Postboxes Miniature Sheet and Smilers Sheet 18 August 2009

For no apparent reason Royal Mail is issuing a miniature sheet containing four stamps depicting wall-mounted post-boxes:



The boxes shown are:
1st class - George V type 8 wallbox;
56p - Edward VII Ludlow wallbox;
81p - Victorian Lamp Box* (here inserted in a wall);
90p - Elizabeth II Type A Wallbox.

* The 'lamp box' is designed to be fitted to a post, telegraph pole, or lamp standard. I think few are attached to lamp standards now.

The first class stamp also appears in a generic Smilers Sheet with labels showing 20 other (non-pillar-box) letter boxes.



Also on this day, another Prestige Stamp Book, but I'll put news of that in a separate message.

Fuller details of both sheets and book and (eventually) the special postmarks associated with them can be found here.

Apology

I should realy have started this June series of posts with an apology that I was so quiet in May. Apart from a two-week holiday we had some family matters to attend to which were quite unavoidable. I'll also be missing for 10 days this month, which is why I have updated our website and will cram in as much as possible this week.

Ian

40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing - Royal Mail Commemorative Sheet

To mark the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing Royal Mail will issue a commemorative sheet of 10 stamps with appropriate labels and illustrated border, in an illustrated folder. This is another one of those 'well-over-face-value' sheets which will be sold for £13.50 against a stamp value of only £3.90.

The picture I have isn't good enough and it's incomplete, so I'll await a better one. You can see what we have so far here

But why the 40th anniversary?

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Giants, Pixies and other Mythical Creatures

From the land of the giants, to the prank-loving world of the pixies, the UK has a rich history of folklore and legend dating back to the oral tales handed down the generations by Celtic bards - and brought right up to date through Harry Potter and the hugely successful Dragonology books.

ON 16 June 2009 Royal Mail is issuing six new stamps:


The conventionally gummed stamps show:

1st class - Unicorns and Dragons;

62p - Giants and Pixies

90p - Mermaids and Fairies

But the real novelty is in the sheet margin or selvedge where the eyes are everywhere:


See the special postmarks for the day of issue here

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'B' security code - 2nd class Business Sheet

Thanks to Chris R (who thought he had found an error - but then we all can hope, can't we?) here's a good photo of the B code.

Security codes B B C T F & S - codebreakers!

In a move worthy of the codebreakers at Bletchley Park, Royal Mail has coded the new security definitives to identify their source. So as well as the variations in slits reported here earlier, we now know that there is a much easier way to identify the stamps.

As reported by Larry in the Machin Mania blog, Douglas Myall published the news yesterday that the non-denominated security Machins have a hidden code that identifies the format in which the stamp was issued.

I don't usually replicate entire threads, but this one is important for completeness.

The code is a change of one letter in the curvy ROYAL MAIL pattern, located at the top right, above the diadem.

The codes are as follows:

B replacing A in Royal - ROYBL MAIL - in business sheets (Large 1st and 2nd Machins) (corrected previous error)

B replacing A in Mail - ROYAL MBIL - in business sheets (standard 1st and 2nd Machins) (corrected previous error)

C replaing A in Mail - ROYAL MCIL - in mixed booklets with four 1st Machins and two commemoratives ("C" is for custom)

F replacing R in Royal - FOYAL MAIL - in booklets of four stamps (large 1st and 2nd Machins)

S replacing A in Mail - ROYAL MSIL - in booklets of six (standard 1st Machins)

T replacing A in Mail - ROYAL MTIL - in booklets of twelve (standard 1st and 2nd Machins)

There are no hidden codes in counter sheets, which means that no denominated Machin has a code.

Royal Mail says that these codes let them know the source of a stamp when a problem is discovered, for example, a sub-standard application of the phosphor bands.

So now we have different slits, different perforations, and ID letters. Who said Machins were boring!

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Constant flaw on Darwin's Machin PSB pane

An eagle-eyed collector in Singapore has spotted something that two dealers handling his stamps failed to spot, and that is a constant flaw on one stamp on this pane.

It might have been a fleck of paper, except that it appeared on all the panes in my stockbook. And it might have been on every Machin pane - except that it isn't any of the panes I have with the dark 5p stamp, and it isn't on any of the panes in the books I have, or the FDCs. But it is constant on at least 20 panes!

More next week when I will have had a chance to scan it.

Short phosphor bands on Faststamps

Several people have reported that the labels we know as Faststamps (but which Royal Mail refers to as 'Post and Go stamps') exist with misplaced phosphor - inset right, short top or bottom.

As you may know, the Philatelic Bureau (aka Tallents House) now sells sets of 5 labels in a specially designed carrier - not quite a presentation pack, but similar, along with badly creased cellophane sleeves. These are not dispensed from Post & Go machines, which produce labels with thermal print values etc, but are specially printed by Walsall in gravure.


It seems that short bands on these are more common than on the machine dispensed labels. Here are the findings from some of our batches:

1. Inland (2) and Europe very short at foot; worldwide slightly short at top.
2. World 10gr slightly short at top, World 20gr slightly short at foot; remainder OK.
3. Inland (2) very short at foot; World slightly short at top; Europe OK.

Remember, these are each sets of 5 dispensed from the same pack, so the packs are assembled from various parts of the print run.

I still have more to check, but I have 3 type 1, 4 type 2, and 1 type 3 packs. Not scarce at all, it would seem!

Walsall Booklets with security features 31 March 2009

I have received my first supplies of the new Walsall booklets containing Machin definitives with security features. Some have cylinder numbers, some don't so I'll only be able to report what I have. The phosphor bands seem to be more or less accurately aligned on all booklets.

6 x 1st - cylinders W5 W2(P) W1 (overlay) - Postcode advert inside front cover
12 x 1st - no cylinder received
12 x 2nd - no cylinder received
4 x 1st Large - cylinders W1 W1(P) W1(o) - blank inside front cover
4 x 2nd Large - no cylinders received - blank inside front cover


As reported before, the 1st class letter stamp was first issued on 10 March in the Design Classics retail book (with the red cover). Used examples may be distinguished from the current book in two ways.

The new booklets have flat-topped perforations; the Design Classics booklet has rounded tops to perforations.



As previously mentioned on the Walsall printings the security cut is actually 4 cuts, compared with De La Rue's two cuts. On the latest (31 March) booklets the gap at the apex of the curve is wider than on the Design Classics (10 March) booklets.
Correction: The current (31 March) booklets have a wide gap on the 1st & 2nd books of 12, and a narrow gap on the 1st book of 6 and the Large Letter books.


Of course we don't know at this stage whether these distinguishing features will be consistent, but at least it gives us something to look for on used stamps.

New Security Business Sheet printing dates

The Business Sheet definitives with security features, the issue of which was delayed from 17 February to an official 'first day of availability' date of 31 March have now been delivered to us.

Printing dates and serial numbers are as follows:

2nd class letter - 14/01/09 - lowest 0555748 highest 0555751

1st class letter - 12/12/08 - 0376826 -27

2nd class Large - 18/01/09 - 0035579 - 98

1st class Large - 19/01/09 - 0148758 - 784

Unlike previous issues the printer is not identified on the top panel (Walsall Security Print was previously printed below the barcode). The security slit indicates that these were printed by De La Rue, which clears up the final uncertainty over these.

All the LARGE sheets, 1st & 2nd, have the phosphor slightly inset from the right, some with most of the teeth clear of phosphor.