bookmark - Modern British Philatelic Circle

Transcription

The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
VOLUME 43
/
NUMBER 6
-
JUNE 2014
T
hey say that time flies when you’re having fun
so that must mean we are all having a great
time collecting stamps as yet another Circle year
draws to a close with this issue, making a total
of almost 300 pages for Volume 43. We hope that
you will have found your membership sufficiently
rewarding to promptly renew your subscription,
which, for those downloading from the website,
for a whole year still costs less than a book of 2ndclass stamps. • We are pleased to welcome back
in this edition Hanns Fasching’s Catalogue Editor
Notes after a short unavoidable break. • Keith
Woodward has been beavering away for many
months now to modernise and update the Circle’s
website and numerous new pages should shortly
be appearing. Be sure to take a look. • Before
wishing you all happy summer holidays, can we
remind you that the Circle only exists through the
efforts of a dwindling ‘happy few’ so if you feel
you could do something to help, please do not
hesitate to get in touch. You might even enjoy it!
in this edition of
The
Royal Mail have become ever so secretive
ve lately.
lately Still not offi
officially
cially announced
announced, miniature sheets sold at post offices
offices
will have a 10mm white rouletted tab at the left including the sheet barcode, stock code and the printer’s FSC code
unlike those supplied by Tallents House and in presentation packs. A retail book for June’s ‘Sustainable Fish’ issue
was another very late addition to this set, only announced on 13 May; the book will not be released until 18 August.
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
NEW ISSUES
2014 Machin tariff definitives
2014 Country tariff definitives
Buckingham Palace special issue
Buckingham Palace prestige book DB5(62)
Buckingham Palace retail book SB3(42)
Great British Film special issue
OTHER ITEMS
Circle Affairs / Letters
Catalogue Editor’s Notes
Phosphor bars - solid or vignetted?
Questions resulting from MCC Catalogue
New reports
Catalogue updates
Corrections to 8th edition, volume 2
New Deegam Catalogue Nos
New reports
Post & Go update
Festival of Britain stamp reproduction pack
Royal Mail new international mail services
Book review Collect British Stamps 2014
Genuine counterfeits
The 1992-97 Hong Kong Machin definitives
- part 3
Auction Corner / Coming Soon
Bits & Pieces
ISSN 0267 - 623X
242
245
247
254
261
264
271
272
274
275
276
277
279
280
281
283
284
285
286
291
297
298
www.mbp-circle.co.uk
M O D E R N B R I T I S H P H I L AT E L I C C I R C L E
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
New Issues - 2014 Machin tariff definitives
on sale:
stamp values:
printer:
process:
stamp size:
sheet size:
26 March 2014
81p, 97p, £1.47 & £2.15 Machins
De La Rue Security Print
gravure - ATN
20mm x 24mm
primary sheet of 300 stamps
(12 counter sheets of 25)
paper/gum: OFNP/SA
phosphor: 2 x 4.5mm A2B bars
DOP: upright
iridescent: ‒ / M14L
perf. gauge: 14¾ x 14 (E)
perf. type: kiss die-cut simulated perforations,
partially stripped matrix
T
he issue of new Machins for the annual increase
in postage rates turned out to be quite a simple
affair in 2014 compared to the melodrama of the
previous year when two different printers were
involved, producing stamps with two different
iridescent codes. On 31 March basic 1st- and 2ndclass letter rates rose by 2p and 3p respectively,
considerably more than in 2013 when these
rates had remained stable but relatively modest
if compared to the unprecedented increases
implemented in April 2012.
81p - new 20g international economy rate (ex-surface mail)
97p - new Europe 20g international standard rate (exairmail) / Worldwide 10g postcard rate
£1.47 - new Europe 60g international standard rate
£2.15 - new Worldwide 60g international standard rate
Stamp details |These four stamps were printed using
colours from the new Jubilee palette introduced
at the beginning of 2013 in replacement of that
designed by Jeffery Matthews, employed for the
majority of Machin issues since 1988. This did not
stop the British Philatelic Bulletin and the Royal Mail
shop website waxing lyrical about ‘cool new colours’
and ‘four tasteful tones from the Jeffery Matthews colour
palette’. All values were printed in their own 300-up
primary sheet, providing 12 counter sheets of 25p
stamps. The matrix was stripped away from around
the stamps leaving a selvedge at left and right only.
The backing paper was rouletted around each
stamp to facilitate its removal from the sheet. The
sheet layout common to all four values is shown on
the following page at actual size.
Existing NVI stamps covered the inland changes
but four new Machins were issued on 26 March
in readiness for the new overseas rates. Increases
were once again consequent for Europe, the price
rising by 9p for a 20g letter although the Rest of
the World airmail tariff remained unchanged at
£1.28 for the second year running. The number of
overseas weight steps was halved so two of these
Machins were required to cover the new pivotal
60g rate to either Europe or RoW.
The initial decision to eliminate the old 10g and
40g Worldwide rates not only affected collectors
of Post & Go but meant that visitors sending a
holiday postcard home to Australia or the USA
would now have to pay £1.28 (20g rate) compared
to 88p in 2013. Fortunately for them, a last-minute
decision on 26 March meant the reinstatement of
the 10g rate for postcards and the newly-issued
tariff leaflet had to be reprinted.
The stamps have Type 2 security slits and a ‘Royal
Mail’ iridescent overprint (see following page). This
includes the year code M14L on the second line
down from the top. Being from counter sheets,
they do not show a source code. The BM reference
for this overprint is: — / M14L.
81p, 97p, £1.47 & £2.15 Machin definitives
STOCKȱCODEȱ
COLOURȱ
PRINTȱDATESȱ
BARCODEȱ
CYLINDERȱNOSȱ
DEEGAMȱNOSȱ
P81ȱ
P97ȱ
P147ȱ
P215ȱ
HollyȱGreenȱ
PurpleȱHeatherȱ
DoveȱGreyȱ
MarineȱTurquoiseȱ
16/01/14ȱȱȱ11/03/14ȱ
17/01/14ȱȱȱ10/03/14ȱ
20/01/14ȱȱȱ06/03/14ȱ
21/01/14ȱȱȱ12/03/14ȱ
138374ȱ
138367ȱ
138381ȱ
138398ȱ
D1D1/D1ȱ
D1D1/D1ȱ
D1D1/D1ȱ
D1D1/D1ȱ
DGȱ810.2.1ȱ
DGȱ970.3.1ȱ
DGȱ1470.1.1ȱ
DGȱ2150.1.1ȱ
Volume 43 No. 6
242
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
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...continued
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
97P
P97
PURPLE
HEATHER
There are
twelve possible
grid positions for
each value
Certification applies to
Postage Stamps only
Counter sheet
layout common
to all four
stamps
Ink cylinders:
Phosphor
D1
Iridescent
D1
Stamp colour
D1
First day cover stamps
As usual, Royal Mail offered for sale an official
first day cover carrying these new Machins, priced
at £6.96 (UK addresses) and £5.80 (overseas). The
cover was the generic ‘winged horse’ design, a detail
taken from the Royal Mail coat of arms, also shown
on the postmark. The four stamps from counter
sheets have an upright direction of printing. Those
- / M14L iridescent overprint common to all four stamps
June 2014
243
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
...continued
on official FDCs come from a special coil printing
for which the DOP is sideways right.
The £1.47 stamp on these FDCs (bottom image above)
also shows a noticeably thicker value than on the
same stamp from counter sheets (top image); this is
specially evident on the figure ‘I’.
Presentation pack
on sale:
pack number:
value at issue:
stamp values:
pack printer:
The design of the pack (shown below) was unchanged
from that issued for new definitives since January
2013; it was adapted by Royal Mail from a design
by Sedley Place and included text by Douglas Muir.
The barcode was 138527. It contained the four
stamps trimmed from counter sheets.
Upright DOP seen on £2.15 from counter sheets (top),
sideways right on stamps from the official FDC (bottom).
Known used only, the stamps with sideways DOP are:
DG 810.2.2, DG 970.3.2, DG 1470.1.2 and DG 2150.1.2
Volume 43 No. 6
26 March 2014
99
£5.90
81p, 97p, £1.47 & £2.15 Machins
CPI Colour
244
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
New Issues - 2014 Country tariff definitives
on sale:
stamp values:
printer:
process:
stamp size:
sheet size:
paper/gum:
phosphor:
iridescent:
perf. gauge:
perf. type:
Sheet layout | The new values were once again
produced by Cartor Security Printing of France in
sheet-fed lithography and issued in traditionally
gummed sheets of 25 stamps. These have an allround selvedge, perforated through on each side
with the ellipses repeated in the top margin. The
equivalent 88p stamps in 2013 had had the four
different counter sheets all produced together on
the same primary sheet but this did not prove to
be very practical as reprints had soon proved to
be necessary for the two larger countries (England
and Scotland). This time, the 97p stamps for these
two countries were each produced in separate
primary sheets of eight counter sheets, while a
further one was shared between Wales with four
counter sheets at the right and four for Northern
Ireland at the left (see grid images below). The righthand marginal inscriptions were all printed in
black in lithography at the same time as the stamps:
barcode (row 1), stock code (row 2), printing date
(row 3) and FSC notice (row 5).
26 March 2014
4 x 97p (E, S, W & NI versions)
Cartor Security Printing (ISP)
lithography - Heidelberg Speedmaster
20mm x 24mm
primary sheet of 200 stamps
(8 counter sheets of 25)
OFNP(C)/PVAl
2 x 6.5mm A2B bars
none
14¾ x 14 (E)
PPPP
I
n readiness for the tariff change of 31 March,
new 97p pictorial country definitives for each
of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
were issued on 26 March. This value covered the
new international standard (ex-airmail) rate to
Europe for a letter up to 20g and worldwide 10g
postcard rate. A new stamp for the 20g worldwide
rate was not required on this occasion as the tariff
for this once again remained unchanged at £1.28;
country stamps at this price were first issued on 25
April 2012. 97p country stamps have been issued
before (30.03.10) but on that occasion they paid the
20g worldwide rate so had the designs ascribed to
the ‘top value’ in each set of four.
STOCKȱCODEȱ
P97Eȱ
P97Sȱ
P97Wȱ
P97NIȱ
June 2014
PRINTȱDATESȱ
10/01/14ȱ
13/01/14ȱ
13/01/14ȱ
14/01/14ȱ
14/01/14ȱ
BARCODEȱ
138404ȱ
138411ȱ
138428ȱ
138435ȱ
England & Scotland
PLATEȱNOSȱ
DEEGAMȱNOSȱ
C1C1C1C1C1/C1ȱ
C1C1C1C1C2/C1ȱ
C1C1C1C1C1/C1ȱ
C1C1C1C1/C1ȱ
C1C1C1C1/C1ȱ
245
DGȱEP97.2.1ȱ
DGȱSP97.2.1ȱ
DGȱWP97.2.1ȱ
DGȱNP97.2.1ȱ
Wales
Northern Ireland
A reprint of the England sheet
was made a few days after
the initial run. As the black
plate also prints the date in
the margin, a new plate was
required and the black plate
number passed from C1 to C2
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
New Issues - 2014 Country tariff definitives
Stamp details | The designs remain the same as those
of the corresponding values issued since 2003 with
white borders; this means that each now exists in
the following twelve denominations: E, 40p, 42p,
44p, 48p, 50p, 56p, 60p, 68p, 87p, 88p and 97p. The
subjects and designers are as follows:
Presentation pack
on sale:
pack number:
value at issue:
stamp values:
pack printer:
• England - English oak (Sedley Place)
• Scotland - Scottish thistle (Tayburn)
• Wales - Daffodil (Tutssels Enterprise IG)
• Northern Ireland - Linen slip case
(Rodney Miller Associates)
26 March 2014
100
£4.40
4 x 97p (E, S, W & NI versions)
CPI Colour
A joint presentation pack was available, containing
all four stamps (see below). This was the 13th such
pack to use the ‘clouds against a setting sun’
design introduced in July 2002. It was designed by
Tutssels Enterprises IG and printed by CPI Colour
(ex-Fulmar) and shows barcode 138510. The inside
of the pack features characteristic photos of each of
the four countries and its inhabitants, unchanged
from the previous issues in this series. The back
panel contains details of the stamps, the pack and
acknowledgements for the photos.
Each stamp measures 20mm x 24mm and has the
habitual definitive perforation gauge of 14¾ x 14,
complete with an ellipse on the vertical sides. They
have been comb perforated and therefore show no
swarf on the gummed side.
Phosphor | The stamps carry two blue fluor
phosphor 6.5mm bars (DG A2B), derived from
6.5mm and 13mm bands. These are vignetted, i.e.
the outer 4.5mm at either side are solid while the
inner 2mm show a coarse dot pattern.
First day covers
A different envelope for each of the four countries
was available, featuring a panoramic scene and
containing a special filler card. Individual serviced
covers bearing the appropriate 97p stamp could
be obtained from Royal Mail at a cost of £1.64 for
inland addresses and £1.37 for those overseas. The
covers could be cancelled with either a plain or an
illustrated postmark for the respective capital city,
Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh or London. The design
of these postmarks (shown on page 230 of the April
edition) has remained virtually unchanged since
the inception of Country pictorials in 1999.
Vignetted
6.5mm bars
Volume 43 No. 6
...continued
246
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
New Issues - ‘Buckingham Palace’ special stamps
special issue:
source:
on sale:
stamp values:
set value:
printer:
process:
stamp size:
sheet size:
paper/gum:
phosphor:
perf. gauge:
perf. type:
Related philatelic issue
SI 2014(5)
CS 2014(4)
15 April 2014
6 x 1st-class
£3.72
60mm x 30mm
18 (3 x 6)
OFNP(C)/PVAl
AOP
14¾ x 14¾
PPPP
A vista of Buckingham
Palace seen across the
lake of St James’s Park
featured on the 10½p
stamp (then the overseas
postcards rate) in the 1980
London Landmarks set
in a painting by Sir Hugh
Casson
the central quadrangle, the Palace is 120 metres
deep. It is furnished and decorated with priceless
works of art that form part of the Royal Collection
and constitutes one of the major art collections in
the world today.
B
uckingham Palace has served as the official
London residence of Britain’s sovereigns since
the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837 and today
is the administrative headquarters of the Monarch.
Very much a working building, it houses the offices
of those who support the day-to-day activities and
duties of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh
and their immediate family. It remains the venue for
great royal ceremonies, state visits, official events
and investitures; over 50,000 people are officially
invited each year as guests to banquets, lunches,
receptions or garden parties. Since 1993, the State
Rooms have also been open in the summer months
to a fee-paying public.
The site of Buckingham Palace was occupied in the
early 17th century by a mulberry garden, established
to breed silk worms. A house built next to it for
Lord Goring in 1633 was replaced, after a fire, by
a grander building by Henry Bennet, Secretary
of State to King Charles II and later first Earl of
Arlington. In 1698, Arlington House was acquired
by John Sheffield, future Duke of Buckingham,
who demolished the existing building and erected
an ambitious brick house with a three-storeyed
Today’s Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms,
central block and flanking pavilions from 1702-5.
including 19 State rooms, 52 Royal and guest
Buckingham House was then purchased in 1762
bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78
by George III who lived in there until his death.
bathrooms. The front of the building measures
George IV then engaged John Nash to convert the
108 metres long and 24 metres high; including
brick mansion into a Royal Palace in 1820 but it
was not quite finished by
the time Victoria became
Buckingham House remodelled and major extensions by Nash c. 1826
Queen. Nash created a
Buckingham House 1703
three-sided courtyard, open
towards the Mall, with
Marble Arch put up in 1828
4
as its entrance. William IV
3
1
2
replaced Nash by Edward
Blore, who completed the
fourth side of the courtyard
and moved Marble Arch to
Miniature sheet stamps
The Quadrangle
its present position in 1851.
1. Grand staircase
W
2. Green drawing room
The eastern façade that is
S - N
3. Throne room
4. Blue drawing room
E
so familiar today with its
famous balcony, was added
by Sir Aston Webb in 1913.
East façade facing The Mall by Edward Blore c.1847,
remodelled in 1913 by Aston Webb
June 2014
247
Simplified ground floor plan
of Buckingham Palace
showing the position of
the rooms featured on the
miniature sheet
Volume 43 No. 6
The
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J o u r n a l
...continued
Buckingham Palace
1ST
Buckingham Palace • 2014
1ST
Buckingham Palace • c.1862
1ST
1ST
1ST
NVIF BPA
1ST
1ST
1ST
1ST
1ST
1ST
1ST
C1
C1
C1
1ST
1ST
1ST
C1
C1
C1
1ST
1ST
MIX
Paper
FSC© C100572
Sale Date
15-Apr-2014
1ST
CS number
Values
Grid position
Barcodes
Stock codes
Stamps contained
CS 2014(4)A
1st-class
1 and 3
5 014721 137858
NVIF BPA
SI 2014(5)A to C
CS 2014(4)B
1st-class
2 and 4
5 014721 137865
NVIF BPB
SI 2014(5)D to F
sheet A (see stock codes above) was printed to the
left of a similar pair of sheet B. Gutter sheets of 36
were available from certain philatelic outlets.
Sheet details
Sheet layout & position grids | The six different 1stclass stamps were issued in se-tenant strips of
three within two counter sheets of 18. It was the
first time this configuration had been used, made
necessary by the unusually large dimensions
of these stamps. It allowed vertical strips of six
stamps of the same design to be removed. The two
counter sheets share the same layout, an example
of which is shown above at 80% of actual size.
These were derived from just one primary sheet
comprising only 72 stamps, as a vertical pair of
Volume 43 No. 6
Notes
Right: grid layouts on the
two counter sheets
Plate Numbers
1st (A)
1st (B)
Each sheet shows the
following plate numbers in the left-hand selvedge
(from top to bottom):
C1 (phosphor), C1 (gold), C1 (yellow),
C1 (magenta), C1 (cyan), C1 (black)
248
June 2014
The
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...continued
The subjects and values are as follows:
Stamp details
This set of six stamps is the work of Howard
Brown, a veteran stamp designer from North
Yorkshire. Now in his late sixties, he has designed
many stamps for Royal Mail, one of the earliest
being the set issued in 1991 to commemorate the
bicentenary of Ordnance Survey. Some of his
more recent designs include 2007 Abolition of the
Slave Trade, 2008 Cathedrals, 2009 Darwin miniature
sheet, 2010 Medical Breakthroughs and 2012 Charles
Dickens stamps. His outstanding work won him
the prestigious Phillips Gold Medal in 1995.
• 1st-class (62p) - Buckingham Palace 2014
SI 2014(5)A.1
The stamps are in the unusually large landscape
format of 60mm x 30mm which was introduced
on the three Olympic Games miniature sheets in
2012 and continued the following year on those
for London Underground and Andy Murray. This
is the first time that it has been used for counter
sheet stamps though. They feature paintings of
the Palace (or House as it originally was) through
a period of over 300 years, from the present day
back to the very beginning of the 18th century.
The Queen’s head and value indicator are
superimposed in gold in the left- and right-hand
top corners respectively; the legend with the
appropriate date is placed rather haphazardly at
the bottom of each stamp, sometimes in white,
sometimes in black.
This present day portrait of the Palace was a
specially commissioned watercolour and gouache
by Chris Draper, architectural illustrator and
designer, born in Bedford in 1947. He specializes
in architectural drawings, notably aerial views
and perspectives of buildings that were either
designed but never built, or built but subsequently
demolished. Working mainly in pen and ink, and
watercolour, his drawings reflect his passion for
perspective and architectural detail.
They are printed by Cartor in litho; as is usual
with this process, the year of issue 2014 is included
’hidden’ within the design in black micro-printing.
It is quite hard to see and the images below show
the location of this date on each stamp. Note that
this date does not figure on the 2014 painting as the
year of issue is included in the legend. The stamps
are comb-perforated, gauge 14¾ x 14¾; the same
stamps in prestige book panes DP469 and DP470
are printed by Enschedé and these have a different
perforation gauge (14 x 13½).
1862
1846
1819
1714
• 1st-class (62p) - Buckingham Palace circa 1862
SI 2014(5)B.1
Colour lithograph by Achille-Louis Martinet
• 1st-class (62p) - Buckingham Palace 1846
1700
SI 2014(5)C.1
The east front from St James’s Park –
watercolour by Joseph Nash
June 2014
249
Volume 43 No. 6
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...continued
Miniature sheet
special issue:
source:
on sale:
stamp values:
set value:
printer:
process:
stamp size:
sheet size:
paper/gum:
phosphor:
perf. gauge:
• 1st-class (62p) - Buckingham House 1819
SI 2014(5)D.1
The east (entrance) front, 1819 – watercolour by
William Westall
SI 2014(5)
MS 2014(2)
15 April 2014
4 x 1st-class
£2.48
Joh. Enschedé Stamps
lithography - Mitsubishi
41mm x 30mm
145mm x 74mm (without tab)
OFNP(C)/PVAl
AOP
14¼ x 14
A miniature sheet containing four different stamps
featuring some of the most magnificent State
rooms and the Grand Staircase was issued on the
same day. It would be more accurate to say two
miniature sheets in fact, as Royal Mail released two
different versions. The sheet supplied singly by
Tallents House or in presentation packs measured
145mm x 74mm and is shown on page 251. Soon
afterwards, it was discovered that post offices were
selling a larger version with a 10mm rouletted
white band to the left, containing a barcode, stock
code and FSC notice. It was even thought that this
was a printer’s error as no prior announcement
of its appearance had been made. Now it seems
that this will become standard practice for future
issues, to aid sales and stock control in branches.
This information is not required on those sheets
sold from Edinburgh and is therefore trimmed off.
• 1st-class (62p) - Buckingham House 1714
SI 2014(5)E.1
Buckingham House in St James’s Park –
coloured engraving by an unknown 18thcentury draughtsman
The miniature sheet and
its stamps have a different
designer from the counter
sheet set - this is the work
of husband and wife design
team Robert Maude and Sarah
Davies, who have numerous
Royal Mail stamp issues to their
credit including 2002 Bridges of
London, 2011 Aerial Post, 20112012 A-Z of UK Landmarks, 2013
Auto Legends miniature sheet
and 2013 Christmas Madonna.
• 1st-class (62p) - Buckingham House circa 1700
SI 2014(5)F.1
Buckingham House from the north-west – oil on
canvas attributed to Adriaen van Diest
The stamps are in the smaller
format of 41mm x 30mm and
are printed in lithography by
Joh. Enschedé. The photograph
of the Blue Drawing Room is by
The barcode tab - the arrows indicate
the line of roulette cuts
Volume 43 No. 6
250
June 2014
The
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...continued
Andrew Holt; those featuring the Throne Room,
Grand Staircase and the Green Drawing Room are
all by Derry Moore.
The Queen’s Head is printed in gold in the top right
corner while the value indicator is reversed out of
the design in the top left corner with the descriptive
legend vertically below this. The stamps are combperforated and therefore show no swarf on the
gummed side of the sheet; the gauge is 14¼ x 14.
The four stamps are also present in DP472 of the
prestige book; here they are again printed in litho
by Enschedé and have the same perforation gauge
as in this miniature sheet. The sheet’s border shows
part of a painted plaster decorative frieze.
• 1st-class (62p) - The Throne Room
SI 2014(5)G.1
The year of issue 2014 is included ’hidden’ within
the designs in black micro-printing. It is quite hard
to see and the images below show the location of
this date on each stamp. The stamps are shown in
the same order as they appear on the miniature
sheet.
The Throne Room, sometimes used during Queen
Victoria’s reign for Court gatherings and as a second
dancing room, is dominated by a proscenium arch
supported by a pair of winged figures of ‘victory’
holding garlands above the ‘chairs of state’. It is in
the Throne Room that The Queen, on very special
occasions like Jubilees, receives loyal addresses.
Another use of the Throne Room has been for
formal wedding photographs.
The Blue Drawing Room represents one of the most
magnificent examples of Georgian sumptuousness
in decoration. George IV intended it as a ballroom,
but it was superseded in that function by Queen
Victoria’s Ballroom in the south-west wing of
the Palace. Today guests gather here for drinks
before large luncheon parties and grand State and
diplomatic occasions. The room is 21m long and
divided into bays by giant Corinthian columns.
First known as the South Drawing Room, its
original decoration was a symphony of red, with
porphyry scagliola columns, crimson velvet
Below: MS 2014(2)A - without barcode (sold by Tallents
House and in presentation packs)
June 2014
251
Volume 43 No. 6
The
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...continued
the craft of bronze casting with its balustrade
of intricate acanthus, oak and laurel leaves. It
occupies a relatively confined space but this
allowed Nash to place more emphasis on the
vertical dimension. Today, the stairs are used by
almost all visitors to the State Apartments at the
Palace. There are plaster reliefs on all sides of the
landing, with playful groups of amorini in the
curved lunettes, and friezes below representing
the Four Seasons. The stairs are lit by a shallow
dome of glass which was engraved and etched by
the firm of Wainwright. Queen Victoria requested
that the series of family portraits be displayed
around the upper part of the stairs.
• 1st-class (62p) - The Blue Drawing Room
SI 2014(5)H
curtains and figured-silk wall hangings. The blue
flock wallpaper now in the room was hung by
Queen Mary in the early 20th century, while the
Corinthian columns were re-painted to resemble
onyx in the reign of Queen Victoria.
• 1st-class (62p) - The Green Drawing Room
SI 2014(5)J
Originally the Duchess of Buckingham’s saloon, the
Green Drawing Room leads to the Throne Room. It
was here that in 1953 Cecil Beaton took the famous
Coronation photograph of the Queen with her six
Maids of Honour using a backdrop to represent
Henry VII’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey.
• 1st-class (62p) - The Grand Staircase
SI 2014(5)I.1
Designed by the architect John Nash for George
IV, the Grand Staircase represents the best of
Volume 43 No. 6
Below: MS 2014(2)B - with barcode (sold by post offices)
252
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
as well as a framed set of the six sheet stamps at
£35, set below a print of Chris Draper’s specially
commissioned 2014 painting of the Palace.
Presentation pack
on sale:
pack number:
value at issue:
stamp values:
pack printer:
15 April 2014
497
£6.70
6 x 1st-class + miniature sheet
Walsall Security Printers (ISP)
First day covers
First day cover facilities were provided for this issue
by Royal Mail. The blank FDC envelope printed by
Dobson & Crowther Ltd and the filler card printed
by CPI Colour were priced at 30p; they were both
designed by Russell Warren-Fisher with text on the
filler by John Martin Robinson. The envelope itself
showed the issue title set in a decorative script font
surrounded by scrolls in the same style as shown
on the presentation pack.
The illustrated presentation pack (shown below)
contained the full set of stamps in two ‘se-tenant’
strips under clear acetate bands. The miniature
sheet was also included on a separate carrier.
The pack was designed by Russell Warren-Fisher,
owner/designer at WF Partnership since 1988; he
was also a lecturer at the Royal College of Art for
14 years. It contained informative text written by
architectural historian, John Martin Robinson.
Among his many books is Buckingham Palace: The
Official Illustrated History, first published in 2006.
The printing of the pack is credited to ISP but
Walsall’s FSC code C023216 confirms that it was
their work. The miniature sheet carrier shows
barcode 138169.
As usual, two different pictorial ‘first day of issue’
postmarks were available for this stamp issue,
both shown below. The Tallents House version
featured the Palace’s postcode and the alternative
postmark was London SW1, the location of the
Palace. The latter was available by mail order but
was also applied to covers handed in or posted at
Post Office® branches, irrespective of their actual
location. Inland prices for serviced covers with the
six sheet stamps were £4.94, £4.12 for addresses
outside the UK. The same cover bearing the
miniature sheet cost £3.45 and £2.86, respectively.
Stamp cards & other items
A set of eleven postcards was made available a
week before the stamp issue. Ten of these show
individual enlarged images of one of the stamps
from the counter sheets or the miniature sheet while
the final card shows the complete miniature sheet.
Priced at £4.95 for the set, they were printed by
Pureprint Group. Each card shows barcode 138176
and the set reference is PHQ 388. A limited edition
(9,000) medal cover was also available at £14.95,
June 2014
...continued
253
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
New Issues - ‘Buckingham Palace’ prestige book
Treasury of Trees [(26)] took all time first place with
nine just twelve months later.
DB5(62) / DP469 - DP472
on sale:
stamp printer:
issue price:
panes:
15 April 2014
Enschedé - lithography (Mitsubishi)
£11.39 (face value £10.44)
DP469, DP470, DP471 & DP472
(OFNP(C)/PVAl)
book layout: FC, L1, L2, L3, DP469, DP470, L4,
DP471, L5, L6, DP472, L7, BC
barcode: 5 014721 138633
Designer and Writer | As with many recent issues,
Buckingham Palace has suffered somewhat from
having a multitude of different designers: one for
the set of six stamps, another for the miniature sheet
and a third for the presentation pack/FDC; a fourth
design agency was even brought in by Royal Mail
to produce this prestige book. To quote its website,
‘So Design Consultants’, situated on a farm between
Bristol and Bath, has, for over a decade, ‘specialised
in brand development and brand communications and
is renowned for image-based work where traditional
techniques of photography and illustration combine with
technical digital artistry’. Their previous philatelic
work includes Magical Realms (2011), Christmas
Pantomime (2008), Christmas Angels FDC (2007) and
Madonna and Child FDC (2005).
R
oyal Mail continued its celebration of
Buckingham Palace in the second of this year’s
prestige stamp books. Although undoubtedly an
attractive addition to the series, the 62nd decimal
prestige book to be issued since 1972 offers little
more than a repackaged version of the sheet
issues, although the six large format stamps are
slightly different on this occasion as they have
only 42 perforation holes horizontally and 20
vertically, compared to 44 and 22 respectively on
the corresponding counter sheets. It also has the
advantage of being considerably cheaper than the
Classic Locomotives book issued in February as the
highest value stamps are the £1 Machins contained
in the usual mixed pane of definitives; these now
at least do show the current 2014 year code in the
iridescent overprint.
The book was written by Dr Geoffrey Tyack,
Emeritus Fellow at Kellogg College, Oxford. His
main academic interests are in British and European
architectural history, especially from the 18th to the
20th centuries and the history of urban planning
since the Renaissance. He also teaches Modern
British History and the History of British Art.
Book & cover details | The book price once again
included the now standard 95p premium over face
value to compensate for increased production costs;
this was introduced in May 2011 with DB5(53). It has
the standard prestige book dimensions of 162mm
This book has an unusually large number of
interleaves - seven - the norm being four up to
Tolkien [DB5(14)] and six thereafter, although World
Changers [(23)] had also had seven in 1999 and A
Volume 43 No. 6
254
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
pane 3 (DP471 The Ballroom decorated in white & gold - plain gummed reverse)
L5f The Palace at work / L5b The Royal Mews
L6f Garden Parties / L6b The Balcony
pane 4 (DP472 Balcony scenes, 1874 & VE Day - plain gummed reverse)
L7f The Royal Collection / L7b Backdrop for Golden Jubilee celebrations (photo)
IBC Stamp pane details / Book acknowledgements
OBC shows line drawing & photo of Palace seen from the gardens
x 96mm. The covers and interleaves were for the
second time this year all printed in lithography by
Joh. Enschedé Stamps of Haarlem (Netherlands),
as were the four panes, produced on a Mitsubishi
press. It was thus the third prestige book in a row to
be produced in its entirety by Enschedé.
(I=inside; O=outside; F=front; B=back; C=cover; L=interleaf)
The Bookmark notation for the book’s layout is:
FC, L1, L2, L3, DP469, DP470, L4, DP471, L5, L6,
DP472, L7, BC
The front cover (shown on the previous page) shows a
line drawing of the pre-First World War east front
onto which has been superimposed a photograph of
the present day central ‘balcony’ block behind the
famous gates. The back cover (see below) features a
similar juxtaposition of elevation and photo of the
back of the Palace seen from the gardens. It also
includes the Royal Mail logo, barcode 138633 and
the Enschedé FSC ‘Mixed resources’ label (licence
number C017480), all printed in black. The binding
is covered with a strip of tape which on this
occasion is not black but diamond blue in colour,
no doubt chosen to reinforce the royal connection;
the book examined is sewn with white thread and
the stitching holes are 5mm apart.
Packaging
John Brain reports there are no labels for the
packs of 10 prestige books on this occasion. They
are simply packed in 10’s with a piece of card at
either end and a further piece of card between 2
lots of 5 in the same bundle; this then has a 25mm
cellophane band applied around it. Twenty-five
bundles are then put into a box with no additional
cellophane wrapping. The box of 250 books has
the above label applied to it.
The composition of the book is as follows:
BuckinghamȱPalaceȱpsbȱlayoutȱ
OFC shows elevation of east front & photo of gate
IFC shows aerial photo of Palace looking west
L1f Introduction to the Palace / L1b Buckingham House 1633-1761
L2f Buckingham House 1809-31 / L2b Buckingham Palace 1827-34
L3f Buckingham Palace 1830-56 / L3b Buckingham Palace 1913-14
pane 1 (DP469 The Queen’s House, c.1761 - plain gummed reverse)
pane 2 (DP470 BP & grounds seen from east, 1858 - plain gummed reverse)
L4f Guarding the Palace / L4b Official visitors & entertainment at the Palace
June 2014
...continued
255
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
Pane 3 – DP471 (face value £3.00) – Pane layout and
stamp details | The stamps are arranged in three
rows. Rows 1 and 3 each contain a 20p Machin
in light green on either side of a £1 wood brown
Machin. Row 2 has a 10p Machin in light tan set
either side of a label catalogued as L84; this shows
a crown within a 16-pointed star, a detail from the
door of one of the state rooms. All three Machin
Book with pane DP472 inverted
Unintended errors in prestige books are fairly rare
these days compared to the large number of oddities
which appeared a few years ago. One lucky collector
had a standing order for one book and ordered an
extra two from Tallents House - the latter arrived
with pane DP472 inverted. More copies have since
been reported, including one by a Circle member.
This book will be catalogued as DB5(62)/1.
20P
DP471 - The Ballroom decorated in white & gold
10P
pane: DP471
contents: 2 x 10p, 4 x 20p & 2 x £1 Machins;
label L84
printer: Joh. Enschedé Stamps, Haarlem (NL)
process: lithography - Mitsubishi
paper / gum: OFNP(C)/PVAl
phosphor: Machins: 2 x 4.5mm bars / L84: none
iridescent: MPIL/M14L (Machin stamps only)
perforation: 14¾ x 14 (E)
perf. type: I5
Volume 43 No. 6
...continued
20P
I
£ OO
20P
10P
I
£ OO
20P
Above: Arrangement of 4.5mm phosphor bars on DP471
(shown at actual size)
256
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
Verity and C.H. Bessant in a Parisian-inspired
white and gold scheme to replace the existing
Victorian decor.
values are new as they show the iridescent codes
MPIL/M14L, where the letter P represents the
source code for ‘Prestige’. The Deegam codes
for these definitives are DG 100.27.1, 200.22.1 and
1000.9.1, respectively.
Perforation | All of the stamps show the usual definitive perforation gauge of 14¾ x 14, complete with
ellipses in their correct position at the bottom of the
stamps. They are comb-perforated and therefore
show no swarf around the holes on the gummed
side.
The overprint is perhaps even more difficult to
read here than it was in this year’s Locomotives
book; Iridescent is essentially a gravure ink and
while it will work in litho, it does not give the
same level of definition as when printed using
gravure or flexography. As usual, the text in the
iridescent layer shows best under the phosphor.
This means that the MPIL shows reasonably well
(see below) but the M14L is very difficult to see.
FDC | As usual, Royal Mail provided a first day
cover service for the mixed definitive pane from
this book. However, unlike the previous Classic
Locomotives of the United Kingdom pane, there was
no specific envelope designed for this prestige
book pane; the cover for the sheet stamps and/
or miniature sheet was used and of course the
information on the filler card gave details of
these and were of no relevance to the stamps in
this pane. For UK addresses serviced covers were
priced at £4.08 and £3.40 for those overseas. There
was no specific postmark on this occasion, just the
choice of the two pictorial handstamps used for
the sheet stamp issue (see page 253).
Packaging label | As you may be aware, Tallents
House sells multiples of complete individual panes
from prestige books to stamp dealers. The printer
therefore has to package bundles of these panes
separately and we rarely get to see the labels used
for such items. We are grateful therefore to John
Brain for providing this image of the one used on
boxes of 500 copies of DP471, shown below.
This is the first time that the £1 value from the
recent Jubilee colour palette has appeared in a
prestige pane but the two lower values with an
iridescent overprint have already been included
in recent prestige books: both the 10p and 20p
with MPIL/M12L appeared in DP455 (Cartor
- litho) while the 10p with M13L was included
in DP459 (Cartor - litho) and before that on selfadhesive paper with security slits but no overprint
in DP431 (Walsall - gravure).
Phosphor | The four Machin stamps all have
two 4.5mm DG A2B phosphor bars. There is no
phosphor printed on the central label.

Forthcoming prestige book definitive panes
Rouletting | To enable the stamps to be neatly
removed from the book, there is a line of 1.5mm
wide roulette cuts with 0.5mm bridges between
situated 73mm to the left of the pane’s righthand edge. There is a second line of similar cuts
positioned 75mm further to the left enabling the
pane to be removed with the stub. The background
image shows a photograph by Simon Roberton of
the Palace’s Ballroom, decorated in 1907 by Frank
June 2014
...continued
The first of the Great War issues scheduled for the
end of July will also give rise to a prestige stamp
book. Preliminary images for the two definitive
panes suggest that we are to get a further helping
of 10p and 20p Machins on one (along with four
1st-class country definitives) and a £1 wood brown
Machin all on its own in the second. Maybe a little
more imagination is called for?
257
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
front from St James’s Park, 1846 (watercolour
by Joseph Nash). The stamps were designed by
Howard Brown and measure 60mm x 30mm.
They have been comb perforated and the pane
shows Bookmark perforation type I5. The four
stamps have been overprinted with all-over DG
A2B phosphor, as shown in the diagram below.
The pane has been rouletted twice to facilitate the
removal of the panes from the book or the stamps
from the pane, i.e. once near the binding margin
and again 4mm to the left of the block of stamps.
DP469 - The Queen’s House c.1761
pane:
contents:
printer:
process:
paper / gum:
phosphor:
iridescent:
perforation:
perf. type:
DP469
4 x 1st-class Buckingham Palace SI
Joh. Enschedé Stamps, Haarlem (NL)
OFNP(C)/PVAl
AOP
none
14 x 13½
I5
Pane 1 – DP469 (face value £2.48) – contains four
different large format 1st-class stamps from the
Buckingham Palace counter sheets released on 15
April 2014, still printed in lithography but here
by Enschedé on their Mitsubishi press rather than
Cartor for the original versions. They are presented
in various different se-tenant combinations
compared to the stamps in those sheets and also
have a different perforation gauge (14 x 13½
instead of 14¾ x 14¾). From left to right on each
row, the stamps are catalogued as SI 2014(5)F.2,
E.2, D.2 and C.2.
The background image shows a print of The
Queen’s House as it became known after King
George III purchased Buckingham House for his
wife, Queen Charlotte, in 1761.
1ST
Buckingham House • c.1700
1ST
Buckingham House • 1714
1
1ST
ST
The stamps present images of the development
of the House in chronological order: from the
north-west, c.1700 (oil on canvas attributed to
Adriaen van Diest); in St James’s Park, 1714
(coloured engraving by an unknown 18thcentury draughtsman); the east (entrance) front,
1819 (watercolour by William Westall); the east
Volume 43 No. 6
...continued
Buckingham House • 1890
Background: After Queen Charlotte moved into Buckingham House, bought by her
husband, King George III, in 1761, the building was known as the Queen‘s House.
Above: AOP layout on DP469 (shown at 65% of actual size)
258
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
and gouache by Chris Draper (2014). The stamps
were designed by Howard Brown and measure
60mm x 30mm. They have been comb perforated
and the pane shows Bookmark perforation type I5.
The four stamps have been overprinted with allover DG A2B phosphor, as shown in the diagram
below. The pane has been rouletted twice to
facilitate the removal of the panes from the book
or the stamps from the pane, i.e. once near the
binding margin and again 4mm to the left of the
block of stamps.
DP470 - Palace & grounds seen from the east, 1858
pane:
contents:
printer:
process:
paper / gum:
phosphor:
iridescent:
perforation:
perf. type:
DP470
Joh. Enschedé Stamps, Haarlem (NL)
OFNP(C)/PVAl
AOP
none
14 x 13½
I5
The background image shows a print of the Palace
and surrounding grounds as seen from the east in
1858.
Pane 2 – DP470 (face value £2.48) – contains the
remaining two large format 1st-class stamps from
the Buckingham Palace counter sheets released on
15 April 2014, each repeated to make up a pane of
four stamps. They are still printed in lithography
but here by Enschedé on their Mitsubishi press
rather than Cartor for the original versions.
They are presented in various different se-tenant
combinations compared to the stamps in those
sheets and also have a different perforation gauge
(14 x 13½ instead of 14¾ x 14¾). The two stamps
on the top row are, from left to right, SI 2014(5)B.2
and A.2.
1ST
1ST
1
1ST
ST
The stamps continue the story of the House from
DP469, presenting in chronological order more
recent images of the House since it has become
a Palace: a colour lithograph by Achille-Louis
Martinet (c. 1862) and the Palace as we know it
today in a specially commissioned watercolour
June 2014
...continued
Background: Buckingham Palace and the surrounding grounds seen from the east, 1858.
259
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
as the miniature sheet stamps, 14¼ x 14; the pane
shows Bookmark perforation type I5. The four
stamps have been overprinted with all-over DG
A2B phosphor, as shown in the diagram below.
The pane has been rouletted twice to facilitate the
removal of the panes from the book or the stamps
from the pane, i.e. once near the binding margin
and again 4mm to the left of the block of stamps.
DP472 - Balcony scenes, 1874 & 1945
pane: DP472
contents: 4 x 1st-class SI from Buckingham
Palace miniature sheet
printer: Joh. Enschedé Stamps, Haarlem (NL)
process: lithography - Mitsubishi
paper / gum: OFNP(C)/PVAl
phosphor: AOP
iridescent: none
perforation: 14¼ x 14
perf. type: I5
The background image shows the royal party
assembled on the balcony of the Palace in 1874.
Inset at the bottom left is a small image of Ernest
Bevin and Winston Churchill celebrating the end
of the war on the balcony on VE Day, 8 May 1945.
Pane 4 – DP472 (face value £2.48) – contains
the four 1st-class stamps from the Buckingham
Palace miniature sheet released on 15 April 2014,
still printed in lithography by Enschedé on their
Mitsubishi press. The stamps are also presented in
the same order as those on the miniature sheet and
show no discernible difference to these. They thus
provide further examples of SI 2014(5)G.1, I.1, H,
and J (from left to right on each row).
1ST
The Throne Room
The stamps reproduce photographs of some of
the most magnificent state rooms in Buckingham
Palace as well as the Grand Staircase designed
by John Nash for King George IV. Those of
the Throne Room, Grand Staircase and Green
Drawing Room were taken by Derry Moore; that
of the Blue Drawing Room was by Andrew Holt.
The stamps were designed by Robert Maude and
Sarah Davies and measure 41mm x 30mm. They
have been comb perforated using the same gauge
Volume 43 No. 6
...continued
1ST
The Blue Drawing Room
1ST
The Grand Staircase
1ST
The Green Drawing Room
260
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
New Issues - ‘Buckingham Palace’ retail book
Front cover | The design of the outside cover is the
same as that used since SB3(33) in 2012 when the
FSC notice was added. The background colour
for the covers of ‘Custom’ books has been Royal
Mail red since May 2008 when SB3(15) was issued
after a four-year pause in this series. Since the
beginning of 2013, red covers have been adopted
for 1st-class books or sheets across the whole
range. At the top left of the front cover, reversed
out of the background colour, is the white text
describing the contents, 6x1ST. The only other
element on the front cover is the 30mm wide full
colour Royal Mail cruciform logo, situated in the
lower right corner.
SB3(42) - 6 x 1st-class
on sale:
face value:
cover:
barcode:
contents:
printer:
process:
DOP:
cylinders:
paper / gum:
phosphor:
iridescent:
perf. gauge:
perf. type:
15 April 2014
£3.72 at date of issue
Royal Mail red
5 014721 112268
+ 4 x 1st-class red Machin definitives
gravure – Chesnut
upright
W1 W1 W1 W1 W1 W1 W1 / W1
OFNP/SA
Machins: 2B / SI: AOP
MCIL/M14L (Machins only)
Machins: 14¾ x 14 (E) / SI: 14¼ x 14
kiss die-cut; partially stripped matrix
Back cover | The white box on the outside back
cover measures 23mm x 49mm and contains the
standard barcode for books of six stamps (112268),
placed above the FSC ‘mini-label’ (code C023216
corresponding to Walsall Security Printers) and
the text Certification applies to / Postage Stamps
only, all printed in cyan. 2.5mm to the right of
this box are placed the standard text for Pricing in
Proportion relating to the use of the stamps within
the book and the Royal Mail contact details. This
text, printed white out of red, is unchanged from
that on previous editions and reads Valid for items
up to: / 240mm Long / 165mm Wide / 5mm Thick /
100g Weight. Below this are three lines of text, each
beginning with a standard pictogram to suggest
a telephone, a computer or a Textphone. These
read 08457 740 740 for the telephone number,
www.royalmail.com for the website address and
08456 000 606 for the Textphone number.
T
he year’s second retail book issued in
conjunction with a set of special stamps
appeared on 15 April 2014; it contained two of the
four stamps contained in the Buckingham Palace
miniature sheet, released on the same day. These
were new, being printed on self-adhesive paper
and in gravure. After five consecutive books in
series SB3 containing 1st-class Machins with the
MCIL/M13L overprint, this new book yielded the
first example of the stamp with source code ‘C’
and the year code changed to M14L.
Book and cover details
Printing & dimensions | The surface paper is
printed with the stamps at the same time as the
backing paper is printed with the cover design.
This is rouletted off centre enabling it to be folded
to simulate a book of stamps, which is the way
the finished items are supplied from the printer.
The overall size of the book when folded is
approximately 79mm x 57mm. As the front cover
is only 74mm wide, the final 5mm of the pane
remain visible beyond its right-hand edge when
the book is closed.
June 2014
Stamp details
The stamps are printed upright on the Chesnut
gravure press on OFNP/SA paper from EME
engraved cylinders. The direction of printing can
be seen on these enlarged images of the Machins
261
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
(see below) - the bottom edge of the stamp shows
the usual gravure cell pattern while the top edge
shows an irregular surface with ink spikes.
The special issue stamps, designed by Robert
Maude and Sarah Davies using photographs by
Derry Moore, are in a 41mm x 30mm landscape
format. Those issued in the miniature sheets were
conventionally gummed and printed by Enschedé
in lithography while the booklet versions are
self-adhesive and printed in gravure by Walsall.
They have the same micro-printed dates 2014 in
the designs as the litho-printed stamps but this
can hardly be read in gravure (see below). The two
stamps are separated from the adjacent Machin
stamps by the surrounding matrix which shows
the issue title in a black
script font above the lefthand stamp and below
the right-hand one on
a dark red background
adorned with light red or
gold decorative scrolls.
The matrix is cut vertically 3mm to both the left and
right of the ‘block’ of Machin stamps. The selvedge
in between these cuts is removed, leaving it intact
on the rest of the pane, including around the two
special issue stamps, as mentioned above. The final
5mm at the right of the pane are printed with the
text ‘Buckingham Palace’ reversed out of the gold
background. As this strip remains visible when
the books are closed, it enables the nature of the
contents to be readily identified. 4mm down from
the top right corner of the book, a 3.5mm notch in
the form of a half ellipse has been cut with the dual
purpose of helping customers with impaired sight
to correctly orientate the booklet and to identify
the contents as being 1st-class stamps.
The four 1st-class Royal Mail red Machin stamps
have the standard definitive dimensions of 20mm
x 24mm. They are positioned in the centre of the
book with two on either side of the fold. They
show the normal gap of 2mm between adjacent
stamps and are situated 4mm from the line of
roulette cuts. To the left and right respectively
of the ‘block’ of four stamps are single copies
of the 1st-class ‘Grand Staircase’ and ‘Throne
Room’ special issue stamps from the Buckingham
Palace miniature sheet released on 15 April 2014.
These are catalogued as SI 2014(5)I.2 and (5)G.2
respectively.
Volume 43 No. 6
...continued
Cylinder numbers | On an undetermined number
of books within the primary sheet, the colour
ink cylinder numbers were printed vertically
on the coloured background to the right of the
Throne Room stamp, running up alongside the
262
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
‘Buckingham Palace’ inscription. Being printed
on this dark red background, some of these are
quite difficult to see, especially the red, magenta
and phosphor. The eight ink cylinders concerned
plus their approximate positions on the pane are
shown in the illustration below. These consist of
the four process colours plus gold for the special
issue stamps, Royal Mail red plus iridescent
for the Machins and another for the phosphor
content on all six stamps.
...continued
corner of each stamp above the central cross of the
diadem is replaced by a ‘C’ (denoting ‘Custom’
books). The books were printed in 2014 and this is
reflected in the word ‘MAIL’ on the second line of
text down from the top which has been changed to
read ‘M14L’. These books therefore yield a further
new variety of the red Machin stamp for which the
BM iridescent code is MCIL/M14L.
Phosphor
Magenta
Yellow
Cyan
Gold
Black
Iridescent
Royal Mail red
Perforation & Overprint |The pane is kiss die-cut
to simulate a perforation gauge of 14¾ x 14(E) on
the definitives and 14¼ x 14 on the special issue
stamps. The definitives have an ellipse situated
towards the base of the vertical edges. The lower
half of each stamp has two Type 2 security slits to
the left and right of the Queen’s head.
Phosphor | A blue fluor phosphor bar reacting to
long-wave UV light (DG A2B) and measuring
4.5mm in width is situated at either side of each
definitive stamp. The special issue stamps have an
all-over phosphor screen limited to the rectangle
just outside the perforations (see the phosphor layout
for this book below).
The background of the definitive stamps also
includes the overall printing in iridescent ink of the
words ROYAL MAIL in a continuous wavy design
and, in a smaller, more condensed typeface, across
the Queen’s head. The background overprint
contains two hidden security codes, one for the
source of the stamps and the other for the year of
production. The letter ‘A’ of ‘MAIL’ in the top right
Packaging item
Barcode printed on the pack wrapper for SB3(42)
showing the packing date at top right
1ST
June 2014
The Throne Room
263
Buckingham Palace
The Grand Staircase
W1 W1 W1 W1 W1 W1 W1 W1
1ST
Volume 43 No. 6
The
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New Issues - ‘Great British Film’ special stamps
special issue:
source:
on sale:
stamp values:
set value:
printer:
process:
stamp size:
sheet size:
paper/gum:
phosphor:
perf. gauge:
perf. type:
Related philatelic issues
SI 2014(6)
CS 2014(5)
13 May 2014
3 x 1st-class, 3 x £1.28
£5.70
60mm x 30mm
18 (3 x 6)
OFNP(C)/PVAl
Freeform
14¾ x 14¾
PPPP
David Niven had already been honoured by a stamp in the
1985 British Film Year set (left); this still from Lady Hamilton
(right) was one of the stamps issued to celebrate 100 years
of going to the pictures in 1996. More recently, a set devoted
to Carry On and Hammer horror films was released in 2008.
J
employed, often making a precarious living. From
2003 to 2010, only 7% of British films achieved a
gross box office of twice their cost of production.
ust a month after Buckingham Palace, this set
appears to be more or less a remake with
different images – six stamps in the same large
format plus a miniature sheet of smaller stamps
from a different design team but produced by
the same duo of printers. Once again, there is no
specific event or anniversary to celebrate: it merely
pays a tribute to some of this country’s best-loved
feature films with a nod, in passing, to the former
General Post Office’s inventive but less well known
documentary film unit.
On a more positive note, even if the major
corporations of the past, The Rank Organisation,
Thorn EMI and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
are long gone, film production, employing up
to 66,000 people in the UK, was worth £1bn to
the country’s economy in 2013, up 14% on the
previous year. Many blockbusters, such as The
Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Guardians of the Galaxy
are not being made in Hollywood these days but at
Pinewood, or Shepperton, thanks to film tax relief,
introduced in 2007; these subsidies mean it is now
38% cheaper to shoot a film in the UK than the US.
Pinewood is currently turning away business and
seeking planning permission to double the size
of its studios. On the other hand, the number of
independent British films has declined, only 62
films with a budget over £500,000 being produced
in 2013, compared with 87 in 2011. The number of
low-budget films being shot has also fallen. £26m
for British films come from lottery funding.
It was not an easy task to select just six films from
the last seventy years of British film production;
Royal Mail consulted film experts, the British Film
Institute (BFI) and several opinion polls before
choosing what it hopes will correspond to the
public’s list of ‘must-see’ films. Other masterpieces
in the short list included The 39 Steps (1935), Brief
Encounter (1945), The Third Man (1949), Goldfinger
(1964), Life of Brian (1979), The Draughtsman’s
Contract (1982), A Room with a View (1985), A Fish
called Wanda (1988) and The King’s Speech (2010).
The success of 12 Years a Slave and Gravity at this
year’s Oscars® may give the impression that British
film is still in good health. The talent may be there
still, both in front of and behind the camera, but it
is becoming increasingly difficult to make a decent
living in the British film industry these days. Data
from the BFI reveals that of the nearly 1,200 directors
who made British feature films in the 20 years up
to 2008, 74% made just one and only an elite group
of six managed to make 10 or more films. These
include Michael Winterbottom, Ken Loach and
Kenneth Branagh while the equally famous Danny
Boyle is credited with nine and Mike Leigh and
Stephen Frears with eight. In the ten years up to
2012, 80% of writers and directors achieved only
a single credit. 50% of the film workforce is selfVolume 43 No. 6
Sheet details
Sheet layout & position grids | The three different
1st-class or £1.28 stamps were issued in se-tenant
strips of three within two separate counter sheets
of 18. It was the second time that this sheet size
had been used (after Buckingham Palace), made
necessary by the unusually large dimensions of
these stamps. It allowed vertical strips of six stamps
of the same design to be removed. The two counter
sheets share the same layout, an example of which
is shown on the next page at
80% of actual size. Unlike the
1stBP issue, these were derived class &
from two different primary £1.28
sheets comprising only 72 sheets
stamps, one for each value.
264
June 2014
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...continued
Great British Film
1
1
1
£ .28
SECRETS
& LIES
BEND IT
LIKE BECKHAM
£ .28
CHARIOTS
OF FIRE
£ .28
1
1
BEND IT
LIKE BECKHAM
£ .28
SECRETS
& LIES
CHARIOTS
OF FIRE
£ .28
1
1
1
£ .28
SECRETS
& LIES
BEND IT
LIKE BECKHAM
£ .28
CHARIOTS
OF FIRE
£ .28
1
1
£ .28
1
£ .28
£ .28
BEND IT
LIKE BECKHAM
SECRETS
& LIES
CHARIOTS
OF FIRE
C1
C1
P128 GBF
1
£ .28
C1
1
1
1
1
1
£ .28
SECRETS
& LIES
BEND IT
LIKE BECKHAM
£ .28
CHARIOTS
OF FIRE
£ .28
CS number
Values
Grid position
Barcodes
Stock codes
Stamps contained
CS 2014(5)A
1st-class
1 to 4
5 014721 138046
NVIF GBF
SI 2014(6)A to C
CS 2014(5)B
£1.28
1 to 4
5 014721 138053
P128 GBF
SI 2014(6)D to F
Notes
The stamps are in the same large landscape
format of 60mm x 30mm as the Buckingham Palace
set issued in April. This was initially introduced
on miniature sheets in 2012 on three Olympic
Games issues and continued the following year on
those for London Underground and Andy Murray.
They feature stills from six classic British movies,
each set inside a black border, presumably to
give the impression of being a single frame from
a strip of film with the help of the stamps’ own
perforations. The Queen’s head, value indicator
and the film title are printed in silver in the righthand black panel.
Plate Numbers
Each sheet shows the following plate numbers in
the left-hand selvedge (from top to bottom):
C1 (phosphor), C1 (silver), C1 (yellow),
C1 (magenta), C1 (cyan), C1 (black)
Stamp details
This set of six stamps comes from the johnson
banks design studio, founded by Michael Johnson
in 1992 and based in Clapham (London SW4).
Previous commissions for Royal Mail include Fun
Fruit & Veg (2003) and The Beatles (2006).
June 2014
MIX
Paper
FSC© C100572
Sale Date
13-May-2014
C1
£ .28
SECRETS
& LIES
CHARIOTS
OF FIRE
C1
1
£ .28
BEND IT
LIKE BECKHAM
£ .28
C1
265
Volume 43 No. 6
The
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They are printed by Cartor in lithography; as is
usual with this process, the year of issue 2014 is
included ’hidden’ within the design in black microprinting. This can be quite hard to see (especially on
the Space Odyssey stamp!); the images below show
the location of this date on each stamp. Royal Mail
states that they have been printed with all-over
phosphor but the DG A2B phosphor only covers
the film image, not the black border. The stamps
are comb-perforated, gauge 14¾ x 14¾.
...continued
• 1st-class (62p)
Lawrence of Arabia SI 2014(6)B
A historical epic adventure, directed by David
Lean from a screenplay by Robert Bolt, starring
Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn and
Omar Sharif. Year: 1962. Length: 209 minutes.
This biopic of one of Britain’s most enigmatic yet
charismatic heroes, T E Lawrence, is in everybody’s
list of greatest films of all time, wherever they live.
An action-packed portrayal of his role in the Arab
revolt against the Turks in WWI, it won seven
Oscars®, four BAFTAs and five Golden Globes. It is
regarded as David Lean’s masterpiece and features
an impressively powerful performance by Peter
O’Toole who died earlier this year. Sony Pictures
marked its 50th anniversary in 2012 with a digitally
re-mastered version that has had a theatrical release,
again to great reviews. The film has an international
following and was selected as the best epic movie
ever by the American Film Institute. American
director Steven Spielberg is on record as saying it
inspired him to become a filmmaker.

• 1st-class (62p)
A Matter of Life and Death SI 2014(6)A
A romantic fantasy, produced and directed by
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, starring
David Niven, Kim Hunter, Roger Livesey and
Raymond Massey. Year: 1946. Length: 99 minutes.
The film portrays suave David Niven in one of
his greatest roles as a wartime RAF pilot who
cheats death and is caught in a kind of limbo
between the real world and a fantasy afterlife
where he must argue his case for the right to live.
It is technologically very innovative, filmed in both
black and white and colour, and was selected as
the first Royal Command Film in 1946 attended by
the King and his daughters. Intended to celebrate
the Anglo-American alliance that had prevailed
in WW2, it turned out to be politically outspoken,
questioning the strength of the ties between the two
Allies and whether Britain continued to be a world
power. Danny Boyle used an excerpt from the film
in his opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympics.
Volume 43 No. 6
• 1st-class (62p)
2001: A Space Odyssey SI 2014(6)C
A science-fiction epic, directed by Stanley Kubrick,
co-scripted by Arthur C Clarke from his own short
story, starring Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood and
William Sylvester. Year: 1968. Length: 135 minutes.
2001 regularly tops lists of the greatest ever science
fiction films and is also the only film from this
genre to make the BFI poll for ten best movies of
all time. Director Stanley Kubrick may have been
American, but he was a committed anglophile,
266
June 2014
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moving to the UK in the early 1960s and then
making every film there using British crew and
studios. The innovative and hugely influential
visual effects, sets and cinematography of 2001 are
the work of British technicians and cameramen at
Surrey’s Shepperton Studio, all achieved without
the benefits of computer technology. With its
haunting combination of classical music and
stunning visuals, viewers still thrill at the deadly
battle of wits between homicidal computer HAL
and astronaut Dave, even if few could probably
clearly define what the film is actually all about…
...continued
A social drama, directed by Mike Leigh, starring
Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Brenda Blethyn, Timothy
Spall, Claire Rushbrook and Phyllis Logan. Year:
1996. Length: 136 minutes.
This Mike Leigh film is very highly regarded and
a fine example of social realism which is a key UK
genre. It is Leigh’s most commercially successful film
and arguably his most seen, and its performances
are regarded as among the best in any film in recent
years. Secrets & Lies went on to win two BAFTAs
and the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film
Festival, among many other international awards.
At the death of her adoptive mother, Hortense,
a successful young black woman, seeks out her
natural mother who, to her great surprise, turns out
to be white. She is also down on her luck and has
a dysfunctional family. The drama unfolds as both
sides discover the secrets and lies of the past. The
still on the stamp shows mother and daughter’s
memorable first meeting in a café; to achieve more
spontaneity, the two actresses had not actually met
each other before shooting this scene.
• £1.28 (Worldwide 20g International Standard rate)
Chariots of Fire SI 2014(6)D
A sports drama, directed by Hugh Hudson from a
screenplay by Colin Welland, starring Ben Cross,
Ian Charleson, Nigel Havers and Nicholas Farrell.
Year: 1981. Length: 118 minutes.
This was the multiple Oscar® and BAFTA winning
story of two athletes, Scottish protestant runner Eric
Liddell and his Jewish rival Harold Abrahams, who
compete for glory in the 1924 Olympics. With its
beautifully photographed epic athletic action set to
a rousing score by Vangelis, this is regarded as one
of the greatest sports films of all time. It is highly
rated both by critics and the BFI, who especially
believe this to be a key work of Post War British
film. Colin Welland won an Oscar® for his script,
the title being inspired by the hymn Jerusalem that
he heard being sung on the TV programme Songs
of Praise.
Bend It Like Beckham SI 2014(6)F
A comedy drama, directed by Gurinder Chadra,
starring Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley and
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. Year: 2002. Length: 112
minutes.
This British comedy topped the UK box office on
release and also proved to be immensely popular
internationally: it broke box office records in India
for a foreign film and became the highest grossing
Indian-themed film in the USA. In 2010 it had the
honour of being the first Western made film ever
to be screened on North Korean TV. The film made
stars of its two young female lead actors and is
also arguably the best known film by any British
woman director. It tells the story of a teenage girl
from Hounslow (played by Nagra) who wants
to become a professional footballer like her hero
David Beckham, going against the wishes of her
traditional Indian parents.
Secrets & Lies SI 2014(6)E
June 2014
267
Volume 43 No. 6
The
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Office and each stamp pane showed a line from
W H Auden’s famous poem; interleaf L6b paid
homage to the film and label L46 within DP350
showed the Night Mail poster (see below). A stamp
for Love on the Wing, a film by director Norman
McLaren, also marks his centenary in 2014.
Miniature sheet
special issue:
source:
on sale:
stamp values:
set value:
printer:
process:
stamp size:
sheet size:
paper/gum:
phosphor:
perf. gauge:
SI 2014(6)
MS 2014(3)
13 May 2014
4 x 1st-class
£2.48
Joh. Enschedé Stamps
41mm x 30mm
115mm x 89mm (without tab)
OFNP(C)/PVAl
AOP
14¼ x 14
The issue of a miniature sheet (with and without a
rouletted barcode tab) on the same day celebrated
the rich heritage of the GPO (General Post Office)
Film Unit. In the 1930s, this body produced what
are internationally regarded as key works in the
documentary genre. The unit was established
initially to explain postal and telephone services,
and heighten the reputation of the Post Office,
in an era when it was leading the world in
technological innovation. Its remit grew as it
experimented with new ways of communicating
with the public, and it created ground-breaking
films by experimenting with sound, animation
and images, as well as landmark documentaries
using an impressive array of film makers. The
films were screened throughout the country and
had huge popular appeal. It has been said that
the public affection for the modern Post Office
began with these films.
Sheet details
As has become the norm, the miniature sheet and
its stamps were not designed by the same team
as the counter sheet set. The sheet is the work
of Magpie Studio of London EC2, who have
numerous Royal Mail stamp issues to their credit
including 2009 Mini generic sheet and coin cover,
2010 Winnie the Pooh, 2011 RM Yearbook, 2012
Roald Dahl, 2012 RM Yearpack and 2013 Dinosaurs
FDC, handstamps and presentation pack.
Like those in the Buckingham Palace sheet, the
stamps are in the smaller format of 41mm x 30mm
and are printed in lithography by Joh. Enschedé.
They each show a still from one of the four films
with the Queen’s head, the value indicator, the
year and title of the film and the director’s name
reversed out of the designs in white. The stamps
have been printed with all-over phosphor and are
comb perforated. They include the year of issue
2014 in black micro-printing hidden in the designs;
their locations are shown below. The sheet border
shows the GPO logo designed by Macdonald Gill
in the mid-1930s; the typeface used is the famous
‘Gill Sans’ developed by his brother, Eric.
The immortal Night Mail film is marked with
a stamp for the first time, although prestige
book DB5(32) in 2004, entitled Letters by Night,
celebrated the recently retired Travelling Post
The sheet without a 10mm wide rouletted tab (sold by
Tallents House and in packs) is MS 2014(3)A; those with
this tab (as above) are sold in post offices - MS 2014(3)B
Volume 43 No. 6
...continued
NB: The notes on the miniature sheet stamps on the
following page are taken from the presentation pack
268
June 2014
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...continued
• 1st-class (62p)
Night Mail (1936) SI 2014(6)G
• 1st-class (62p)
A Colour Box (1935) SI 2014(6)I
‘This the Night Mail crossing the border, / Bringing the
cheque and the postal order.’ W H Auden’s verse and
Benjamin Britten’s music immortalised the story
of the nightly journey of the ‘postal special’ from
Euston to Glasgow. Directed by Harry Watt and
Basil Wright, Night Mail helped lay the tracks for
innumerable day-in-the-life ‘story documentaries’.
Watt went on to make the classic war film Target
for Tonight (1941) and after the war developed
his career at Ealing Studios. Wright, director
of the pioneering Song of Ceylon (1934), became
an influential film critic, lecturer and historian,
while continuing to produce and direct. Length: 24
minutes, in black & white.
Len Lye’s delirious animated short was created
by painting bright, abstract shapes directly onto
celluloid. The paint was then combed and textured
so that it appeared to ‘dance’ along with the
soundtrack. The popularity of his unusual methods
saw Lye, a New Zealander, commissioned by many
of the great patrons of 1930s design, such as Shell
and Imperial Airways. A Colour Box’s lively mix
of primal energy and modernity caught the eye of
artists such as Pail Nash and the Surrealists. After
the war, Lye established himself in the field of
kinetic sculpture in New York. Length: 4 minutes,
in colour.
• 1st-class (62p)
Spare Time (1939) SI 2014(6)J
• 1st-class (62p)
Love on the wing (1938) SI 2014(6)H
Made for the New York World Fair of 1939, Spare
Time offers up a picture of after-work Britain. It
shows how people in Sheffield, Manchester and
Pontypridd fit an incredible panoply of musical,
sporting and leisure enthusiasms around the
rhythms of the steel, cotton and coal industries.
The art historian David Mellor argued that the
documentary offers the richest concentration of pop
iconography until the emergence of the Independent
Group in the 1950s. The work of Humphrey
Jennings – a poet, painter and film director of real
substance – provided a source of inspiration for the
opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic
Games. Length: 14 minutes, in black & white.
Love on the wing was the breakthrough film of the
Scottish animator Norman McLaren. A graduate
of the Glasgow School of Art, McLaren had begun
by scratching images onto celluloid; by the time
of Love on the wing, his hand-drawn animation
overlaid complex coloured backgrounds. The film’s
images, which include a man who sprouts wings, a
giant floating eye, two pairs of lips, a flying bone,
a skull, a horse and an axe, suggest the influence
of the London International Surrealist Exhibition
of 1936. McLaren spent the majority of his post
war career working at the National Film Board of
Canada. Length: 4 minutes, in colour.
June 2014
269
Volume 43 No. 6
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Presentation pack
on sale:
pack number:
value at issue:
stamp values:
pack printer:
...continued
First day covers
The usual first day cover facilities were provided
for this issue by Royal Mail. The blank FDC
envelope were priced at 30p; they were both
designed by johnson banks with text on the filler
card by Dr Scott Anthony who looks at the changes
in the nation’s film industry over the past several
decades as well as the challenges it faces in trying
to maintain its ‘Britishness’ in a global market.
The envelope itself showed the issue title and text
‘Royal Mail First Day Cover’ as if they were frames
on a celluloid strip of film.
13 May 2014
498
£8.70
3 x 1st-class, 3 x £1.28 + M/S
The illustrated presentation pack (shown below)
contained the full set of stamps in two ‘se-tenant’
strips under clear acetate bands. The miniature
sheet was also included on a separate carrier. The
pack was designed by johnson banks. It contained
informative text written by Dr Scott Anthony of the
Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge
where he offers supervisions on modern British
political, economic, social and cultural history.
He has worked extensively with the British Film
Institute on highly successful screenings, book and
DVD releases which include the GPO Film Unit
collection. Among his key publications are The
Projection of Britain: a history of the GPO Film Unit
(co-edited with James Mansell) (2011) and Night
Mail (2007). The printing of the pack is credited to
ISP and shows Walsall’s FSC code, C023216. The
miniature sheet carrier shows barcode 138237.
As usual, two different pictorial ‘first day of issue’
postmarks were available for this stamp issue, both
shown below. Blackheath, London SE3 was chosen
as the alternative postmark address as it was the
location of the GPO Film Unit’s studios.. The latter
was available by mail order but was also applied to
covers handed in or posted at Post Office® branches,
irrespective of their actual location. Inland prices
for serviced covers with the six sheet stamps were
£7.32 or £6.10 for addresses outside the UK. The
same cover bearing the miniature sheet cost £3.45
or £2.88, respectively.
Stamp cards
A set of eleven postcards was made available a
week before the stamp issue itself. These reproduce
individual enlarged images of one of the ten
different stamps and the complete miniature sheet.
Priced at £4.95 for the set, they were printed by
Pureprint Group. Each card shows barcode 138541
and the set reference is PHQ 389.
Volume 43 No. 6
270
June 2014
The
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Circle
Affairs
by Gerry Fisk
there were also nine frames covering the early
decimal era. It was accompanied by a substantial
48-page brochure with colour illustrations. Ian
has a limited stock of these remaining and has
most generously offered to send a copy to Circle
members with a genuine interest in these early
books. Ian can be contacted on 020 8789 7358 or
e-mail [email protected]
Membership renewal
Members’ wants & offers
Nicholas Varelas, 491 Gordon Avenue, West
Vancouver, B.C., V7T 1P5, Canada, would like
offers of booklet and coil pairs in unmounted mint
condition. E-mail [email protected]
I
t’s that time of year again when you are urged
to part with some of your hard earned cash. A
Membership Renewal form is enclosed with this
Journal if your subscription is due for the 2014-15
Circle year.
Letters
Please read and complete the form carefully.
The three categories of membership have been
redefined since last year so please take care to
mark the one that you wish to apply to you. The
revised categories are:
Larry Rosenblum in California was the only member
to take the time to write on the question of subscription
rates raised in BMJ 43/4/172. Can he really be the only
one among you to have an opinion on this subject?
A:
receive the Journal, in colour, and all
documentation via the website
I recently finally found time to read through the
February Bookmark. There was a short piece asking
for members’ comments about subscription rates.
B:
receive the Journal, in colour, from the
website; receive auction documentation by post
C:
receive the Journal, in black and white,
and all documentation by post
Having served a total of eight years as treasurer
of the Great Britain Collectors Club and now
as treasurer of a small club, I firmly believe
that each member’s dues should pay the cost
of his subscription, regardless of other club
income. I certainly benefitted from the MBPC’s
subsidies in the past, but I think it would be
best to put the finances on a firmer footing.
The enclosed renewal form (also downloadable
from the Circle website) includes details of the
revised membership subscription rates that were
agreed at the last AGM (see also page 279).
Ian Harvey’s RPS display brochure
You will recall that in the December Journal we
announced that one of our members, Ian Harvey,
would be showing highlights from his collection
entitled ‘Booklet Production and Promotion, the
first 100 years’ at the Royal Philatelic Society in
London on 27 March. The display was very
impressive with a lot of unique items, mainly
from the ‘Kings’ and ‘Wilding’ periods, although
June 2014
This is especially true now that a low-cost
electronic subscription is available, so overseas
members (like me) are not forced to pay for the
high cost of international postage. I still like
to receive the paper copy, and I’m prepared
to pay the full cost. If or when I no longer
wish to do so, I’ll switch to electronic only.
271
Volume 43 No. 6
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by Hanns Fasching
Phosphor bars - solid or vignetted?
O
n pages 164 to 170 of the February Journal (BMJ
43/4), the phosphor bars used on self-adhesive
definitive-sized stamps were described under the
same sub-title. There remained the question as to
whether the same explanation – “existence of only
vignetted phosphor bars” – is valid regarding the
phosphor bars on conventionally gummed stamps.
As with the definitive-sized stamps, John Gray
kindly sent me a list with his measurements on
conventionally gummed stamps from Generic and
other Smilers® sheets; all these stamps measure
41mm x 30mm. The result was very interesting as
the vignetting was described from ‘not obvious’ to
‘clear 4.0mm’ with all other possibilities in between
this range.
Example
of 2.0mm
vignetting
‘Cheers’
Greetings
Example
of narrow
vignetting
The following illustrations (kindly provided
by John Gray) show examples of clear 4.0mm
vignetting – one is the ‘Cartoon’ stamp from the
first ‘Eagle Coaches’ Business Customised sheet
(BCS) and the other one is the ‘Cheers’ stamp from
the second ‘Eagle Coaches’ BCS (both are printed
in lithography by Questa). For comparison,
the ‘Cheers’ stamp from the ‘Rushstamps 45th
Anniversary’ BCS (printed in lithography by
Walsall) show an example of clear 2.0 mm vignetting.
Narrow vignetted regions can also be seen on the
‘Hello’ stamp from ‘Stampex – Spring 2005’ BCS
(printed in lithography by Cartor) although the
width of the vignetted region is different on either
side of the stamp and increases from bottom to top!
Another very interesting example is the ‘Dennis’
stamp from the first Generic sheet which shows
a clear line at the right phosphor bar where the
4.0mm vignetted region should start.
‘Hello’
Greetings
Example
with a
line at
the right
phosphor
bar
‘Dennis’
Greetings
John again contacted Martyn Fry of Royal Mail to
ask him whether a specification for conventionally
gummed commemorative stamps also exists
and he immediately obtained a reply with Royal
Mail’s specification for this kind of stamp. This is
reproduced at the top of the following page.
Examples
of 4.0mm
vignetting
From this specification it is clear that all these
conventionally gummed stamps from Generic and
other Smilers® sheets are overprinted with 9.0mm
wide phosphor bars with 4.0 mm vignetting.
So, why did John Gray obtain so many different
results when measuring the phosphor bars? One
explanation was already given in the first part of
this subject in BMJ 43/4 by the different weights
of phosphor inks laid down. However, another
possible explanation could be how the gradation
is applied. I made several trials myself to see this
more clearly. The following two diagrams show
enlarged drawings of vignetted phosphor bars of
a width of 9.0mm (5.0mm + 4.0mm). On one, the
4.0mm region is reduced gradually in strength,
‘Don’t
ring’
Cartoon &
‘Cheers’
Greetings
Volume 43 No. 6
272
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
...continued
Stamp Phosphor
The phosphorescent signal(s) required from each stamp for Royal Mail Operational purposes shall be achieved
by the overprinting of phosphorescent/fluorescent bars using a suitable ink.
Stamps of the face value for basic Second Class carriage (including “2ND” NVI) shall be printed with one bar;
all other stamps shall be printed with two bars.
All bars shall be parallel to the vertical sides of the stamp and shall extend fully from top to bottom edges of the
stamp unless otherwise instructed by Royal Mail through the relevant stamp Production Standard.
For stamps utilising a single vertical bar:The width of the bar shall be 4.5 ± 0.5 mm, and of uniform deposit weight over its entire area. Its position
shall be identified through the relevant stamp Production Standard.
For stamps utilising two vertical bars:The bars shall be positioned at respectively the left and right hand edges of the stamp.
Each bar shall have an overall width of 9.0 ± 0.5 mm, the outer 5.0 ± 0.5 mm shall be of uniform strength,
reducing gradually in strength (vignetting) across the remaining width to 50% of the outer strength.
Note: The bars at each side of a stamp will ideally provide similar signals. In order to achieve this,
particularly where the colours of the stamp are significantly different at each side, the two bars do not need to be
of equal printed strength; their strength can be adjusted according to the colour on which they are printed.
whilst on the other one the 4.0mm region is
reduced and the whole region is uniform. To see
the difference more easily it is reduced to 20% (and
not to 50% as in the case of real stamps). Well, when
you now look at the left-hand illustration (reduced
gradually in strength) you will notice that even
with the reduction to 20% it is rather hard to see a
4.0mm region of vignetting!
100%
5.0 mm
gradually
from 100% to 20%
4.0 mm
left: 9mm gradually vignetted 50%
June 2014
100%
5.0 mm
In the examples shown in the opposite column,
the gradation from 100% to 20% is obtained by
having the centre of gradation in the middle of
the 4.0 mm region (at 50%). However, the centre
of the gradation could also be more to the left or
more to the right of the centre of the 4.0 mm region.
The illustrations shown at the top of the following
page give three possibilities of different gradual
reductions – one is at 25% (left illustration), one
is at 50% (centre illustration) and the other is at
75% (right illustration). Looking attentively at
these three versions you will notice for yourself
that the result of vignetting looks quite different
even though the gradation is in all cases from
100% to 20%. In fact, there was no specification
from Royal Mail regarding the “centre” of the
gradation – it was only defined that it ‘shall be
of uniform strength, reducing gradually in strength
(vignetting) across the remaining width to 50% of the
outer strength’.
20%
When you now also think about the fact that the
width of the vignetted area will vary, or appear
not to be present, depending on the weight of
phosphor ink laid down (e.g. wet offset), it can be
understood why we see solid bars or those with
different widths of vignetting.
4.0 mm
right: 9mm vignetted
273
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
...continued
100%
gradually
from 100% to 20%
100%
gradually
from 100% to 20%
100%
gradually
from 100% to 20%
5.0mm
4.0mm
5.0mm
4.0mm
5.0mm
4.0mm
gradually vignetted from 100%
to 20% with the center
at 25% of the 4.0mm region
phosphors. This probably happens because of
too little phosphor ink (as described above and
in BMJ 43/4). Such things can be described as dry
prints and should not be catalogued as intended
changes by a level 3 catalogue number. These are
unintended changes and will be treated in ‘The
Bookmark’ Catalogue in the same way as all such
errors (e.g. missing phosphor) – by a level 4 sub
number.
Nevertheless, there are at least two examples
where, in my point of view, a wrong width of
vignetting was applied – namely 2.0mm instead of
4.0mm. This clearly happened on the ‘Teddy Bear’
stamp from the ‘Stampex – Autumn 2003’ BCS
and on the ‘Cheers’ and ‘Thanks’ stamps from the
‘Rushstamps 45th Anniversary’ BCS (both printed
in lithography by Walsall). This probably happened
due to a mix up of both specifications given by
Royal Mail, one for definitive-sized stamps and
one for other stamps.
Questions resulting from the MCC Catalogue
On pages 170 and 171 of BMJ 43/4 several new
catalogue numbers were announced. After
publication I received an email from Barry Smith
telling me that DB19(25)/1 for the ‘Type 5S(3)’
window book with WRONG CONTENT (DP208
instead of DP194A) must be wrong as this catalogue
number has already been allocated to a missing
phosphor variety. Barry was of the opinion that
it should be DB19(25)/2. Looking through all the
Circle’s publications, I could find no allocation of
DB19(25)/1. I told Barry this and he replied that
he had got this catalogue number from the MCC
Catalogue.
I mentioned on page 264 of BMJ 42/6 the
‘Occasions’ stamps issued on 5 March 2002, which
obviously exist with phosphor bars of different
widths – either 5mm bars derived from 10mm
bands or 9mm bars derived from 18mm bands. It
is stated that the wider bars came from Jan 2002
print dates, while the narrow bars came from
Dec 2001print dates. It also says that the 10mm
phosphor bands (two 5mm bars) were found on
the 18mm sheets; vertical strips of three exist –
one stamp with 18mm, one with 10mm and the
centre one narrowing down from 18mm to 10mm.
I found such a strip described in an old dealer’s
list (A.G. Bond). My question is now: was this an
intended change? I don’t believe so – it was only
an “error” (unintended change) similar to missing
Volume 43 No. 6
The 10th edition of the MCC Catalogue lists under
DB19(25)/1 a Type 5S(3) booklet with missing
phosphor pane DP194A/N for a price of £ 1200.00.
274
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
...continued
This catalogue number has never been allocated
by the MBPC! So I asked Melvyn Philpott where
this information came from and whether this
book really does exist. Philpott replied that this
part of the MCC Catalogue was compiled and
verified many years ago by John Brain. He told
me that he has contacted John and although he
cannot remember where the info came from, he
did confirm that it definitely exists. Well, not
satisfied with this reply, I contacted John Brain
myself. John replied as follows:
Both DB7(40) – Recipe Cards offer and DB7(41)
– Children’s Party Pack offer – exist with panes
DP68D/68E on which the phosphor cylinder
number B49 has been displaced downwards (-100
mm) resulting in cylinder pane type g/h (please
also see ‘The Bookmark’ Catalogue on page J5-6 of
the 7th edition and page D5-6 of the 8th edition).
This means that the phosphor cylinder number
B49 appears on book 2 of the primary sheet. I can
confirm this phosphor displacement as I have both
booklets in my collection.
“I did the window book section for Melvyn a long
time ago, when I still collected Window books, but
I have now got rid of most of my collection. I only
listed items at that time which I knew about and had
been confirmed. I do not recall who had this book or
who reported it, but I didn't make any assumptions
as if I had I would have listed the plain book, which
is not confirmed. I questioned everything when I
put the section together in the same way that you do
and I compiled the list from items that I had or from
items that I knew collectors had. The other sources of
information were Pete Daniel's, Jim Bond's and Mike
Holt's lists and I spoke with them about some of the
varieties so that I was as accurate as possible with
what was or was not listed. I cannot throw any more
light on this book, but I would not have included it if
it had not been confirmed at that time. Sorry I cannot
give you any more information, but it is a long time
ago since I wrote that section.”
On the other hand, the MCC Catalogue list both
booklets with an upward displacement of the
phosphor cylinder number B49 by +94mm. This
would mean that the number B49 appears on book
4 of the primary sheet. Therefore another question
– can anybody confirm this upwards displacement
of the phosphor cylinder number B49 on panes
DP68D/68E from books DB7(40) and DB7(41)?
If you can help with one or maybe even both of
these questions please contact me at [email protected].
New reports
At the last Circle Meeting on 21 March 2014, Gerry
Fisk received some very interesting reports from
Colin Armstrong and Les Gandy as follows:
 ½p sheet issue printed on OCP(H)/
PVAl with two phosphor bars, printed
by Harrison and Sons (catalogued as DG
5.2.1). Colin has two vertical strips of
three with characteristics as shown in the
diagram below :
As I understand it, this missing phosphor pane
DP194/N (and not DP194A/N as described in the
MCC Catalogue) was used with window book
Type 9 (which also has the same 3 vertical lines
of text at the left edge of the inside cover as the
Type 5S(3) cover). This booklet is catalogued in the
7th edition as DB19(27)/1. On page E2-D33 of the
7th edition footnote 6 gives the reason why both
panes DP194 and DP194A with missing phosphor
are catalogued as DP194/N. I had already looked
at the question of this missing phosphor booklet in
1999/2000 and at that time I came to the conclusion
that DP194/N with Type 5S(3) covers did not exist.
I am as good as sure that there has been some
confusion between Type 9 and Type 5S(3) covers
as both present the same "three line" postcode
message at the left edge of the inside cover.
missing
phosphor
½P
½P
S16
S17
½P
½P
missing
phosphor
normal
Therefore my question to our members – can
anybody confirm the existence of a Type 5S(3)
window book, printed by Questa, with inside
cover IC69a (showing UK validity for 2ndclass items and a three line postcode message),
containing missing phosphor pane DP194/N?
June 2014
normal
½P
½P
S16 is short by approximately 30% and S17 is
the reverse with 70% of the bars missing. *)
275
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
...continued
 The Deegam® Handbook lists as DG 100.1.1e
a 10p terracotta and brown stamp which
is imperforate between the top row of
stamps and margin. However it doesn’t list
the same condition for the orange brown
colour but the Stanley Gibbons Catalogue
does, as U184g. Colin has a block of six
showing this. *)
the bottom design appears at the top of the cover.
The book contains pane DP31, perforated P1 from
column 2.
DB6(7)/2 – 10p Farm Buildings, No.4: Wales folded
machine-vend book with pale blue completely
omitted from the outside cover. The book contains
pane DP31, perforated P1 from column 2.
DB8(19)A/1 – £1.55 19th Century Women’s
Costumes, No.4: 1850 – 1860 folded counter book
with rose omitted from the outside cover. There are
some very small traces of the rose colour at the top
left of the outside back cover. The book contains
pane DP54A with margin at the right. (The same
variety with margin at the left has already been
reported and is catalogued as DB8(19)/1.)
 Worldwide postcard stamp (DG N6.1.3)
from presentation pack, with white backing
paper, ½mm taller than the normal issue. *)
 DP301 exists as missing phosphor except
s2, s7 RB, s3, s8 LB and with a vertical
phosphor line through s3, s8 ½mm wide,
inset 2mm from right – from cylinder
W1 / – f. The pane is in book DB17(50)
A. This variety will be mentioned in the
8th edition, but without allocating a subnumber.
DB8(30)A/1 – £1.70 National Gallery; greetings card
offer folded counter book with dull blue omitted
from the outside cover. There are some traces of
the dull blue colour at the right of the outside front
cover. The book contains pane DP69A with the
margin at the right.
 DP40 from the Wedgwood £3 prestige
book (DB5(2)) with a curious phosphor
band layout (which appear all on the same
pane):
SB2(10)B/1 – 12 x 2nd-class self-adhesive book
with printer’s imprint on the outside back cover,
with security code MTIL/MA10 and with cylinder
combination W4 W1 / W2. The book has the MATRIX
INTACT. John Brain found two cylinder books
within the same pack (packing date 01/02/10); the
other 48 books in the pack were normal, as were all
the other packs of books in that batch.
Short bar at the bottom in row 3;
inset left bar on all stamp columns.
The bands are slightly diagonal (right
to left) with the tops of the bands
approximately ½mm to 1mm offset right.
The phosphor bands are also printed on
the reverse of the pane.
Correction to the 8th edition, volume 2
DP315 | While researching “Phosphor bars – solid
or vignetted”, I also had a further look at some
prestige book panes described in the 8th edition
of ‘The Bookmark’ Catalogue. There I noticed pane
DP315 from DB5(25), ‘The Life of the Century – A
poem for HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother’,
where the two 65p pictorial Scottish definitives
are described as having two 4.5mm (left and right)
phosphor bars. Having in mind Royal Mail’s
specification that this kind of stamp should all
have 6.5mm bars with 2.0mm vignetting, I made
a further close examination of these two stamps.
With the naked eye, you see clearly two 4.5mm
bars; the same result is obtained by using an UV
lamp (battery operated).
This variety will be mentioned in the 8th
edition, but without allocating a subnumber.
*) As these items are not the subject of ‘The
Bookmark’ Catalogue I forwarded this report to
Douglas Myall to be inserted within the Deegam®
Handbook.
Catalogue updates
This time I will describe some books from my
collection which were not previously catalogued.
There are four folded books with dry printed
covers resulting in one colour missing from the
outside cover and one self-adhesive book with the
matrix intact (see images on the following page).
Looking at the Deegam® Handbook, I noticed there
that the 65p pictorial Scottish definitive stamp is
catalogued as DG SP65.2.1 and is described as
having 10.5mm vignetted phosphor bars with
layout V6 (= 2B 10.5 – LB: 4.5mm / RB: 1.5mm +
DB6(6)/3 – 10p Farm Buildings, No.3: Yorkshire
folded machine-vend book with pale blue completely
omitted from the outside cover. The design is
moved downwards slightly so that a small part of
Volume 43 No. 6
276
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
...continued
These books
are referred to in
‘Catalogue updates’
on the previous page.
From top to bottom
they show:
DB6(6)/3
DB6(7)/2
DB8(19)A/1
DB8(30)A/1
SB2(10)B/1
June 2014
277
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
...continued
4.5mm). In fact, Deegam describes this 65p stamp
as having only a vignetted phosphor bar at the
right, whilst that at the left has no vignetting.
Mail’s specification. If stamps exist with the
vignetting omitted from one bar or both bars due
to a dry print, then this should be considered as
an unintended change and should be treated by a
level 4 catalogue number.
I discussed this subject with John Gray and he
produced two images of this stamp whilst they
were illuminated under the UV lamp. One shows
the 65p stamp from position 4 on which the 2.0mm
vignetted region of the right bar can clearly be seen;
a vignetted region on the left bar is also present,
but is not so clear. The other image shows a strip of
three, two 65p stamps with label L38 in the centre.
The vignetted region of all the phosphor bars can
be seen here too. The reason why it is so difficult to
see the vignetting with the naked eye can probably
be explained by the very dark colour used for this
stamp.
Below is an updated diagram of pane DP315 with
the correct layout of the phosphor bars.
Saltire on a
blue ground
2ND
It is clear that this 65p Scottish stamp has two
6.5mm phosphor bars with a 2.0mm vignetted
region on each side which is in line with Royal
2ND
Scottish
tartan
Saltire on a
blue ground
2ND
Scottish
tartan
65
Saltire on a
blue ground
2ND
65
Saltire on a
blue ground
2ND
Saltire on a
blue ground
2ND
Muller Martini press | The primary sheets for
DP357 and DP358 from prestige book DB5(35) and
DP387 to DP390 from DB5(42) are described in the
8th edition of ‘The Bookmark’ Catalogue as being
printed in lithography by Walsall on a Muller
Martini A52 press. Ian De La Rue Browne told me
that he had a conversation with Martyn Fry from
Royal Mail who said that the Muller Martini press
65p Scottish pictorial definitive stamps from DP315
showing 4.5mm + 2.0mm vignetted phosphor bars
Volume 43 No. 6
Saltire on a
blue ground
278
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
Catalogue Editor’s Notes (...cont)
New Deegam Catalogue numbers
was used for presentation pack card inserts and
that he didn’t know if the press had been used for
Royal Mail stamps.
List of recent Machin & regional definitives
(compiled by Hanns Fasching)
ExDP464
2p
5p
1st
Further, Martyn Fry explained to Ian that Royal Mail
only requires the printer to use a specified printing
process. Royal Mail does not specify a printing
press or type of press. It is merely left to the printer
to determine how they meet the print contract.
Thus, if the printer had say four different litho
presses, he could use say two/three/four different
presses if he so wished. Indeed, by implication,
the printer could probably ‘get away’ with subcontracting to a third party, assuming that it was to
a security printer (re De La Rue / Walsall 78p, 88p
sheets, etc. last year). Talking about other topics, he
said that web fed litho presses use UV cured inks.
Royal Mail cancellers use water based inks which
are incompatible with the printings produced with
UV cured inks. Based on this, he then agreed that
the Martini could not be used for RM stamps unless
different types of cancellers were introduced.
MPIL/M13L
MPIL/M13L
DG20.23.1
DG50.23.2
DGNPN1.8.1
MPIL/M14L
MPIL/M14L
MPIL/M14L
DG100.27.1
DG200.22.1
DG1000.9.1
Ͳ/M14L
Ͳ/M14L
Ͳ/M14L
Ͳ/M14L
Ͳ/M14L
Ͳ/M14L
Ͳ/M14L
Ͳ/M14L
Ͳ/M14L
Ͳ/M14L
Ͳ/M14L
Ͳ/M14L
Ͳ/M14L
Ͳ/M14L
Ͳ/M14L
DG100.25.5
DG200.21.5
DG1000.8.3
DG1280.1.4
DG810.2.1
DG810.2.2
DG970.3.1
DG970.3.2
DG1470.1.1
DG1470.1.2
DG2150.1.1
DG2150.1.2
DGN2.30.12
DGN1.53.4
DGLN1.7.4
MRIL/M12L
DGN2.31.11
ExSB1(22)B
1ST
RoyalMailred
MTIL/M14L
DGN1.54.9
ExSB3(41)andSB3(42)
1ST
RoyalMailred
1ST
RoyalMailred
MCIL/M13L
MCIL/M14L
DGN1.54.8
DGN1.54.10
ExSB8(13)B
2LG
Lightblue
MBIL/MA14
DGLN2.4.8
ExDP471
10p
Lighttan
20p
Lightgreen
£1.00
Woodbrown
Countersheetissues
10p
Lighttan
20p
Lightgreen
£1.00
Woodbrown
£1.28
Emeraldgreen
81p
Hollygreen
81p
Hollygreen
97p
Purpleheather
97p
Purpleheather
£1.47
Dovegrey
£1.47
Dovegrey
£2.15
Marineturquoise
£2.15
Marineturquoise
2ND
Lightblue
1ST
RoyalMailred
1LG
RoyalMailred
ExWalsallcoil
2ND
Lightblue
In 2010, Ian Brigham of Cartor / Walsall explained
to Ian De La Rue Browne that the Muller Martini
had not been used to print Great Britain stamps
and had not been sanctioned by Royal Mail – at the
time it had been used for presentation pack inserts;
stamps for the Netherlands and Finland were also
mentioned. The litho panes for prestige books
were probably printed on the Roland 306 offset
litho press (e.g. DP357 and DP358 of ‘The Brontë
Sisters’ prestige book).
Therefore, the Muller Martini A52 press has not
and will not be used for Royal Mail stamps.
Please renew your subscription promptly
Complete listing on website
June 2014
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
NewRegionals
97p
EnglishOak
DGEP97.2.1
97p
Linen
DGNP97.2.1
97p
ScottishThistle
DGSP97.2.1
97p
Daffodil
DGWP97.2.1
1 newdefinitivesfromcountersheetsof25(DOPupright)
2 newdefinitivesfromspecialcoilprintingusedonofficialFDCsͲ
onlyknownused(DOPsidewaysright)
The primary sheets of the six panes in question
clearly show features of web fed printing and all
the other litho printing presses are sheet fed. For
me, the question now remains – which printing
press was used to print litho panes DP357, DP358,
DP387, DP388, DP389 and DP390? Can any of our
members shed any light on this subject?
It was announced on page 163 of BMJ 43/4
that a complete listing of Business Customised
sheets containing self-adhesive definitivesized stamps would be available on the Circle’s
website. Since then I have decided not to
proceed with this. However, if members are
interested in obtaining this listing they should
contact me at [email protected] and I
will then send them the Excel-file.
Darkgreen
Ashpink
PatchworkFields
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Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
New reports
layer printed inverted but invitations to produce
images of these have remained unheeded so these
items cannot be confirmed.
Miscut counter sheet
Above: images 1, 2 & 3 and
the new position of code B on
business sheets
T
he above item was reported by Richard Parsons,
(as is the case of virtually all the others on
this page), ever vigilant in discovering items and
diligent in reporting them. So, in what way is this
sheet miscut? Normally the panel with the cylinder
numbers is placed at the bottom of the sheets of 50
whereas here it is at the top. For the PO counter
staff, it doesn’t make much difference but for us it
produces a nice variety.
More new MA14 / M14L Machin printings
Many more new Machin printings with the current
year in the iridescent overprint appeared in April
or early May. These are resumed in the table below.
A couple of these items were already mentioned in
the last edition but are included again here as the
Catalogue numbers were not given. All of these
stamps are illustrated in the next column.
Die-cuts on Horizon labels
Note that on the business sheets, the position of the
source code has now moved upwards to the line
opposite the ST or ND of the value indicator. There
have been reports made on the Norvic blog of
sheets of the 10p and 20p found with the iridescent
There are reports of uncut or incomplete die-cuts
on recent Horizon labels. Some have also been
found with them almost cut right through the
backing paper - could this be a deliberate attempt
to overcome the problem of the missing cuts?
Value
2nd Large
1st red Large
1st red Large
10p light tan
20p light green
£1 wood brown
£1.28 emerald green
1st red
1st red
Volume 43 No. 6
Source
Business sheet
Business sheet
Counter sheet
Counter sheet
Counter sheet
Counter sheet
Counter sheet
Counter sheet
Book of 12
Overprint
MBIL / MA14
MBIL / MA14
ņ / M14L
ņ / M14L
ņ / M14L
ņ / M14L
ņ / M14L
ņ / M14L
MTIL / M14L
Above: images
4 to 9
Left: Barcode
on book pack
wrapper
Cylinders
D1D1/D1
D2D1/D1
D2D1/D1
D1D1/D1
D1D1/D1
D1D1/D1
W5W1/W2
280
Print date
07/01/14
06/01/14
18/03/14
07/03/14
14/03/14
10/03/14
06/03/14
17/03/14
packed 11/02/14
Slits
T2
T2
T2
T2
T2
T2
T2
T2
T2
BM Cat. No.
SB8(13)B
SB7(16)B
SB1(22)B
Image
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
Post & Go update
table compiled from information supplied by Vince Patel
Royal Mail confirmed on 28 March that ‘Existing P&G
stamps for WW 10g and WW 40g and other previously
issued NVIs for which there is no current postage value
e.g. WW Postcard, will continue to be valid for the next
applicable weight step up from its stated value i.e. WW
10g stamp will be valid at the WW 20g value and the
WW 40g stamp will be valid at the new WW 60g value.’
Can this really be the case for the WW 10g now that
this rate has ultimately been maintained?
85th S
Scottish Congress, Perth - April 2014
Series B machines - Stamps overprinted ‘85th Scottish /
Congress 2014’ (except where stated)
Fri 11 April to Sat 12 April 2014
Machin (no year code)
Self-service machines
A003
Union Flag MA13 2
A004
J001
B001
Back office
machines 1
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Machin MA13
Union Flag (no year code) 2
B002
Machin MA13
Union Flag (no year code)
In any case, Royal Mail announced that the text on
Europe 20g P&G stamps from NCR and series 2
machines would be modified from 28 April to read
‘Euro 20g / World 10g’ which indicates that the latter
still has a value of 97p. To date, this has only appeared
with ‘The B.P.M.A.’ overprint from machine A001 at
Freeling House; the ‘Postage Due’ overprint had had
its end-date extended from 5 April and was finally
removed when the new Europe 20g text appeared.
Union Flag MA13
Jersey Flag 3 & 4
Union Flag (no year code) 3 & 4
Union Flag MA13 3 & 4
Machin MA13
Union Flag MA13
Jersey Flag 3 & 5
Machin MA13
Union Flag (no year code)
These machines were used for printing pre-order stamps
and were not located at the venue itself
Some stamps were printed with incorrect date string of
BNGB14 instead of B4GB14. The receipts were dated
11/11/2014 instead of 11/04/2014
Jersey & Union Flags are without overprint
Jersey & Union Flags with receipt depicting Jersey Post
th
logo and titled 85 Scottish Congress with Dewars Centre,
Perth address
Jersey Flag with receipt depicting Jersey Post logo and
titled Jersey Stamps with St. Helier, Jersey address.
Stamps sold at Jersey Post Philatelic counter
Branches have been raking out old stocks of pictorial
P&G rolls from their cupboards and many examples
of sheep, pigs, cattle, fish, robins and even birds have
been appearing with the new 60g rates. Such rolls
need to be used up as they cannot be installed in the
new NCR machines without first being re-reeled as
they have a different core size. Spring flora has begun
to appear in the NCR kiosks. In future, new designs
will only be produced with the new size core.
60g stamp with overprint & ‘N’ date code error in text string
Roll-out of NCR machines continues
New Post & Go values
The ambition is to replace the existing Wincor
machines in Post Office branches by the end of the
year. On 29 April, 51 branches had been equipped
with the new Fujitsu NCR machines, making a total
of 127 ‘self-service kiosks’ (see the following page).
This list will be updated on the Circle’s website.
The rates increase gave rise to two replacement values
for the obsolete Worldwide 10g and 40g, namely
Europe or Worldwide up to 60g (£1.47 and £2.15
respectively), increasing the cost of a collector’s strip
by exactly £1 to £7.42. The new stamps from Wincor
machines showed a very half-hearted attempt to
harmonise the presentation of the text on the stamps
with a very small and misaligned ‘60g’ (see below).
June 2014
Forthcoming Post & Go attendance
Machines A003 and A004 vending Machins and
Union Flag have been confirmed at York Stamp &
Coin Fair at the Racecourse on 18 - 19 July but, being
a stamp fair (as opposed to an exhibition), there will
be no overprints. These two machines will then
travel to Seoul for Philakorea from 7 - 12 August and
produce stamps with a suitable overprint; there will
be two versions of the text string, as was the case in
Australia last year, i.e. B8GB14 and B8KR14.
281
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
Post & Go update
...continued
O f f i c e s w i t h n ew N C R ' S e l f S e r vi c e ' k i o s k s – i n s t a l l e d f r o m 2 8 / 0 2 / 1 4 o nw a r d s
FADCode
012137
004904
011704
023201
017937
006406
009306
022511
004112
004900
008113
015523
002014
007311
002820
008844
017907
007900
010941
003210
009320
008124
008033
016020
008912
008618
037005
005226
004134
009420
002006
019001
013002
006007
013004
014004
005006
018002
025007
030003
005424
008539
009246
Branch
Banbury
Basingstoke
BelfastCity
Harborne
BognorRegis
Bolton
DarleyStreet
Nailsea
BuryStEdmunds
Camberley
CambridgeCity
CirencesterTown
Dartford
Doncaster
Dundee
Dunfermline
TerminusRoad
Farnham
Faversham
Grantham
Halifax
Harlow
Harpenden
Wealdstone
HaywardsHeath
Hereford
Hoddesdon
Kettering
LeightonBuzzard
CornExchange
Acton
Battersea
KingslandHighStreet
LondonBridge
MuswellHill
NorthFinchley
PaddingtonQuay
Poplar
Sydenham
TheCityofLondon
Oldham
StAndrewsCross
Redditch
Address
57Ͳ58HighStreet
5Ͳ7LondonStreet
12Ͳ16BridgeStreet,BelfastCity
85HighStreet,Harborne
HighStreet
124Deansgate
38Ͳ40DarleyStreet
CrownGlassPlace,Nailsea
17Ͳ18Cornhill
15PrincessWay
57Ͳ58StAndrewStreet
Unit1,TheOldPostOffice,CastleStreet
19HytheStreet
24PrioryPlace
4Meadowside
42Ͳ44QueenAnneStreet
143Ͳ145TerminusRoad
107WestStreet
EastStreet
18Ͳ20StPetersHill
CommercialStreet
1StoneCross
9StationRoad
4Ͳ12HeadstoneDrive
59Ͳ63SouthRoad
14Ͳ15StPetersStreet
HoddesdonBO,72HighStreet
17LowerStreet
7Ͳ9ChurchSquare
IndiaBuilding,WaterStreet
23Ͳ29KingStreet
202LavenderHill
118Ͳ120KingslandHighStreet
19aBoroughHighStreet
420MuswellHill,Broadway
751HighRoad,NorthFinchley
RetailUnit6,WestEndQuay,4PraedStreet
22MarketSquare
44SydenhamRoad
12Eastcheap
3Ͳ5LordStreet
5StAndrewsCross
ThreadNeedleHouse,AlcesterStreet
Town
Banbury
Basingstoke
Belfast
Birmingham
BognorRegis
Bolton
Bradford
Bristol
BuryStEdmunds
Camberley
Cambridge
Cirencester
Dartford
Doncaster
Dundee
Dunfermline
Eastbourne
Farnham
Faversham
Grantham
Halifax
Harlow
Harpenden
Harrow
HaywardsHeath
Hereford
Hoddesdon
Kettering
LeightonBuzzard
Liverpool
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
Oldham
Plymouth
Redditch
Postcode
OX165LB
RG217AB
BT11LT
B179ND
PO211RG
BL11AD
BD13HN
BS481RA
IP331AA
GU153SP
CB23BZ
GL71QA
DA11AB
DN11AA
DD11AA
KY127AA
BN213NS
GU97PJ
ME138AA
NG316AA
HX11AD
CM201AA
AL54AA
HA35QL
RH164LQ
HR12LE
EN118HB
NN168AA
LU71AA
L20RR
W39LD
SW111AB
E82NX
SE19SF
N101DQ
N128LF
W21JX
E146AB
SE265QX
EC3M1AJ
OL13HP
PL11AB
B988AB
Kiosks
2
3
4
2
2
2
2
2
3
2
3
2
3
3
2
2
3
2
3
2
3
2
2
2
2
3
2
2
2
3
3
2
2
4
2
3
3
2
2
5
2
3
2
009340
007941
009432
008523
005948
006504
193002
009908
Rotherham
Sittingbourne
Stockport
Stroud
Tonbridge
Trowbridge
WalthamstowCentral
WorthingCounter
3Ͳ5Bridgegate
CentralAvenue
36Ͳ40GreatUnderbank
16Ͳ17RussellStreet
5AngelWalk
1aRoundastoneStreet
206HighStreet
WorthingBO,ChapelRoad
Rotherham
Sittingbourne
Stockport
Stroud
Tonbridge
Trowbridge
Walthamstow
Worthing
S601PJ
ME104AA
SK11QF
GL53AA
TN91TJ
BA148DA
E177JH
BN111AA
2
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
Listcorrectat29.04.14Source
Volume 43 No. 6
282
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
Festival of Britain 4d stamp reproduction pack
I
they are an inch high, they are never going to work’. He
summarized his approach as ‘maximum meaning,
minimum means’.
ssued in conjunction with the stamp celebrating
graphic designer Abram Games in the Remarkable
Lives set on 25 March, this is the sixth in Royal
Mail’s series of stamp facsimile packs and is priced
at £5.95. The previous issues were: Penny Black
(2000), £1 Postal Union Congress (2010), Penny Red
(2011), Olympic Games 1948 (2012) and Seahorses
(2013). Besides the overseas rate 4d value for the
1951 Festival of Britain featured in the current
pack, Games had also designed the 3d Olympic
stamp which formed part of the block of four
reproductions included in the fourth pack.
When Games died in 1996, veteran stamp designer
David Gentleman wrote: ‘All Abram Games’ designs
were recognisably his own. They had vigour, imagination,
passion and individuality… And he was lucky – and
clever – in contriving, over a long and creative working
life, to keep on doing what he did best.’
Pack layout | The 209mm x 114mm pack comes in
a resealable cellophane sleeve. The front cover has
a rectangle cut out to reveal the block of stamps
placed inside an acetate mount on one of the
inside pages. Indeed, the card folds out to reveal
eight pages of text by Douglas Muir, curator of the
BPMA. He begins with a short biography of Abram
Games before going on to consider his work as a
poster designer. We learn how he developed the
Festival of Britain symbol which was then used
for the 4d stamp design. Mr Muir describes how
Games designed the stamp and how Harrison
& Sons produced essays of it, finally ignoring
the artist’s own preference for a deeper shade of
blue. The last page looks at the cancellations and
postmark slogans available for mail posted at the
Festival, including first day covers which, at this
time, were all privately produced.
Abram Games | Born in the East End on the day
World War I began, Games was first commissioned
to design posters in 1937 after an article was
published about him in Art and Industry magazine.
Five years later he was given the title ‘Official War
Artist’ and designed many famous posters, such as
the one showing the ‘Blonde Bombshell’ to persuade
women to join the ATS and ‘Use Spades Not Ships’ as
part of the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign. Becoming a
freelance designer at the end of the war, he designed
one of the Olympic Games stamps in 1947, won first
prize in the Festival of Britain identity competition
a year later, designed the first animated symbol for
the BBC in 1953 and the symbol for the Queen’s
Award to Industry in 1965.
Yet his passion was still for posters and Games
continued to devise arresting advertisements
for clients including the Financial Times, British
European Airways, Guinness, London Zoo and the
Royal Shakespeare Company. He always began
the development of each poster with a tiny sketch,
explaining: ‘I never work large because…. posters seen
from a distance are small. If ideas do not work when
Technical details | The ‘credits’ on these packs usually
give much fuller printing details of the presses and
paper used than normal presentation packs do for
real stamps; here, they are rather too concise, giving
only the name of the printer (Enschedé), the technique
(gravure), stamp size (41mm x 21mm), perf gauge
(14 x 15) and paper type (ungummed stamp paper).
The paper has the
word ‘FACSIMILE’
printed all over the
back, diagonally in
grey.
The packs were
designed by Webb
&
Webb
and
printed by Zenith
Print & Packaging
Ltd, whose FSC
code they show.
The final page also
includes barcode
138244> and the
monochrome
Royal Mail logo.
June 2014
283
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
Royal Mail’s new international mail services
W
ith the new tariffs at the end of March, Royal
Mail boasted that it had ‘simplified’ its
international mail services. Customers apparently
did not understand the services they were paying
for, so new names were invented: ‘airmail’ became
‘international standard’ and ‘surface’ was now termed
‘international economy’. Will people now go into
post offices to ask for ‘international standard’ labels,
I wonder? International weight steps to 100g were
reduced from 6 to 3, the existing ‘Worldwide 10g’
being one of the those that ‘got the push’; this meant
that holidaymakers sending a postcard back to the
folks in the USA or New Zealand would now have
to pay the 20g rate (i.e. £1.28 instead of the former
88p), a large rise in anybody’s money. On 26 March,
after the new rates leaflets had been printed, a new
version appeared where the 10g rate was reinstated,
now at 97p, the same as for Europe.
‘Now you see
me, now you
don’t’ in the new
rates leaflets for
Worldwide 10g
removed
(above) and
then reinstated
(right)
was transformed into ‘International Tracked’. For
good measure, the two were also combined into
a third entity, ‘International Tracked & Signed’. As
simplifications go, I have seen simpler ones.
The relative merits of the three new services are
resumed in the table below, using Royal Mail’s
own words from its website. The promise of ‘peace
As for its priority services, ‘International Signed
of mind as your item will only be handed over when a
For’ became ‘International Signed’ whereas ‘Airsure’
signature is taken on delivery’
Ournewinternationalservices
is certainly reassuring but
International
InternationalSigned
International
does it work in practice?
International
Tracked
(formerlyInternational
Standard
Tracked&Signed
(formerlyAirsure®)
SignedFor™)
(formerlyAirmail) Living in France, I have lost
count of the occasions when
FullendͲtoͲend
FullendͲtoͲendtracking
Trackeduntilthepoint
tracking,signaturetaken
an ‘International Signed For’
Tracking
withonlinedelivery
No
theitemleavestheUK
ondeliveryandonline
confirmation
item has just ended up in
deliveryconfirmation
Peaceofmindasyour
the letter box alongside the
Receivespriority
itemwillonlybe
Signature
handlingintheUKand
ordinary mail, unsigned for.
No
handedoverwhena
No
overseas.Signaturetaken
ondelivery
signatureistakenon
I have just returned from my
ondelivery
delivery
local post office to collect my
Includes
Includescompensation
Inclusive
first ‘International Tracked &
compensation
compensation
upto£50
upto£50
upto£50
upto£20
Signed’ package having been
Additionalcompensation Additionalcompensation Additionalcompensation
Additional
out when delivery was first
No
compensation
upto£250available
upto£250available
upto£250available
attempted. The nice lady at
Destinations
43
33
190
All
the counter certainly scanned
Example:20g
£7.16(VAT@20%payable
£5.97
£5.97
97p
it once she got through the
lettertoFrance
toEUdestinations)
new label P6695
Volume 43 No. 6
new label P6002
284
new label P6001
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
New international services (...cont)
maze of five different barcodes orning the front
of the package, but at no time did anyone ask me
for an autograph! Perhaps it is just La Poste that is
particularly laxist?
Book review
by Keith Woodward
Collect British Stamps - 2014 edition
I admit that I have never fully understood why
‘Airsure’ items to countries of the European Union
have incurred additional VAT, currently at the rate
of 20%, adding on well over a pound for a letter
to France, for example. Its successor, ‘International
Tracked’ has inherited this but the newcomer,
‘International Tracked & Signed’ (which after all
includes ‘Tracked’ in its name) is exempt from VAT!
So if you’re sending important mail to countries of
the European Union, why on earth choose ‘Tracked’
which does not even offer a hypothetical signature
on delivery when ‘Tracked & Signed’ does the same
job only better and much cheaper?
A question of destinations perhaps? Well, not really.
The table shows only 33 for IT and 43 for IT&S and
many of these are common to both services:
Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark (+Faroe
Islands), Finland, France (+Corsica, Monaco), Germany,
Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Irish Republic, Liechtenstein,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand,
Poland, Portugal (+Azores, Madeira), Singapore, Sweden,
Switzerland, USA
This is the 65th edition and it builds on the long
established standard guide to Royal Mail stamp
issues for a majority of collectors. It has a straightforward listing of all issues from 1837 to Christmas
2013, all illustrated in colour. It covers all postage
stamps, regional issues, postage dues, officials.
Post & Go machine stamps, first day covers,
presentation packs, yearbooks PHQ cards and,
exclusively to Collect British Stamps, Royal Mail
‘philatelic, numismatic and medal covers’.
Additional destinations for IT are as follows (I
could only count 32 in total but some Royal Mail
lists seem to count Canary Islands separately):
Australia, Brazil, Estonia, India (Chennai, Delhi & Mumbai only),
Latvia, Malaysia, Spain (+Balearic Islands, Canary Islands)
Additional destinations for IT&S are as follows:
As is usual, the catalogue contains changes of
watermark and perforation, printing method and
Victorian plate numbers, where they are visible
on the stamp. Changes to phosphor bands are
also included. The key feature of this issue is a
renumbering of the Machin definitive stamps with
elliptical perforations (the ‘Y’ series) and the emblem
regionals. It also includes a re-write of the ‘security’
Machins, incorporating features such as self-adhesive
gum, ‘U’-shaped slits and iridescent overprints. All
prices have been reviewed, with increases to earlier
issues and, in particular, decimal commemoratives,
reflecting the scarcity of modern fine used stamps.
Argentina, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cayman Islands, Czech Republic,
Ecuador, Gibraltar, Greece, Italy, Japan, Romania, San Marino,
Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago,
Vatican City State
Rolls of the new labels for the three services found in
post offices, often next to the Post & Go machines, are
shown on the previous page. Large business users
often have a different version - see, for example,
the rather grubby one on the package mentioned
above:
I think that this catalogue plays a valuable part
in ensuring that the needs of the ‘one of each’
collector are satisfied but I believe that the Great
Britain Concise Stamp Catalogue is more suitable
for the established collector. This edition contains
over 300 full colour pages and the price is £13.95,
unchanged from the 2013 edition.
June 2014
285
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
T
he afternoon session of the Circle meeting
in March was showing signs of becoming
fairly humdrum until a recently-joined member
offered to bring in a few counterfeit stamps from
his car. When he returned, more than one jaw in
the assembly dropped, mine among them, I must
admit. Although used to seeing a few forged gold
Machins or even the odd complete book, here
before our very eyes were staggering items that no
one present, including many experienced Machin
collectors, had ever seen before. Many of these are
illustrated here for the first time anywhere, thanks
to our member, who prefers to remain anonymous.
Suffice it to say he is not the person behind any
of these illicit productions, nor has he come about
them dishonestly.
Although these come with a plausible ‘iridescent’
overprint showing MTIL/M13L, herein lies the
principal clue to their dubious origin: if you look
at the MTIL code in the top right-hand corner of
the stamp you will see that there is no clear gap
between the code and the lettering above and
below when there should be a neat, clear gap
between the rows of text. The overprint is shifted
to the left by 0.5mm. The die-cut perforations are,
however, well executed.
Under 368nm radiation (long-wave), the stamps
appear dull overall which is not consistent with
real stamps. As for the two ‘phosphor’ bars,
following 20 seconds of exposure to 6 watts of
254nm radiation (short-wave) there is no visible
reaction from the stamps whereas real stamps
show a bright blue/white glow for approximately
3-5 seconds. Examination under magnification
shows that the printing quality is less than that
maintained by Royal Mail’s stamp printers. For
example, the pearls in the Queen’s necklace are
Phosphor and perforation have always been
the traditional weak links as far as forgeries
are concerned. The items shown exhibited little
progress as far as the ‘phosphor’ is concerned
while there were at least four different types of
perforation, some of these being completely new.
right: MTIL/M13L
1st-class red forgery
showing rather
squashed-up ‘iridescent’
lettering at top right;
below: both sides of a
complete book of 12
The most recent forgery present was the 1st-class
printed in red; this has appeared in remarkably
well-imitated complete books of 12 stamps, easily
good enough to fool an unsuspecting public.
Volume 43 No. 6
286
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
...continued
not clearly defined and neither are those around
the crown on the front of the book. These stamps
were initially found in the Manchester area but
have since turned up in quantity in London.
The 1st-class gold MSIL stamps were imported
from Hong Kong and it is currently believed that
the stamps were printed there. The absence of
actual phosphor in the imitated bars obviously
does not prevent the stamps from being sold but, as
one might expect, Royal Mail’s sorting machinery
is capable of detecting and rejecting these and
other counterfeits. When the machinery sees what
it believes is a postal indicia but does not know
exactly what it is (from the phosphor tagging or
the stamp image/indicia database) it should mark
the envelope with just the wavy line cancellation
on the extreme right - i.e. over the indicia (plus
the sorting codes in two lines of orange dots) so
the date and office block and slogan section will
be missing. The illustration of a complete envelope
at the foot of this page demonstrates this. This
example bears an earlier counterfeit of inferior
quality, a 1st-class gold known to be produced in
Turkey. The Integrated Mail Processor (IMP) has
been able to tell that there was a stamp there but
could not confirm its validity so has cancelled the
stamp with no further marks as it is to be rejected
for further investigation.
Another 1st-class forgery with most convincing
perforations has already been mentioned in these
columns, namely the gold MSIL with no year
code. This is a truly beautiful stamp which looks
better than many produced by Walsall; it appears
both in books of twelve (thus not conforming to
the ‘S’ of the iridescent code), shown above for
the first time, as well as in books of six. These
have the ‘Postcodes4free’ label and can even be
found with W5W1 cylinder numbers! (see below)
left: This Turkish
1st-class gold
forgery has been
detected by the
sorting machine
which marks it out
for manual control
by applying only
the wavy line
cancellation and
orange coding
dots
June 2014
287
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
...continued
right: complete forged 1st-class PiP business
sheet of 100; above: section from another
sheet showing ‘crinkle-cut’ perforations
The absence of perfectly executed
perforations has never proved to be
detrimental to the sales of modern
counterfeits to the general public as a
good variety of different designs have
been content to show unconvincing diecut wavy line or crinkle-cut separations,
similar to those produced by a
dressmaker’s pinking shears. This was
the case of the 1st-class gold PiP forgery,
a stamp not uncommon in kiloware and
even known in complete unused panels
of 24. However, members present at
the meeting rather had their breath
taken away by two complete business
sheets of this stamp, as shown in the
example opposite. Not that the quality
of this litho-printed stamp is at all good
when you look at the Queen’s head or
the perforations or indeed the incorrect
fonts used for the inscriptions and the
barcode at the top of the sheet, but to
see whole sheets is exceedingly rare!
Two examples of counterfeit stamps
from 2012 with similar perforations
were also on show: the Diamond Jubilee
and Olympic definitives. Single used
examples of the latter have already
been described in the Journal but this
was the first time that a booklet, or
what remains of one, had been seen.
This has just one stamp left - apparently
the buyer used the other five in the
post without realising that they were
counterfeit. It came from the Bristol
Volume 43 No. 6
288
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
...continued
area, rather unusual as the majority of these
stamps were sold in London. They are generally
well-produced apart from the perforations and
poor ellipses and the ‘silver’ tends to rub off quite
easily. The Paralympic version should not be in
the bottom right corner position on books with
the ‘inspiration’ label and the book has no notch.
As with most forged books, the central line of
rouletting extends the whole length of the cover.
perforations and the ellipses are just as poor,
suggesting it may have come from the same stable.
The ‘overprint’ is obviously incomplete and the
pale, dotty portrait completely lacks the detail of
the gravure-printed original.
Two new means of perforation have also recently
surfaced, both fairly hit and miss and even less
realistic than those already discussed. The first type
involves rouletting. This has been found on several
designs, notably a couple of the higher value stamps
from the 2013 Christmas issue (88p and £1.28) as
well as the humble 2nd-class Machin. These are
The Diamond Jubilee definitive is another
counterfeit with a limited shelf life. The example
shown here has even shallower wavy line
June 2014
289
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
...continued
Incidentally, a new gummed version of the 2nd-class
blue is currently circulating, reminiscent of those
which appeared in supposedly Questa-printed
window books in the mid-1990s; the latter are still
occasionally sold on eBay. The new stamps (below)
seem to have been widely used around Exeter.
clearly from the same source. The rouletting, paper
etc. are the same for all three stamps. The blue 2ndclass is rather unique in that the ‘iridescent’ image
used for the ‘overprint’ bears the text ‘ROYAL
SECURITY STAMP’ (see enlargement below). This
has never been seen before. It is possible that the
image used was a printer’s mock up. The stamps
show a bright blue 4mm bar under short wave UV
but there is no afterglow at all.
Volume 43 No. 6
Finally, we were informed that a lot of ‘really awful’
Large 1st-Class gold are in circulation - these are
an example of counterfeits which do not really
make it onto the philatelic scene as they are easily
detected in the postal system and get no further.
The current ones have been mainly seen in the
Glasgow area. They are an example of the rather
low quality counterfeits produced by individuals in
small quantities. They have two varnish ‘phosphor’
bars and appear to have been perforated using the
‘sewing-machine’ method - this is apparently not
as new as one might have thought. The ‘stamps’ are
believed to be printed on self-adhesive label stock
and perforated using a domestic sewing machine
with a normal sewing needle, or for a better quality
result, with a 0.8mm diameter hypodermic needle.
It’s clear that keeping the stock straight is a bit of
a problem, although it seems that using a facing
and backing sheet with a few sheets of ‘stamps’
between produces a better result.
290
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
The 1992 - 97 Hong Kong Machin Definitives - part III
by Daniel Tangri
Coil stamps
W
ith sheet stamps, while much is unknown, we
at least have some sort of framework based
on the different requisitions and release dates. With
coils, the picture is completely different. Coils did
not have leaders which might have changed with
different printings, and little is therefore known
about printings or requisitions. As a result, all
we have to work with is the somewhat imperfect
knowledge afforded by personal observation and
philatelic sales.
Both of these have their weaknesses. Any coil stamp
bought from a coil machine could have been printed
recently, or several months beforehand; some
coil machines would have had a high turnover,
but others may have only slowly released their
contents, so any coil stamps bought from different
machines on the same day could have contained
different printings of the same value.
Oddly enough, the same problem applies to coil
strips bought from a philatelic outlet. Such outlets
would probably offer, as part of a new issue release,
freshly printed coils of new denominations, but
where existing values were included in any release
they may have used older stock. In 1996 the HKPO
released coil strips of the $1.30, $1.60, $2.50 and
$3.10 values, each with phosphor bands and white
gum, along with strips of the 10c and 50c values.
The 10c and 50c had blue-tinted gum and did not
have phosphor bands. They appear to have been
old stock; although sheet stamps of these values
were issued with phosphor bands, the coil stamps
never were. The HKPO must have had a large stock
of these values on hand, and decided to sell down
the stock in the final few months before the new
Skyline definitives (including coils) were released
on 26 January 1997.
Fig. 1: Coil strips from July 1995
All coils issued between 1992 and 1996 had blue
gum. The four coils issued in September 1996 had
white gum, and the 10c coil has also been discovered
with white gum and was probably issued around
the same time as the other white gum coils.
Coils can be readily identified by several factors. The
first is their perforations. As coils were guillotined
on the press, they sometimes have perforations
cut short at either of the long sides. Furthermore,
every fifth stamp on a coil has a number printed
underneath; this is the main reason why philatelic
outlets sold coils in strips of five.
The font on the backs of stamps could vary, with
some stamps having a large, thin black font and
others a smaller, thicker black font (see Fig. 2), but
this would not appear to reflect any difference in
printing. When jumbo rolls were being cut into coils
(see description
on next page),
a bank of
domino ink jet
printers would
have
been
employed i.e.
As a result, we cannot always be sure that the date
a coil was bought from a machine or post office
closely matches its likely date of issue, unless the
stamp was newly released at the time.
Seventeen different coils were released between
1992 and 1997. The 10c and 50c coils were in use
throughout the period. Other values were first
released at the following times:
June 1992
November 1993
July 1995
September 1996
June 2014
80c, 90c, $1.80, $2.30
$1, $1.20, $1.90, $2.40
$1.20, $1.50, $2.10, $2.60 (Fig. 1)
$1.30, $1.60, $2.50, $3.10
ȱ
291
Fig. 2: Different
fonts on back of
coil stamps
Volume 43 No. 6
The
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...continued
one ink jet system per column, to print the numbers
on the reverse of stamps. Each column would have
had a different ink jet head to print the number,
which would explain how different fonts could
be used.
The 80c, 90c, $1.80 and $2.30 coils, which were
only in use during 1992-93, had upright direction
of printing. All the values introduced subsequently
had inverted printing. The 10c stamp can be found
with either upright or inverted printing, but it is not
clear which came first. I bought a strip of this coil at
the Hong Kong GPO in April 1996 which had blue
gum and slightly translucent paper, with inverted
printing. I bought another strip in September 1996
which looks identical, but has upright printing. The
10c coil with white gum also has upright printing.
The Deegam Handbook also lists the $1.20 coil with
upright printing, but I have not seen this.
ȱ
Fig. 3: Coil machine at post office in Tsim Sha Tsui
It should be noted that the Stanley Gibbons catalogue
does not fully list coils. It notes that ‘Nos 702, 703,
706/7, 709bp, 709e, 711, 713, 713b and 713d also
exist from coils’,1 but this note leaves out stamps
that were sold as coils for quite a long period of
time, such as the $1, $1.20, $2.40 and $2.60 values.
Yang identifies 17 values issued as coils in reels
of 1,000,2 and this is the correct number, although
reels of 2,000 are also known of the 10c value.
stamps of four commonly-used denominations’
and the HKPO planned to have them at all post
offices within the next three years (see Fig. 3).5
It is important that these new coil machines only
sold four denominations. As a result, all the coil
machines I used at post offices during my time in
Hong Kong did not sell all the coils then on offer.
To be specific, they sold the top four values out
of the six coils that were in circulation at any one
time. Between 1992 and 1997 these values ranged
from 80c (lowest) to $3.10 (highest).
We have little information on how these coils were
printed. By analogy with Enschedé’s approach to
printing British Machins, we can presume that they
were printed in a continuous web on the Goebel
machine. This would have had ten columns of
stamps with selvedge at right and left. After the
printing was complete, the web would have been rereeled into a jumbo roll. This roll would then have
been cut into individual columns, using an Arpeco
machine that Enschedé installed in September 1989.
These would have then been wound onto coil cores.3
The ink jet numbers were applied to the backs of
the coils at this stage, printed over the gum.4
The 10c and 50c values were not on sale at coil
machines in post offices (although they were offered
at philatelic outlets). Reels were available for sale
to the public and were used in office buildings. The
stamps were also sold in coil machines that were
located in the basements of large office buildings
and that offered only these two values.
Booklet stamps
Altogether, 11 stamp booklets were released
containing Machin definitives. All of the stamps in
these booklets differ from standard sheet stamps.
The booklets fall into two convenient groups:
7-Eleven booklets (so named because they were
intended to be on sale only at 7-Eleven stores)
and prestige booklets. There were nine 7-Eleven
booklets in total, listed by Stanley Gibbons as SG
SB30-32, SB36-38 and SB40-42, and by Yang as Y
SB27-29, SB33-35 and SB37-39.6 The two prestige
All coil machines I used in Hong Kong were
set up for vertical delivery. The 1992-93 HKPO
annual report notes that new electronic stamp
vending machines were introduced at some post
offices. These machines could dispense ‘multiple
1 SG Commonwealth Stamp Catalogue (2003) p.661.
2 Yang pp.28-29.
3 Ian De La Rue Browne, personal communication, 08/12/13
4 There have been some suggestions that the numbers were
printed under the gum. To test this I sacrificed a spare coil pair
by wetting it to remove the gum. The printed number came off
with the gum.
Volume 43 No. 6
5 Hong Kong Post Office Annual Report 1992-93 (1993) p.8.
6 Stanley Gibbons Commonwealth Stamp Catalogue (2003)
pp.664-65; Yang p.172
292
June 2014
The
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...continued
and seeing counter staff
tearing panes from
$1 booklets to sell to
customers. As these
booklets were about
to be replaced with a
new batch of 7-Eleven
booklets reflecting the
revised postal rates, I
assume that the post
office
was
clearing
surplus stock.
These three booklets
were
printed
by
Australian printer LeighMardon in lithography
and had folded card
covers with scenes of
skyscrapers on the front,
designed by Arde Lam
(see Fig. 4). Inside, a pane
of 10 stamps in two rows
of five with selvedge all
around would be pasted
by the selvedge at the
left to the inside cover,
and folded after the third
column, leaving the first
column of stamps visible.
The selvedge was broader at the left. Each booklet
had a different symbol printed at the centre of the
selvedge, directly opposite the middle row of
perforations. The following symbols were used:
Fig. 4: Covers of the first three 7-Eleven booklets
booklets were both issued in conjunction with
major stamp exhibitions in 1994 and 1997, and are
listed by Gibbons as SG SB33 and SB46, and by
Yang as Y SB30 and SB43.
7-Eleven booklets: Leigh-Mardon printings
stylised Bauhinia flower, in red
$1.90
cartouche containing the
Chinese characters ‘Hong
Kong,’ in traditional script,
in red
$2.40
junk, in blue
ȱ
The 1993-94 HKPO annual report recorded that
stamp booklets of the three commonly-used
denominations, $1, $1.90 and $2.40, were put on sale
from 14 December 1993 at 52 ‘strategically located’
7-Eleven stores. ‘The arrangement has greatly
increased the convenience to the public and eased
congestion at post office counters.’1 In fact, the $1
booklet went on sale on 14 December 1993 and the
$1.90 and $2.40 booklets on 28 December 1993.
ȱ
ȱ
Yang adds that the booklets were only on sale
at 7-Eleven stores and were not available at Post
Offices.2 This was certainly the intention, but is
not strictly correct. I can remember, a week or so
before postal rates changed in June 1995, waiting in
line at the Revenue Tower Post Office in Wanchai
I have never seen any cylinder numbers on these
booklets. The inside of the cover contained details
on postal rates.
The first three booklet panes were printed on a thick,
white paper which contained optical brightening
agents (OBA). The Deegam Handbook identifies
1 Hong Kong Post Office Annual Report 1993-94 (1994) p.13.
2 Yang p.172.
June 2014
$1
293
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
it as fluorescent coated paper. This paper is white
under long wave ultraviolet light, but does not glow
after the light is switched off. Incidentally, Yang
refers to booklet stamps from the 7-Eleven booklets
and the 1994 prestige booklet as being printed on
glazed paper,1 and dealers will sometimes offer
these stamps as such.
...continued
sheet stamps but with clear differences. The $1
stamps generally had a much deeper orange in the
head and central background of the stamp than
their Enschedé equivalents, which contributed to a
richer red-brown shade for the Chinese characters
spelling Hong Kong. $1.90 stamps had a paler
green shade for the Chinese characters and the
foreground colour, and the $2.40 value also had a
dull, pale blue shade, along with deeper grey on
the head. Incidentally, Leigh-Mardon also used
the modified Type B head used by Enschedé, but
produced a coarser, more stripped-looking quality
to the shading on the head.
We do not know exactly how Leigh-Mardon printed
these booklets, but some analogies can be made to
its practice in printing stamps for other countries,
and in particular Australia. Between 1988 and 1992
Leigh-Mardon printed a number of booklets for
Australia Post, in lithography using a sheet-fed
Roland Rekord press. Commonly Leigh-Mardon
produced printer’s sheets with three or four panels,
with each panel containing ten booklet panes of
ten stamps each, in two rows of five, and with thick
selvedge at the left.2 Leigh-Mardon did use other
presses at the time for printing other stamps, but
never for printing booklets, so we can probably be
on fairly safe ground in presuming it also produced
the Hong Kong booklets in lithography using the
Roland Rekord press and that the panes were most
likely cut from larger sheets with a number of
panels.
Leigh-Mardon struggled to standardise the colours
of its 7-Eleven booklets, and significant variations
in the shading of the head plate can be observed.
Printings of all three booklets appeared during
1995 with quite radically different colours. The $1
stamp has a greenish head and the background
colours are beige and pale yellow (see Fig. 5). The
$1.90 stamp has a pale greenish head and a very
light green background. The $2.40 stamp has a
pale grey head and pale dull blue and pale grey
background colours (see Fig. 6). All three stamps
are also missing the security overprint.
Leigh-Mardon printed both the covers of, and
the stamps in, the Australian booklets. The
contemporary booklets it produced look fairly
similar to the Hong Kong booklets, and so it seems
likely that it printed both the covers and the stamps
for Hong Kong as well.
The security overprint itself can be found on different
booklets with a bright or dull fluorescence under
long wave ultraviolet light, and one of my examples
of the $1 booklet has the overprint slightly out of
alignment with the printed words ‘Hong Kong’.
The panes would have been perforated using a
‘rise and fall’ comb perforator, probably a Bickel
machine as used by Enschedé at the time for
printing booklet panes for other countries.
Mint stamps from the first three 7-Eleven booklets
can be readily distinguished from sheet stamps by
their bright paper, and by the white gum on these
booklet stamps compared to the blue-tinted gum
then in use on sheets. As mentioned before, the
sheet stamps appear dark violet under long wave
ultraviolet light, compared to the white appearance
of the first three booklets. In addition, there were
clear differences in shades. The first Leigh-Mardon
printings were reasonably close to the colours of
1 Yang p.28.
2 See G. Kellow (ed.) The Australian Commonwealth
Specialists’ Catalogue: Decimals II 1975-1991 (2002) pp. 9/783
(‘Living Together’ booklets); 9/879 (‘Urban Development’
booklets); 9/891 (‘Historic Trams’ booklet); 9/917 (1990
‘Thinking of You’ booklet); 9/918 (‘Heidelberg and Heritage’
booklet); Decimals III 1992-2001 (2002) p. 9/975 (1992
‘Thinking of You’ booklet).
Volume 43 No. 6
Fig. 5: Panes from $1 7-Eleven booklets from 1993 (top) and
1995 (bottom) showing major shade differences in the stamps
The Deegam Handbook lists three major varieties
on stamps from the Leigh-Mardon booklets - the
$1 without the security overprint ‘Hong Kong’
294
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
...continued
A 1995 printing of these booklets produced panes
with stamps in radically different colours (see
above) but still with low OBA paper and the
security overprint missing. The $1 booklet was
twice-folded but the $1.90 and $2.40 booklets were
folded once only.
In summary, all three Leigh-Mardon booklets
can be found with low OBA paper. We have two
different types of the $1 and $2.40 booklet with the
security overprint missing, and two types of the
$1.90 booklet on low OBA paper but either with or
without the security overprint.
7-Eleven booklets: Enschedé printings
The next three 7-Eleven booklets were released on 1
June 1995. They now contained panes of ten $1.20,
$2.10 and $2.60 stamps, again with selvedge all
around (see Fig. 7). The covers were in new colours
and had different scenes of skyscrapers, but were
otherwise similar to the first three booklets. The
stamps were printed in lithography by Enschedé
on paper without optical brightening agents and
with blue-tinted gum. They are dark violet under
long wave ultraviolet light.
Fig. 6: Panes from $2.40 7-Eleven booklets from 1993 (top) and
1995 (bottom) showing major shade differences in the stamps
in fluorescent ink and the $1.90 and $2.40 on low
OBA paper.1 In fact, these booklets are much more
complicated.
In April 1994 I purchased an example of the $1.90
booklet. This has stamps in a shade similar to
the sheet stamps, and to earlier examples of the
same booklet, but with a dull fluorescence to the
security overprint (earlier examples purchased in
December 1993 had security overprints with bright
fluorescence). The April 1994 booklet was also
printed using low OBA paper.
In December 1994 I purchased examples of the $1
and $2.40 booklets. The stamps are of a similar
colour to earlier $1 and $2.40 booklet stamps,
although the head on the December 1994 stamps
is lighter. However, other factors indicate that
they are from a different printing, although I am
not sure exactly when they were first released. The
major difference is that both $1 and $2.40 booklets
did not have a security overprint. Both are also
on low OBA paper which appears a much duller
white under ultraviolet light. Finally, the $1 and
$2.40 booklets had the panes folded twice rather
than the standard single fold, with the first fold
after the second column of stamps and leaving no
stamps visible ‘face-up’ on opening the booklet.
Fig. 7: 1995 $2.60 7-Eleven booklet
These booklets also had symbols in the left selvedge.
Enschedé used the same symbols as Leigh-Mardon,
but with three minor differences. The cartouche
was coloured purple in Enschedé booklets and
the order of the symbols was varied so that the
junk appeared on the lowest value booklets, the
bauhinia on the middle value booklets and the
cartouche on the highest value booklets:
Bauhinia
Cartouche
Junk
Enschedé
Booklets 4-6
$21
$26
$12
Enschedé
Booklets 7-9
$25
$31
$13
The symbols were also raised slightly, so that they
were no longer directly centred opposite the second
row of perforations, as can be seen in Fig. 7.
I do not know if a similar printing of the $1.90
booklet also appeared at this time. Copies of these
twice-folded booklets are seldom seen, although
copies do turn up in Hong Kong. To my mind,
these $1 and $2.40 booklets are as rare as blocks
from requisition G.
The final three 7-Eleven booklets were released
on 2 September 1996 and contained panes of ten
$1.30, $2.50 and $3.10 stamps with phosphor
bands. Once again, the folders had new colours
1 Deegam Handbook, Appendix A15, p.50.
June 2014
Leigh Mardon
Booklets 1-3
$10
$19
$24
295
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
...continued
and scenes of skyscrapers, but were otherwise
similar to previous booklets. The stamps were
also printed by Enschedé in lithography on
paper without OBA, and appear dark violet
under ultraviolet light. As was the case with the
sheet and coil stamps issued by Enschedé at the
time, the stamps had white gum. The same three
symbols appeared as in 1995, in the same colours
and in the same selvedge position.
There is much greater consistency in the colours
of Enschedé’s booklet stamps and sheet stamps
than we observed with Leigh-Mardon’s printings. However, as Enschedé used lithography for
the booklets but gravure for the sheets, there are
clear differences under a 10x magnifying glass.
On gravure stamps the edges of the figures of
value are pitted with the dots that make up the
printing, whereas on litho stamps the edges of the
figures of value are cleanly delineated. On litho
stamps there is also a thicker and clearer delineation between the left edge of the profile and the
background.
Fig. 8: First printing of 1995 $1.20 booklet with matt card covers
(top); later printing of same booklet (bottom) with glossy covers
were in a sheet. It is clear that the booklets were
guillotined from a printer’s sheet. I have a copy of
the 1996 $1.30 booklet which retains guide marks at
the right edge (see Fig. 9 below). This pane is about
5mm longer than all my other 7-Eleven booklet
panes, indicating that the guide marks would be
used to make the horizontal cuts to separate the
booklet panes, and that the right edge would then
normally be trimmed to remove the guide marks.
These guide marks are only found on the final
Enschedé booklets; to date I have found them on
the $1.30 and $3.10 booklets.
Another simple method for collectors of mint
single stamps is to look for marginal copies. The
selvedge on booklet panes is much narrower than
the selvedge on sheets.
The first printing of the June 1995 booklets had
stamps with bright yellow security overprints.
Later 1995 booklets have a dull yellow overprint.
The phosphor bands on the booklet stamps are
continuous – i.e. they run down both rows of stamps,
across the perforations separating the two rows, but
end where the perforations meet the selvedge. Panes
of the $1.30 booklet have a mix of narrow and wide
bands, as follows: 4mm, 8mm, 8mm, 8mm, 8mm,
and 4mm. The 8mm bands were printed across
adjoining stamps (giving 4mm bands at each side
of a stamp), but the bands at the left edge of the left
vertical pair and the right edge of the right vertical
pair did not extend into the selvedge.
Strangely, there was less consistency in colour
between Enschedé’s booklet stamps issued in
September 1996 and the sheet stamps issued at
the same time. The heads on the $1.30 and $3.10
values have much less colour than the sheet
stamps, and the central background on the $2.50
value is a much brighter yellow than on the sheet
stamp.
In relation to the $1.20, $2.10 and $2.40 Enschedé
7-Eleven booklets, there is one minor variety that
is mentioned by Gibbons in a footnote. Gibbons
states that the first booklets had matt inside card
covers, and that ‘a printing later in 1995 showed
both sides of the cover card glossy’.1 I purchased
examples of these in April 1996, and not only
were the covers glossy, but the white print on
the inside for the postal rates was much clearer
(see Fig. 8).
It appears likely that Enschedé also printed both
the booklet covers and the panes. The company
had produced booklets for other countries for quite
some time.
Fig. 9: 1996 $1.30
booklet showing
guide marks at the
right edge of the
pane
We have no information on the layout of the
printer’s sheets, including how many panes
to be
continued...
1 Stanley Gibbons Commonwealth Stamp Catalogue (2003)
p.664.
Volume 43 No. 6
296
June 2014
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
A
Coming Soon
Auction Corner
The current Circle auction
A 159
•
•
•
Please do bid in the current
Circle auction which includes
the following categories:
05 JUNE
SUSTAINABLE FISH
10 x 1st (Cartor, litho)
+ retail book - 6 x 1st (to be
issued on 18 August)
Books from series DB6, DB9, DB14, DB15 & DB21
High value (at time of issue) sheet material
Miscellaneous items / Material issued or found
during the last 12 months
Comingȱ
Soonȱ
ȱ
ISSUES Ź 14.10.14
Please submit your bids for this auction to Gerry
Fisk to arrive by 05 July 2014
Auction lists are distributed with this edition to those
who participate regularly or who have requested
them. They can also be consulted on the Circle website,
www.mbp-circle.co.uk from the date of publication
of a new edition of the Journal (1st of August, October,
December, February, April or June). Why not download
a bid form and be sure of getting in an early offer for
the items that are of real interest to you?
The next Circle auction
A 160
•
•
•
Please prepare your lots well
in advance for Auction 160 in
the following categories:
17 JULY
28 JULY
XX COMMONWEALTH
GAMES - Glasgow 2014
2nd, 1st, 97, 128, 147 &
215 (Cartor, litho)
+ retail book - 6 x 1st
WORLD WAR I
(set one of 5 annual issues)
3 x 1st, 3 x 147 + prestige
book with 2 definitive panes
17 SEPTEMBER
18 SEPTEMBER
POST & GO: British Flora II
Symbolic Flowers
6 designs
(Walsall, gravure)
CLASSIC LOCOMOTIVES
OF WALES
retail book - 6 x 1st
(Walsall, gravure)
Books from series DB7, DB10, DB11, DB12 &
DB17
Wilding & Machin pre-decimal books
Miscellaneous items / Material issued or found
Lots must be submitted to the auctioneer (Dave
Threadgold) to arrive by 05 July 2014. Note: As
this is Dave’s first auction, please help him by clearly
describing lots & submitting them as early as possible.
Advance news of future auctions
A 161
18 SEPTEMBER
14 OCTOBER
SEASIDE
ARCHITECTURE
2 x 1st, 2 x 97, 2 x 128
(Cartor, litho)
+ M/S - 2 x 1st, 2 x 128
PRIME MINISTERS
8 x 1st
(Cartor, litho)
C3
Be an early bird and prepare
your lots for Auction 161 in the
following categories:
•
Books from series DB8, DB13, DB18, DB19 &
DB22
• Pre-decimal definitive sheet material
• Special issue sheet material
• Miscellaneous items / Material issued or found
Lots will have to be submitted to the auctioneer
(to be announced) to arrive by 30 August 2014
From 1st July, the 2%
surcharge for payment by
credit card or PayPal in Circle
Auctions will disappear so
make the most of this and put
in an extra bid (or two)!
--- Be sure to read ‘Auction Rules & Guidance
Notes’ in the new Information Pack --June 2014
297
Volume 43 No. 6
The
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
Bits
Pieces
&
Each spring, the British
Philatelic Bulletin invites
its readers to vote for their
favourite stamp issue from the
previous year. Although Circle
members generally profess to
be only moderately interested
in such stamps, they might
like to know a brief summary
of the results.
Fancy being the owner of ‘the world’s oldest
working post office’? Well, now you can be
as Sanquhar Post Office is up for sale. Situated in
a small town on the River Nith halfway between
Kilmarnock and Dumfries, Sanquhar Post Office
dates back to 1712. It is recognised by the Universal
Postal Union and the Guinness Book of World Records
as the oldest Post Office in the World, easily beating
closest rivals in Stockholm (1720) and Santiago,
Chile (1772) . The building started out as a staging
post for mail carriages with the old stables behind
the branch providing a resting place for the horses.
Top of the list for individual stamps in 2013 came
the Annigoni painting of the Queen from the Royal
Portraits issue (shown above) with the Cutty Sark from
the Merchant Navy sailing into second place, the
Red Admiral butterfly fluttering onto the third step
of the podium. The Butterflies set was the overall
favourite issue of the 2,000 or so readers who voted,
the Merchant Navy and Madonna and Child Christmas
sets coming in second and third. The much vaunted
Dr Who issue took a surprisingly low seventh place
and Andy Murray was much less successful in the
philatelic ranking than on the tennis courts as his
miniature sheet came in last. Talking of Dr Who,
it seems that the retail book sold out two months
before the official withdrawal date.
It currently has a 2 position
Post Office counter at the
back of the gift shop area;
the counter top allegedly
dates back to when the office
first opened 300 years ago.
Sanquhar is a popular attraction for postal and
philatelic enthusiasts from both across the UK and
around the world, who visit to have their letters
and postcards marked with a special handstamp
reading ‘The World’s Oldest Working Post Office’.
The new custodian of this unique piece of living
postal heritage will become only the 16th person to
run Sanquhar Post Office.
How many hundreds of letters have we all
received over the years with the stamps
cancelled by a postmark reading ‘Remember to use
the postcode’ or ‘Be properly addressed: postcode it!’ or
something very similar? But when was the postcode
actually born? Even Royal Mail itself seems to be
in some doubt, producing results that can be just a
little puzzling...
The
On takeover, it will become a ‘Local Plus Office’,
enabling PO business to be conducted during
all retail hours which can be comfortably run by
a couple with no staff. At the rear is a stone built
sorting office where 4 postmen are employed by
Royal Mail. This delightful period property includes
a 2/3 bed cottage home and has outbuildings that can
be developed into tea rooms, for example. The Post
Office remuneration is estimated at £21,000 a year
which, combined with the high profits gift business,
yields an annual gross income of over £40,000. The
business is for sale with a guide price of £235,000. If
you’re interested, visit www.humberstones.co.uk.
BOOKMARK
J o u r n a l
Editor: Robert Bostock
50 rue Lafayette, 63800 Cournon d’Auvergne, France
 +33(0)473694362 /  [email protected]
All materials are the copyright of MBPC unless otherwise stated
© MBPC 2014
Sheet perforation notations and DG numbers are the copyright of Douglas Myall
and are used with his permission
Volume 43 No. 6
298
June 2014

bookmark - Modern British Philatelic Circle

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