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GB Christmas 2011 Stamps

These are Royal Mail's 2011 Christmas Stamps. The stamps have now been used on millions of cards and letters carrying Christmas greetings between friends and family around the UK and overseas. Royal Mail say they expect the festive mailbag to have numbered around two billion items. On the busiest days, around 130 million items will have entered Royal Mail’s delivery network - more than double the average daily number. Learn more about the 2011 Christmas stamp issue.

British Stamp Auctions Ending Soon

These online stamp auctions will end very shortly - More details

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Arnold Machin still influences new GB postage stamps

Years after his passing in 1999, Arnold Machin is still making a huge impact on British stamp design. Perhaps the most interesting use of his iconic Queen's head design is on the latest Post and Go stamps which many collectors believe will prove to be the start of a new generation of postage stamps where services and values are overprinted at the point of sale on pre-printed stamp designs.

It therefore seems fitting that the centenary of Arnold Machin's birth was the subject of Britain's first ever commemorative Post & Go stamps.

British Design Classics 2009 Stamps
	The 2009 British Design Classics Stamp Set was issued on January 13 2009. Ten different stamp designs make up the set which are all valid for standard first class letter rate by being inscribed "1st" (no value indicator) rather than displaying a currency value. Many of the stamp designs will appeal to thematic collectors in addition to regular stamp enthusiasts. The iconic shape of the RJ Mitchell designed World War 2 Spitfire fighter aircraft, the sixties chic fashions captured by the Mary Quant mini skirt and even a Penguin Book jacket, anglepoise lamp and a Polypropylene chair are featured. Collectors of Concorde memorabilia will be pleased to see the supersonic airliner included but the stamp the Royal Mail say "remains close to millions of peoples hearts" is the ever popular car simply known to everyone as "The Mini". It was 1959 when the first Mini emerged from the British Motor Corporation plants at Longbridge in Birmingham and Cowley in Oxford. Few people will forget the starring part played by the Mini alongside Maichael Caine in the original Italian Job movie.
In addition to the block of ten stamps an illustrated Prestige Stamp Booklet has been produced featuring write ups by design writer Jim Davies. The booklet features four panes as follows: 1) Machin definitives - four 16p and four 50p - surrounding a label featuring the crown of a Gilbert Scott Phone Box. 2) Four stamps made up with two Routermaster bus stamps, one Spitfire and one Mini stamp. 3) A pane of six stamps including the London Underground Map, K2 Telephone Kiosk, Penguin Books, Anglepoise Lamp, Polypropylene Chair and Mini Skirt stamp. 4) A pane of four stamps including two each of the Concorde stamp from this Issue plus two of the Concorde stamps from the 2002 Airliners Issue.

Printing The London 2012 Olympics Definitive Stamps

Did You Know?

Did you know:  The Penny Black was issued on 6th May 1840 and is generally recognised as the first postage stamp in the world. A few stamps were released to the public on 1st May 1840 by mistake. Covers showing May 1840 use of the Penny Black are very valuable and those pre-dating 6th May are extremely valuable. Another stamp was issued two days later after the Penny Black called the Twopenny Blue. Value aside, it is a similar design to the Penny Black - but obviously coloured blue instead of black - and, although less famous than the 1d black, is actually rarer and more valuable.

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Queen Victoria Surface Printed GB Stamps 1855-1900

The process known as Surface Printing is basically the opposite of the Line Engraved technique employed for the first GB stamp issues. The recessed parts of the printing plate transferred no ink or a reduced amount of ink depending on their depth. The Surface Printed issues of Queen Victoria are widely collected and extremely popular. It is a huge area to study and collect as, apart from the wide variety of designs, values and colours, many of the stamps had different plate numbers incorporated in their designs.

Inexperienced collectors are often unaware of the true scarcity of genuinely fine used stamps from this period. At the time regulations said all stamps should be literally obliterated to avoid fraudulent reuse. As a result the cancels in use for much of the period are nicknamed "killers" because of the heavy bar patterns transferred on to stamps. Therefore stamps described and sold as "fine used" are not as "fine" as normally demanded for later issues when the Circular Date Stamp entered more common use. CDS or lightly cancelled surface printed stamps can therefore command a surprising price premium.

Take a look at the live online QV Surface Printed stamp auctions ending soon.

British Stamp & Philately Sites From Our Directory

Centenary of the First UK Aerial Post

We wrote some time ago about the first UK Aerial Post in 1911 and how the centenary of the event was approaching. As expected the Royal Mail marked the centenary on 9th September 2011 with a special stamp issue featuring photos of the event and a miniature sheet shown above which is styled on the publicity posters which were used to advertise the original event.

BRITISH PHILATELIC POSTMARK OF THE DAY: CANTERBURY
	The featured GB philatelic postmark for Friday Jan 27 2012 is from Canterbury. Collectors can get this special postmark applied by sending the stamped (minimum 1st Class rate) addressed envelope(s) to: London Special Handstamp Centre Royal Mail Mount Pleasant Farringdon Road LONDON EC1A 1AA You can ask for any date (including public holidays) to be applied to your covers provided you send them to arrive on or before that date. It is advised you send a suitable return envelope also if you want the covers sent back protected rather than individually through the regular mail service.
We feature a different UK philatelic postmark every day so check back again

GB Stamp Set Will Create an A-Z of the UK

The Royal Mail has embarked on what they call "a dramatic 26-stamp, alphabetical odyssey around the UK" which features stamps showing iconic landmarks across all four countries that make up the UK. The journey has begun with the launch of UK A-Z Part One on 13th October comprising of a set of twelve 1st Class stamps which show landmarks from A to L. These stamps take a fresh look at some of the UK’s most famous sights, ranging from ancient through to modern, and from the spiritual to the spectacular. Learn more about these stamps