Royal Mail Marks Queen’s 60th anniversary of accession to the throne…

 

 

ROYAL MAIL MARKS DIAMOND JUBILEE WITH EIGHT INDIVIDUAL NEW PORTRAIT STAMPS

· The set of eight individual royal portraits of Her Majesty The Queen marks the 60^th anniversary of her accession to the throne in 1952

· The Diamond Jubilee Special Stamps were launched on 31 May 2012 and will be available in all Post Office Branches. The stamps can also be bought at www.royalmail.com for one year

· The new stamps chart six decades of British history using archived photography of significant Royal moments, including The Queen’s first Christmas broadcast in 1957, Trooping the Colour in 1967 and celebrations of her Golden Jubilee  in 2002

· This is the third and final stamp issue in 2012 to mark The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. The first was The House of Windsor and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha issue issued on 2 February. The second was the Diamond Jubilee Definitive Sheet, issued on 6 February; the same day The Queen ascended the throne in 1952

· The Queen’s 25^th, 40^th and 50^th Jubilees were also marked with special stamp issues – an illustration of The Queen and the Royal Cypher ER in 1977,  a combination of public and private portraits in 1992, and black and white portrait images for the Golden Jubilee in 2002

Royal Mail is celebrating the culmination of Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee festivities with eight new stamps featuring a selection of some of the most memorable events of her historic 60 year reign.

The eight stamps give a fascinating insight into the hugely diverse duties The Queen has performed; from delivering the first televised Christmas broadcast in 1957, to inspecting the 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh, as Commander-in-Chief of the UK’s Armed Forces, half a century later in 2007. The Queen’s 60 year reign is already the second longest for a British monarch. Queen Victoria ruled for 63 years and 7 months.

Club News

Secret little post office gets Diamond Jubilee honour

As part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations Bletchley Park’s wartime Post Office was opened by Michael Sefi, Keeper of the Royal Philatelic Collection on Friday 25^th May.  The Enigma code breakers undercover mailroom was revealed to an audience of invited guest and media ahead of Bletchley Park’s “Forties” weekend.

Matthew Hill - Editor of Stamp and Coin Mart, Terry Mitchell - Bletchley Park Post Office and Michael Sefi being filmed by BBC News at the opening of the re-furbished post office.

Keeping with the 1940’s theme Bletchley Park Post Office unveiled a first day cover for Royal Mail’s Great British Fashion stamp issue. The patriotic design took inspiration from iconic fashion illustrator, René Gruau. A familiar figure to the designers featured on the stamps as well as the fashionable wartime code breakers of Bletchley Park during World War 2.

The double sided cover has the set of ten stamps set over the Union Flag with an elegant lady code breaker as the first day of issue postmark. The full figure on the rear reflects the combination of glamour and sensuality with humour that was such a feature of Gruau’s work.

Only 500 have been released as a numbered limited edition. Issue price is £15 plus post & packing. They can be viewed and ordered from the web site at  www.bletchleycovers.com

Further information is available from BPPO, The Mansion, Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes MK3 6EB, Tel: +44(0)1908 363489

- Terry Mitchell. 01908 781440/07850 068674. Email: terry@ltmp.co.uk

New Dickens stamps from Royal Mail

 

To be issued on 19 June 2012

To celebrate the bicentenary of Dickens' birth Royal Mail is to celebrate his life and work of with ten new stamps to be issued on 19 June.

The stamps feature iconic characters from some of his most famous novels, including Mr Bumble from Oliver Twist, Mr Micawber from David Copperfield and Captain Cuttle from Dombey and Son.

Six of the stamps feature original illustrations adapted from Character Sketches from Charles Dickens, by Joseph Clayton Clarke (otherwise known as Kyd) and originally published around 1890.

Royal Mail is also issuing a miniature sheet of four stamps of illustrations by Hablot Knight Brown, (known as Phiz), who illustrated ten books by the author.

 

From our Readers….

 

New meter stamp impressions

Two new meter stamp impressions of  ‘remotely managed franking system’ (RMFS) machines.

I have marked some points in the illustrations with Question Marks. I would like to know what these numbers / letters indicate in the meter stamps.

- Madan Middha – Gwalior

email : madan_middha@yahoo.co.in

Club News

New MICHEL South Asia Catalogue 2012

Prices of Indian stamps upgraded…..

After many years, prices of modern Indian stamps has been upgraded in International stamp catalogue, which will enhance interest of Indian philatelists, dealers and investors by large.

 

: Shrikant Parikh – Ahmedabad    Read More…

New stamp by India Post  on Jain personality : Karpoor Chandra Kulish on 16th May 2012

India Post is issuing a commemorative stamp on Jain personality and renowned journalist Karpoor Chandra Kulish on 16thMay 2012. He was founder of Rajasthan Patrika Group which is among India’s leading Hindi Media Groups.

He was born on 20th of March, 1926 in Soda village of Tonk district of Rajasthan. He started his journalistic life in 1951 and the major turn in his life came in the year 1956 when he started an evening daily in the form of Rajasthan Patrika. Started with this small newspaper, developed into a big Media Group. Today, newspapers of this Group are published in over 30 editions in 7 states. Patrika family comprises of around 1 crore
and 94 lakhs readers per day.

He received “Haldi Ghati award” in 1983, “B.D Goenka award” in 1987, All India Editor's Guild Award” in 1999, “ Dr. Headgevar Pragya award” in 1993. He was also conferred with “Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi award”  He also composed 11 Vedas in a single volume which is considered as the largest and most bulky in terms of weight in the world.  He died on 17th Jan. 2006.

- Sudhir Jain – Satna (MP)

New special Covers..

 

150 Years of Narrow Gauge in India

20 April 2012 – Mumbai

 

 

175th Birth anniversary of Sadguru Shri Siddhartha Swamiji

 

15 February 2012- Hubli

 

 

Code breakers put their stamp on fashion.

For the “Great British Fashion” stamp issue on 15^th May Bletchley Park Post Office has taken a 1940’s theme. The first day cover that will carry the new stamps takes inspiration from the work of iconic fashion illustrator, René Gruau. A familiar figure to the fashion designers featured on the stamps and Bletchley Park’s wartime code breakers reading the fashion magazines of the day.

The double sided cover has the ten stamps set over the Union Flag with a fashionable code breaker providing the design theme for the first day of issue postmark. The well dressed code breaker on the rear reflects the combination of glamour and sensuality with humour that was such a feature of Gruau’s work.

The cover will be issued as a numbered limited edition of 500 and is only available from Bletchley Park Post Office. Price is £15 plus post & packing. It can be previewed on the web site at www.bletchleycovers.com Further information is available from BPPO, The Mansion, Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes MK3 6EB, Tel: 01908 363489

- Terry Mitchell

 

  :  Ashwani Dubey, Akhilesh Arka,Terry Mitchell

100 Years of Titanic Disaster…

 

Date of Issue : 10 April 2012

Royal Mail is to release a special commemorative sheet of stamps to mark the centenary of the Titanic's tragic maiden voyage.The sheet will be issued on 10 April, the day RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton to New York, and will feature 10 x 1st class stamps featuring a red Royalty Seal.

Then the world's largest passenger liner, RMS Titanic was built at the world famous Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast and was regarded as unsinkable.The Titanic's voyage began with her departure from Southampton at noon on 10 April 1912. She stopped at Cherbourg in France to pick up more passengers and mail before journeying through the night to Queenstown(Cobh) in Ireland.

There the Titanic picked up the last of the passengers and a further 1,385 sacks of mail, before setting off across the Atlantic early in the afternoon on 11 April. However, four days into its historic journey and with 2,223 passengers on board, it hit an iceberg and sank within three hours.

Five postal clerks were among the 1,500 passengers who perished. Two British postal clerks, James Bertram Williamson and John Richard Jago Smith, based in Southampton, were working in the doomed ship's mail area along with three American postal staff.

The five men would have been kept busy sorting both the mail loaded on board and also letters posted by passengers in the Titanic's own posting boxes.

The Titanic's mail area was deep down in the ship on two deck levels. The mail was stacked along with first class luggage on the lower level and sorted just above on G deck. These two levels were connected by a companionway which continued up to F deck. When the Titanic struck the iceberg, the lower mail area was one of the first places to flood.

A report carried in The Times a few days after the disaster stated "All five completely disregarded their own safety when the vessel struck and began to carry the 200 sacks of registered mail to the upper deck. The report continues:  "As the situation became more desperate they appealed to the stewards to assist them and continued their work to the last. All were lost."

A further quote from ship Steward Albert Theissinger, one of the 705 who survived the disaster says:" I urged them to leave their work. They shook their heads and continued at their work. It might have been an inrush of water later that cut off their escape, or it may have been the explosion. I saw them no more."

The bodies of the five postal workers were never recovered - nor was any of the mail aboard the Titanic.

The Titanic Commemorative Sheet comes in a fully illustrated presentation folder that tells the story of RMS Titanic, while each of the ten stamps features fascinating individual archive images of the construction and launch of the ship.

Titanic Picture Postcards

The brief life and tragic end of the Royal Mail Ship Titanic coincided with the first “golden age” of picture postcards, which lasted from 1907 to 1915, and postcards form an important part of the ship’s legacy. However, relatively few photographs exist of Titanic. Most images purporting to be the ship actually picture her slightly older, nearly identical sister, Olympic. Here are some examples from the National Postal Museum’s collection and the exhibition Fire & Ice: Hindenburg and Titanic.

 

Above: Pre-disaster postcard
National Postal Museum Curatorial / History Reference File

Above: Pre-disaster postcard, front and back
Courtesy Dr. Edward and Joanne Dauer

Read More… 

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Comic Characters on stamps by Royal Mail

 

 

 

Date of Issue : 20 March 2012

Hi ! Here are new beautiful stamps from Royal Mail featuring  Britain’s best-loved comic book characters. The stamps show ten iconic comic book front covers from The Dandy, The Beano, Eagle, The Topper and Tiger, through to Bunty, Buster, Valiant, Twinkle and 2000AD. The stamp issue also marks the 75^th birthday of The Dandy, Britain’s longest, and the world’s third longest running comic . The stamps are very nice and sure to be liked by children !!

 

   

Sp Cover on Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th International Century….

 

Customized stamp and special cover on Sachin Tendulkar 100 x 100 International Centuries , Sher – e – Bangla, Dhaka - 16th March 2012

 

Bletchley Park PO stamp of approval for Sachin

Britain’s secret little post office at Bletchley Park has commemorated Sachin Tendulkar’s 100^th international century with a special stamp issue. The sheet of 20 1^st class stamps features an exclusive painting by renowned cricket artist Christina Pierce. It is accompanied by a designer envelope featuring another study of Tendulkar by Christina to which a single stamp has been added. The stamp has been postmarked by Bletchley Park Post Office for 16^th March 2012.

Both of the limited edition items can be viewed on the web site at www.bletchleycovers.com Telephone contact +44 (0)1908 363489.

The issue prices are £40 GBP for the stamp sheet and £10 GBP for the stamp and envelope combination.

Contact: Terry Mitchell +44 (0)1604 781440 terry@ltmp.co.uk

Special Cover on Station X Bletchley Park, UK

 

Station X goes under cover

Envelopes bearing a new stamp cancelled on the first day of issue are very collectable. Many are purchased to create displays and conversation pieces. But the one being released from Bletchley Park on April 10^th for Royal Mail’s new “Station X “stamp will be even more so. “Station X” was the designation given to Bletchley Park by MI6 during World War Two. In reality a tiny room below the water tower on the mansion roof chosen because the extensive lead piping amplified radio signals. This enabled MI6 to maintain radio contact with agents from Norway to North Africa unknown to Bletchley Park’s code breakers.

A specially commissioned illustration by Rebecca Peacock features Bletchley Park’s iconic mansion as the backdrop for the 1^st class “Station X” stamp. A Bletchley Park first day of issue postmark based on Enigma machine keys completes the unique combination. With only 1000 being issued these little pieces of art and history could be worth considerably more than their £9.99 GBP issue price.

And they are only available direct from Bletchley Park with a preview available on the www.bletchleycovers.com web site, by calling +44 (0) 1908 363489 or writing to Bletchley Park Post Office, Bletchley Park, MK3 6EB.

Contact : Terry Mitchell, Bletchley Park Post Office, 01604 781440, terry@ltmp.co.uk

Club News…

 

Special Commemorative cover ( Private )

150th Birth Anniversary of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda

On 11th March, Vadodara Celebrated 150th Birth Anniversary of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda. Mr Prashant Pandya of Vadodara  prepared a commemorative cover on this occasion. The cover shown above was mailed on 11th March by Speed Post from Sayajigunj Speed Post Center.

 

Operation “Black Buck” stamp issue

On April 30^th 1982 Operation “Black Buck” commenced to remove Port Stanley airfield in the Falklands from effective use by occupying enemy forces. It was the only time that Vulcan bombers flew in anger. They also broke the world record at the time for the longest ever bombing mission taking 15 hours and 45 minutes to cover nearly 8000 miles.

To commemorate the 30^th anniversary of “Black Buck” the Vulcan to the Sky Trust has teamed up with Bletchley Park Post Office. Together they will issue a specially designed set of postage stamps for use as a collector’s item and display piece. Ten Royal Mail stamps with images of the iconic bomber are set against a Falkland Islands backdrop. Descriptive text around the border provides detail on the mission and each sheet is individually numbered.

The issue is limited to 558 sheets to match the number of the only flying Vulcan XH 558. They will also be flown in the Vulcan for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Proceeds from the issue of just £35 will go towards keeping XH 558 the only flying Vulcan airborne. These unique stamp sheets are only available direct from the Vulcan to the Sky Trust or Bletchley Park Post Office and will be released to the public after 30^th April 2012.

Contact : www.vulcantothesky.org  Tel: 0845 5046 558. www.bletchleycovers.com Tel: 01908 363489/631797. For Bletchley Park Post Office, Terry Mitchell, terry@ltmp.co.uk,

01604 781440, mobile: 07850 068674.

New Europa 2012 stamps…

 

Date of Issue : 12 January 2012

The theme of the EUROPA 2012 stamps is tourism. The European postal organization, Posteurop, whose members consist of 40+ postal organizations, determines the theme each year. Individual members then decide themselves which motifs they will use on their own stamps. A landscape from Dalarna and a panorama view of Stockholm with the Globe in the foreground are used for this year's Swedish EUROPA stamps.

The choice of motifs matches the results of a survey conducted by the Visit Sweden, a tourist organization that markets Sweden internationally.

The Dalarna province has been a frequent motif on stamps and in the 1970s Sweden Post issued a booklet, In Dalom, that depicted well-known tourist attractions. A panorama view of Stockholm was depicted on a stamp as early as 1924, and in conjunction with its inauguration in 1989 the Globe appeared on a stamp for the first time.

Bosnia and Herzegovina (Croat post)

To be issued on  : 5 April 2012

Andorra (Spanish post)

Date of Issue: 4 April 2012

Royal Mail (UK)

Date of Issue : 10 April 2012

This is the only stamp  out of a set of fourteen  stamps to be issued by Royal Mail on  April 10, 2012 that  bears the official Europa Logo.

View all :  Europa stamps