Latest maximum card

There is not a great deal happening at present until the pre-release images of the Cats stamps break the embargo and are shown elsewhere!

So here is my latest maximum card, the only one I produced from the Migratory Birds set.  I didn't have time to search for or buy other subject cards.  

The card design is by Robert Gillmor who produced the designs for Royal Mail's Post and Go Birds stamps and others.

1st class stamp illustrated by Killian Mullarney. Postmark Nightjar Close, Poole.

Nightjar maximum card, Migratory Birds stamps, 7 April 2022 with Poole pictorial postmark.

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News update - or lack of it.

Greetings readers!

I'm sorry for the recent silence but the only news of late is the addition of a new slogan postmark almost every day, it seems.  We're up to six in February - you can see them all here if you haven't seen them on letters.  I think I've had two, and not very good examples at that.

 

After our recent snow last weekend was, for us in the east, almost balmy, and we were able to enjoy working in the garden instead of the office on Saturday and Sunday, although the muscles were aching a bit by the end of it all as they are unused to digging etc.  And all around us were signs of spring as snowdrops and other flowers broke through and flocks of songbirds flitted between our feeders and the buzzard wheeled and called at a great height.

I've been adding new stock to the e-commerce site (or shop) over the last week, and sorting other material for sale there or elsewhere. 

Latest additions to the shop include Fools & Horses PSB stamps and the 2nd Large 2020 business sheet, National Parks and a few other Maximum Cards, and some Australian modern postal history.  Next additions will be a range of used and mint Machin forgeries. 

News to come concerns a new retail booklet and the King Arthur set, but I won't be able to tell much about these until they are issued.  All I can say for now is what was published on the back page of February's Philatelic Bulletin - The Legend of King Arthur set to be issued on 16 March consists of 5 x 1st class and 5 x £1.70 stamps, and the associated presentation pack, first day cover and stamp cards.

Finally, if anybody is interested in Machins or any modern issues on non-philatelic covers, please let me know and I will sort some out.  In fact, if you have any area of collecting, British, Commonwealth, Foreign or thematic, that you think I might be able to help with send an email (no long wants lists at this stage) and I'll see what I can find.

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Palace of Westminster & Big Ben Maximum Cards

It is not easy to create first day covers or maximum cards when the topic of the stamps is surrounded by intellectual property or copyright issues.  Although James Bond cards are available, for example, they can be quite expensive if you have to buy online, and sellers are listing individually.  And with no postcard fairs running through the pandemic period, it's refreshing to have a stamp issue for which you can safely say, "I've got some of those!".

And so although the Palace of Westminster issue wasn't universally popular, at least I had a good number of cards showing either Parliament or Big Ben (the Elizabeth Tower).

Some of these will be listed on the shop when we reopen, so if you are interested in maximum cards, especially those of World Heritage Sites, then look out for our opening announcement here.

These are just some that I produced, all of which use cards which date from the Victorian period to World War 2.  Click on the images to see larger versions.   Both 1st class stamps are represented, the view from the river and the Elizabeth Tower, with two postmarks showing either the clock tower or the face.

 

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Special Postmarking Service to revert to normal timetables

Special Announcement from Royal Mail:

As a result of Covid-19 and the restrictions that were placed on individuals’ movements, Royal Mail took the decision at the end of March to extend its postmarking facilities for all Special Stamp issues until further notice. 

We promised that we would announce at the appropriate time when this extension would end and give customers sufficient notice of the cut-off period for accepting covers retrospectively. With these restrictions now being gradually eased throughout the UK we will revert to the normal postmarking rules from Thursday, 1st October. 

This means that Royal Mail First Day Covers for the following Special Stamp Issues will come off sale at midnight on that day and any covers submitted for postmarking bearing stamps from these issues must be received by Special Handstamp Centres by this date.

The Romantic Poets

End of the Second World War

Coronation Street

Roman Britain

Queen

The Palace of Westminster

Sherlock

Rupert Bear

The normal postmarking rules will apply to the Brilliant Bugs stamp issue which means that the Royal Mail First Day Covers will be available up until midnight on the First Day of Issue, 1st October.

So the useful flexibility will end at the end of September.  That's been useful and the service from the Handstamp Centres has been good as usual.  I had some (18 June) Roman Britain maximum cards back today which I sent on 9 July.  Still waiting for some, and for (8 May) WW2 which I sent after the Roman ones.

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Birds of Prey Maximum Cards

2019 has been a very difficult year for making Maximum Cards for GB stamps.  The year started with the Stamp Classics - a stamp on stamp issue not even including the 1d black, for which cards do exist.

The Leonardo da Vinci stamps were not very exicting, although one of my customers found two cards which I serviced. Not much opportunity with special postmarks either.  Then we moved on to Marvel Comics - cards exist, indeed there are boxes of 100, but they are mostly comic covers and cluttered. Again, not much opportunity to produce maximum cards from commonly found cards.

So it was good to have the Birds of Prey set because postcards for some of the birds are quite plentiful - although others are much more difficult to find here.  I had built up a small stock of bird postcards in anticipation of their eventual use, and a couple of our customers managed even better.

Some duplicates have been added to our shop for sale, but in most cases there is only one copy of each card.  Here are a few of them:

 

  

   

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New in our shop - Stampex FDCs, and maximum cards

We've put a few new items in our shop today, new Machin first day covers and Mail by Bike Maximum Cards, which are found most easily by looking at Recent Additions.

 

 

Our Shop: Order processing update; new Machin; P&G error; new products.

Thank you for all the recent orders and for your patience while we deal with them.  As most were for the new Walsall printings being distributed tomorrow (23rd) by Tallents House, we could not send these last week.

All orders to 4175 have now been despatched, except for those which are being held pending receipt of other stamps/covers.

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Machin: I understand that the 2nd class Large booklet with M18L year code is around although we don't have a picture or stock yet.

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Harlow Post Office has been using Mail be Sea Post & Go stamps in the 2nd class position on their machine.

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The next products to be added to the shop will be some maximum cards of the owls stamps, and some older Machins or definitive FDCs which have been missed.

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Webshop reopens.

We're back in business after our trip to Malta and have added a few random products to the shop, there being no new Machins to offer yet.

As well as maximum cards for the RAF issue, we also have some first day covers that have slipped through the net - Mr Men, Rugby World Cup, Beatrix Potter Machins, Battle of Britain slogan postmark.

Also we have the 2017 Ancient Britain first day cover with the locally applied handstamp from Grimes Graves in Norfolk.  These were local handstamps arranged by Royal Mail's PR department that were not available on the reposting service through Special Handstamp Centres.  While some people obtained some fdcs because of local publicity most of the locations were well out of the way and there was no indication on the postboxes of the special treat in store for mail posted there.  We covered this in detail here.

 

We have just two examples of this FDC available, so make haste.  As far as we know very few were produced.

To see all the latest additions to our store click on this link.  Thank you for looking.

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Open for business - we're back!

Thank you for your patience while we have been processing orders and restocking the latest new issues.

We have now reopened the webshop.  A number of new Machin security stamps have been received since we closed, and we have also added the forgery of the £1 brown, and the 1997 trial printings by Courvoisier (only a few of those).   Also new are maximum cards of the Songbirds and David Bowie - we haven't seen any Bowie maximum cards anywhere else - and the Thistle and Post Office railway digitally-printed Post and Go stamps.

The full list:

Spear Thistle Post and Go single 1st class FV24
Post Office Underground Railway Post and Go 1st class and Collectors Strip FV25

Songthrush and Wren maximum cards
Aladdin Sane (2 types), Heroes, and Earthling David Bowie Maximum Cards

5p Machin counter sheet M17L 3005.7
20p Machin counter sheet M17L 3020.7
1st Large Machin business sheet MBIL M17L 2916aB.7
1st class Machin booklet single MTIL M17L 2936a.7
12 x 1st class Machin booklet MTIL M17L MF9a.7
Machin Forgery £1 sheet stamp M14L MTIL
Machin Undenominated Trials by Courvoisier

Updated Checklist
Our Machin Security Checklist has been updated to include the latest stamps listed above.  Version 1.5.7 dated 10 May is now available from the usual download link.
Current versions are available here from Dropbox.

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Mail by Rail Maximum Cards 2017

A set of 6 postcards was produced by The Postal Museum to coincide with the issue of the Post and Go 'Mail by Rail' stamps. As such, the cards were not 'produced and for sale well in advance of the stamp sale', although they were not produced specifically for the Post and Go Issue.

1. Artwork from the leaflet The Travelling Post Office (1936), with Bag-exchange Apparatus stamp, and Penrith postmark.

6. Internal poster advertising the need for good timekeeping (1962), with TPO On The Move stamp, and Station Road, York, postmark.

 

2. Artwork for a poster (1939) showing the Post Office London Underground Railway, with stamp showing similar view, postmarked Underground Mail Rail London WC1

 

3. A poster for the film Night Mail (1939), with stamp showing the same design, and Royal Mail Street Birmingham postmark showing Bag-exchange Apparatus.

 

4. Euston Station: Loading the Travelling Post Office (1948), with stamp showing the same design, and Royal Mail Heritage postmark showing TPO carriage.

5. Travelling Post Office (1935) showing onboard sorting, with stamp of similar design, and Penrith postmark.

 

We don't have these for sale, but we do have a number of other Maximum Cards on recent and older stamp issues in our webshop.

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Doctor Who Day - Maximum Cards Half Price offer !!

To celebrate Doctor Who Day or The Day of The Doctor, the 50th Anniversary of the first broadcast, we've cut all our Doctor Who maximum cards to half-price for the week-end!

What's a Doctor Who Maximum Card ?  

It's a Doctor Who Stamp, on a the front of a Doctor Who Postcard with a Doctor Who Postmark

Real stamps used for postage on all orders of course, including at least one Tardis stamp!

Buy here but hurry - only limited supplies and mostly no more than two of each!