Tuesday 25 October 2016

850. Royal Mail's Christmas Nightmare For Completeists.


  In Blog 835 I mentioned the set of 8 Christmas stamps (price £9.05p) which Royal Mail plans to issue on 8 November 2016. The stamps were designed by The Chase and printed in photogravure by De La Rue and perforated 14.5 x 15. Those 8 stamps, which are self-adhesive are the tip of the iceberg. The issue will also include a gummed miniature sheet (price also £9.05p), a "Collector sheet" of 20 stamps (sold for £16.21p), a booklet of 12 x 1st class self-adhesive stamps (sold for £7.68p), a booklet of 12 x 2nd class stamps (cost £6.60p) and an additional "Collector sheet" of 20 stamps which commemorates 50 years of British Christmas stamp issues (cost £12.40p - it's a sobering thought that the 1st set of British Christmas stamps was made up of just 2 stamps and cost 1/9d or about what is now 9p). Instead of 9p the completeist will need to pay a grand total of £51.94p which is 57711.11% greater than a collector who wanted to buy all the 1966 Christmas stamps would have had to pay! 
  And that's not all because we also have the upcoming "Hibernating animals" Post and Go stamps (see Blog 827) to buy on 14 November 2016 which will be sold in 3 different formats - from IAR kiosks in enquiry offices, in NCR format from ordinary post offices and in a pack sold by the Philatelic Bureau from Edinburgh.










  And for good measure, Royal Mail will issue yet another "Collector sheet" on 15 November 2016 on the subject of Chinese new year, this time the "Year of The Rooster". This item which contains 20 x 1st "Fireworks" greetings stamps (total face value £12.80p) will be sold for £13.50 and was designed from paper cut outs by Rebecca Sutherland. Rating:- 0. 



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