Norvic Philatelics

New Machin definitive & Country stamps - 20 March 2018

Royal Mail announced its annual stamp price rises in late February and they take effect from 26th March 2017.  

Inland rates will be (previous rates in [brackets] ) - 1st class 67p [65], 2nd class 58p [56], 1st Large £1.01 [98], 2nd Large 79p [76].

The inland 'Royal Mail Signed For' fee remains £1.10 on letters and £1 on parcels.   Special Delivery rates are unchanged.

The Europe 20g and Worldwide 10g rate of £1.17 rises to £1.25 (an increase of 6.8% on top of last year's 11.5%) which means a new stamp*.

The Worldwide 20g rate rises from £1.40 to £1.45 which means a new stamp*.

The Europe 100g rate of £1.57 is reduced to £1.55 (new stamp)

The World 100g rate of £2.27 is reduced to £2.25 (new old stamp - see table below).

The Surface mail (International Economy) 20g rate rising from £1.02 to £1.10 (no new stamp).

The Large Letter 100g rate for Europe rises from £2.55 to £2.65 so another new stamp.

The Large Letter rates for World Zone 1 and Zone 2 rise by 15p from £3.15 and £3.30 to £3.30 and £3.45.  No new stamps are proposed for these.

* Country definitives will also be issued for these rates, and the design of the 2nd and 1st class country definitives will be changed to reflect the new font now in use on airmail values and Machins.

Pre-issue studio images of the new stamps for 2018

New Tariff national definitive Machin stamps.

Airmail: Europe Letter 20g - Worldwide Letter 20g - Europe Letter 100g - Europe Large Letter 100g

The purple £2.25 Plum Purple stamp introduced for the 2015 tariff change is to be reused for the new Worldwide 100g rate. 
Initial supplies to post offices (so far seen) are from the 2016 (M16L) reprint, but this stamp has been reprinted for this revised rate
and M18L printings are expected to be available during the year. 

2018 Tariff £2-25 stamp.
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Official colours of the new stamps:

£1.25 Holly Green

£1.45 Dove Grey

£1.55 Marine Turquoise

£2.65 Purple Heather

2018 Tariff change country definitive stamps.
Pre-issue publicity images of the new 2nd class, 1st class, £1.25 and £1.45 Country Definitives.


The typeface used for the values on these pictures is the same as on the Machin definitives, and brings the lower values in line with the airmail values. 








Technical information

The Machin definitive stamps are self-adhesive and printed for the first time by ISP Walsall in gravure. They will have security cuts and the irridescent overprint, which should have year code M18L. We're told that these will be issued in sheets of 50, which would imply gutters, although all stamps other than the 1st/2nd/Large NVIs are usually in sheets of 25.

The Country definitives will be litho printed on ordinary gummed paper by International Security Printers in sheets of 25.  They will have no security features. See note above about typeface for the denomination.

Philatelic release.

The £2.25 reprint of the Machin definitive is not regarded as a new stamp by Royal Mail and will be distributed only to standing order customers who request all changes including non-visible.  It will not be included in the presentation pack, nor on the first day cover.  (We will produce a small number of FDCs with the new £2.25 added.)

All 16 of the country definitives are included in the country presentation pack, and 4 stamps will be on each country's first day cover.



Special postmarks available on the day of issue are in the Postmark Bulletin, available on Royal Mail's website.


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This page created 1 March 2018

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