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This is my brief (sorry, it was meant to be, but you know what it's like, one thought leads to another
and then another and before you know where you are, you have almost written a book) introduction to
Great British Stamp collecting.
I hope that you find at least some of it interesting. If not, never mind, you will probably only waste a
half hour of your life reading it.
I have tried to be as accurate as possible, so hopefully there are no real major mistakes. A few
comments are my personal opinions, but mostly it is I believe factual. But hey, I'm not quite perfect,
so if you know that something is wrong, please let me know via the feedback form.
It is broken down into sections and you probably arrived here after reading one of my brief
introductions on one of the Index pages of the site. You will find that each section is broken down
into these same brief intros. Therefore if you want to find out only about Presentation Packs, then
please scroll down to that section.
The first sections deal with the basic reigns. Later sections give some info on more specific areas of
collecting mainly under Elizabeth 2 where there are many sub sections of collecting available, PHQ
cards and Traffic Light Gutter Pairs for example.
Ask most people what the first Stamp ever issued in the World was and most will answer the Great
British Penny Black. Go onto most general knowledge based websites, same answer. This is actually
only half true and depends on how you define the question, as the 2d Blue was issued on the same
day.
The 6 May 1840 was where it all started for stamp collectors. Again this is only a half truth. If you
have large pockets you can actually find earlier posted stamps, but let us start at the beginning.
In the beginning
The first unrecognized postmen were in fact the Romans. They brought messengers with them when
they invaded Britain. The messenger system was expanded over the centuries, at first used solely by
The King. Sheriffs, Bailiffs and Noble men started to use them as well. As trade grew and Cities and
Town's expanded, so did the messenger system of communication. In fact many of our road networks
and Inns of today owe their existence to the delivery of letters.
In the early 1600's the State took control of all messenger services and banned private carriers. Could
this have been the first Monopoly? The Post Office has remained solely Government owned ever
since!
Charles I created what was the start of the Post Office as we know it in 1635 and made delivering of
documents and letters available to all subjects. Though in reality, only a very small proportion of the
population could read and write.
In 1657 Oliver Cromwell established the General Post Office. There were many developments over
the next 200 years, but this is an area that is covered by what is termed Pre Stamp Postal History.
In 1837, Rowland Hill publishes Post Office Reform and so begins the development of the postal
system we know of today. 1839 and the Postage Act is passed, whereby the Treasury is given until
October 1840 to make arrangements for the introduction of a universal penny postage system.
With the Introduction of this issue, SG 43/44, came the first Visible Plate Numbers. All Previous
Issues can only have the Plate Number determined by Certain Characteristic Markings etc. In
this Issue, the Plate Numbers can generally be clearly seen either with the Naked Eye or a
Reasonable Magnifier. You can see the numbers 189 Vertically at Both the Left and Right hand
Sides
Interesting fact (at least I think it is): Many non collectors when finding out that I am a GB stamp
dealer, say " I bet you haven't got a Penny Black" and are amazed when I tell them, that I have at least
100 in stock at any one time. It is only when I explain that they are actually very common and that a
basic one with faults can sell for 20 or less. This is because over 60 million were issued in less than a
year. With the introduction of the Penny Postage rate, suddenly most people could afford to write
letters. Therefore for example, you no longer had to spend a day visiting your granny in the next town,
you wrote to her. In fact, the Penny Post could be regarded as a catalyst that helped with the literacy
of the lower classes' as they were so called then.
Why are they so common, how comes so many survived until today? Well, believe it or not, we
mostly have Businesses, solicitors, Government dept's and Banks to thank for this and not forgetting
the Second World War. I'll explain. Businesses, Solicitors, Government Dept's and Banks had to keep
stacks and stacks of letters and documents etc. These were all filed away in achieves or vaults. Now
the best example is to think of the City of London. Hundreds and hundreds of these cramped into a
small area and what happens - The Germans bomb the place. Buildings burn, get bomb damaged and
low and behold, there are all these letters etc floating about. Well, a hell of a lot of it went walkies!
And thousands upon thousands of Penny blacks come onto the market, along with a lot of other stuff
as well.
Unfortunately, the vast majority were torn off their covers, as Postal History wasn't really the in thing
at the time. God knows what gems were lost forever when this happened.
When I first started in this business, I met a dealer who used to be a Fire Warden in the City during
the war. The stories he told, God bless him, he's dead now, but it certainly helped him start in the
stamp business. And when a Post Office got hit- jackpot!
Of course a lot of private material survived by being kept by the recipient. Much in the same way that
we today will put a letter away for safe keeping, possibly to read once in awhile.
Another little story concerning early Line engraved stamps is why so many have pin holes through
them. The most common reason for the Imperf issues is that the Postal worker would have to cut the
stamps from the sheets. This could be quite time consuming, especially if there was a queue waiting,
so a lot of workers cut them prior to opening and then to keep them all safe, put them onto a thread
using a pin.
Another is that to entertain Children, they were encouraged to make a Snake chain using stamps, not
so bad in later years when the 1d Lilac had been issued, but in 1841, imagine what would have been
used to make a nice Red, Black and Blue snake!
A few other little snippets of information:
1843 the first Christmas card is posted.
1852 and the first ever post box is trailed in Jersey.
1870 the first Postcard is issued.
1873 Women are allowed to work for the Post Office.
1874 Married women were banned from working for the Post Office and if a single woman got
married, she had to resign. This practice remained in force for over 70 years!
1912 The Post Office acquires full control of the Telephone system.
1918 The standard cost of sending a letter is raised from 1d to 1d due to rising costs, thus ending the
Penny Post which had been in existence since 1840. I'll save you the math, it's 78 years!
2006 Royal Mail introduces 'pricing in proportion'. This is the most significant change in postage
procedures since the introduction of the penny post. Mail is charged according to both weight and the
size.
I did one Stampex Show, I can't remember which one now, but by the end of the show, I was selling
both these items for twice as much as I was at the start. It wasn't profiteering, I'd sold everything that I
had and was paying whatever anyone was asking in order to get more in again.
One thing that no dealer ever did predict though is the amazing rise in price of the Christmas 2001
pair. Ever time they went up a bit more, we all thought that's got to be it, 75, 150, 350, 750 the
prices just kept rising and the demand was still there and still is today.
In my blurb about Investment, I mention a Crystal Ball. Now that's when I wanted one. I first started
selling the 2001 Christmas sheets for 35.00, if I had just held on to all of them.
Obviously as with all things, once everyone realised that these Smilers sheets were good, subsequent
issues were not as scarce, dealers started to get reasonable stocks in, but it did take a time, as can be
seen by the prices of most of the earlier issues.
Great British Presentation Packs and Year Books Issued 1960 to Date
Yes, it does say from 1960 and not 1964 as many people think. This is because the first Post Office
items of this nature were actually the 1960 Wildings and Regional Packs that are now termed as
Forerunner Packs. They along with 2 other slightly later packs were in the form of a sealed
Envelope with a clear window. Two versions of each exist, one priced in GBP and the other in US$
for the American market. The high value packs are very scarce and command very high prices, far
more than the Forth Road Bridge Pack of 1964. The first pack in the format we know today of a set
of stamps with an information card about the stamps, printer and designer in a plastic sleeve
(originally these were cellophane, which as many people know, over the years of time have usually
degraded to such an extent that the sleeve has shrunk and buckled the pack) was the 1964 Ordinary
issue of Shakespeare.
The format now is larger, but the general idea hasn't changed in over 40 years. The Forth Road Bridge
pack issued in the same year is generally regarded the pinnacle of everyone's Commemorative
Presentation Pack collection. Why is this? Simple really, it is the scarcest. If you look at the
quantities issued of the early packs, you will see that the first Shakespeare pack was very popular
selling in excess of 108,000. Next was Geographical selling fewer than 30,000, next Botanical at just
over 16,000 and then we have the FRB pack coming in at 11,450.
Now bear in mind that this was a boom time in stamp collecting, not because of a rise in value, but
basically because nearly every kid and a great many adults in the country collected stamps. So, 11,450
is a tiny sales figure. I can only assume that the dwindling sales figures are down to a lot of people
deciding that these packs were just a gimmick and didn't want to pay the extra for them or maybe the
Post Office just decided to issue less and once stocks had sold out, that was it. Who knows? Do you?
Anyway after this, figures rose and fell over the next couple of years of about 25,000 to 40,000, then
regularly increasing until hitting sales in excess of 100,000 per issue in 1969.
If you look at my price listings for Commemorative Packs, you will see a few gaps from 1965 to 1975
(in 1977 there was no 9p in the Silver Jubilee pack either). This isn't just because I haven't got them in
stock, but because for some reason the Post Office didn't issue packs for these issues. In the late 70's
someone cottoned on to these missed packs and produced them as what have become known as
Eastbourne Packs.
In 1967 the first Definitive Pack as we know it, was issued. Royal Mail only produces a pack where
new stamps are issued. It does not recognize a new printer, paper or gum type as being a new issue, so
these are never found in packs. Regional Packs followed a few years later and then a Postage Due
Pack joined the fray.
In 1968 and 1969 the Post Office issued German Packs with unsurprisingly, the Text in German,
more had German insert cards enclosed. Other languages followed over the next few years. Since
then, there have been various Privately Produced Packs.
In 1967 the first Year Pack was issued. They contain all the basic commemorative issues for the year.
1984 saw the issue of the first Year Book and speaking personally, I think this was one of royal mails
better ideas. They are lovely books (you can find them in Leather Bound and other format editions,
those most are scarce) with a wealth of information and pictures to accompany the stamps. Most of
the issues, barring the early ones, due to scarcity and the later issues due to the value of the stamps
contained are also very inexpensive for what they are.
Over more recent years a few packs that have been issued have shown an amazing increase in value
compared to the pretty stagnant value of most packs issued. Notably and the most famous is probably
the Welsh Diana Pack of 1998. Millions of people and I do mean millions, went and brought some
stamp related souvenir of Princess Diana when she died. A lot brought the presentation pack, but few
realized until too late, that there were actually two versions, English and a Welsh one. Most people
got the English one, but very few the Welsh, hence it's meteoric rise in price at the time.
Another notable pack is the high value Definitive Pack Number 13 issued in 1987. As this pack
contained the same 1, 2 and 5 stamps that had previously been issued in pack number 91 in 1977,
it isn't surprising to think that most people just thought this was a con in order to get more money out
of the collector (which of course it was) and so didn't bother with it. Hence the reason this pack now
sells for well in excess of One Hundred Pounds.
So, one tip to end this section, if Royal Mail bring out anything new or something that has been re-
issued in a new format, buy it, a lot of the time, these are the things that have shown the biggest
increase in value.
The most common FDC is the one produced by Royal Mail (Post Office as was) for each new issue.
Their first cover was for the 1964 Shakespeare issue and barring a few early gaps has been available
for every Commemorative issue since. They do not issue different covers for each Definitive issue,
preferring to use the same design over a period to cover all releases that they consider to be "new
issues". For this reason there are a great many Definitive based issues that the Royal Mail do not list,
but a lot of collectors strive to obtain. There have been a lot of different cover producers over the
years, from some individuals to small firms producing very small quantities to large stamp dealers or
organizations producing thousands. Some are produced randomly, while others form a series (an
example being the save the children fund which ran through the early 70's). A lot of collectors just
collect one producers cover along with the different postmarks available, while others find it a very
reasonably cheap way of obtaining all the different Special Handstamps that are available.
The description above is a very brief introduction to Great British First day covers. I now only sell
what can be termed as basic covers. I used to sell what are termed as Specialised First Day Covers,
before the stamps section of my business got too large for me to cope with everything. If you are
interested to read more on this subject, then there is an excellent article about this on another website
site run by a mate of mine. I know it's excellent, I wrote it about 7 years ago! This page will remain in
the background for when you wan to return.
People have invested in stamps probably since the first day they were ever issued. Some have made a lot of money
out of it, others have lost a lot. If you are considering Stamps as an Investment, then my main bit of advice is learn
a bit about stamps first. A lack of knowledge about any investment area can be dangerous, I know, I brought
Marconi shares at 35p each. The last time I looked, I think my entire holding wasn't worth much more. Also, be
very careful about where and whom you give your money to.
If you are collecting GB stamps solely for the purpose of hoping for a profitable return at some later date, then you
cannot be a general collector. You must be selective.
Many stamps are purely brought and sold solely for their collecting interest and will never return you a profit and
collectors are aware of this. They buy them because they want to. If they are lucky, some of their purchases will
show them a profit and these will offset the losers.
If you look back over the last 50 years or so, it is the new products or nearly new that tend to show the bigger
increases in value. Presentation packs, PHQ Cards, Smilers Sheets and Booklets are examples of this. Before this
time it tends to be in general Higher values, Scarce Issues or Shades and Condition that determines what might
have a better potential.
I have given some more advice on this subject on the Investment Page if you want to read more.