Norvic Philatelics - GB New Stamps
Smilers for Kids - 28 October 2008
A new product aimed primarily at children under 12 will be available from
28 October. Smilers for Kids consists of a sheet of 10 stamps and
corresponding round labels, sold in a pack with other material designed to
appeal to youngsters or their parents or grandparents.
The first four packs show popular children's characters: Beatrix Potter's
Peter Rabbit, Almond Blossom from Flower Fairies books by Cicely Mary
Barker, Mr Men, and Noddy. The Peter Rabbit sheet consists of 'New Baby'
stamps with two different images of Peter Rabbit on adjoining labels. The
Flower Fairies sheet consists of 'Flower' (Gazania) stamps with the same
image of Almond Blossom on the labels. The Mr Men and Noddy sheets
utilise 'Balloons' stamps, each having 2 sets of 5 different labels on the
sheets.
Click on the images of sheets of 10 for a larger version in a new
window/tab.
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Mr Men and Noddy images digitally adjusted by us: Title
Panels may not be exactly correct. |
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The following postmarks have been announced to coincide with
the issue of these packs
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Ref M11148
Smilers For Kids, Fairyfield Avenue, Birmingham |
Ref L11146
Smilers For Kids, Croydon |
Ref L11147
Smilers For Kids, London W8 |
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The Peter Rabbit pack contains five 'baby announcement'
cards with places for adding a photograph. The Flower
Fairies pack writing paper and matching envelopes. The Mr
Men stamps feature Mr Happy and the pack
includes a book-mark, a sheet of stickers and Mr Happy's
light-hearted tips for a happy life. Enid Blyton's Noddy
is
on the labels in the last pack, which also contains colouring-in
sheets, a spot-the-difference puzzle, and a cut-out mask.
The Peter Rabbit has two different labels, Almond Blossom one,
Mr Happy 5, and Noddy 5.
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The Royal Mail Stamps for Kids packs will be sold for £7.95 each. Because
they are sold at a premium over face value we predict that they will not
be listed in most stamp catalogues.
Later:
Royal Mail have now announced that sheets of 20 stamps are to be
available at the almost regular price of £7.95 per sheet compared with the
normal price of 'generic' sheets (£7.75). We have reports that these
sheets are listed in Royal Mail's Philatelic Stocklist not under 'Generic
Sheets' but under 'Additional Products' along with catalogues, foreign
stamps
and other producers' Business Smilers Sheets.
We predicted earlier that "the sheets ... may well be different to those
in the packs unless the latter were guillotined from double sheets printed
in this form". As you can see from the images below, none of the sheets of
10 are cut from
the sheets of 20 and it is our belief that the four sheets of 10 were
printed from cylinders which printed two sheets of 20, probably with the
Mr Men sheet paired with Noddy, and the Flower Fairies sheet paired with
Beatrix Potter. We will never know unless Royal Mail tell us, or unless
sheets in this form appear on the market!
Although catalogue listing is uncertain, as these stamps have not
previously been used with circular labels spaces may be made for them in
the preprinted stamp albums, so some collectors will feel a need to have
one, despite the premium price and lack of full catalogue listing.
Generic Smilers Sheets.
Technical details:
The stamp sheets are printed - as are other Smilers sheets - in litho by
Cartor Security Printing. The sheets of 10 are A5 size, 149 x 210mm; the
sheet of 20 are A4 size, 210 x 297mm.
Pack details: All packs have been designed by Magpie Studios, with
the backing and title sheet printed by St Ives plc.
Character copyrights:
Noddy by Enid Blyton, copyright 2008 Chorion Rights Ltd.
Beatrix Potter TM Copyright Frederick Warne & Co 2008; Frederick Warne
& Co is the owner of all copyrights and trademarks in the Beatrix
Potter characters and illustrations. Licensed by Copyrights Group.
Flower Fairies Copyright 2008 The Estate of Cicely Mary Barker, licensed
by Copyrights Group.
Mr Men and Little Miss by Roger Hargreaves, Copyright 2008 THOIP.
All images Copyright Royal Mail Group Ltd 2008. Webpage and site
Copyright Norvic Philatelics 2008
What next?
The back of each pack shows the other characters in each series which
will appear in future packs:
If you would like to be contacted when this page is updated please use
the ChangeDetection block next to the stamps
or email
us.
NB: unless the office is closed (see home page) emails
will 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 31 October 2008
