Look out for King Charles sheet stamps which are now being supplied to post offices.

The stamps of King Charles have been on sale for a while but have been slow to appear in post offices. But look out for more of them on your mail now because I have reports of 1st class, 2nd class and 1st Large counter sheets being delivered from central stores.

I have also seen other (not yet announced) values, printed back in February also being delivered as current stocks for use at Post Offices with no instruction not to sell until they are officially announced.

So look out for these on your mail, and if you or anyone you know buys stamps in Post Offices rather than supermarkets and corner shops.

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Dennis is early, at least in Surrey. Another pre-release.

Another post office has managed to release some special stamps not only early, but before Royal Mail has even sent their publicity leaflet First to collectors, and before anybody but the cover producers has been able to show the stamps (see here).  

DP is a keen Dennis fan, and has sent this picture with the picture as shown in the original comic strip! The cover was received last Saturday (19 June) with the stamps not due for issue until 1 July.

1 July 2021 Dennis & Gnasher stamp used 18 June in Gatwick Mail Centre catchment area.

As you can see, the stamp - although reproducing the original accurately - is only showing a detail of the original frame in the strip.  Maybe they learned from the clutter of Fools & Horses that you can only miniaturise so far before it becomes ridiculous?

UPDATE 24 June:  Two more examples from DP, again with the original comics.  These are postmarked 22 June at Medway Mail Centre.

Two more examples of the 1 July 2021 Dennis & Gnasher stamps, used 22 June in Medway Mail Centre catchment area.

 

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Early use of McCartney stamp.

The Music Giants V: Paul McCartney stamps were issued on 28 May, as detailed here.

As mentioned in a comment on the original post, at least one 1st class stamp is recorded as being used two days before the official release date.  NB says that it was "Sent from Colne, Lancs BB8 so presumably bought at Skipton Road PO BB8 0NQ". 

1st class McCartney II stamp posted two days before issue.

Enlargement of postmark, on reverse, showing Lancashire & South Lakes 26/05/2021 - click on the images to see enlargements.

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Early release of Star Trek stamps

As we all know the Star Trek stamps will be issued on Friday of this week.  But somebody in the Birmingham area has already used one!

It's a while since we reported an early release error.  The date isn't clear but logically it can only be 02/11/2020, from the Birmingham Mail Centre.  This one is now on eBay; only a piece sadly, but good for a collection.

Star Trek stamp to be issued 13/11/2020 used on 02/11/2020 at Birmingham Mail Centre

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Christmas is coming early in some Post Office branches.

My fellow-blogger White Knight has seen the FDC producers' websites where this year's Christmas stamps are already on show (from 8 October), although I can't tell you about them until the issue date.

As usual there will be eight stamps, an unnecessary gummed miniature sheet and an even more unnecessary Generic Smilers sheet - unnecessary when you remember the original reason for producing these*.  You can see the low-resolution images here, and also on the websites here and here §.

Early release
But as these images are already out there for you to look at I see no problem in passing on these pictures of stamps purchased, I assume, in Hampshire posted at the Southampton/Portsmouth/IOW mail centre.   They aren't very clear pictures, and the postmark wasn't very good to start with, so I have digitally adjusted the close-up to show the date of 17 October!  Only these six stamps were on sale - the 2nd & 1st class, and Large stamps, and the £1.35 and £1.55.

* Generic Smilers Sheets were originally produced for collectors as an almost face-value substitute for the personalised Smilers Sheets, which cost much more.  The stamps were not the same as those in counter sheets or booklets, being printed by litho rather than gravure.  Some albums have spaces for these stamps although they are not separately catalogued by Stanley Gibbons.

But now that Smilers Sheets are no longer available these are purely a money spinner, and one which costs £18.40 for a basic set costing £10, leaving seven each of the 2nd and 1st class stamps to use for postage. 

§  You will also see, on the home page of that site, a commemorative cover related to today's happenings in the UK Parliament.  It's to be hoped that not too many have been printed, for the sake of the business, as things have turned out.  Whilst commemorative and political covers have long been collected within our hobby and by social historians and ephemera/memorabilia collectors, the ones produced for events that didn't happen - like the coronation of King Edward VIII - rarely turn out to be valuable.

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Padstow 'Obby 'Oss comes out to play early in Sheffield

My thanks to RS for sending this picture of an early release of one of the Curious Customs 2nd class stamps.

The Padstow Obby Oss made it's appearance in Sheffield at least as early as 24 June on ordinary non-philatelic mail.

This is the first we've had reported since the Raspberry Pi.

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British Engineering Time Machine?

Following on from the early Birds of Prey, NC has sent a picture of the 1st class Raspberry Pi stamp from the British Engineering set issued on 2 May. 

I'm a little tardy in reporting this which was actually sent to me on 15 April 2019, so three weeks before the proper date of issue, and well before we were permitted to show the stamps on our website - not that it would have stopped me showing this one had we not been on holiday.

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Birds of Prey have flown early - at old prices?

It's a while since anybody has reported the early release of any of our special stamps, but DB has provided a picture of this torn off corner of an envelope showing one of today's new Birds of Prey stamps.

Of course it could have been as recently as this week if one of the Mail Centres was still using the Red Nose Day slogan in error. 

But it seems more likely that this was used in the week 9-15 March, nearly a month before the issue date, and presumably sold at the old price!

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Embargoes and early releases - Charles 70th MS is the latest

Not so much an embargo breach, but certainly the possibility for early release.

One of our readers sent this picture with the comment below:

ROYAL MAIL HAVE ORDERED 

ME TO REMOVE THIS

PICTURE 

so it is hidden until

they allow it, ie less than 24 hours later

"I saw this [Prince Charles Presentation Pack in a Post Office branch] the other day from a distance but today investigated. I was asked "Do you want any?" I was a bit surprised, and 2 packs were produced.  Only problem was that item not on the system to sell.  No instructions to PO about sale dates.  I was told that as nobody had bought any he was going to send them back to stores on Monday!"  (My emphasis - IB)

Crazy, isn't it.  Royal Mail has no proper philatelic outlets in their retail partners' network, and those retail partners have no idea when - or more particularly when not - to put new stamp issues on sale, and take them off again.

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Another early release - Christmas comes early to Belfast

My thanks to JG for this example of the 2018 1st class Christmas stamp, due for issue on 1st November, with a Northern Ireland Mail Centre postmark of 16 October.

Can anybody beat that date, or show early release dates for other values?

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Another early release of a special stamp

I wonder how long it will be before a Post Office branch lets out early a stamp which Royal Mail have placed an absolute embargo and kept the design secret until the day of issue.

This thought occurred because my friend Mia told me about this blog from Eva in Spain, has had not one but two examples of early use of the Old Vic stamps, officially issued on 30 August.  One was posted just two days early on 28 August, but the other was postmarked 20 August.  Although errors do occur on postmarks, this is most unlikely to affect the date and time on modern ink-jet postmarks.

 

 

Apparently the Post Office branch concerned had run out of any other stamp!  That would be because so few stamp issues have the basic European/postcard £1.25 stamp.

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Early sale of World War I Centenary stamps

This year's stamps marking the Centenary of World War I are due for release on 13 September.  But the Commonwealth Stamps Opinion blog reports an early release offered for sale on an internet auction on 28 August!

Given that many Post Offices don't use higher values it's surprising that this is the £1.55 value, rather than a 1st class.   See more here.

If you're interested in Post and Go, Commonwealth stamps, thematics, or provisionals, the latest epistle from WhiteKnight also includes the latest Post & Go from Guernsey, and some provisional surcharges from The Republic of South Sudan.  If you are tired the easy task of collecting GB stamps, you could do worse than look for commercially used covers from smaller African nations.  They must be scarce!

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Machin News - another new stamp

Unless there is news from a Royal Mail source, the first news of new stamps comes from dealer/collectors or collector/dealers spotting something new in a branch PO, supermarket or other retail outlet.   

So it is something of a surprise and novelty to report a new stamp from somebody who has received a new discovery on a letter!

This is the 1st class from a book of 6, coded M18L MSIL, and thanks to MC for sending this picture and the report.

I think it is 18, although the bigger it gets the more it looks as if it could be 16.  Click on it and let me know what you think.

UPDATE: A second image confirms that it is 18.  The letter was postmarked Home Counties North 10-5-2018, and is believed to have been bought in the Hoddesdon area.

 

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Christmas comes (very) early in West Yorkshire

Regular readers will recall that this year's Christmas issue will include not only the regular 8 values with a religious theme, but also stamps designed by the winners of this year's design competition for children.

All these stamps will be issued on 7 November, the competition winners being in both standard and Large Letter stamps.

But one reader has sent this picture today, showing the 1st class stamp issued already and posted in West Yorkshire.

Now we know that Christmas stamps used to be issued earlier, and that the surface last posting dates for international mail are approaching very soon, but this is exceptional.

And it's very easy for many special stamp issues to be sold early, despite the selling date in the margin (not usually present on Christmas stamps), but surely anybody with a hap'orth of sense would know that mid-September is far too early to sell Christmas stamps?!

Perhaps its the fault of the greetings card companies, who have already filled the supermarkets and other shops with cards before some people have had their summer holidays; if the cards are on sale is it not unreasonable to sell the stamps?  [It is, of course, but some people just don't think!]

UPDATE 10 October
Two interesting developments.  (1) the stamp shown above was not bought in a post office in Yorkshire.  The sender confirms that it was bought from an eBay seller of cheap postage - which still begs the question....
And (2) Post Office Ltd, in an article about the Swindon Distribution Centre says that "The first delivery of Christmas stamps was made on 25 September and the last will arrive in branches on 24 October".
Which begs an even bigger question if the stamps had not even been sent to branches when this article was first written!

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British Post Office Strikes Back - Star Wars Early Release

One thing we can be surer of with the ink-jet postmarks applied by Mail Centres, they tend not to make errors with the dates as used to happen with handstamps and the Universal machine postmarks.

So I think we can say with a strong degree of certainty that at least one Post Office branch has sold Star Wars stamps already!  This clearly shows the Cornwall Mail Centre postmark of 09.10.15.

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Stamps Update: Winter Greenery Post and Go Faststamps

Winter Greenery Faststamps will have taken many collectors by surprise because there are only four designs instead of 6, and collectors who only have access to Wincor-Nixdorf machines will find that there are probably only 2!  But this does make the collection cheaper, with a basic set of 4 now costing only £2.30 (although the bureau pack is £2.81), and a full set of 16 from NCR machines having a face value of £17.36.

The Bureau Pack contains 1st, 1st Large, 2nd and 2nd Large stamps.

From reports received so far it would seem that all offices, including the BPMA, received the new stamps. These are the NCR Collectors sets:

Of course they are also available with open values (used on first day).

These are the sets from Wincor-Nixdorf machines:

A number of branches still have Wincor machines, I am waiting for a list from PO Ltd.  The latest I have heard of is Perth.

Farringdon Post Office loaded 2nd class into their Wincor-Nixdorf machine.  Can we blame them for making this mistake?  No, central stores should never have sent them to Wincor branches because they couldn't be used.  I know that Farringdon wasn't the only office to receive 2nd class in error.  Thanks to Dominic and Mike for pictures:

Incidentally, a detailed report on the developments at Farringdon suggests that individual collectors each bought one or a few sets, with nobody getting a bulk supply, mainly because most of them didn't realise the error in time.  Sadly one of the buyers spilled the bins to the staff and the machine was taken out of service until the roll could be changed.  Nothing yet on eBay, which tends to confirm the above accounts.

Balham Post Office was selling the 1st class type from their Wincor-Nixdorf machine a day early on 12th.  Listed on eBay they close on 19 November).   Update, per a comment from a reader: this error was Balham's swansong as the machine was removed today (14th).

The stamps were also in use at the BPMA, presumably replacing Poppies and the 2nd class Machin.  Thanks to Chris for this:

Stamps - but not BPMA or Farringdon - will be in our webshop on Monday.

UPDATE 18 March 2015
I'm sorry not to have reported this at the time, but for the record the Winter Greenery stamps were available in Edinburgh's Princes Street Mall Post Office on 12th November, one day early.

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Dr Who: Early release or time travel?

Last week Stamp Magazine reported an example of a Doctor Who stamp used already - see their news here.

We made our own enquiries and can show another example used on a newspaper competition entry - again the date is not clear but ours seems to be 27 February, and the location 'Home Counties North'.

This is quite remarkable.  Either the Post Office branch had no other 1st class stamps to sell (which is unlikely) or they misunderstood the release date.

The story was picked up by a German Philatelic magazine.  And they've acknowledged the source.

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Monday round-up: Large Jubilee Business Sheet, and more coils on eBay

Large Jubilee definitive business sheets have been seen on the eBay auction site this week, meaning that we are now only waiting for the retail booklets of 4 to make an appearance and there will be little point in going through the pretence of having an official first day of issue in April !

The sheets currently listed are described as:

Printed by Walsall Security Printers
These stamps have the Diamond Jubilee overlay 
Date = 26/01/12
SSN = 0156293 - Printed Vertically
Type 1 Security Cut  =  NO INTERUPTED CUT on 'Paper Clip' Top and Bottom

And we have had more reports of the counter-sheet stamps being sold or received on letters.

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Meanwhile also on eBay after the report of a 2nd class Sunday Times coil piece being sold for £113, a second example has been chased up to £129.66 in ten bids in a listing where bidders' identities were kept private for some reason.  Given that eBay hides the bidders' user-IDs through a a*****d code all this move by the seller does is hide how many unique bidders there were.  More people are finding these and I suspect the number now known about is around 30, although one dealer was reported to have 40 in stock. This has not been verified and I suspect there may have been some confusion with the gummed coil version.

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Miscut Sheep Faststamp Packs are becoming more common - or at least they are being advertised for what they are by the sellers rather than being 'discovered' by knowing buyers. Royal Mail Tallents House must be surprised at the additional orders they are receiving, from people trying to get a different version to the one they were originally sent!

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And over the weekend this blog passed 300,000 visits - thank you all for your interest, and keep sending the reports! 

Post Offices sell Large Diamond Jubilee Machin stamps early.

As mentioned earlier in the blog, and on our website, the Diamond Jubilee


"1st class Large versions will be issued in March or April when the new tariff stamps are issued."

However, intent and actuality are not always the same thing, and as PO Supplies Department at Swindon have sent these to some Post Office branches already, some of those are selling them already.  This one came from a post office branch:

With the official first day of issue some weeks away, we will be interested to hear of any reports of these appearing on your mail!  Leave a comment !  (Thanks as usual to RP for the picture.)

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Who let the sheep out? Faststamps used early in Bath.

It's been mentioned before that some PO branches hadn't really taken any notice of which Birds rolls they were loading into the Post and Go machines, and I suppose that was especially important if they were busy.  

Well maybe the Central PO in Bath has run out of Machin Faststamps - because they were using the Sheep (due for issue on 24 February) yesterday:

Thanks to Robert for this fine example - his other one didn't get a postmark - still time to repost it and try again for an early posting example!

Note that Bath is also using the original font, which means that the Worldwide 10g stamp will be printed with no weight on, and all service indicators and branch/session codes will overlap the picture.

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Please let us know if you see any early uses from Bath (when did they actually start) or anywhere else!

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UPDATE:  Malcolm reports more sheep were let loose at Farnham and were on sale on Saturday 18th February.  These were the standard (by which I think he means new) font.

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