STAMPBOARDS - Postage Stamp Chat Board and Stamp Forum

The 2011 edition of Stanley Gibbons GB Concise catalogue is now out, and has some surprises, both in pricing and in numbering (about which more later and elsewhere).

The original Faststamps with a Machin head were first sold in Bristol on 8 October 2008. This is the original typeface & layout. These were first listed by SG as FS1 - FS5, one for each value even though there was only one design.


In preparation for the Birds pictorials which have a larger picture, the font was changed:

These are now listed by SG with 'a' numbers, ie FS1a - FS5a

The price in the 2011 Concise for the first type is £27.50 mint or used - that's just about 10 x original face value, and probably reflects the fact that few people were interested at the time. The Bureau Pack, which doesn't even have stamps as vended by the machine, is priced at £32.50.
The revised versions, not available from the Bureau at all, are priced at £10 per set mint or used.

The Birds Faststamps (details here - https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=20331&hilit=faststamps) come in six designs:


I predicted from the outset that Gibbons' listing of the Machin heads (one for each pre-determined value even though there was only one design) would cause problems when pictorial ones were issued, and so it has proved. The Birds 1 set are numbered FS6-10, one for each value; Birds 2 are numbered FS11-15 (again one for each value), in both cases a footnote indicates the birds included in each set. But if they aren't allocating a catalogue number to each bird, then they don't need FS11-15. They simply need a footnote to say that a second set was issued with six new designs, etc etc.

What they should have done was to renumber the Machin heads as
FS1 - 1st class
FS1a - 1st class Large
FS1b - 20g Europe
FS1c - 10g Worldwide
FS1d - 20g Worldwide

The birds would then be listed as

2010 (17 Sept) - 2011 Birds of Britain Multicoloured, self-adhesive, Two phosphor bands, perf 14.5
FS2 - 1st class - blue tit
FS3 - 1st class - goldfinch
FS4 - 1st class - wood pigeon
FS5 - 1st class - robin
FS6 - 1st class - house sparrow
FS7 - 1st class - starling
FS8 - 1st class - blackbird (24.1.11)
FS9 - 1st class - magpies (24.1.11)
FS10 - 1st class - long-tailed tit (24.1.11)
FS11 - 1st class - chaffinch (24.1.11)
FS12 - 1st class - collared dove (24.1.11)
FS13 - 1st class - goldfinch (24.1.11)
to be followed by
FS14 - 1st class - mallard (19.5.11) etc

with sub-numbers a-d for each of the values for each design.

Incidentally the prices for set 1 are from £3 to £4 per value in mint condition (original face value of lowest value 41p)

They are not averse to change, as we know, and as I will tell after lunch in relation to the Security Machins.

Thanks Ian - my Concise arrived today, and I was noticed this too.

Will be interested to read your comments on the Security Machins.

Ian .. I noticed you got a plug in the new Concise .. well done!

Global Administrator wrote:Ian .. I noticed you got a plug in the new Concise .. well done!

I didn't notice! Thanks for pointing it out.

Update on this.

I was told by another dealer yesterday that retail prices for the set of 30 Birds 1 (ie 6 birds, 5 different values each) is now £200.

norvic wrote:
The birds would then be listed as

2010 (17 Sept) - 2011 Birds of Britain Multicoloured, self-adhesive, Two phosphor bands, perf 14.5

FS2 - 1st class - blue tit
FS3 - 1st class - goldfinch
FS4 - 1st class - wood pigeon
FS5 - 1st class - robin
FS6 - 1st class - house sparrow
FS7 - 1st class - starling
FS8 - 1st class - blackbird (24.1.11)
FS9 - 1st class - magpies (24.1.11)
FS10 - 1st class - long-tailed tit (24.1.11)
FS11 - 1st class - chaffinch (24.1.11)
FS12 - 1st class - collared dove (24.1.11)
FS13 - 1st class - goldfinch (24.1.11)
to be followed by
FS14 - 1st class - mallard (19.5.11) etc

with sub-numbers a-d for each of the values for each design.

Ian I am typing my columns now and can use this is you can get me a higher rez pic of those 6 birds pretty fast.

What is a "set of 30" Birds - which other values are there? 13 are listed above.

emailed you

More money-making, and this time not just on paper!

At Stampex, as pre-announced, the Hytech self-service machines are dispensing Machin Centenary Faststamps:
Single -


Strip of 6 -


These are also available 'over-the-counter' at the Royal Mail stand from a different machine - they differ only in the machine number so although some people will be interested, that is a minority.

Of more interest, and only available over the counter and not pre-announced, are Hytech strips of 6 of the Birds 3 (Waterbirds) set. Somebody put 6 strips of these on eBay yesterday, and by this afternoon had sold 5 strips, at a Buy It Now price of £60 per strip. (Face £4.21).

As every innovation from Royal Mail has come out, I have tended to go for them and expand my collection. This worked particularly well with booklets and with what were known as Smiler Sheets (I even got the rarer Christmas Sheets, but I have since sold them to finance some outstanding Italian material). However, there comes a time when you have to limit your collecting area, and with a total absence of these machines anywhere near where I live, these labels are one of those that I will not collect. I have got to the stage where the availability of commemorative stamps in local Post Offices is zero, so I shall stop collecting them at the end of this tear, concentrating on booklets and Machin definitives, as well as my Italian stuff.

tonyclayton wrote:As every innovation from Royal Mail has come out, I have tended to go for them and expand my collection. This worked particularly well with booklets and with what were known as Smiler Sheets (I even got the rarer Christmas Sheets, but I have since sold them to finance some outstanding Italian material). However, there comes a time when you have to limit your collecting area, and with a total absence of these machines anywhere near where I live, these labels are one of those that I will not collect. I have got to the stage where the availability of commemorative stamps in local Post Offices is zero, so I shall stop collecting them at the end of this tear, concentrating on booklets and Machin definitives, as well as my Italian stuff.

I can sympathise with you over the location of Post & Go machines, though the 120+ locations are well spread through the UK.

It is obviously too late to change your mind over "the availability of commemorative stamps in local Post Offices" and that is as good a reason as any to stop (I don't collect them now, apart from what I have in stock for sale!) but I will say that anybody unable to obtain new issues from their local POs should complain first to the postmaster, and if that doesn't work, then to PO Customer Services. We are told repeatedly by representatives of Post Office Ltd that all offices are sent all new issues - with the exception of some of the outreach and mobile offices, but then they have them back at their parent office and will supply if asked.

Anybody (and this is not directed at Tony) who can't get stamps but only complains to the philatelic press and online forums has only themselves to blame for not taking the problem to the source. If your newsagent doesn't have the paper you regularly want, you ask him to get it and keep it for you. Same applies to stamps at the post office.

I do get my main material for my collection from the Bureau. However, my complaint is that all of our local offices say 'we only get a few commemoratives' and have run out within a day or so of issue. They do offer to keep some for me, but as we live several miles from any Post Office we go to different ones depending on where we are shopping that day. It is just that when I go to one to post a packet they never have any commemoratives. The worst was one where I requested two Special Delivery Stamps, whereupon the postmaster lost his temper and started slamming doors and shouting. I took back the packets and drove another 4 miles to an office that did have them (and were very courteous and helpful, as the vast majority are)

tonyclayton wrote:The worst was one where I requested two Special Delivery Stamps, whereupon the postmaster lost his temper and started slamming doors and shouting.

You seem to forget that they are only there to take the letters, not to pander to your every whim

That's a really bad experience, and you have my sympathies. The problem is, of course, that sub-post offices are difficult to man these days. When somebody decides to retire (a) the local populace blame the Post Office for not quickly finding a replacement; and (b) the Post Office often have considerable difficulty finding a replacement especially in rural areas where suitable accommodation can be hard to find. They daren't terminate a contract because of complaints such as yours, though in an ideal world we would like them to!

I was worried as to why I had upset him so, but I gather from friends that this is not an isolated incident! I have not returned to that establishment since....

There was a very pleasant and helpful girl there, but she left suddenly. Come back - all is forgiven!!

norvic wrote:
Of more interest, and only available over the counter and not pre-announced, are Hytech strips of 6 of the Birds 3 (Waterbirds) set. Somebody put 6 strips of these on eBay yesterday, and by this afternoon had sold 5 strips, at a Buy It Now price of £60 per strip. (Face £4.21).

Ian - could I trouble you for a direct scan ASAP of these too please?

These are new issues?

Glen