Norvic Philatelics

New Machin definitive & Country stamps - 1 April 2008

Postage rate changes which take effect from 7 April will require several new stamps. The basic inland rates will rise, 1st from 34p to 36p & 2nd class from 24p to 27p. There will be no 36p or 27p stamps as these are satisfied by the 1st class gold and 2nd class blue. The 'balancing' 9p in orange, previously issued for the 2005 rate changes will be reissued, although it is a new printing from a new cylinder as the 46p was last year - see enlargements below, under Technical Information.   See new postage rates here.

Note that the images below are studio mock-ups - there are only two perforation holes below the elliptical perforation, as shown on the enlargements further down the page.

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The basic rates for Large Letters increase from 48p to 52p (1st class) and from 40p to 42p (2nd class). A new 15p shocking pink will be used for the 2nd class difference (42p-27p). The existing 16p pale pink stamp will be used for the 1st class difference (78p-52p). The Recorded Delivery fee increases to 72p.

International rates also rise at this time:

Basic Europe rate 10gr and postcards: +2p to 50p - use existing 50p grey stamp, (earlier 'E' rate stamps still valid). New country stamps.

Basic Worldwide rate (now only 1 zone) 10gr and postcards: +2p to 56p - new stamp 56p sage green.

Worldwide 20gr rate: +3p to 81p, new 81p turquoise-blue and country stamps.

Worldwide 40gr rate: £1.22 up by 5p for Zone 1, down 2p Zone 2 - only one zone now, 'Rest of World'. This should also be satisfied by the airmail NVI, which will reduce in price from £1.24 (£4.96 per book) but special stamps (eg if issued at Christmas) will be £1.22 instead of £1.17.

The Surface mail 20gr rate is increased from 46p to 48p, this will be served by the 48p issued in 2007.

New Country Stamps valued 50p and 81p will also be issued for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales in existing designs.

Technical information

All the new Machin definitive and country stamps will be printed by De La Rue in gravure, in sheets of 200.
Until now all Machin and Country definitives have been printed in double-pane cylinders, giving rise to two distinct cylinder numbers, most recently D1 dot and D1 no dot. For this issue the Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland country stamps will be printed with single panes of two different values on one two-pane printing cylinder and thus the stamps for these countries will have only no dot cylinder numbers. This process optimises the use of paper and will probably be repeated in future years. It is a system which has already been used for commemorative sheets which are often produced with printing cylinders of 4 counter-size sheets.

New 9p cylinder

As with 2007's reprint of the 46p stamp, the 9p has now been reprinted by De La Rue from a new cylinder which retains the number D1. On the new printing the De La Rue logo is missing from the lower left corner and the colour name 'ORANGE' is printed in the left margin against row 3. The figure of value seems to be a little 'rounder', and the image of the head is quite different.

Norvic Philatelics will service Post Office first day covers for these stamps.

These special postmarks are available on the day of issue: (These images are not to scale)

Ref FD831 - official Bureau first day postmark	Ref FD832 - official Windsor first day postmark	Ref FD833 - official FDI London postmark	Ref FD834 - official FDI Edinburgh postmark	Ref E4680 - Windsor Castle, Royal Mail permanent handstamp
Ref FD833N - official non-pictorial FDI London postmark	Ref FD832N - official non-pictorial FDI Windsor postmark	Ref FD835N - official non-pictorial FDI Cardiff postmark	Ref FD836N - official non-pictorial FDI Belfast postmark	Ref S4641 - Belfast permanent handstamp.
Ref FD834N - official non-pictorial FDI Edniburgh postmark	Ref FD835 - official non-pictorial FDI Cardiff postmark	Ref FD836 - official non-pictorial FDI Belfast postmark	Ref W5097 - Cardiff permanent handstamp.	Ref S4653 - Edinburgh permanent handstamp.
Ref S6039 - Belfast operational cds postmark	Ref W6038 - Cardiff operational cds postmark	Ref S6040 - Edinburgh operational cds postmark	Ref S6041 - Glasgow 2 operational cds postmark	Ref S6042 - Glasgow 10 operational cds postmark
				Additionally, any postmarks available on this date may also be applied to FDCs - see Permanent postmarks and Other one-day postmarks
Ref M10918 Queen Elizabeth Road, Birmingham	Ref M10917 90th Anniversary of the RAF, Cranwell	Ref M10919 90 Cranwell Lincs (RAF)	Ref L10915 - Territorial Army Centenary, Wilton, Salisbury Military fighting vehicle appears to be F430