PACKING

UK		Europe		Rest of World
Up to 5 items	Over 5 items	Up to 5 items	Over 5 items	Up to 5 items	Over 5 items
£3	£6	£6	£8	£8	£12
Special Delivery up to value of £1000: £10 extra £2500: £15 extra		International signed for up to value of £500: £15 extra

Purchasers will be advised if the weight of their order exceeds the above costs and additional payment is required.

Special posting requests for all the above items will be costed and purchasers advised prior to sending the items.

Please note that orders (or total of multiple orders) exceeding £500 will be subject to a surcharge of 10% of the total cost.  Update 17 March 2014: ASPS have changed this today: orders over £100 now are subject to a surcharge of 10%.  The total cost of a £100-face order paid by PayPal is now over £121.

PayPal account: dundeephilatelic@btinternet.com

PayPal surcharge on all orders: 4% of total order

Cheques/Postal orders in sterling should be made payable to ‘ASPS’

Orders should be sent to

Colin G Campbell, 11 Denoon Terrace, Dundee DD2 2EL, Scotland, UK

or to dundeephilatelic@btinternet.com

Commemorative cover and postcard:

All requests regarding commemorative covers featuring Gleneagles Hotel and golf course and/or postcards, with badges of Scottish battalions that fought in Wold War I, should be made to Alan Wishart at at.wishart@btopenworld.com

These items and more information on the ASPS Congress can be viewed at www.scottishphilately.homestead.com

* UPDATE 12 March
Two points on Jersey: the stamps will not have the Perth Congress caption.  Jersey Post will only take orders for stamps from the B machine.  So the Congress organisers will now take orders for stamps from the J machine under these terms:

Costs (including VAT that is payable on Jersey stamps) are as follows. 
Postage and packing costs are the same as above.

Collectors Strip: £4.75

Cost of strips of 6 stamps

Local letter: : £3.24

UK Letter: £3.96

Europe: £4.32

Local Large: £4.92

UK Large: £6.36

International letter: £5.76

[Some errors have been corrected: Norvic Philatelics takes no responsibility for any not picked up!]

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So although Jersey Post has not yet installed one of these machines in a Post Office branch or any other location on the island, they are now going down the road of adding to collectables made especially for collectors.  Not a wise move and likely to deter collectors from buying their products (and those of Guernsey should they ever join the Post and Go club).

Although not stated, I presume the Jersey machine in Perth will be dispensing both Jersey and Union Flag stamps. Collectors will want at least the Union Flag and possibly the Jersey stamps from the J machine, which the organisers are not offering.  It remains to be seen whether Jersey Post is offering both those and the B machine stamps: their website is so far silent on the matter.

What was originally a Royal Mail souvenir for collectors visiting the event was always going to be a problem when the organisers made arrangements to supply collectors (something I asked for as I didn't want to be inundated with requests to get these stamps - Perth is not 'nearby' after all!).

With UK and continental dealers requiring hundreds or thousands of sets in diffierent combinations the organisers will have had a problem dealing with the orders and have (correctly in my view) decided to capitalise on this demand by ensuring that their servicing fees more than cover simply the face value and cost of postage.

Pre-order machine.  When the stamp trade was told about the pre-ordering facility it was to be for local payment and collection at the show only (which was fairly pointless as if I we couldn't get to the show to get the stamps from the machines, we couldn't get them from the pre-order facility either!).

It makes sense, of course, for the Congress organisers to take advantage of this to fill as many orders as possible with pre-printed stamps rather than stamps dispensed from the machines actually at Perth.  But if Stampex is anything to go by, collectors (and therefore dealers) will want stamps from both the B machine/s and the A machines.

It remains to be seen whether the organisers are busier because colletors want both or less busy because they want none!

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Post and Go Roadshow 2014

UPDATED 2 January 2014 in new post.  This post closed for comments.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

According to Brian on postagelabelsuk, Royal Mail announced during Autumn Stampex their intention to take the ‘Post and Go Roadshow’ to another international stamp exhibition ‘ PhilaKorea ‘ in 2014.

The international show, sponsored by Korea Post, takes place August 7th - 12th 2014. (6 Days) in the ‘COEX Hall’, Seoul.

A similar set-up to that used in Australia in 2013 is expected, along with a suitable overprint (including ’KR’ origin code).  Mirroring the 2013 Australian Stamp Expo, it is expected that ‘GB’ versions of the Post and Go stamps will be available from the Philatelic Bureau.

Well unless Tallents House make available faststamps with the KR code as well as the GB code I suspect there will be quite a shortage of the former.   Getting the Australian ones was relatively easy.  Getting them from Korea will be much more difficult.  I would suggest that collectors start finding pen/e-friends in Korea now!

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UPDATE 6 OCTOBER

Royal Mail have announced the following plan for the contents of Post and Go machines. Note that at Stampex the new stamps will now be issued on Day 1 (Wednesday) instead of Friday.  The plan is subject to change with additional shows, or changes to the contents of machines.

Stafford 8 - 9 November2013
A3 A Robin / A3 B Machin - A4 A Rivers / A4 B Robin on both days

2014
York 17 - 18 January
Reel A Flag, Reel B Machin in both A3 and A4 machines on both days

Spring Stampex 19-22 February
Machines A2 and A3 - Reel A Spring Blooms, Reel B Machin with additional inscription, 4 days
Machine A4 - Reel A Union Flag; Reel B Machin with additional inscription, 4 days
Machine B1 - Spring Blooms on both reels, all 4 days
Machine B2 - Machin with additional inscription on both reels, all 4 days

Sailsbury 14-15 March
A2 and A3 Reel A Spring Blooms, Reel B Machin (no added inscription) on both days

Perth - 85th Scottish Congress
11 - 12 April -  A2 and A3 Reel A Union Flag, Reel B Machin on both days
Added inscription on both stamps for the 85th Scottish Congress

York 18 - 19 July
A2 and A3:   Reel A Flag, Reel B Machin on both days

Philakorea Seoul 7 - 12 August
A2 and A3:   Reel A Flag, Reel B Machin on all days, with Philakorea 2014 inscription on both stamps.  GB versions of both will be available from Tallents House.

Autumn Stampex
Machines A2 and A3 - Reel A Symbolic Flowers, Reel B Flag with additional inscription ≠
Machine A4 - Reel A Flag with additional inscription ≠, Reel B Machin without.
Machine B1 - Symbolic Flowers on both reels
                All the above apply on all 4 days (but see ≠)

Machine B2 - Reel A Flag; Reel B Machin with additional inscription on day 1
Flag with additional inscription on both reels on days 2-4

≠ The information provided shows no additional inscription on day 1 on A2 reel B, A4 reel A - in other words, the Flag from A2B and from A4A will be without additional inscription.  However, as the table we have taken this data from shows the Machin with additional inscription is only available from machine B2/B on day 1, ie the Back Office machine on the Royal Mail stand and not the public-access machines, I'm not at all sure that this is accurate!

Stafford - 7 - 8 November (see comments: official issue date for Winter is 13 November)
A2 Reel A Winter Greenery, Reel B Machin on both days
A3 Reel A Symbolic Flowers, Reel B Winter Greenery on both days

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