London 2010 Festival of stamps - 1st class double-head

A contact in Finland has pointed out that Royal Mail's minimally informative mailshot 'first' fails to mention that this stamp is available as a single stamp and is not just in the miniature sheet.

I checked, he's right - and it's also not included in the April 2010 Bureau Stock List although the other Festival products are.  

The stamp should be on sale at all UK post offices but for those who can't get to a PO, and for international customers, the Royal Mail stock code for the single stamp is DS414.  Gutter pairs are also available.

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Security Machins - four new stamps discovered!

Yesterday morning I suggested that the new coil stamps with security features might have a new security code.  Yesterday evening came news of a new discovery that makes this almost certain!

Dealer Alec Withell reported that the retail booklet of 6 x 1st with the London 2010 Festival of Stamps advert has an additional year code, the word MAIL to the left of the Queen's forehead reading MA10.  This is in addition to the normal code for a book of 6, MSIL in the top right corner.

Apparently the other 2010 retail booklet, with the postcode URL changed from 'P' to 'p' also has this year code, even though it must have been printed in 2009 (for a 25 January 2010 distribution).   So the code indicates the year in which Royal Mail intend that the booklets will go into distribution?  Maybe!

But that is only the start.  Looking back at the other 2010 booklets, it turns out that the Olympic/Paralympic booklet 2 also has the MA10 code, but this time with MCIL at the top right.

And there's more!
A new printing of the 12 x 2nd booklet also incorporates the MA10 code, with MTIL at top right, as normal for a book of 12.  This booklet, however, has very limited availabilty.  It was available at Spring Stampex from special packs containing 50 booklets all with cylinder numbers.  People who buy all their new stamps by mail from Tallents House rather than spending time queueing at Stampex will be interested to know that these booklets have an edge strip which is 7.5mm wide instead of 5mm wide.  Whilst some might consider this just a minor difference, to others it is a fundamental change.

But here's the rub.  The new booklets obviously have a different overlay cylinder showing MA10 - but the cylinder number has remained the same!   Blue W4, phosphor W2, security W1 - the same as the regular booklets of 12 printed in February 2009.

At this stage the 2nd class stamp will be the key to find, and as these booklets have not - as far as we know - been distributed to post offices, the stamps are unlikely to be found in kiloware.

Lastly, the 1st class book of 12 exists with MA10 code as well.  Announced for mid-December, but not distributed to us until mid-January, the 12 x 1st book was re-released without the printer's imprint on the back.  These books do not have MA10, although they do have the 7.5mm strip.  But similar booklets bought by dealers at Stampex from 'cylinder only' packets, not only have the wide strip, but also have code MA10.

So we have a booklet with a new cover, under which condition Royal Mail decide it is a separate product and allocate it a new product code;  But when it is issued with new stamps, they don't consider it necessary even to tell us, let alone make it available as a new product!

Thanks to Alec for providing all the pictures.  All these are our copyright: may be reproduced elsewhere on the web provided the source and Alec Withell as the copyright holder is acknowledged.  Reproduction in printed media, please write first.

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Now on sale in our ecommerce site.

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New Security Machins on 13 May - 1st & 2nd class coils

You might think that these are not new, as a big fuss was made last year about the coils with security code MRIL.  Those were self-adhesive coils of 10,000 stamps and no singles or strips were made available through Royal Mail's philatelic service despite the stamps being "visibly different" (to use their own terminology).

Now they have produced coils of 500 and 1000 - but these are different from the ones produced last year so if you collect them, you will want both!  Coils are on sale from Tallents House; in the past these have been available as singles and strips as well as complete coils.

The new stamps have

- conventional gum

- security overprint (exact details not known)

- no security slits.

It has been suggested that these are mostly used in dispensers inside and outside post offices, and that may be the case.  However, in post office branches which have Post & Go machines the coil dispensers have been removed, as they have in many branches without P&G machines.  But if you know where coil dispensers still exist at POs, do let us know, and check out which stamps they have - they may already have the new stamps!

Airmail NVIs - 20gr Europe and 20gr Worldwide

As most readers will know, the 40gr airmail NVIs are being replaced by these 20gr stamps which, like the earlier ones and the airmail postcard NVI, are sold in booklets of 4.

These are scans of the actual stamps from the Presentation Pack.  Unlike the earlier stamps included in packs, these are not die-cut through the backing paper.  (The original 40gr stamps were on booklet stock and die-cut through, and the postcard stamp - like these - was on unprinted backing.)

Most collectors will also know that Royal Mail made the 40gr and postcard stamps available, not only to dealers but to collectors, as singles.  At least until 2008 (maybe later, but not now) the 40gr and postcard airmail NVIs issued in 2003/4 were sold from Tallents House as product codes US001 (40gr set) and US002 (postcard).  The point of this was that collectors who only wanted one example of each stamp and had no use for the other three in the booklet, could obtain singles without incurring undue expense.

That isn't happening this time.  If you want these stamps (face value £1.57) for your collection you have three options:

- buy the booklets at £6.28 (most POs don't have them yet.)
- buy the presentation pack at £6.05 (more POs have this than the booklets)
- buy from dealers at a premium over face.

When I pressed Royal Mail's philatelic service on this point of inconsistency, I received this reply:

Whilst it is appreciated that collectors will want to collect single
stamps, the product is a book of four stamps. International NVIs are not
available as sheets and therefore we do not supply them in that format. If
collectors want a single example, the presentation pack provides that
opportunity.

So there you have it.   Personnel change, policies change.  They want you to buy stamps, and to do so you will buy more than you want, or be forced to pay the excess for the presenation pack.  Meanwhile at the London Festival of Stamps, they will be selling pre-packaged cylinder blocks, gutter pairs, etc, of some issues.  Think about why - it's only so that the queues don't get too long.  But the queues of people wanting one of each definitive but not a presentation pack will be lengthened as the Royal Mail people explain for the nth time why they can't sell single 20gr airmail stamps.

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Golden Machin Horizon labels coming to Wales soon.

Aur Machin Horizon labeli yn dod i Gymru yn fuan.

According to the Postagelabelsuk blog, April 12/13th will see the Horizon labels with Gold Machin printing introduced to Wales.   

The overprint that will be bilingual from some offices, although some offices in Wales print only in English for some reason.   There are currently also two types of overprint in use – one from the original Horizon-enabled Post Offices and the other narrower typeface on some lines in Branches that have been upgraded to ‘Horizon Online’. 

Unlike the Camden trial, these labels will be used for all classes of mail, not just Special Delivery.

There is no official first day of issue of these as they will be supplied to replace white labels as needed. Distribution will commence from April 12th 2010, giving a potential First Day of Use of around the 13th April.

The labels are from a different print run than that used as Camden Town, but it remains to be seen if there are any visual differences!   Watch this space - tell us what you find!  A prize for the first person to send me one, or a genuinely used one you have received.

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Update 20.4.10

Received a packet (1PK) today from LL30 (Llandudno, Conwy), with branch code 27614 - they are still using white labels, although I was pleased to see it is bilingual.  Last one I sent from north Wales near Llangollen was in English, even though the PO was in Wales!

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London 2010 Festival of Stamps - stamps and other products

Royal Mail has made a significant investment in this year's international exhibition, and seems determined to recoup as much as possible from visitors and other collectors.  Prices shown here are face value or Royal Mail retail prices.

I posted some of this information in February with the pictures we had then, but more (I daren't say 'complete') details are now available, so this is an illustrated summary.

6 May 1st class single stamp (41p) showing the Machin head of Queen Elizabeth II and the Mackennal profile head of King George V.   Now that we have these stamps I can tell you that they - and the one in the MS - are red, not orange/flame - click on the image to see the full double-pane sheet, with gutter in the actual colour. (Edit: the Royal Mail order code for the single stamp is DS414 but at the time of writing it isn't possible to purchase it online with the rest of the stamps in this series.)

6 May Miniature sheet (£1.41) with two stamps, the 1st class shown above and a £1 brown showing both Downey and Mackennal George V heads.  Royal Mail standing order customers will apparently only get a First Day Cover of the miniature sheet, and not of the single stamps.  

6 May Uncut Press Sheet containing 20 of the above Miniature sheets, in 5 rows, and two se-tenant tete-beche columns. (£31)

6 May George V British Rarities ingot cover and Commonwealth Rarities ingot cover, priced at £32.95 each. 

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8 May Miniature sheet (£2.82) with four stamps.  2 x 1st class showing the two 1924 British Empire Exhibition (BEE) stamps, and 2 x £1 showing the 10/- blue and £1 green Seahorse definitives.

8 May Uncut Press Sheet of 9 of the above miniature sheets (3x3). (£27.90)

8 May Presentation pack containing both 6 May and 8 May miniature sheets. (£4.75)

8 May Stamp card set of 8,, ie one for each of the 6 stamps and one each for the miniature sheets. (£3.20)

8 May  Prestige Stamp Book with 4 panes of stamps.   Pane 1 has 3 each of the 6 May stamps arranged checker-board fashion (£4.23); Pane 2 has the two seahorse stamps (£2.00); Pane 3 has four BEE stamps arranged checker-board fashion (£1.64); and Pane 4 has self-adhesive (for the first time) Machin 2nd class (2), 1st class (4) and 50p (2) definitives with security features (£3.28) (Total £11.15!).

8 May Prestige Stamp Book first day cover set.  Royal Mail will produce a set of 4 FDCs for all the panes in the book.  This may be a first.  In 2000 Royal Mail produced three FDCs for the Profile on Print PSB panes containing oversized stamps (these were new stamps not previously available elsewhere).  I have a recollection, however, that Royal Mail also produced FDCs for either the very first PSB - the 1969 Stamps for Cooks book - or the £1 Wedgwood PSB issued in 1972.

8 May Exhibition Souvenir Sheet containing 1p, 2p, 5p, 9p, 10p, 20p, 60p, 67p, 88p, 97p, £1.46 Machin definitives and perforated label with London 2010 Festival of Stamps logo. (£5.05)
EDIT: This sheet will not be sent to Royal Mail's regular customers as part of their Standing Order, but must be bought at the show or ordered separately from Tallents House - stock code S1003.

8 May Exhibition Overprint Sheet: 6 May sheet overprinted (or maybe the legend is incorporated into the printing?) BUSINESS DESIGN CENTRE, LONDON 8 - 15 MAY 2010 in the top right corner.
EDIT: This sheet will not be sent to Royal Mail's regular customers as part of their Standing Order, but must be bought at the show or ordered separately from Tallents House.  
Update: Two sources, a collector in the UK and a dealer in Australia, told us that they had been told by Royal Mail that this sheet would be available after the show, from the Bureau at Tallents House - we are now advised that this is not so.  Royal Mail also told dealers, before the show, that this sheet will be in the Year Book, due in November.  It remains to be seen whether this information turns out to be true. 

8 May Collectors Pack containing most of the current Machin definitives.  The low-value collectors pack will contain all the definitive stamps still on sale at post offices (as listed above) plus the self-adhesive 20 gramme, 40 gramme and postcard airmail stamps, the 2nd*, 1st*, 2nd Large* and 1st Large* NVIs, and the 1st and 1st Large Recorded Signed For stamps.  Not shown in the publicity picture, but included in the pack, will be the 50p* & £1*.  *Self-adhesive security definitives (£16.10).

8 May  Postal Union Congress Facsimile Pack Non-postally valid facsimile sheet of the 1929 PUC £1, printed from copies of original plate, in blocks of four in a pack.  (£4.95)

8 May  London 2010 Exhibition Generic (Smilers) Sheet.  A new-style Exhibition sheet, self-adhesive for the first time, with the definitive-size 1st class Hello stamp and twenty different pictures, iconic of London, on attached labels (£8.50)

8 May 10th Anniversary of Smilers® Generic Sheet, containing an assortment of stamps available in the Smilers service, including the new 1st class Birthday cake (x4) and Present (x4) stamps, 20gr Europe (x2) and 20gr Worldwide (x2) stamps, and the 1st class Union Flag (x3), Balloons, Firework, Thank You, Love, and Robin.  This will also be available for personalisation at the London 2010 exhibition, and these sheets will be overprinted with the Exhibition Logo (£10.00).
 
8 May George V Postcard Pack.   A pack of 6 picture postcards which will enable collectors to make their own maximum cards with the stamps and special postmarks available.  (No details or image so far provided.)


8 May Philatelic Bulletin Supplement - The George V Royal Cypher Issue.  A5 illustrated booklet "which provides a highly detailed look at many of the stamps issued during George V’s reign starting with the Downey head."  (£2.95)

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13 May  Britain Alone.  Set of 8 stamps and Miniature Sheet of 4 stamps, the latter marking The Dunkirk Evacuation.   (£5.30 and £2.86).   Also a set of 13 Stamp Cards (one for each stamp and one for the MS - 35.20), a presentation pack (£8.70), and a Prestige Stamp Book (£9.76) containing the 8 stamps from the set and 4 from the  miniature sheet on 3 panes, plus a pane of Machin definitives 4 x 5p, 2 x 10p, 2 x 60p.

There will also be a Dunkirk Medal Cover at £14.95.

13 May  Also on this day, but totally unrelated, Royal Mail will issue coils of 500 & 1000 1st class and 2nd class definitives.  These will be conventionally gummed with the ROYAL MAIL* security overlay, but no security slits.   (*As reported in the Philatelic Bulletin - however, it is quite likely that one of the letters will be changed, maybe to MRIL, maybe not!) 
Keen observers will note that the 1st & 2nd class Large Letter booklets with source code MA10 should also be added to this list, having been found in Royal Mail's stock on 8 May.

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To hold all these products there will also be 
- a London 2010 Album binder at £12.95
- slipcase for the above at £9.00
- inserts for George V - £4.99
- inserts for The King's Stamps - £4.99
- inserts for Exhibition items - £4.99
- inserts for Britain Alone - £4.99 

Do you collect Postal History the Modern way?

Many people think that stamps issued these days are only for collectors.   There certainly isn't much variety on the mail these days, unless you count the variations in the 2nd class blue and 1st class gold.  Incidentally, how often do you see these stamps from ordinary counter sheets, ie without any hidden security code?  Most of the ones I get are from booklets, with business sheets a close second.  Ordinary sheet stamps could be quite scarce!

Over on my other blog, I'm showing stamps actually used.  I'm stuck in the late 1960s/early 1970s at present but will add to it from time to time, and I'll be interested to have your reactions.  Some of these stamps are not in many collections - on cover, doing the right job!



If you're interested in this aspect of collecting, please follow the Postal History blog as well as this one.

Battersea Cylinder update

We've had a response from Royal Mail about the Cylinders used on the Battersea issue, and have amended the original message here.

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Temporary website for Norvic

As announced on our website, we will be undertaking some technical changes this weekend involving moving servers.

There will almost certainly be an interruption in service on our e-commerce site (www.norphil.co.uk/catalog).

Update: although the e-commerce site is visible, the search facilities, the country-drop-down and some other aspects are broken: actual products cannot be seen this way. They can be seen by clicking on "What's New".

Later Update: we believe the broken aspects are now fixed - those that we have tested are.  If you find something wrong, please do tell us.

We'll have all sections back to normal as soon as we can and apologise for any inconvenience.

Multiple Cylinders for Battersea Dogs & Cats

Most people know that Litho plates or cylinders don't last as long as those used in gravure printing, meaning that for long runs, multiple plates or combinations of plates might be necesssary.

Way back in 1969 Harrisons printed nearly 140 million of the 5d Christmas stamp from one set of cylinders - though apparently they had to have two tries at making the brown. According to Stanley Gibbons specialised catalogue the cylinder numbers are:
1A blue, 1B yellow, 1c magenta, 1d green, 2E brown, 1F light blue, 1G red, 1H gold.

The 271 million 4d second class stamps resulted in two combinations of cylinders:
1A brown, 1b vermillion, 2C orange, 1D purple, 1E blue, 1F or 2F green, 1G violet, 1H gold

In the 21st century few stamps are printed for each issue, and it seems that one set of gravure cylinders or litho plates is usually sufficient. But it would seem that Cartor have had some trouble with Battersea's Dogs & Cats - either that or there are many more millions printed than usual.

We've now had a response from Royal Mail which explains why this problem occurred, and they have provided a full list of the 9 cylinder combinations used.


"The reasons for this unusual range of plate combinations are twofold. Firstly, this issue was printed fine screen litho to get the best translation of the images as we could get. Because of the delicacy of the images on the plates this results in a shorter life for each plate. The second impact was the phosphor ink. At the time these were printed we were having problems with the quality of the phosphor ink on hand. Cartor's attempts to compensate for this resulted in a number of plate changes before a new batch of the ink was received."

Thanks to Martyn for providing this information which is, I'm sure, of interest to many collectors.

So far the combinations found by us or reported to us are numbers 1 to 8 in the above list, leaving number 9 still to be found. (Type 3 just reported in a delivery from Tallents House - thanks, Marc.) See comments for locations of some combinations.

Please let us know what you have found; remember you need two sets to include the phosphor and gold numbers.

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