Norvic Philatelics - GB New Stamps and Special Postmarks

Christmas - 7 November 2006

This year's Christmas stamps feature secular designs of Father Christmas, a Snowman, a Reindeer and Christmas Tree.

Because of the introduction of Pricing in Proportion this year's stamps include two each for 1st class and 2nd class. The 2nd class stamp is illustrated with a Snowman, the 1st class with Father Christmas sitting on a chimney, 72p shows a reindeer, and £1.19 has a decorated Christmas Tree surrounded by presents.

Stamp design and Background

The stamps feature illustrations by Japanese digital illustrator Tatsuro Kiuchi. He works in Adobe Photoshop and calls his work digital printmaking.
“The brief for the stamps was very open”, explains Tatsuro. “I was asked to come up with some sketch ideas on a Christmas theme which would incorporate the graphic and print-like quality of my work.” This resulted in a series of instantly recognisable symbols of Christmas.“Even though many Japanese people are not Christian, Christmas is quite popular in Japan,” he continues.

“Christmas Day itself is not a holiday. Some people go out for dinner with their friends and families, but I usually work. New Year, which we celebrate on the first three days of January, is much more special to Japanese people, and that is our holiday. However, I have worked on the Christmas theme a couple of times before.” This has been mostly for magazine and book illustrations published in Japan.

Kiuchi works exclusively on computer. “I build up the image using many layers of transparent colours. To get the detail right, I created an image on screen that could be printed four times larger than the actual stamp. I set out to make the colours vary, but as the work progressed, blue became dominant. In the final set, I have used a lot of blue in a range of different shades.”

Technical details:
Formatted by CDT Design and Rose Design, the stamps have been designed by Tatsuro Kiuchi, and printed by De la Rue Security Print in gravure. The small stamps are definitive size - 20 x 24mm - and the Large Letter stamps 30 x 24mm. The stamps will be die-cut on the self-adhesive sheets.
As the stamps are definitive-sized, the Christmas stamp booklets will be the same size as definitive books of 12. The 1st class stamps have red covers and the 2nd class blue covers. On booklets seen today, there are no cylinder numbers, the edge strip has winter scene colouring, in the same way that the Greetings/Smilers booklets have stripes.
The 115x102mm Miniature Sheet will be conventionally gummed. It contains the six stamps, arranged as a block of 4 and a pair, against a Christmas Landscape background by Tatsuro Kiuchi.

Smilers Sheet

The generic self-adhesive Smilers sheet was designed by Rose Design and comprises 20 stamps: 10 x 1st Class and 10 x 2nd Class set within a border and labels illustrated by Tatsuro Kiuchi. This background features a snow scene in the park together with illustrations of children and adults, snowflakes and an image of a steam train passing below the hills. The Smilers sheets are printed in litho by Cartor Security Printers. Click on the image for a larger one in a new window.

Also available:
Post Office FDC with a full set or miniature sheet - £5.25 with any postmark if ordered by 4 November.
Set of 6 stamps or miniature sheet unused or VFU - £4.10
Presentation Pack - £4.95
Set of 7 stamp cards (PHQ cards) - £2.90
Set of 6 stamp cards with stamps fixed to the front cancelled with appropriate postmarks - £6.50
Smilers Sheet:
Mint Smilers Sheet - £7.25

Special postmarks available on the Day of Issue are shown below: these postmarks cannot be obtained from the PO after 7 November.

Ref FD639 Official Bureau postmark	Ref FD640 Official Bethlehem postmark	Ref FD640N Official Bethlehem non-pictorial postmark in Welsh and English	Ref M10261 St Nicholas Gardens, Birmingham	Ref N10264 Happy Christmas, York	Ref W10270 40 Years of Christmas Stamps, Bethlehem, Llandeilo
Ref L10244 Rudolph Road, E13	Ref L10245 Yuletide Close, NW10	Ref S10267 Snowhill, Enniskillen	Ref W10271 St Nicholas, Goodwick	Ref L10246 Santa arrives for Christmas, Cold Christmas, Ware	Ref L10248 Bletchley Post Office, Bletchley Park, YZWFN COKZR
Ref L10243 Christmas Puppy, Dog Lane, London NW16	Ref L10242 Christmas Greetings, Royal Mail London EC1	Ref N10263 Donna's Dream House, Blackpool Providing Free Holidays for Terminally Ill Children	Ref S10268 The Night Before Christmas, Star, Glenrothes	Ref L10247 Christmas 2006, Lords Ground London NW8	Ref W10272 Seasons Greetings Cyfarchion y Tymor, Bethlehem Llandeilo

This page updated 20 October 2006

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