Royal Mail Wish You Were Here on the Dark Side with an Endless River of Stamp Issues

Royal Mail's First Big Secret this year is that the 'Music Greats' issue to be issued on 7 July is dedicated to Pink Floyd, as some people suggested earlier in the year.

The really tenuous reason for this block-buster, designed to make money from Floyd Fans, is that "2016 marks 50 years since Pink Floyd turned professional and became the ‘house band’ of the London Underground movement of music and arts."

UPDATE: From Royal Mail's Press Release:

The stamps will be available to purchase in 8,000 Post Offices from 7 July 2016

Which means that there are 3,000 Post Offices where collectors and fans will NOT be able to buy these stamps.

A set of 6 stamps and a miniature sheet are the products that stamp collectors are expected to buy.  The set includes 3 @ 1st class and 3 @ £1.52

The Piper at The Gates of Dawn, Atom Heart Mother, The Dark Side of the Moon.

Animals, Wish You Were Here, The Endless River.

The Miniature Sheet celebrates the live performances of Pink Floyd’s stage shows, with 2 @ 1st class and 2 @ £1.52:

The UFO Club 1966, The Dark Side of the Moon Tour 1973, The Wall Tour 1981, The Division Bell Tour 1994.

For Floyd Fans there are also 10,000 Dark Side of the Moon Maxisheets (priced at £12.95 and reminiscent of the sheet issued in the summer of 2010), a 'Syd Barrett Souvenir Cover' (edition of 3000 priced at £24.99), and some framed products with a top price of £79.99).  Floyd Fans will probably remember - stamp collectors certainly will - the Division Bell Sheet issued in March 2010*.

* This is the 2010 sheet, which followed the Classic Album Covers stamps issued January 2010.  This is available in our webshop.

As I recall, distribution of these ways delayed past the official date of issue.  Let's hope Royal Mail gets its Tallents House in order before July so that Floyd Fans are not kept waiting for the new stamps.

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Problems - and price rises - caused by pre-printed albums.

I can understand the appeal of pre-printed one-country albums with pictures of all the stamps, and mounts to hold the unmounted mint stamps.  But I've never really liked the idea since I won a Sweden album in a Swedish Post Office competition, and found that there were pages for all the complete booklets as well as all the single stamps and pairs from those booklets.

That meant I had two buy two booklets to be 'complete'.  But I only collected used, so there was little chance of getting a complete booklet unless I bought it cancelled-to-order from their philatelic bureau.

A complete run of stamps in a pre-printed album looks really good, and the pre-installed mounts do save a great deal of time - but at quite a cost.  For some countries the pages for extra years cost more than the stamps they will hold.  And the range of the collection is dictated by the album publisher, sometimes also a catalogue publisher.

If the album has spaces for booklet panes as well as the single stamps, then you need two copies.  To avoid being caught out you have to develop the skill to guess what the publisher will and will not include, because the new year pages are often published in late spring, which will be after some of its contents have gone off-sale at the philatelic bureau.

I was reminded of this by two recent tips in the US Linn's Stamp News, in a column which alerts readers to fast-moving stamps.  More often highlighting moves in US stamps the last two issues have mentioned the UK's 2009 Charles Darwin and 2010 Classic Album Covers issues, specifically the stamps with conventional gum from, the prestige stamp books.  Because the 'over-the-counter' stamps were self-adhesive in both cases, the ones with 'water-activated' gum warrant separate catalogue listings, not just as complete booklets but as individual stamps and panes.

In Stanley Gibbons' Concise catalogue for 2011 (published after the Album Covers had been taken off sale) these 10 are priced at a massive £24 - just 15 months after they were issued with an original face value of £3.90.  Similarly the 2009 Darwin set (face value £3.43) is listed at £26 mint and used.

With increasing face values and number of issues, dealers are not holding large stocks of recent issues, and this - coupled with increased demand from owners of the latest album supplement - leads to increased prices.  So be alert: anticipate what will be in the supplement while the stamps are still available.  There are some that you just won't be able to get cheaper than original face value!  You won't find them in discount postage boxes.

Charity FDC Auctions now live

Coming on Friday November 19th - the BBC marathon event that is 

Children in Need

All these covers are from the January 2010 'Classic Album Covers' stamp set, which was our biggest seller of all time.  

First up, BBC Radio 1 DJ, Annie Nightingale!  Glastonbury postmark.  

Bid now on eBay - click here

Next, Terry Pastor, who designed the David Bowie 'Ziggy Stardust' album sleeve

Bid now on eBay - click here

Third well-known cook and majority shareholder of Norwich City Football Club, Delia Smith - who designed baked the cake pictured on the cover of the Rolling Stones "Let it Bleed" sleeve.  The whole-set cover has the Glastonbury postmark...

Bid now on eBay - click here

.... and the single Let it Bleed cover has the Rolling Stones 'Olympic Studios' postmark:

All these covers will be auction on eBay with proceeds from the sale of the first covers going to Children in Need.

Fundraising for Children in Need and Cancer Charities

Coming on Friday November 19th - the BBC marathon event that is 

Children in Need

 

Royal Mail is doing it's part with this slogan postmark being applied by many ink-jet machines, and we are doing our part with the auction of some autographed first day covers for which we are very grateful to the people who have signed.

All these covers are from the January 2010 'Classic Album Covers' stamp set, which was our biggest seller of all time.  

First up, BBC Radio 1 DJ, Annie Nightingale!  According to her profile, "She has been on the road with some of the world’s most notorious rock bands such as Primal Scream, The Who and The Rolling Stones, was once ship’s DJ on the QE2, and motor raced at Silverstone and Brand’s Hatch as part of a Radio 1 racing team."  She's also made several appearances at Glastonbury, so this FD postmark is appropriate.

Next, Terry Pastor, who designed the David Bowie 'Ziggy Stardust' album sleeve and who now has the Bowie stamp on his home page!  We've got the London "Classic Album Art' postmark on these covers.

Third & fourth, well-known cook, television presenter, writer, and majority shareholder of Norwich City Football Club, Delia Smith - who designed & baked the cake pictured on the cover of the Rolling Stones "Let it Bleed" sleeve.  The whole-set cover has the Glastonbury postmark...

.... and the single Let it Bleed cover has the Rolling Stones 'Olympic Studios' postmark:

All these covers will be auction on eBay with proceeds from the sale of the first four covers going to Children in Need.  Cancer Research UK will benefit from the sale of the second batch of covers.  

Keep watching for a further announcement when the auctions are live.

Pink Floyd Souvenir Album Sheet - 6 March 2010

From a Press Release:

Royal Mail and Pink Floyd have teamed up to produce a unique souvenir stamp product featuring the band’s final studio album, The Division Bell (which featured David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright), issued tomorrow Saturday March 6.
[Blog Note: by 'issued' Royal Mail means 'made available' in that the sheet will not be available at Post Offices. However, see note below in red.]
Issued on guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour’s birthday, the sheet’s design mimics a 7” record cover and features ten of the 1^st Class The Division Bell stamps, first released as part of Royal Mail’s hugely successful Album Covers issue of January.

The sheet also features the lyrics of ‘High Hopes’, the final song on the band’s final studio album, along with a Pink Floyd emblem against a background of the astonishing metal heads which featured on the record’s cover. And to celebrate the stamp sheet, fans can watch the band playing the song on Pink Floyd’s official website.
Since its release in 1994, The Division Bell has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide, and the sheet is issued as part of Royal Mail’s Big Month of Music which runs throughout March 2010.

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The Sheet will be available to order from Royal Mail online and from their Philatelic Bureau but not apparently from Post Offices. Priced at 85p over face value, it is unlikely to appear in standard stamp catalogues.

To see Pink Floyd performing High Hopes live visit www.pinkfloyd.com

These sheets were delivered to us on Friday 12th March, a week after the official 'issue' date.

Great Britain 2010 Programme Update

Royal Mail have firmed up their stamp issue programme for 2010 and announced some additional products connected with the London 2010 Festival of Stamps. These notes are in approximate chronological order and are necessarily brief.

First up is another Souvenir Sheet in the Classic Album Covers range. The new sheet is in the same format and the same size as the last, but contains 10 Pink Floyd stamps, and some artwork and text specific to the band and Dave Gilmour. This will also carry a premium price (to be confirmed) and will be issued on Saturday, 6 March (yes, one week tomorrow).

30 March - examples of the 20gr Europe stamp that we were shown were not the same colour as the 60p Machin, but more a dark blue-green colour. The issued stamp may not be the same as the essay we were shown.

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London 2010 Festival of Stamps 8 May
- Prestige Stamp Book: the Machin pane will be self-adhesive with security features. My scribbled note shows 4 x 1st, 4 x 2nd and 2 x 50p stamps but that makes 10, so I have an error there. The security code on these will show a P for Prestige - position to be confirmed. (Not ROYAL PAIL, surely?)

- There will be an Exhibition Souvenir Sheet echoing the Jeffrey Matthews sheet from StampShow 2000. The new sheet will contain all the valued non-security stamps currently available in three rows, ie

1p,  2p,  5p,  9p
10p,  20p,  60p,  67p
88p, 97p, £1.46, London2010 Logo.

A strange combination (total value £5.05) omitting the 50p & £1, and 1st & 2nd class stamps.

- To mark the 10th Anniversary of Smilers Stamps there will be a Generic Sheet containing the four new Smilers Stamps issued in February. At the Show four Smilers Sheets were available for personalisation, with the show Logo in the margin.

- An Exhibition Generic Sheet will be available, as issued for overseas Exhibitions since Hong Kong in 2004.

- 6th May Accession Miniature Sheet was overprinted and on sale for the Exhibition Period only.

- A Postal Union Congress Souvenir Pack will also be available. Details here.

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18 May - Commemorative Sheet Halley's Comet (Centenary of first appearance which was photographed).

15 June - House of Stuart confirmed (Monarchs known, MS: Wm Harvey, Battle of Naseby, John Vanburgh, John Milton)
15 June - Retail booklet, Mammals, 2 plus 4 x Machin gold.

8 July - Commemorative Sheet British Grand Prix

27 July - Olympics/paralympicsset of 10 & Commemorative sheet.
27 July - Olympics Retail booklet 3, 2 plus 4 Machin gold.

10 August - Commemorative Sheet - London Eye

19 August - Stage Musicals, set & MS (details to follow - think modern)
                  - Great British Railways, monochrome set of 6

15 September - Retail booklet: British Design Classics (Spitfire)
15 September - Generic Smiler (Spitfire)

16 September - Medical Breakthroughs (originally scheduled for February 2011)

17 September - Bird Pictorial Faststamps

12 October - Children's Literature. Despite the designated first day site association with AA Milne Royal Mail are not yet in a position to confirm that this is Milne, Winnie the Pooh or to say how many authors, how many books, or how many characters will be featured.
We now know that this is a set of 6 and a MS, all Winnie-the-Pooh

12 October - Olympics Retail booklet 4, 2 plus 4 Machin gold.

October - Lest We Forget se-tenant strip of 3 to be reissued from existing stock, no new printing.
28 October - National Arboretum Remembrance Commemorative Sheet.

2 November - Christmas, secular, Wallace & Gromit. Range and size as 2009, ie definitive and large definitive size, 7 stamps, MS & Smilers.

So what do the sheet grid marks really mean?

Although many collectors may not know it, special stamps are still available from 'guttered' sheets. That is, printed sheets have (at least) two panes which are divided along the gutter for distribution to counters.

In recent years Royal Mail has copied the US practice of having a grid in the margin, divided into 4 or 6 squares, one of which has a dot in it, indicating the position of the pane in the overall sheet.

This is how some dealers are able to sell gutter pairs, although when the gutter is vertical between two different sets of 5 stamps, that makes for a long gutter strip! This is a view of part of three double-sheets:



It isn't easy to see in this but the grid positions are:

Upper sheet: position 2 - position 3
Middle sheet: position 3 - position 1
Lower sheet: position 1 - position 2

You can see it more clearly here:



Now, if the panes are printed in three positions horizontally, one would expect that one pane (say position 1) would be guillotined off for counter sheets, leaving the other two for philatelic distribution. As the print run would produce more double-panes than would be necessary for philatelic distribution, a large number of the pairs of panes 2+pane 3 would also be guillotined for distribution to post offices.

So why have we got all three possible combinations? We have -

Pane 1 + pane 2 (lowest)
Pane 2 + pane 3 (uppermost in this picture), and
Pane 3 + pane 1 (centre).

Is the cylinder circumference in fact 6 panes round, with positions 1, 2 & 3 duplicated?
Does the grid mean anything at all?
Should we revisit previous grid markings - including for definitive and country stamps - to review what they mean?

Please leave your suggestions as comments!

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In the absence of comments I'll suggest a fourth possibility - in fact more like a probability:
There are three panes to a cylinder with a gutter between each, but they are cut into sheets of 2 panes - 1+2, 3+1, 2+3, 1+2 ... etc.

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Whose shop did Royal Mail use for their Album Covers souvenir?

People who have bought Royal Mail's Classic Album Covers Souvenir Cover will probably agree that it is quite impressive - many buyers will be framing it for display.



But what about the insert? Informative and colourful, with the iconic Marilyn Monroe poster in the shop window, but where is the shop?

I don't suppose Royal Mail even know, as they use design agencies for this sort of thing. But the Norvic Sleuths have tracked it down to south London.

The shop, COLLECTIONS, is in Lewisham, at 70 Lee High Road.

Despite appearances on Google StreetView, the shop is still open for business (click on the name above the picture for their website) - and, no, they didn't know of their fame either!
(Update June 2014, the website is no longer working and from the new street-view picture above, the name has changed.)

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Album Covers stamps - interview and video at The Independent

Today the first set of stamps for 2010 is issued, the Classic Album Covers, and the London newspaper The Independent has a story complete with video.

The video includes interviews with Julietta Edgar, head of special stamps at Royal Mail, music journalist Anthony Barnes, and Rob O'Connor Creative Director of the Parklife album sleeve, together with film of the stamps being printed.

Click here to read the story and see the video.

Happy New Font! 2010 PSB brings major change to Machins

In the middle of November I had an email from Chris in Australia about the Classic Album Covers PSB. He pointed out that the publicity photo in the Philatelic Bulletin showed the 54p value with rather different figures of value to those we are used to. The way he put it:

"It appears to be Garamond (or similar) and not Jeffrey Matthews font - the gap at the top of the 4 is very noticeable. I agree this is probably another Royal Mail concoction, just like the panes on your website which have no elliptical perfs, but it is odd that the others seem to use the correct font."

It is not uncommon for Royal Mail to produce pre-issue publicity pictures which vary from the actual stamps - see the publicity image here. The 54p seems quite normal in that picture.

However, today I received the first batch of PSBs (yes, only 2 weeks before the stamps are issued and far fewer working days!) And they are so surprising that I had to take time out from preparing for Christmas to reveal the true position:




Not only is the 54p with a new font, but the 5p is totally different to the regular sheet stamp. In fact, all the stamps are different, with the 62p being the closest to the De La Rue sheet stamp:


From Album Covers Pane 1


Normal De La Rue Machins from counter sheets:



From Album Covers Pane 4


So, Chris, you were right after all! And another thing I can confirm, the Album Covers special stamps on panes 2 & 3 are NOT self-adhesive but ordinarily gummed. The phosphor block, as on the Souvenir Sheet extends to the perforations, whereas on the self-adhesive sheet stamps the phosphor is only on the album cover.



This is the last blog post before we break for Christmas.

We would like to wish all our customers and other readers

Season's Greetings and all the best for 2010 !!