Norvic Philatelics - GB New Stamps and Special Postmarks
Celebrating England - 23 April 2007
The second in the country series of Miniature sheets, Celebrating
England, along with the second in the
series of Smiler / Generic sheets featuring the country definitives,
Glorious England, will be issued
simultaneously on St George's Day 23rd April 2007.
Due to a design error on labels 2 & 12 - which
are inscribed ISLE OF WHITE instead of ISLE OF WIGHT, the Glorious
England Smilers Sheets were recalled from post offices and contracted
dealers.
We were originally led to believe that Royal Mail first knew of this on
Thursday 19 April, but as some post offices had their replacement
supplies on Friday 20th, this was clearly not the case. It has been
alleged that that the Philatelic Bureau knew of the error as much as 6
weeks earlier!
We had a report of the faulty sheets being sold from a crown post
office in Essex on the day of issue, and copies have been sold on eBay
at up to £771, but prices have generally dropped back (23 May) to
under £400. Royal Mail have not responded to a suggestion that,
as they could not guarantee that all PO supplies would be recalled,
they should not have taken them back from dealers who had already fixed
them to FDCs!
Note: We do not have any of the error for sale.
1st class Lion & flag definitive - 78p St George
78p Houses of Parliament, London - 1st class St George's flag
Smilers Sheet
Scenes depicted on the labels (column 1, then column 2) Click
on the image for a
larger version
The London Eye (big wheel), The Needles (Isle of Wight), village
cricket Nottingham*, London taxis, The Angel of the North
Gateshead,
the White Horse Uffington, Stonehenge, Gateshead Millennium Bridge,
rural postbox Sawbridge Rugby, oast house Kent*.
* Does anybody recognise these locations? Let us know, please.
Technical details:
The miniature sheet is designed by Silk Pearce and is
printed by De La Rue Security Print in gravure - sheet size 123 x 70mm.
Illustration: Cross of St George flag - Peter Crowther; St George and
the dragon - Claire Melinsky; House of Parliament photograph - Ed
Pritchard; Blackmore Vale, Dorset (background photograph) - David
Noton, The Image Bank/Getty Images.
The A4 Smilers Sheet is designed by Sedley Place and are
printed by Cartor Security Printing in lithography on self-adhesive
paper. Photographic credits have not been provided by Royal Mail; if
they are your photos, please let us know so that we can provide details.
Norvic Exclusive First Day Covers
We have two limited edition first day covers for this issue.
The cover for the miniature sheet shows views of Cromer Pier Norfolk,
The Valley of the Rocks North Devon and The Stiperstones in Shropshire.
It will be available with a choice of postmarks (probably L10461,
L10465 and L10462) priced at £6.95 each.
A pair of covers will be used for a half-sheet of the Smilers. This
cover has views of Castle Rising Castle Norfolk, Glastonbury Somerset,
and cricket at Portchester Castle Hampshire.
There will be a choice of postmarks (probably M10471 & L10460) and
the price is £10.00 for the pair of covers.
Click on the image to see the other cover
Products issued:
Mint miniature sheet
MS Presentation Pack
MS on PO FDC
Set of 5 Stamp Cards unused
Smilers Sheet
Special Postmarks
First day of issue postmarks are shown below - these may not be to
scale - more may be added later. These postmarks cannot be obtained
after the date of issue.
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Ref FD721
Philatelic Bureau Official Postmark, "England with all thy faults
I
love the still - William Cowper" |
Ref FD722
St Georges, Telford, Official Postmark, "Cry God for Harry!
England and
St George! - William Shakespeare" |
Ref FD722NP
St Georges Official non-pictorial Postmark |
Ref L10460
Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N |
Ref L10461
Horse Guards Parade, London SW1 |
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Ref L10464
Celebrating England, George Lane, E18 |
Ref L10465
St Georges Way, London SE15 |
Ref L10459
The Royal
Society of St George, Folkestone, England's National Day |
Ref M10471
Saint Georges Day, Stratford upon Avon |
Ref M10472
Celebrating England, St. Georges Street, Birmingham |
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Ref L10462
Wesminster, London SW1 |
Ref L10468
England - The Mother of Parliaments London SW1 |
Ref L10463
St George's Chapel, Windsor |
Ref M10470
Celebrating England, Stratford upon Avon |
Ref N10474
Celebrating England, The Floral Trail, Harrogate |
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This page updated 30 April 2007
