Jersey to post first pictorial Post and Go Faststamps

Jersey Post will issue Post and Go stamps featuring protected species stamps at Stampex.

First reported in Stamp Magazine, the stamps depict a puffin, agile frog, red squirrel, hedgehog, barn owl and green lizard and will be issued on 18 February.

UPDATE 12 January.
The stamps are now shown above.  As with UK stamps, all 6 designs may be obtained in all 6 'values", which with Jersey Post are:
 
Local Letter / Local Large / UK Letter / UK Large / Europe up to 20g / Intl Letter up to 20g

More details soon, meanwhile you can get a flavour of the designs by looking at Andrew Beckett's portfolio here. None of the designs to be used is on the website, however.

Information will also be at www.jerseystamps.com - but not yet.

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Post and Go Faststamps 2014 Summary - Guest Blog

This list was added as a comment on the Guernsey post, but I think it belongs in a separate post, and all discussion on it will be here.   Thanks to our Anonymous contributor

2014 was a bit excessive when you consider the new value/design combinations

Wincor Nixdorf machine issues

Machin Head increased from 6 to 9 values (3 values)
Birds 1 No known change
Birds 2 increased from 36 to 48 values (12 values)
Birds3 increased from 36 to 48 values (12 values)
Birds 4 increased from 36 to 48 values (12 values)

Sheep increased from 36 to 54 values (18 values)
Pigs increased from 36 to 54 values (18 values)
Cattle increased from 36 to 54 values (18 values)
Union Flag increased from 6 to 9 values (3 values)
Robin MA12 reprint increased from 6 to 9 values (3 values)

Lakes increased from 36 to 54 values (18 values)
Ponds increased from 36 to 54 values (18 values)
Rivers increased from 36 to 54 values (18 values)
Machin Head MA13 reprint increased from 6 to 9 values (3 values)
Union Flag MA13 reprint increased from 6 to 9 values (seen on eBay, issued by Harrogate)
Robin MA13 reprint increased from 6 to 8 values (2 values)

Spring Blooms increased from 36 to 54 values (18 values)
Symbolic Flowers increased from 36 to 42 values (6 values)
Poppy (solo stamp) 7 values
Winter Greenery (1st class) 12 values

Winter Greenery (2nd class) 12 values (issued in error by Farringdon Road and Perth)


NCR (NVI values only) not including class swap rolls*

Machin (1st class) 9 values
Machin MA13 reprint (1st class) 9 values
Machin MA14 reprint (1st class) 6 values

Machin MA12 (2nd class) 2 values
Machin MA13 reprint (2nd class) 2 values
Machin MA14 reprint (2nd class) 2 values (Two part centre band)
Machin MA14 reprint (2nd class) 2 values (Full Centre band)

Union Flag 7 values
Robin MA13 reprint 6 values

Spring Blooms 42 values
Symbolic Flowers 36 values
Poppy (solo stamp) 6 values
Winter Greenery (1st class) 12 values
Winter Greenery (2nd class) 4 values

And then there’s the exhibition/static machine issues

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*  Some of these swaps from 1st to 2nd or vice versa were apparently authorised.  I have some images from eBay, but feel free to add to this list in the comments below. (Ian)

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Guernsey Post next to use Post and Go

From Guernsey Post via IAR


Guernsey Post is delighted to announce that it has joined the Royal Mail Post and Go family, with its first series of Guernsey Post and Go stamps to be released on 18^th February 2015 featuring the Guernsey Flag.

Guernsey Post is the second postal administration to join Royal Mail Post and Go, which is a new and exciting way to begin or enhance a stamp collection.

Guernsey Post’s head of philatelic, Dawn Gallienne explained: “Post and Go stamps are overprinted with the postage on demand, each carrying unique identification numbers depending on the machine and session number of where they are issued.

“We are very excited to join the Royal Mail Post and Go family and to offer our customers a new product which complements our existing stamps,” she added.

Guernsey’s distinctive red, white and gold flag features the St George’s Cross and incorporates a uniquely shaped gold cross taken from the flag of William the Conqueror.  It was adopted by the States of Guernsey on 30 April 1985 and first flown on 9 May 1985 – the 40th anniversary of the island’s Liberation from the Occupation of WWII.

The stamps will be available in values of GY Letter, GY Large Letter, UK Letter, UK Large Letter and International Letter up to 20g, International Letter up to 40g at Stampex.

-End release-

From IAR
The Guernsey kiosk GG01 GU01 will be to the latest standard, with speakers and side pod enabled. It will be on the Post and Go Stand at Spring Stampex alongside JE01 from Jersey.

Comment
Don't be surprised to see the GG01 GU01 machine at Stampex dispensing Royal Mail Union Flag stamps as JE01 does.

Update:  I've been advised by IAR that the Guernsey machine will be coded GG01, not GU01.

Update 19 January 2015 - a picture of the stamps and FDC is now available on Guernsey's website.

UPDATE 18 February
The Guernsey Stamps website seems to be changing daily this week, but a telephone call has confirmed the following:

The Stampex inscribed stamps are available from today.
The plain stamps will also be available but there will be a delay of about a week. 
Both these will be supplied in vertical strips of 6 (not as currently shown on their website).
The plain ones are also available in a pack (apparently as 6 loose stamps), and a first day cover. 

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Jersey Post Marks Churchill Anniversary on Post and Go Stamp

Press Release 5 January 2015

Jersey Post and Go pays tribute to Churchill

The first Jersey Post and Go overprint of 2015 will be dedicated to Sir Winston Churchill, Jersey Post has revealed.

24 January 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston Churchill and, to mark the occasion, Jersey flag stamps from Jersey Post’s JE02 Post and Go machine will be printed with a special, commemorative overprint. The overprint which will read: 

Churchill 24.1.65 

will be available from 24 January 2015 for one month only and the Jersey Philatelic Bureau is recommending collectors order theirs whilst stocks last.

‘Winston Churchill is such an important figure in British history and we were very keen to mark this important date,’ comments Melanie Gouzinis, Jersey Post’s Senior Philatelic Manager. ‘We’ve seen a great deal of interest in Jersey Post and Go since its launch last year and stamp labels with special overprints like this hold particular significance.’  

The JE02 series Post and Go machine, powered by Royal Mail, is located in Jersey Post’s Broad Street post office in St Helier. Union flag stamps, also available from the machine, will not carry the Churchill overprints but will continue to feature the ‘Broad Street’ location identifier.
 

Meanwhile, Jersey Post’s JE01 machine will remain at Jersey Post Headquarters until the end of January, where it has proved useful for local stamp purchases for Christmas. Stamp labels vended from this machine will still carry the ‘Jersey Post HQ’ location identifier.

Mrs Gouzinis continued: ‘Our JE01 Post and Go machine will be at Spring Stampex next month where we will be launching a brand new Post and Go design, enabling our collectors to further enhance their Post and Go collections.’  

Post and Go is the next generation of self-adhesive stamps overprinted with the postage on demand. It represents a new and very exciting way to begin or enhance a Jersey stamp collection. Just like Royal Mail Post and Go stamps, Jersey Post and Go stamps carry unique identification numbers depending on the machine and session number of where and when they were issued. All Jersey Post and Go stamps are supplied with a dedicated receipt.

Philatelic stamp products such as the original set bearing the six tariffs, First Day Cover and Presentation Pack can be ordered at: www.jerseystamps.com or by contacting the Jersey Philatelic Bureau on: 00 44 (0)1534 616320.

 

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Another museum outlet for Post and Go stamps

Royal Mail have told us that machine A005, believed to be the former development machine at contractors IAR Bristol, is to be relocated to the Royal Marines Museum in Southsea from 13 January.

Full announcement:

Following the success of the static terminals at the British Postal Museum and the National Royal Navy Museum, Royal Mail are pleased to announce a further static machine, A005, to be based at Royal Marines Museum in Southsea. The static location identifier will be ‘The RMM’

 

Address

Royal Marines Museum  Shop

Royal Marines Museum

Esplanade

Southsea

Hampshire

PO4 9PX

Entrance: Free

Stamps: Union Flag & Machin

Location Identifier: The RMM

Installed: 13^th January 2015 – from 14:00

Kiosk: A005

Connection: 3G

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UPDATE 14 January
Thanks to Chris we can now show the output from this machine - Machins are ‘MA13’, Flags undated.

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Which stamps are these major media outlets missing for 2015?

It always happens during the Christmas break, though now I can spot these things on my iPhone.  There were multiple splashes on the web on 27th December (and probably in the printed media) about Royal Mail's 2015 stamp programme (though not in the Archant Group which publishes my local paper).  Most concentrated on The Two Ronnies stamp to be issued (with others) on 1 April.  [Now added to our website here.]

Typical reports:

The Mirror -'Best of British' stamps to honour  our famous battles, bridges and The Two Ronnies

Western Morning News - Bridges, rugby and comedy legends to feature on stamps.

Two areas in which the West Country excels - engineering and rugby - are among the items to feature on stamps in 2015.

Digital Spy - Royal Mail to honour Two Ronnies in 2015 Special Stamp programme

Daily Mail - First class! The Two Ronnies on a stamp.

Wales Online – Bees, Comedians and Rugby Union (with reference to rugby and stamping)

Shropshire Star/Herald Scotland and others -- BRIDGES TO BE FEATURED ON STAMPS

Several digital outlets showed the Forth (Rail) Bridge to illustrate this story. 

Most mentioned Bridges, the Centenary of the First World War, and the British Inventions with specific reference to the invention of the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee (the only one they seem to have had a picture for).

Several of the reports included this paragraph:

The 2015 special stamps programme will start with British inventions, such as the world wide web, followed by a set of 10 stamps celebrating the engineering of some of our most famous bridges.

Now you know, and I know, that this is just not true.  The Inventors stamps will be issued at Stampex on 19 February.  What's missing are the Alice in Wonderland stamps issued next week, and the new Greetings stamps for the Smilers service issued later in January.

So why the odd reporting?  Well, as you know we couldn't show the Alice in Wonderland stamps as early as I would have liked§ - say in late November or early December - because of Royal Mail media restrictions.  I was told that they would, as usual, have a big push after Christmas when news is quiet so as to get maximum coverage for their first new issue of 2015.  So what went wrong?  There has been no press release about the Alice stamps yet: instead they set out the list for most of the rest of the year (full text below) in which they suggest that the 2015 programme starts in February!

Casual collectors who don't follow stamp news websites or blogs, or buy stamp magazines may be forgiven for thinking that they could pay their pre-Christmas credit-card bills in January and not worry about adding to their stamp collections until later.  Wrong!  Alice will cost £9.42 for a single mint set.

§ In the light of a couple of comments on this blog I should explain that Royal Mail do allow dealers to show the stamps in conjunction with their own products eg FDCs, but not on Royal Mail fdcs, or as stand-alone items.  This is why major cover dealers are showing them a month or more ahead of the date of issue.  It doesn't explain why other dealers are listing on eBay for 30 days of advance sales before the issue date, and why other writers are showing them without permission on their blogs.  Oh for some sanity!

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Press Release

ROYAL MAIL REVEALS ITS SPECIAL STAMP PROGRAMME FOR 2015

• The British sense of humour is celebrated with the Comedy Greats issue. The set features iconic comedians who have provided some of the nation’s most memorable laugh-out-loud moments in television, film and theatre history, including one of the nation’s best loved comedy duos, The Two Ronnies
• Prominent key British inventions, such as the world wide web, will be marked with the Inventive Britain issue
• 2015 will see the second issue in the five-year series of stamps commemorating the First World War. Featured in the set is an image of the football used by the London Irish Rifles during the Battle of Loos in 1915
• Bridges celebrates the engineering of ten of these iconic structures from across the UK
• 175^th Anniversary of the Penny Black  is to be marked with a miniature sheet of stamps
• 800^th anniversary of the Magna Carta will be commemorated with a set in June
• The bicentenary of The Battle of Waterloo and the 75^th anniversary of The Battle of Britain will also be commemorated
• The sport of Rugby Union features in 2015, with England hosting the eighth tournament, the Rugby World Cup set of stamps launch in September 

Royal Mail’s 2015 Special Stamp programme is set to showcase the Best of British from great inventions to some of our most cherished Comedy Greats.

The British sense of humour is celebrated with the Comedy Greats issue on 1 April. This set of stamps features iconic comedians who have provided some of the nation’s most memorable laugh-out-loud moments in television, film and theatre history, including one of the nation’s best loved comedy duos, The Two Ronnies.

May 2015 will see the second issue in the five-year series of stamps commemorating the First World War. Included in the set is an image of the actual ball used by Rifleman Frank Edwards who led his fellow troops into what became known as the Battle of Loos, by kicking a football into play on the battlefield ahead of their initial attack.

Royal Mail will also honour prominent key British inventions with the Inventive Britain issue in February. Included in the set is a stamp to mark the invention of the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee.

Bridges in March will see 10 stamps celebrate the engineering genius of these structures from across the UK.

May marks the 175^th anniversary of the Penny Black, the world’s first ever postage stamp.

The 2015 calendar continues the military theme with Special Stamps marking the bicentenary of The Battle of Waterloo in June and 75 years since the start of The Battle of Britain in July.

The 800^th anniversary of the Magna Carta will be marked by the release of a set of stamps in June, while a series of national events across the country will commemorate this historic document.

Rugby Union features in September with a set of stamps launching as England hosts the eighth Rugby World Cup.

In what is set to be a notable year of stamp issues, other sets include Bees and Christmas, which will take a religious theme.

2015 Special Stamp Programme
February                     Inventive Britain
March                          Bridges
April                             Comedy Greats
May                              Penny Black
May                              First World War: 1915
June                             Magna Carta
June                             The Battle of Waterloo
July                              The Battle of Britain
August                         Bees
September                  Rugby World Cup
November                   Christmas

- See more at: http://www.royalmailgroup.com/media/press-releases/special-stamp-programme-2015#sthash.7H5s8G66.dpuf

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So if you read these strange reports in your Daily Express, Daily Mail, Metro, Mirror, Western Morning News or many other regional newspapers and thought, "Newspaper's got it wrong again!", now you know why.  I suppose we will have another splash next week about Alice, but that may be too late for anybody who wants to prepare their own first day cover.

Happy New Year !

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Six more shopping days ? - We'll be having a break !

The pre-Christmas posting rush is nearly over, and soon we can all relax.  Perhaps you will get some philatelic goodies in our Christmas sacks - a new UV lamp, or a new stockbook?  A big bag of kiloware so that you can hunt for the elusive 'direct-mail-only' security Machins, or some scarce Post and Go stamps at 2nd class rates on flags, or flowers, or anything else that they shouldn't be on!

The queues of people at Post Offices still posting parcels, or mail-order returns or - like me - sending out orders continues unabated.  The future looks good for the Post Office branch network and for Royal Mail while it can maintain a good level of parcel and packet business.

We will not be posting anything next week, and maybe not the week after - it will depend on how well the relaxing goes, and how fine the weather is.  So the office will be closed from 22nd December to 2 January 2015.  But stamp ordering on the internet is a 365/24/7 process: last year we had orders on 24 and 26 December.  As usual orders placed in this time will be dealt with as quickly as possible after we return, and those posted after 6 January may have Alice in Wonderland stamps on.

It is, of course, a time for family and friends, and particularly for children, and we will have a quiet family day on 25th, and a hectic multi-family day on 28th with a visit to a household which should have at least 16 people by the time we arrive!


We would like to thank all readers and contributors to our blog - without you it would be far less useful - and most of all, thanks to our customers.  Thanks, too, for the Christmas cards and other greetings that you have sent in the last few weeks: they really are much appreciated by the whole family. 

We are pleased to be able to supply new stamps for your collections, and hope that in 2015 we will be able to make much more available - we're planning to add some older Machins, Booklets, regionals, and worldwide postal history.  Meanwhile, we wish you ...

This year's picture is adapted from a 1905 'hold-to-light' picture postcard, which has cut-away sections on the top picture layer, to allow the windows to be 'lit' when held to the light - probably candle-light when these were posted to rural areas of Norfolk, 109 years ago.

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Instead of the inkjet postmark - last uses of the old-fashioned machines

As most UK readers know our letter post, if it is postmarked at all, is handled by one of the Mechanised Mail Centres and receives an ink-jet postmark. Some post still receives a counter datestamp (CDS), usually Special Delivery and other tracked mail.

But I have found that old-style machines are still in use around the country, and not just at Christmas!

This is a place to record the use of these old machines, commonly referred to as Universal or 'unified' as the style is the same but the manufacturer of the machine cannot be identified by the postmark impression. 

Click on the images to see them enlarged.   Firstly some from earlier in the year:

CITY OF INVERNESS - with inverted wavy lines, and space between elements of date
SWANSEA - same error as Inverness but with line between date elements

 

 

CUMBRIA DUMFRIES GALLOWAY
NORTH AND WEST YORKSHIRE  with space between elements of date

 

Now from the Christmas post, 4 types of IPSWICH SUFFOLK postmark (I am fairly confident that the one with the slogan is from Ipswich). Three from the same square envelope, dated 4 Dec 2014, and one 9 Dec 2014 with the inverted Happy Christmas / PLEASE USE / THE POSTCODE slogan, with a snowman,

  

 

 

Although comments are welcome, to be useful we need a picture of the postmark, so please email to ian@norphil.co.uk  (a 300dpi scan is perfect)

UPDATE 21 DEC:

Thanks to Doug we can show that North and West Yorkshire have used the 'Candle' Post Early slogan this year.  Happy 54th(?) birthday to the Candle postmark!  (There's an example on the British Postmark Database from York in 1960.)

Another one that I overlooked from Doug's December reports:

Plymouth / Cornwall & W. Devon (inverted town die) with Happy Christmas /PLEASE/POST EARLY snowman slogan.  8 DEC 2014

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What more for Machin Security stamps ?

And so we approach the end of another year, a year in which Machin definitives and Post and Go Faststamps have made the most GB philatelic news despite the efforts of Royal Mail's special stamp programme to engender some life into other areas of collecting, and to attract new collectors.  As written in the latest Stamp Magazine, the lack of mainstream media coverage of, for example, the Prime Ministers issue (which included Margaret Thatcher, surely one of the most controversial of modern PMs) demonstrated that the nationals didn't really take any notice of Royal Mail's output.

But are we finished with this year's Machins and, aside from the Alice in Wonderland booklet stamp, what will be the first new Machin Security Stamp to appear next year?  The only low-value stamp still to appear with a 2014 reprint date is the 1p, a value used so much to supplement the others that it must surely have been reprinted alongside the other low values and will appear quite soon.  But my bet for the first sheet stamp to appear with a 2015 code is the 97p.

Reprinted 6 times since the first (January 2014) printing this is possibly the most-used value outside the 2nd and 1st class NVIs.  Post Office branches reported stocks running low in the Christmas period as, quite inexplicably, the value was not included in the Christmas set.  There's no 97p in the Alice in Wonderland set either, which does - bizarrely - have two 81p surface mail stamps.

We can expect the rate to change in the March/April review (probably to £1 which will save having a new stamp), but I doubt that there will be any 97p special stamps before then.  The last set before the rate change is always a set of 1st class stamps - they have to be printed so far in advance of a decision being made on new postage rates that stamps with a face value are never included in the set issued in March.


Machins first issued or discovered in 2014 - 36 this year
In the order they appeared:

2931R.2W - 2nd class coil 10,000 printed by Walsall - M12L MRIL

4002P.3E - 2p From Classic Locomotives of the UK prestige stamp book M13L MPIL
4005P.3F - 5p ditto.  4005P.3E was in the Merchant Navy PSB with inverted perforations

2911.4 - 2nd class counter sheet

3081 - 81p "holly green" - emerald
3097 - 97p "purple heather" - bluish violet
3147 -  £1.47 "dove grey" - lavender-grey
3215 -  £2.15 "marine turquoise"- greenish blue

2913B.4 - 2nd class Large business sheet MBIL MA14
2936.4  - 1st class red MTIL from booklet of 12

4010P.4 -  10p MPIL from Buckingham Palace PSB
4020P.4  - 20p  MPIL from Buckingham Palace PSB
4100P.4  -  £1 MPIL from Buckingham Palace PSB

2936C.4  - 1st class MCIL from Buckingham Palace mixed retail booklet

3010.4  -  10p M14L/MAIL from counter sheet
3020.4  -  20p M14L/MAIL from counter sheet
3101.4  -  £1 bistre-brown M14L/MAIL from counter sheet

3128.4 - £1.28 M14L/MAIL emerald from counter sheet
2914.4 - 1st  M14L/MAIL class counter sheet
2916.4 - 1st Large M14L/MAIL counter sheet

2916B.4 - 1st class Large business sheet MBIL MA14
2913.4 -  2nd class Large counter sheet M14L
2931.4 - 2nd class MTIL M14L from booklet of 12
2914R.3 - 1st class coil (of 10,000) by Walsall M13L MRIL

2911B.4 - 2nd class business sheet MBIL M14L (correction)
2914B.4 - 1st class business sheet MBIL M14L
2933.4 - 2nd Large MFIL from booklet of 4
2937.4  - 1st Large MFIL from booklet of 4
2936S.4 - 1st class red MSIL from booklet of 6 

4010P.4a -  10p MPIL from Great War PSB - shade and phosphor difference.
4020P.4a  - 20p  MPIL from Great War PSB - shade and phosphor difference.
4100P.4a  -  £1 MPIL from Great War PSB - shade and phosphor difference.

2985.4 - Special Delivery 100g M14L
3002.4 - 2p counter sheet M14L
2986.4 - Special Delivery 500g M14L
3005.4 - 5p counter sheet M14L

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In value order

3002.4 - 2p counter sheet M14L
4002P.3E - 2p From Classic Locomotives of the UK prestige stamp book M13L MPIL
4005P.3F - 5p ditto. 
3005.4 - 5p counter sheet M14L
4010P.4 -  10p MPIL from Buckingham Palace PSB
4010P.4a -  10p MPIL from Great War PSB - shade and phosphor difference.

3010.4  -  10p M14L/MAIL from counter sheet
4020P.4  - 20p  MPIL from Buckingham Palace PSB
4020P.4a  - 20p  MPIL from Great War PSB - shade and phosphor difference.
3020.4  -  20p M14L/MAIL from counter sheet
3081   -   81p "holly green" - emerald M14L/MAIL
3097   -   97p "purple heather" - bluish violet M14L/MAIL

4100P.4  -  £1 MPIL from Buckingham Palace PSB
4100P.4a  -  £1 MPIL from Great War PSB - shade and phosphor difference.
3101.4  -  £1 bistre-brown M14L/MAIL from counter sheet
3128.4 - £1.28 M14L/MAIL emerald from counter sheet
3147 -  £1.47 "dove grey" - lavender-grey M14L/MAIL
3215 -  £2.15 "marine turquoise"- greenish blue M14L/MAIL

2931R.2W - 2nd class coil 10,000 printed by Walsall - M12L MRIL 
2911.4 - 2nd class counter sheet
2911B.4 - 2nd class business sheet MBIL M14L (correction)
2931.4 - 2nd class MTIL from booklet of 12
 
2913.4 -  2nd class Large counter sheet M14L
2913B.4 - 2nd class Large business sheet MBIL MA14
2933.4 - 2nd Large MFIL from booklet of 4

2914.4 - 1st  M14L/MAIL class counter sheet
2914B.4 - 1st class business sheet MBIL M14L
2914R.3 - 1st class coil (of 10,000) by Walsall M13L MRIL 
2936.4  - 1st class red MTIL from booklet of 12
2936S.4 - 1st class red MSIL from booklet of 6 
2936C.4  - 1st class MCIL from Buckingham Palace mixed retail booklet 
2916.4 - 1st Large M14L/MAIL counter sheet
2916B.4  - 1st class Large business sheet MBIL MA14  
2937.4  - 1st Large MFIL from booklet of 4

2985.4 - Special Delivery 100g M14L
2986.4 - Special Delivery 500g M14L

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Special postmark to mark restoration of Charles Dickens' postbox

From a Press Release:

Charles Dickens’ postbox, installed by Royal Mail at the author’s request in the 19^th century, has been recommissioned and put back into service following a special ceremony held today (Wednesday 10th December).

The postbox in Gads Hill, Higham, Kent, was officially reopened outside Dickens’ former home and now school, Gads Hill Place, by his great, great granddaughter, Marion Dickens.

A plaque has been attached next to the box to highlight its historical connection to the author and reads:

This letterbox outside Gad’s Hill Place, home of Charles Dickens, was used by the author and his family between 1859 and 1870.

Proudly restored in his memory by Royal Mail, 10.12.14

A special postmark will also be applied to mail posted in the box bearing the letters ‘CD’, in tribute to the way Dickens used to seal his mail before he posted it.  The postmark will be applied from Monday 15th December to Thursday 18th December – the last recommended posting date for Second Class mail.

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I can't help thinking that the date should have been shown as 10.12.2014 (or even 10 December 2014).

Unfortunately the press release does not identify whether this will be an operational slogan, or a special handstamp; or whether it will be applied to all mail posted in the area or only mail posted in the restored box.

More details will be provided if we can winkle them out of Royal Mail.

The special postmark is revealed to be a short-term handstamp in the latest Postmark Bulletin, and may be obtained from the London Special Handstamp Centre at Mount Pleasant, Ref 13298.

UPDATE 16 December: Thanks to Graham I can now show this picture of the box and plaque:

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