Forged and reused stamps: how to spot them and report them to Royal Mail

We have previously said that, while we know that Royal Mail take fraud and forged stamps seriously they don't actually tackle the problem at source, instead just surcharging recipients.

Now Royal Mail have two new pages on their website, one giving guidance on how to spot forgeries and reused stamps, and the other providing an avenue for reporting.

What is stamp fraud?  is here

Report stamp fraud  is here

The second page includes these questions:

Do you still have any remaining stamps or envelopes with the invalid stamps?

If yes, are you willing to send these to us?

So Royal Mail are asking for examples, even though recipients who are surcharged may not realise that this is a way for RM to investigate, and for them to report their concerns.  Remember, the recipient will be innocent in most cases, buying from (say) eBay sellers of various goods, who themselves have bought the (forged) stamps online.

If you have had to pay a surcharge on mail delivered to you because the stamp is allegedly forged, then you really need to read these pages.  And if you send the packaging to Royal Mail you really need to keep a photocopy or good sharp photo.  You may be able to prove that the stamps are genuine and that the surcharge was wrong.

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Machin Definitives 2018

As more new printings of Machin definitives have been announced it seems like a good time to provide a list of those which have been issued or discovered this year.

As well as those already reported in earlier blogposts, I have been told that there are new printings of business sheets with no serial numbers or dates on the rear of the top panel.  The 1st class is M17L but the 2nd class is M18L so we could see first M18L soon.

The 1st Large booklet has also turned up with M18L coding.  My correspondent says that this is the last one he would have expected, but I think the 2nd Large is even less likely.  While I was away I had two Large letters from non-collector sources in different parts of the country.  Both were stamped with 2nd Large from 2009, with source code FOYAL!

For the six new stamps distributed by Royal Mail on 23 May there will be no official FDCs as they are non-visible change (change of printer only).  We will do a limited number of covers.  We will also stock a limited number of date and cylinder blocks.  It will help our ordering if you let us know that you want these.

For the 1st Large booklet and 2nd business sheet referred to above we will show these in our shop as soon as we have stock.  Meanwhile here are pictures.  I understand that the 1st Large booklet stamps exists on backing paper with printing in both directions.

 (Updated 17 May)

Year code before 2018
1st deep scarlet counter sheet M16L - 2914a.6 - originally reported mid-2017 but in very low numbers.
50p slate counter sheet M17L - 3051.7 - January 2018
Special Delivery 100g M17L on SBP2 - 2985.7a - January 2018

Year Code 2018
1st class MCIL - 2936aC.8 - RAF retail booklet issued 20.3.18
1st class MSIL - 2936aS.8 - retail booklet
1st Large MFIL - 2937a.8 - retail booklet 

10p counter sheet issued 23.5.18 - 3010.8 - reprint by Walsall of 2017 & earlier DLR stamp
20p counter sheet issued 23.5.18 - 3020.8 - reprint by Walsall of 2017 & earlier DLR stamp
£1 brown counter sheet issued 23.5.18 - 3101.8 - reprint by Walsall of 2017 & earlier DLR stamp
£1.25 counter sheet issued 20.3.18 - 3125
£1.45 counter sheet issued 20.3.18 - 3145
£1.55 counter sheet issued 20.3.18 - 3155
£2.25 counter sheet issued 20.3.18 - 3225.8 - reprint by Walsall of 2017 & earlier DLR stamp
£2.65 counter sheet issued 20.3.18 - 3265
2nd counter sheet issued 23.5.18 - 2911a.8 - reprint by Walsall of 2017 & earlier DLR stamp
2nd business sheet - found April 2018 - 2911B.8
1st counter sheet issued 23.5.18 - 2914a.8 - reprint by Walsall of 2017 & earlier DLR stamp
1st Large counter sheet issued 23.5.18 - 2916a.8- reprint by Walsall of 2017 & earlier DLR stamp

2p gummed from RAF PSB issued 20.3.18 - 4002P.8
5p gummed from RAF PSB issued 20.3.18 - 4005P.8
£1.17 gummed from RAF PSB issued 20.3.18 - 4117P.8

These will be included in the next edition of our checklist.

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Website, blog, Checklist, electronic communications.

This post wraps up a number of matters relating to electronic communications and websites.

Website to Blog
A recent change to our website homepage provides links individually to three recent blog posts, but not to the main blog URL which would enable you to see all recent posts.  This was due to a change made in the Feedwind software we use.  I shall be looking into a further change to restore the links to the previous method if that is possible.  In the meantime if you click a link which takes you to an individual blog post you can click on the Norvic Philatelics Blog title (in white) to refresh to show all recent blog posts.  In the same way clicking on Norvic Philatelics takes you to the webpage.

Checklist of Machin Security Stamps

Due to difficulties in sending mass emails (and new regulations) we no longer send out marketing emails or emails to tell you that there is a new version of the checklist.  This blog will be the only place where we will place notifications that there is a new version.  If there has been no notification here since you last asked for a copy to be sent to you, then there is no new copy.  All blogposts announcing a new version will be labelled 'Catalogue'.  Click on the word Catalogue in the label list on the right-hand side to find all posts with this label.

A few people have received multiple emails with the same checklist, even though they have only requested it once.  We believe this is a bookmark problem, and may occur because you go back to the page which already has your email address completed.  Sorry for any inconvenience: this is another thing on the technical To-Do list.

Electronic Communications - GDPR

The EU General Data Protection Regulations, effective 25 May 2018, apply to all organisations (businesses and clubs) having any contact with EU countries and Switzerland.  Simplified, this requires us to have your permission before we communicate with you further; 'communications' can be electronic or by mail or phone.  Permissions can be set to distinguish between marketing/information/fundraising purposes, and many readers will have had multiple emails from clubs, hobby organisations, financial and other companies.  The regs also require that data is only held for as long as it is required.

All our emails (whether to our norvic-philatelics, norphil, or gmail addresses) are routed through Google's Gmail.  This means that if you write to us by email your email address is added to our contacts.  If you have asked for our Security Stamps Checklist our website sends us an email to say that you have asked for it.  Originally this was so that we could tell you when the Checklist was updated, but sending mass emails soon proved problematic because some ISPs regarded such mail as spam.  In particular Britain's BT (and associated) rejected any mass mailing addressed to more than 15 of their customers.  So we no longer write (as mentioned above) to tell you when there is a new version.  

In fact, we don't write to you unless you write to us.  In a very few instances where you have asked about a stamp or other product many years ago we may contact you.  This is a legitmate use of your details.   Otherwise traffic is initiated in one direction only: you send us information, you ask us questions, and you order from our webshop.  Only then do we contact you.

However, if you are reading this and want us to remove your details from our address book, please write and ask, and that will be done.  We cannot remove your details from our web-shop for accounting and tax purposes, and removing account details will also remove order details.

Any questions, please ask!

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Slogan Postmarks for April 2018.

A quiet start to the month, and then a rush of slogans at the end.  Thanks to all those who sent examples of these.  Yours may not be shown but all are welcome. I try to show one of each layout, but not one from each mail centre - that could get too busy!

I can't find a slogan marking the centenary of the founding of the Royal Air Force, I thought that there should have been one.

The first slogan I have marks the Meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Government held in London from 16-20 April.   We have the slogan used on 16 April at Edinburgh and Tyneside (the other format), and reversed at SE Anglia (Chelmsford) on a square envelope - and it still missed the stamp!

COMMONWEALTH HEADS

OF GOVERNMENT 

MEETING

London 2018

16-20 April 

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Next came the slogan to celebrate Digital Pride which was running from 21-28 April.  Whilst I can see that social media campaigns will be appropriate, I'm not sure how delivering letters (and 'coming out' to colleagues and managers) ties in with digital pride?  Anyway, the slogan was used in both formats, here on 20 April from Norwich and SE Anglia - the latter being the alternative layout and on a coloured envelope which is why I have taken the colour out.

Celebrate Digital

Pride

21-28 April 2018

Delivering with Pride

or

Celebrate 

Digital Pride

21-28 April 2018

Delivering

with Pride

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The birth on 23 April of Prince Louis to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge was marked by a slogan used on at least 23 & 24th April. Examples from Romford on 23 and Peterborough in the other format on 24th.

Congratulations

TRH The Duke

and Duchess

of Cambridge on the

birth of their son

UPDATE 2 May: JG has sent this poor example from South East Anglia on 30 April.

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This ought to be the end of April's slogans but running in parallel with the others, even on the same day and in the same machine, Tyneside MC has continued to support the British Winter Olympics team in their endeavours at Pyeongchang!  Examples here on 16th or 18th and 26th or 28th!

Thanks to everybody who has contributed to this month's report.

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Revised Gibbons numbers for Security Machins (U-series)

As earlier advised, Stanley Gibbons have revised numbering of the U-series of Machin definitives which will be published in the 2018 edition of their Great Britain Concise catalogue.

Collectors who use their Windsor catalogue have already received the latest supplement which includes this table of changes.   My thanks to a couple of collectors who have sent me this, and to SG who have already sent me a slightly less organised table.  (Click on the table to see an enlargement.)

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More counter sheets from Walsall on 23rd May, 2018

While we are away, Royal Mail have sent advices to standing order customers but not, as far as I can see, to dealers that more new Machin counter sheet printings will be distributed on 23 May.

These are ‘Non Visible Changes’ and will be automatically sent by RM to their customers who have these on standing orders. 

Denominations : 2^nd Class, 1^st Class, 1^st Large, 10p, 20p and £1

As these have an official day of issue we will produce a limited number of FDCs to order.  If you are interested please let us know as soon as possible. 

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Miniature sheet probable for Royal wedding on May 19th.

I’m told there will be an additional issue of special stamps on May 19th, which will cost £4.44. This sounds like a miniature sheet consisting of two each 1st class and £1.55 stamps, as with previous Royal Weddings.

Per a comment below, this is confirmed, but not by Royal Mail, as being a miniature sheet for the Royal Wedding.  As these stamps have almost certainly been delivered to us at home, pictures will be supplied as soon as possible.

Although Royal Mail will once again keep this a secret until the last possible minute, I think it fair to say that at the last briefing they said that IF they managed to get agreement for the issue and the designs in time to have it printed the wedding stamps would be issued on the day of the wedding albeit that that is a Saturday.

Update 14 May: the sheet and pack have now appeared on eBay, just under a week before the issue date.

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Blog access fixed, Website update, New stamps, and more postal forgeries.

Hope everybody had a good Easter break.  I've had trouble again with the software used to upload files to the website.  Every time Apple releases a new version of the Mac operating system the transfer software fails and a new version has to be created.  There is often a few days' delay while this is done. 

You have probably noticed (or maybe not) increasing use of secure websites even for information-only pages.  This is partly because Google and other search engines are giving priority to sites which have secure (https://) access over those which only have http://.  For our main website this matters little, apart from dumping us way down search engine results compared with where we used to be when we were allowed (by Royal Mail) to publish news rather than acknowledge their new stamp issues.

I recently changed the set-up for the blog (which is powered by Google) which meant that some bookmarks did not work, and there was no feed to our website.  That's now been fixed with a new version of the feed link, so if you are on our home page you can see if there is anything new here.

Update: I've been told that the new feed has links only on the individual entries not on the blog title, meaning that to see other posts you have to click on 'next' or 'older posts'. While I work out how to change this, there is a workaround.  Once you get to any blog post, if you click on the blog title "Norvic Philatelics Blog" at the head of the page, it will then refresh to show a page-full of blog, starting with the most recent post.

Website update
And if you go there, you will see that there are now new pages showing good resolution images of the Reintroduced Species stamps out next week on 17 April, and the 10 x 1st class stamps showing adult and juvenile Owls to be issued on 11 May.

It would have been better if those had been issued in March, but of course with the Centenary of the RAF celebrated on 1 April, the stamps had to be issued around then - so why not on March 28th, perhaps, with the new rates so that they would at least see some postal use after people were made aware of the anniversary.  They could have been advertised during the tv programmes!

Forged stamps
Roughly once a week I get emailed by either recipients of surcharged mail, or people who have bought stamps on eBay to use, and are suspicious.  Most of the recent enquiries I have been able to identify positively from the images sent.  The latest batch of 1st class Large business sheet stamps has two glaring errors: no source or date code, and a bar-code in red instead of blue.

Many modern forgeries are difficult to pick up from photos and almost impossible from scans.  But all red stamps must have dates from 2012 or later.  If no year code, then they smell - and not of rats, but if powerful chemicals used in the printing process.  The picture alongside was taken from an eBay listing, so I could even see that it was 'wrong' without buying it!

Royal Mail know who is selling these, but I suspect they want to trace the supply route back at least part way to its source.  Whatever happens, the consumer ends up paying, either with a surcharge or with higher postage rates than there needs to be.

A reminder that Gibbons are changing almost all the U-numbers for security Machins in the next edition of their Concise catalogue.  The next edition of our checklist will show the new numbers alongside the old; I'm just working out how we can do that without turning the pages to landscape!  Meanwhile any dealers who would like to know the new numbers please contact me asap, because...

Holiday
As I mentioned at the end of March, our shop is now closed temporarily giving time for some packing and a short break.  (Yes much shorter than the long one!)  There may be some new Machin definitives while we are away; but we know that the 2nd class books of 12 with February 2018 packing dates still contain M17L stamps, so there is no sight yet of any M18L other than those we know about already.  We'll be back after the Mayday holiday, but may have access to allow comments through while we are away.

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Post Office makes overpricing refund easy - at last!

After several weeks and much prompting I have now had a reply from Post Office Ltd about the over-charging of the Country Definitive Presentation Pack (see here).

I can confirm that any customers that have been incorrectly charged for the Philatelic pack, can receive a refund of the difference in branch; they will just need to show their receipt.

So to those who were overcharged, and haven't destroyed their counter receipt, you now have the opportunity to get that 15p back!

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Post and Go at Scottish Congress

As previously announced there will be no Royal Mail P&G presence at the Scottish Philatelic Congress in Perth this year (20-21 April).

However, the offshore islands and Gibraltar have been persuaded to attend and IAR reports that they will each be dispensing two types of stamps.

Congress organisers have confirmed that there will be no facility for orders by post this year.

With Royal Mail having postponed attending events and having looked at previous years it was felt there was not a significant demand for Jersey stamps.

Collectors who are interested in obtaining these stamps are advised to contact the relevant postal authorities who may be selling them via their bureaux.

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