The third country miniature sheet, Celebrating Northern Ireland, and the last in the series of Smiler / Generic sheets for the home nations, Glorious Northern Ireland, will be issued simultaneously on 11 March 2007. Other sheets have been issued on the country's saints' days but Celebrating Northern Ireland will be issued a week earlier at the request of the Northern Ireland Office to enable St Patrick's Day cards to be posted to destinations overseas for the big day.
See below the postmark panel for illustrations of some interesting 'flaws' on this miniature sheet.
 |
|
||
|
1st Class - Carrickfergus Castle Photograph by David Lyons, 78p - St Patrick Illustration by Clare Melinsky, 78p - Queen's Bridge and Friendship Beacon Photograph by Tony Pleavin 1st Class - Giant's Causeway Photograph by Ric Ergenbright. Background: Cushenden Hills © Getty Images/Gavin Hellier |
Scenes depicted on the labels (column 1, then column 2)
Belfast City Hall, Carrick-a-rede rope bridge North Antrim, Slieve
Binnian, Killnasaggart Stone, Ulster American
Folk Park
'Hands across the divide' Craigavon Bridge Derry, Devenish
Island, Tievebulliagh, Strangford Lough, Castle Coole.
Background - The Giant's Causeway. Click on the image for a large
version.
The miniature sheet is designed by Silk Pearce and is printed by De La Rue Security Print in litho - sheet size 123 x 70mm.
The A4 Smilers Sheet is designed by Rodney Miller Associates and is printed by Cartor Security Printing in lithography on self-adhesive paper. Photographic credits have not been provided by Royal Mail.
We will have two limited edition first day covers for this issue.
The cover for the miniature sheet shows views of Carrickfergus
Castle, Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and Cushendun, all in
County Antrim.
The cover will be postmarked with S10902 Carrickfergus or S10900
Queen's Bridge Belfast, priced at £6.95 each.
A pair of covers will be used for a half-sheet of the Smilers Sheet.
This cover has views of the Giants Causeway, a field system in the Torr
Head area, both in County Antrim, and Hares' Gap in the Mountains of
Mourne, County Down.
The price is £10.00 for the pair of covers, postmarked
with S10905 (Downpatrick) and S10906 (Bushmills).
('Label' images shown are from original publicity pictures and some
have been replaced in the actual sheet.)
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 here - these may not be to
scale. These postmarks cannot be obtained after the date of issue.
|
|
|
|
|
| Ref FD807 Philatelic Bureau Official Postmark, "A plenteous place is Ireland for hospitable cheer" - Samuel Ferguson |
Ref FD808 Downpatrick, Co Down, Official Postmark, "To be back where the dark Mourne sweeps down to the sea" Percy French |
Ref FD808NP Downpatrick, Co Down, Official non-pictorial Postmark |
Ref M10893 St Patrick's Close, Birmingham |
Ref M10892 The Harp, Bridgnorth Public House |
|
|
|
|
|
| Ref S10900 Queen's Bridge, Belfast (Red hand of Ulster) |
Ref S10901 Queen's Island, Belfast (Seahorse from City Coat of Arms |
Ref S10902 Carrickfergus, County Antrim (County coat of arms) |
Ref S10903 Downpatrick, County Down (Celtic Cross) |
Ref S10904 Cushenden, Ballymena (Compass) |
|
|
|
|
|
| Ref S10905 Downpatrick, County Down |
Ref S10906 Bushmills, County Antrim |
Ref S4641 Permanent postmark iluustrated with Belfast City Hall |
Ref S4188 Carrickfergus SHC operational-style postmark. |
Ref S6039 Belfast double-ring operational-style postmark. |
|
|
|||
| Ref S4187 Belfast SHC (operational-style) cancel |
Ref S4414 (new) Giant's Causeway, Bushmills, Northern Ireland. |
We have noticed what appear to be some interesting printing variations on this miniature sheet which are most noticeable on the Queen's Bridge stamp, and below the Giant's Causeway design. All these sheets are on FDCs but there appear to be no surface scratches or marks on any of them, All the flaws seem to be in the printing.
These enlargements show 3 versions of the 'shooting stars' plus one scan of a sheet which does not show the flaws. The first shows the street light approximately in the centre of the stamp design. The top-left 'scratch' is much longer than the other two, but the top-right image is unaffected.
The second image shows the right-most complete light with a similar flaw. The marks are very similar but they do not all seem to 'end' at the same place. Again the top-right image does not show the flaw.
The last image shows marks below the design of the Giant's Causeway stamp. These are all very similar and other sheets do not show these marks.
I would be very interested to know if anybody else has sheets which exhibit any or all of these flaws, and to know their source. Please use the link below.
If your sheets have any similar - or different flaws, please email
us.
NB: emails will normally be acknowledged in 1-2 days.
If you do not receive an acknowledgement please email us from a
different address (eg hotmail, gmail).
This page updated 7 April 2008