Slogan postmarks for August? Maybe - and other interesting postmarks and news

We are a 18 days through August but so far I have had no reports of new slogans.  Mind you, with the low amount of stamped mail anyone receives these days - apart from dealers and other collectors - it's hardly surprising that we have had no reports yet, not even for the default British Heart Foundation (BHF) slogan.

Mind you, the BHF slogan may not continue for much longer.  John F reports seeing this on Royal Mail's website: 

Royal Mail are working in partnership with the charity Missing People to raise awareness of their support services for anyone who may be thinking about disappearing, anyone already away from home, or friends and family with a missing loved one.

Update: John has advised that this partnership has been running for a number of years - although I've never seen any evidence of 'raising awareness' - so it is unlikely that it will replace the BHF slogan.

On which subject I received two today, sadly on the same envelope from Sheffield Mail Centre. Margaret also sent one from Home Counties North, date unclear.

British Heart Foundation slogan Sheffield Mail Centre 17 August 2026

British Heart Foundation slogan Home Counties North ?? August 2026

UPDATE 20 August. I am pleased to say that SS in Canada has now returned from holiday and has sent a couple of items for inclusion here.  Out of 11 UK packages only three were postmarked and on one the stamps were pen-cancelled. The other 7 had nothing!  Anyway, here is a much clearer BHF slogan from Birmingham Mail Centre on 11/08/2026.

British Heart Foundation slogan Birmingham Mail Centre 11 August 2026

As a reminder of an occasional non-slogan ink-jet postmark, JohnH has sent this one from North & West Yorkshire showing a situation when the machine settings do not produce a slogan, only a summary.

Non-slogan inkjet postmark from North & West Yorkshire, 18/08/2026

 

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Other postmarks and postal markings

At the time of writing I haven't found anything to show here, but in the absence of anything new I shall probably delve into history!

Another one from SS in Canada, who received this package from Wotton Under Edge in Gloucestershire.  Nice use of the top three values of the datamatrix Machin stamps and 3 x 20p for the £8.60 up to 100 g rate International Tracked and Signed. 

Wotton Under Edge self-inking datestamp 27 July 2026

The post office is in the Co-operative supermarket in Long Street (Google Streetview 2025)

A dull day in Wotton Under Edge, outside the post office, July 2025.

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Remember, slogan postmarks appearing in August will be added to this post so check here before you spend time scanning and emailing.

A reminder of what these monthly listings are for.

For each month I record the different slogans in use, plus the default slogan that is used when there is nothing else.

For each of these I try to record only one of each of the basic two types, plus any that are reversed on square envelopes, which normally only gives three or four.  

Occasionally a slogan appears with different line spacing in the same format.

I do not record multiple versions of the same as any of these unless I later get a much better example of one that I showed purely for the record, but which is otherwise not very clear.

The only exception to this, which doesn't seem to happen much these days, is when a slogan is used well out of time.  

I mention this only to avoid readers unnecessarily duplicating what has already been provided.

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King Charles III definitives - new printings 2026

Printings of the King Charles definitives with 2023-2025 source codes are recorded in this post. 

This post is for M26L stamps and non-PSB stamps issued in 2026 with M25L codes are also included.

As with Post and Go & SSKs,  I have decided to have one post which will list all the news for the year, and then start another for next year.

Reprinted 2026 counter sheets 

2nd class green -
1st class deep purple -

 1p blue
 2p deep green
 5p dull violet-blue
10p turquoise-green
20p bright green
50p slate
£1  grey-brown
£2  new blue
£3.60 purple heather - printed 13 January 2026
£3.80 Aqua green - printed 14 January 2026
£4.60 Sapphire blue - printed 15 January 2026
£5  emerald

Reprinted booklets and business sheets with new Relay UK telephone number 

2nd class MEIL from booklet of 8 - M25L philatelic release 20 March 2026
                                                       - M26L reported by JH as found soon after M25L released.
                                                         They have the same barcode date (120126)** 
1st class MFIL from booklet of 4 - M26L philatelic release 20 March 2026
1st class MEIL from booklet of 8
1st Large MFIL from booklet of 4 - M26L philatelic release 20 March 2026

2nd class MBIL business sheet - M26L philatelic release 20 March 2026
1st class MBIL business sheet - M25L philatelic release 20 March 2026
                                                  - M26L reported by JH 18 July 2026
2nd Large MBIL business sheet
1st Large MBIL business sheet - M26L philatelic release 20 March 2026

From Prestige Stamp Books - all self-adhesive, with source code MPIL

2nd class -
1st class -

1p -
2p -
5p -
10p -
20p -
50p - 21.4.2026 - Queen Elizabeth Centenary [M26L]
£1 - 21.4.2026 - Queen Elizabeth Centenary [M26L]

 

Other values

** 2nd MEIL M26L reported 21 April.  As they have the same barcode date it suggests that only the iridescent ink cylinder was changed.  

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1st class up 10p, 2nd class up 4p in half-yearly rates changes on 7 April 2026, new stamps 26 March.

Royal Mail has announces new tariffs effective from 7 April 2026, new stamps on 26 March 2026.

"From 7 April 2026 the price of Second Class stamps will increase by 4p to 91p and the price of First Class stamps will be £1.80, an increase of 10p.

"The new price of a Second Class stamp remains 65p below the European average price of £1.56 and a First Class stamp is 13p below the European average of £1.93. Under the Universal Service in France, Germany and Spain customers only have the option of paying for a three-day service. France charges £1.92 for a Second Class stamp, 12p more than a First Class, next day, service in the UK.

"The stamp price rises reflect the continued rise in cost of delivery for every letter as letter volumes decline and the number of addresses increases. The average household now receives only four letters per week, down from 14 at their peak over 20 years ago, while the number of addresses has risen by four million.

"Richard Travers, Managing Director of Letters at Royal Mail said: “We always consider price changes very carefully, balancing affordability with the rising cost of delivering mail. On average, UK adults now spend just £6.50 each year on stamps and there are 70% fewer letters sent than 20 years ago. In the meantime, the number of addresses we deliver to has increased by four million to 32 million addresses across the UK.”

(Press release)

New tariff analysis 

(New prices in bold, reduced in red, unchanged in italics.)

	1st		2nd
Letter	1.80	1.70	0.91	0.87
Large Letter – 100g	3.30	3.15	1.55	1.55
- 250g	3.60	3.60	1.90	2.00
- 500g	3.60	3.60	2.40	2.40
- 750g	3.60	3.60	2.70	2.70
Small Parcel 2kg	5.45	5.09	4.25	3.99
Medium Parcel 2kg	8.05	7.45	6.95	6.49
- 10kg	10.05	9.35	8.75	8.19
- 20kg	15.45	14.25	13.15	12.25

Signed For prices for 1st class Letters rise by 20p, and Large Letters by 10-25p; 2nd class letter is up by 14p, Large Letters by 10p. Parcels show rises across the board. 

Tracked 24/48 prices show small rises with basic Large Letter (up to 1lg) prices increased by 10p to £3.95 (24) and by 35p to £3.30 (48).  Parcels show 5-7% rises.

Special Delivery up to 100g rise 7.5% from £9.25 to £9.95, up to 500g from 6.8% from £10.25 to £10.85.  The 9 a.m. option increases are lower this year from £49.95 to £53.95 for the basic 100g weight! 

International rates.  The basic worldwide letter and postcard rate rises by 20p again from £3.40 to £3.60 (5.8%) airmail and from £3.30 to £3.50 for Economy (surface).

The price for airmail Large Letters up to 100g increases by 30p to all zones (so from £3.50 to £3.80 for Europe, £4.30 to £4.60 worldwide); other weight bands rise by around 6%.

International premium services

The price for 100g International Tracked to Europe increases from £9.75 to £9.95. Outside Europe the rises vary from 10% in Zones 1 & 2 to only 5% for Zone 3 (USA – possibly compensating for both reduced volume, and the administration fee for processing US Tariffs).

I haven't had time to do a comprehensive comparison, especially of rates which are less used like Tracked Small Parcels, but one that stands out is the World Zone 1. Whilst Zone 2 rates stay the same at all weights, Zone 3 (USA) increases by about 6% (with a note that this is subject to change!), Zone 1 (which is the whole world except the USA, Europe and Oceania) shows some increases by a massive 25% (which means for 250g from £16.00 to £19.90), and for 2kg 16% from £31.70 to £36.90.

There are smaller rises for the now 'Documents only' International Tracked and Signed where the compensation has been reduced from £50 to £20 to match the standard airmail.

New Stamps from 26 March 2026 (updated in blue)

There will be three new stamps, for the 100g letter rates, costing a nice round £12 for the set (DS2400).

DS2400A £3.60 Purple Heather for letter rates  - Printed 13/01/26
DS2400B £3.80 Aqua Green for Large letter to Europe - Printed 14/01/26
DS2400C £4.60 Sapphire Blue for Large letter to the rest of the world - Printed 15/01/26

Pre-issue publicity images of airmail stamps to be issued 27 March 2026.

The stamps are printed in press sheets of 8 panes; I have Col 1 Row 4 of the £3.60, Col 2 Row 2 of the £3.80 and of the £4.60.  The coding is, as it should be, MAIL M26L.

Royal Mail customers with a regular order for definitive stamp sets will receive this set as part of their ongoing subscription.  There will also be an official first day cover and single-stamp presentation pack. 

Other charges

The cost of a PO Box will be increased by 12% to £416.40. Twelve months' redirection, which was 100x the 2nd class rate at £87 is increased to £95.

Context for older stamps

I've been looking at some older Post and Go sets.  A Collector's set of Poppies bought in only 2018 cost £8.18.  The postage value at the new rates will be almost two-and-a-half times that at £19.50!

 

 

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Is this a new label, or a very old one?

I've been using a stock of old premium services barcoded labels for many years now, some go faster than the others.  International Tracked is probably slowest of all!

My question is prompted by the latest image sent to me by our Canadian correspondent which has a different label.

All my stock has a solid colour border - green for International Tracked & Signed, orange for International Tracked, dark blue for International Signed For, etc.

The one on SS's cover has no coloured border, and the legend at the foot is all text and no graphics - but the barcode number is earlier alphabetically - RF 5821.... rather than my RN 20297 ....

At a guess I would say that this is an earlier one, rather than more recent and - because it was posted in the Southampton area and postmarked by the Mail Centre rather than a post office branch - I would say this might be from big dealer Rushstamps.

I've not seen one of these before - anyone else?

UPDATE 23 October Thanks to Tom (see comments) the source of these has been identified.

The label on the cover is identified on Royal Mail's Track & Trace webpages as a 'business label' - presumably supplied to business account customers on request.  Here are some screenshots from that page.  I still don't remember seeing any of these so I suspect not many businesses (or not many philatelic businesses) use them.

It is interesting that the more detailed ones are for post office branches, because the graphic instructions at the foot describe what is done at delivery.

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Postage Value of Older Stamps including Post and Go - October 2025 version.

This post brings previous tables up to date with the postage rates effective from 6 October 2025.

The tables are included primarily to explain the stamps used on cover, because they show that, for example, a stamp originally issued as a 30p Europe 20g stamp would later be valid for 100g and with a value of £1 in 2015 and £2.20 in 2023!

Remember that the International Rate stamps were all valid at the rates shown for inland postage, just as the 2nd, 1st, Large, Signed For, and Special Delivery stamps were all valid for inland services in addition to those shown and on international mail.

Now, of course, the old Machin and Country definitives without barcodes are no longer valid but the Post and Go stamps are as are the commemorative stamps, so the tables are still relevant for new use as well as for for Postal History purposes.

The E stamp was issued from January 1999-2004, and paid the Europe 20g rate.  This was 30p when issued and the cost but also the franking value increased periodically:

October 1999 (34p), April 2000 (36p), July 2001 (37p), May 2003 (38p), April 2004 (40p), April 2005 (42p), April 2006 (44p), April 2007 (48p).

Airmail Rates Table

	Europe 20g / E‡	World 10g	World 20g	World 40g
April 2009	56p	62p	90p	-
April 2010	70p	67p	97p	£1.46
April 2011	68p	76p	£1.10	£1.65
April 2012	87p		£1.28	£1.90
April 2013	88p		£1.28	£1.88
	E20/ W10	Europe 60g	World 20g	World 60g
April 2014	97p	£1.47	£1.28	£2.15
	E20/ W10	Europe 100g	World 20g	World 100g
April 2015	£1	£1.52	£1.33	£2.25
April 2016	£1.05	£1.52	£1.33	£2.25
April 2017	£1.17	£1.57	£1.40	£2.27
April 2018	£1.25	£1.55	£1.45	£2.25
April 2019	£1.35	£1.60	£1.55	£2.30
April 2020	£1.42	£1.68	£1.63	£2.42

	E20/ W10	Europe 100g	World 20g	World 100g	Europe Large 100g	World Large 100g
Sept 2020	£1.45	£1.70*	£1.70*	§	no NVI	no NVI
1 Jan 2021	£1.70	£1.70	£1.70	£2.55	£3.25	£4.20
4 Apr 2022	£1.85	£1.85	£1.85	£2.55	£3.25	£4.20
3 Apr 2023	£2.20				£3.25	£4.20
2 Apr 2024	£2.50				£3.25	£4.20
7 Oct 2024	£2.80				£3.25	£4.20
7 Apr 2025	£3.20				£3.50	£4.30
6 Oct 2025	£3.40				£3.50	£4.30

All definitive and country NVI stamps without barcodes were invalidated on 31 July 2023;
Christmas and Commemorative stamps remain valid.

'E'- denominated stamp - still valid at a value of £3.40

 

Europe 20g/Worldwide 10g Post and Go stamp now valid worldwide for 100 g.

* With effect from 1 September 2020 a combined Euro 100g/World 20g Post & Go stamp was issued, priced at £1.70.
§ On the same date the World 100g stamp was replaced by two stamps: World 100g Zone 1-3 is sold for £2.50, and World 100g Zone 2 is £2.55.
 
On 1 January 2021 the pricing for all world zones was standardised, although that for large letters over 100g varied.   The Post and Go range was then consolidated to include airmail Large Letter stamps. 

Inland premium services

Note that some of the rates were in effect before the stamps were issued, and some new stamps were issued at old rates before tariff increases.

Stamps Issued ±    or Rates Effective	1st Signed For 100g	1st Large Signed For 100g	100g Special Delivery	500g Special Delivery
17 November 2009 ±	£1.14	£1.36	-	-
6 April 2010	£1.15	£1.40	-	-
26 October 2010 ±			£5.05	£5.50
20 April 2011	£1.23	£1.52	£5.45	£5.90
30 April 2012	£1.55	£1.85	£5.90	£6.35
2 April 2013 §	£1.70	£2.00	£6.22	£6.95
31 March 2014	£1.72	£2.03	£6.40	£7.15
30 March 2015	£1.73	£2.05	£6.45	£7.25
29 March 2016	£1.74	£2.06
27 March 2017	£1.75	£2.08
26 March 2018	£1.77	£2.11	£6.50	£7.30
25 March 2019	£1.90	£2.26	£6.60	£7.40
23 March 2020	£2.06	£2.45	£6.70	£7.50
1 January 2021	£2.25	£2.69	£6.85	£7.65
4 April 2022	£2.35	£2.85
3 April 2023	£2.60	£3.10

Special Delivery and Signed For stamps were invalidated on 31 July 2023.

 § Royal Mail Signed For stamps were issued 27 March 2013, replacing Recorded Signed For, but were sold at old rates until 2 April. 

 

** Compensation for Signed For was reduced from £50 to £20 on this date, and compensation for Special Delivery was increased from £50 to £750.

  

Inland basic letter rates

Comprehensive tables of postage rates have been published by the Great Britain Philatelic Society and are freely available.  These and the rest of a hugely comprehensive website have been put together using members' subscriptions, so if you agree it is worth paying to join.

 

 

Please let me know by email if you spot any errors or omissions in this blog post.  

(Now edited to remove details of values of some NVIs in 2024.)

 

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All stamps are - or were - all valid for all services, inland and international.

A recent comment on the previous post asserted that it was not possible to use 2 x 1st class (£1.70) stamps to pay the international postcard or letter rate as the non-denominated (NVI) stamps were only to be used for the service mentioned.

This is totally incorrect as the following examples will demonstrate.  Of course many of these are old-style Machins but the same applies now to stamps and Post and Go stamps.

International Mail

£1.57, 5p and 1st class paying correct rate to Australia

World 20g, World 60g, Europe 20g and Machins airmail to Australia

Denominqted and 2 x 1st class to France

 

Postage on this expensive package to the USA includes a 1st class stamp

From a reader in Canada for the postmarks posts, the postage here is made of 4 recent 1st class stamps, an old 2nd class plus 50p

 

Likewise this one does precisely what was suggested in the other post, using very old 2 x 1st class stamps to (over-)pay the current £3.20 rate

Recent packet to Belarus used 1st class Large datamatrix Machin and denominated stamps

   

I don't have examples of  airmail stamps used inland, nor special delivery used on medium parcels sent by ordinary mail, but they do exist.  They are a way to get these higher value stamps fine used for collections.

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Parcel and tracked prices to increase again from October 2025.

Parent company International Distribution Services (IDS) announcing a return to profit for Royal Mail for the year ending 31 March 2025,  and maybe as a result of this there are no changes to basic letter prices for the second half of this year.

Royal Mail significantly improved its financial and operational performance, returning to an adjusted operating profit (excluding voluntary redundancy costs) of £12 million for the first time in three years, following significant losses in 2022-23 and 2023-24. This is in line with guidance and was achieved despite an increasingly competitive and challenging trading environment.

Not included in the announcement, nor anywhere else in the IDS Media Centre pages, but included on the Royal Mail website is a new 'Our Prices' leaflet (pdf) effective from 6 October 2025.  

No change to inland letter prices

The headline news for most of us is that basic Letter and Large Letter prices remain unchanged for both 2nd and 1st class.  Prices for Small Parcels show very modest increases of 10p and 9p for 1st and 2nd class, whilst Medium Parcels rise by 4% or under.  (New prices in bold, unchanged in italics.)

	1st		2nd
Letter	1.70	1.70	0.87	0.87
Large Letter – 100g	3.15	3.15	1.55	1.55
- 250g	3.60	3.60	2.00	2.00
- 500g	3.60	3.60	2.40	2.40
- 750g	3.60	3.60	2.70	2.70
Small Parcel 2kg	5.09	4.99	3.99*	3.90
Medium Parcel 2kg	7.45	6.99	6.49	6.29
- 10kg	9.35	8.99	8.19	7.89
- 20kg	14.25	13.69	12.25	11.89

Signed For prices for Letters and Large Letters remain similarly unchanged whilst parcels show small rises.  (* Thanks to everybody who pointed out the error; the fact that it wasn't in italics showed that there was a change, I just didn't finish editing it.)

Tracked 24/48 prices show small rises across the board with a basic Large Letter (up to 750g) prices increased by 15p, to £3.80 (24) and £2.95 (48), with the same increases for the Signature option.  Parcels show small rises.

Special Delivery up to 100g rise 5.7% from £8.75 to £9.25, up to 500g from 4% from £9.85 to £10.25.  Those who choose the 9 a.m. option see 28% increase from £38.95 to £49.95 for the basic 100g weight! 

International rates.  The basic worldwide letter and postcard rate rises from £3.20 to £3.40 (6.25%) airmail and from £3.10 to £3.30 for Economy (surface). Prices for airmail Large Letters and Parcels for all Zones remain unchanged, while Economy rates over 250g increase.    Economy Small Parcels rise by from 17% to over 30%.

The good news is that prices for all premium services (International Signed, International Tracked, and International Tracked and Signed) remain unchanged. 

New stamp

This means that there will be a new £3.40 stamp.  More details when we have them from Royal Mail - readers say that the stamp will be issued on 30 September, from their standing order advice notes.

UPDATE 8 September:

A new £3.40 definitive stamp, representing the new international postage rate for letters up to
100g, will be introduced by Royal Mail on 30 September 2025. The £3.40 stamp is printed in Dark
Green. The King’s effigy appears alongside a 2D barcode printed in matching colour alongside the
main body of the stamp, separated by a simulated perforation line.

King Charles III £3.40 definitive in dark green, to be issued 30 September 2025.

Royal Mail customers with a regular order for definitive stamp sets will receive this set as part of their
ongoing subscription.  There will also be an official first day cover and single-stamp presentation pack.

RM Product code DS2200 Dark Green: up to 100g all Europe & World Zones 

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King Charles III definitives - new printings 2024 and 2025

When Her Majesty Queen Elzabeth died I decided that I would not produce a similar volume to the Machin Security Checklist, for the stamps of King Charles III.

However, it seems remiss not to record new printings of the King Charles definitives on the blog, so as with Post and Go & SSKs,  I have decided to have one post which will list all the news for the year, and then probably start another for next year.

The original stamps (2023)

No source code, from counter sheets 4 April 2023
2nd class green
1st class deep violet
2nd Large grey-green
1st Large greenish blue 

With source code - business sheets (B)§ and booklets of 8 (E) or 4 (F) issued 4 April 2023

2nd class green - MEIL and MBIL
1st class deep violet MEIL MFIL and MBIL
2nd Large grey-green MEIL and MBIL
1st Large greenish blue MFIL 

§ Business sheets were not available on the same date as the other products but those that had been printed were available during April 2023.  The 1st Large business sheet was not printed in 2023.

Reprinted 2024 counter sheets

2nd class green - printed in January, March and November 2024
1st class deep violet - printed in January and March 2024
2nd Large grey-green - printed in March 2024 and November 2024 (thanks JF)
1st Large greenish blue - printed in March 2024

Reprinted booklets and business sheets

2nd class green - Booklet MEIL found in May 2024
1st class deep violet - Booklet MEIL found in October 2024

2nd class green - Business Sheet MBIL found in March 2024
1st class deep violet - Business Sheet MBIL found in October 2024

With new font on covers

, first day of availability 30 January 2025 but with M24L year code, so the stamps are the same; but for those who collect booklets and business sheet headers these are new.

2nd class green - MEIL and MBIL
1st class deep violet - MEIL and MBIL

Reprinted 2025 counter sheets - some illustrations below

20p bright green - printed 12 March 2025
2nd class green - printed 16 April 2025
1st class deep purple - printed 15 April 2025

No source code, from counter sheets (29.8.2023)
 1p blue
 2p deep green
 5p dull violet-blue
10p turquoise-green
20p bright green
50p slate
£1  grey-brown
£2  new blue
£5  emerald

Airmail values - counter sheets
£2.20 dark green (4.4.23)
£2.50 olive green (4.4.24)
£2.80 slate blue (7.10.24)
£3.20 spruce green (27.3.25)
£3.50 wood brown (27.3.25)
£4.30 bright blue (27.3.25)

Reprinted booklets and business sheets with new crown & font. - some illustrations below

2nd class green MEIL from booklet of 8 (June 2025)
1st class purple MFIL from booklet of 4  (June/July 2025) (see below)
1st class purple MEIL from booklet of 8  (August 2025)

2nd class green MBIL business sheet (May/June 2025) 
1st class purple MBIL business sheet (date unknown)
2nd Large MBIL business sheet (found Nov 2025 recently used with no postmark)
1st Large MBIL business sheet (found Nov 2025 and first reported here in December). 

From Prestige Stamp Books - all years, all self-adhesive, with source code MPIL

2nd class - 21.9.23 - Shirley Bassey PSB [M23L],
12.6.2025 - Royal Observatory PSB [M25L]
1st class - 21.9.23 - Shirley Bassey PSB [M23L]
18.2.2025 - AC/DC PSB [M24L]

1p
27.11.2025 - Queen Victoria PSB [M25L]
2p
25.7.2024 - Dungeons & Dragons PSB [M24L]
5p
18.2.2025 - AC/DC PSB [M24L]
10p
21.9.23 - Shirley Bassey PSB, 11.1.24 - Spice Girls PSB [M23L]
20p
19.10.23 - Harry Potter PSB, 11.1.24 - Spice Girls PSB [M23L]
1.5.2025 - Valour & Victory PSB [M25L]
50p
19.10.23 - Harry Potter PSB [M23L],
25.7.2024 - Dungeons & Dragons PSB, 30.11.2024 - Churchill PSB, 30.1.25 - Royal Armouries PSB, 18.2.2025 - AC/DC PSB [M24L]
1.5.2025 - Valour & Victory PSB [M25L], 12.6.2025 - Royal Observatory PSB [M25L] 13.1.2026 - Stranger Things PSB [M25L]
£1
11.1.24 - Spice Girls PSB,  [M23L] 
25.7.2024 - Dungeons & Dragons PSB, 30.11.2024 - Churchill PSB, 30.1.25 - Royal Armouries PSB; 18.2.2025 - AC/DC PSB    [M24L]
1.5.2025  -Valour & Victory PSB [M25L], 13.1.2026 - Stranger Things PSB [M25L]
£2
11.1.24 - Spice Girls PSB, 20.6.2024 - Red Arrows PSB, 17.10.2024 - The Who PSB [M24L]

Other values
£2.20 dark green - 19.10.23 - Harry Potter PSB [M23L]
£3.40 dark green - 27.11.25 - Queen Victoria PSB [M25L]

ILLUSTRATIONS

20p counter sheet

Counter sheet 20p M25L MAIL printed 12/03/25

2nd and 1st class counter sheets.

2nd class counter sheet M25L printed 16/04/2025

1st class counter sheet M25L printed 15/04/2025

2nd class business sheet discovered June 2025

2nd class business sheet M25L MBIL

1st class booklet of 4 discovered July 2025 - this has the new font and crown on the cover meaning it is a visible change but has not yet been distributed by Royal Mail as a new issue.  

Update: it seems that Post Office Ltd needed more stock, and called it off from the printer earlier than Royal Mail's planned distribution later in the summer.  As they have been made available it is likely that Stamps & Collectibles will get them to the trade and to collectors with standing orders, sooner than expected.

1st class booklet of 4 M25L MFIL - new cover.

1st class booklet of 4 M25L MFIL - new cover.

1st class business sheet M25L MBIL

Ist class business sheet M25L MBIL - thanks HH

 Variations in marginal markings

Although I don't stock these I had occasion to obtain some examples of each of the printings which is still available. I haven't previously recorded here that the size of the marginal printing varies, and whilst the original printings had the black printing 'flat' as in the case of the stamp itself, some later printings have 'glossy' dates, with the same appearance as the datamatrix code.  It's not unreasonable to suggest that, as the black marginal printing must come from a different cylinder to the stamp (by reason of colour), it could quite easily be applied by the same unit as the code, hence the glossiness.

Different printings of the 1st class King Charles definitive showing varied sizes of marginal printing.

 

 

 

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Updated 31 March 2026

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