The Stamp Classics miniature sheet, to be issued on January 15, is billed as a celebration of Royal Mail’s history, and of organised philately, on the occasion of 150th anniversary of the Royal Philatelic Society London and the 50th anniversary of the opening of the original Postal Museum by the Queen.
Its three 1st class and three £1.
55 values are all simple stamp-on-stamp designs, each highlighting a key issue from a different reign.
For reasons best known to itself, Royal Mail will issue a set of stamps on November 13 devoted to the Americantelevision and film franchiseStar Trek.
Created by the American writer and producer Gene Roddenberry in 1966, the science-fiction space opera features 23rd-century humanson a mission ‘to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before’.
Combining the exploration of interstellar space and moral issues, it now extends to more than 750 television episodes and 13 movies, including both sequels and prequels.
Royal Mail will issue a set of 12 counter sheet stamps and a six-stamp miniature sheet on October 20 to celebrate the upcoming release of the new movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Printed in se-tenant strips of six, the gummed sheet stamps will depict nine classic characters from the earlier films in the series, along with three new characters from the forthcoming instalment, which is due to open in UK cinemas on December 17.
Illustrated by British artist Malcolm Tween, each stamp will also feature a secondary character or scene created specially for the issue.
Royal Mail has produced a third stamp issue in five years devoted to the Star Wars film franchise.
Issued on November 26, in advance of the the cinema release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on December 20, it is claimed to be the final set in a series clearly intended to milk aficionados of the films.
The latest instalment comprises 10 gummed sheet stamps featuring 10 more characters (including three new ones being introduced in the latest film) and a self-adhesive miniature sheet of six featuring starships and other forms of transport imagined in the series.
Royal Mail has surprised the philatelic world by announcing that it will issue a second commemorative set devoted to the Star Wars film series.
Following the set of 12 stamps and a six-stamp miniature sheet heralding the release of The Force Awakens in 2015, a new issue on sale from October 12 will comprise eight stamps heralding The Last Jedi, which will be released in December.
It illustrates four droid and four alien characters, most of them well-known but one of them introduced in the latest film.
Royal Mail will issue a set of six stamps saluting the Merchant Navy on September 19, with an accompanying four-stamp miniature sheet honouring the achievements and the sacrifice of those who took part in the perilous Atlantic and Arctic convoys in World War II.
The history of Britain’s merchant fleet is intertwined with the fortunes of the nation.
The Empire was built on the carriage of goods, by private organisations such as the East India Company, and emigrants and mail, not least by Royal Mail ships.
Royal Mail’s latest stamp issue, Sustainable Fish, issued on June 5 (which is World Environment Day), aims to contrast endangered species in Britain’s marine fisheries with sustainable alternatives.
So the 10 stamps feature five fish whose future is threatened due to over-fishing, and five whose stocks are still high and which therefore offer a viable alternative for consumers.
Each group of five is available as a se-tenant strip.
Issue date 9/3/2023
A set of stamps issued on March 9 celebrate the Centenary of the Flying Scotsman, the steam locomotive considered a historic treasure of British engineering.
A Royal Mail stamp issue on October 10 marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of The Gruffalo, the popular children’s picture book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler.
Initially published in 1999 as a 32-page hardback, aimed at readers aged three to seven, the story was only about 700 words long and written in rhyming couplets.
With later paperback and board book editions, it became an international best-seller.
The Machin Definitive
Birthday celebrations for a very familiar face
Royal Mail’s celebration of 50 years of the Machin definitive comprises two miniature sheets to be released on June 5, the precise anniversary of the first issue.
The Machin Definitive - 50 Years of a Design Icon
One, subtitled 50 Years Of A Design Icon, has six new 1st class stamps, each with the familiar Machin portrait in use since 1967 alongside a preliminary design concept dating from the development of the series during 1966.
The other, subtitled Golden Anniversary Celebration, has seven stamps, six of which are reprints of original decimal issues from between 1971 and 2013, and the other a new £1 value.
Royal Mail issued a set of eight stamps on August 30 to mark the bicentenary of The Old Vic theatre, one of the most influential venues in the history of the British performing arts.
Opened in May 1818, on reclaimed marshland south of the newly built Waterloo Bridge in London, the Old Vic was originally called the Royal Coburg Theatre, and from 1833 the Royal Victoria.
It adopted its current name after 1871, when it was rebuilt with a finer 2,300-seater auditorium.
Royal Mail will release a set of six stamps and a special four-stamp miniature sheet on April 21 to celebrate the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, the world’s oldest reigning monarch.
The stamps from counter sheets, which come in se-tenant strips of three, comprise three black and white images focusing on her family life, and three colour images honouring her official work on behalf the country over the decades.
Designed by Kate Stephens, the set was printed in litho by International Security Printers.
Royal Mail celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with a set of eight stamps on February 4, all based on photographs of official functions over the past seven decades.
This is the first time a Platinum Jubilee has been celebrated in the UK, as Queen Elizabeth II is the longest-serving monarch in British history; she is also the fourth longest-serving in verifiable world history, and the longest-serving head of state in the world today.
The Queen came to the throne following the death of her father, King George VI, on February 6, 1952.
Royal Mail issues a set of stamps and a miniature sheet on January 20 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of The Rolling Stones, one of Britain’s most successful rock bands.
Unlike previous issues in the Music Giants series, from 2016-21, the eight counter sheet designs do not reproduce album covers but focus on the Stones as a live act, from archive photographs.
Of the four stamps in the miniature sheet, two feature posed photographs of the band and two reproduce promotional posters for their tours.
On February 18, Royal Mail will release a miniature sheet of six stamps celebrating The Stamp Designs of David Gentleman.
The stamp-on-stamp issue is timed to coincide with the London 2022 international exhibition, and a limited edition of 10,000 numbered sheets bearing the logo of the exhibition will be produced for sale at the event only, at the same price.
Gentleman, who will be 92 years old in March, is the most famous designer of British stamps in the modern era, credited with more than 100 designs between 1962 and 2000.
