So let's start
The official start time of the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix is Sunday, April 7th, at 2 PM local time, which is 6 AM in London and 4 PM in Sydney. No guesses will be accepted after that time.
So pick up a(nother) glass of sake, and let's play this fourth round!
First here are the rules:
You need to be a Stampboards member - joining up is free -
Register here!
To qualify for winning a prize here, all you need to do after you join up is to make sure you contribute at least 5 (on topic) posts to philatelic threads, not including requests to receive freebies, before the start of the GP.
I will check your posts in the event you have a winning guess in order to verify this qualification.
If you did not quality for any reason, the prize will go to the next eligible post.
To participate, you must name five different drivers, in the order you believe they will be officially classified, from the winner, to the fifth finisher.
One guess per Stampboarder, and it cannot be changed once it has been made. Editing in the same post will also no longer be permitted.
You will get one point per driver who finishes in the same position as your guess, so a maximum of 5 points at each race.
The result will be understood to be the official driver ranking as at 60 minutes after the end of the race. Any steward changes after that time, will not affect the player's prizes here.
- Prize 1: the winner is the person who gets the most points at that race. If there is a tie, the earlier guess wins.
- Prize 2: the winner is the person who gets the most points at the end of a four race sprint. In case of a tie, the earlier guess on the fourth race of the sprint wins.
The winner of Prize 2 then has a choice: he or she can go for the default Prize 2, which will always be a four margin penny black, or he or she can choose to accumulate more points to ‘purchase’ an alternative Prize 2. Once you have chosen to accumulate, there is no going back until you have 'bought' an alternative Prize 2. The accumulation can only go until the end of Season 2024.
The list of Prize 2's along with how many points you need to purchase them, is shown below.
Once you have won a 4 race sprint, if you do not elect to take the Penny Black on offer, you will continue to accumulate points for Prize 2 as long as you wish (but not past the end of Season 2024) in order to ‘purchase’ an alternative Prize 2.
You can do so at any time once you have accumulated enough points to ‘purchase’ the Prize 2 of your choosing.
Once you have chosen a Prize 2, whether the Penny Black or an alternative Prize, your Prize 2 points count will be reset to 0.
If you do not choose the penny black, it will be on offer for the next four race sprint.
This is designed so that anyone who wins a four race sprint will at some point be able to claim a Prize 2, whether a four margin penny black or an alternative Prize.
Everyone else will have their Prize 2 points reset to 0 to restart the four race sprint, except the Prize 2 points 'accumulators'.
There can be several Prize 2 points 'accumulators' at the same time, as long as they have not 'purchased' their Prize 2.
- Prize 3: the points are counted and accumulated in the same way: 1 point per correctly placed pilot at each race, but everyone gets to keep their Prize 3 points until the season's last race, where the highest point accumulator wins.
Prize 3 will be attributed on the occasion of the last Grand Prix of the 2023 season.
If there is a tie, the contest continues only among the Stampboarders with the highest score, until the tie is broken.
Anti-shadowing rule for Prize 3:
- This rule applies to the top three Prize 3 points accumulators at any race: the #1 accumulator will have to post their guess at least three hours before the official start of the race, the #2 accumulator two hours before the official start, and the #3 accumulator one hour. Everyone else has to put in their guess before the official start time of the Grand Prix.
- There will be zero tolerance for any time 'overshoot', even if it is one second, and any editing for all contestants, and no excuses accepted: my computer slowed down, Stampboards loaded too slowly, my cat stepped on my keyboard…so please note this carefully as I want to avoid any unpleasantness or ambiguities.
And here are the Prizes:
- Prize 1 comes from Belgium and consists of three sets (MH): the first set was issued in 1953 and celebrated the wedding of Princess Josephine-Charlotte. The second set showcased touristic areas in Belgium and was also issued in 1953. The third set was issued in 1954 and commemorated the 20th anniversary of the death of king Albert I.
Here is the list of Prize 2's
First, the 1840 penny black, lettered QI, that will be attributed in Japan on April 7th:
The first Alternative Prize 2, costing 12 Prize 2 points are 3 iconic line engraved stamps issued with a premium benefitting the national Sinking Fund.
The first of these stamps is actually France's first line engraved stamp.
These three stamps were issued in 1928, 1930 and 1931 respectively:
The second alternative Prize 2, costing 12 Prize 2 points, issued in 1936 (MH) and engraved by Antonin Delzers, commemorated the 100th aerial crossing of the South Atlantic by France's Postal Service:
The third alternative Prize 2, costing 14 Prize 2 points, is the 'large beard' set of Belgium, issued in 1905, offered here in MH condition:
The fourth alternative Prize 2, costing 16 Prize 2 points, is the Cardinal Mercier set of Belgium, issued in 1932, also MH:
The fifth Alternative Prize 2, costing 18 Prize 2 points, is the Leopold II 'fine beard' set (MH) issued in 1893.
The set includes the dominical tabs which were used to placate the deeply catholic population of Belgium by giving people the option not to have mail delivered on Sunday.
The sender just needed to use the stamp with tab to allow this, or tear off the tab to signify that they were agreeable for the mail to be delivered on Sunday.
The sixth alternative Prize 2, costing 20 Prize 2 points, is France's beautiful "Burelé", or "Banknote" Airmail stamp issued in 1936 and engraved by Gaston Gandon (father of Pierre Gandon):
The seventh alternative Prize 2, costing also 20 Prize 2 points, is the First Orval set of 1928, with the gorgeous Crowned overprint, and issued in 1929 to commemorate the laying of the first stone of the restored Abbey. Only 5,000 overprinted sets were produced:
Finally, the eighth alternative Prize 2, costing 22 Prize 2 points, is the famous Tin Hat set of 1919 (MH), issued as a homage to King Albert I to celebrate Belgium's liberation:
And Prize 3 for the 2024 Season looks familiar: it is the quartet of the world's first stamps, the 1840 penny black and two pence blue, and the 1841 penny red and two pence blue which replace them, but with a twist: the penny black is a plate 1b with inverted watermark and the penny red shows London's characteristic 'number in Maltese cross' cancellation.
Both are interesting variations on classic stamps and certainly the inverted watermark penny black will be missing from most collections.
I hope the winner this year will enjoy them as a party piece to show their friends the fascinating beginnings of this innovation of the Industrial Revolution that has us so enthralled.
And now it's all up to you!
Cheers,
Joel.
