Hi, and thanks for your response. You highlight a problem with collecting airgraphs - to so many people they mean a great deal for personal reasons, which prevents many of them coming to market

I have recently purchased a GPO press release from 18JUN1968 announcing the release of the high value Machins on 09SEP1968. As we all know, the HVs were not actually released until 05MAR1969, and I already have another two press releases announcing this. Does anybody know the reason for the six mont...

Does anybody out there know what the red cross signifies please?

Well that was a very interesting post and I took several points from it, so thank you for that. Your page 3 is BRILLIANT! However, it was not the kind of response I was hoping for, so I am just going to post my specific query and see what happens. I have just acquired two Christmas 1944 forms, which...

Is anybody out there collecting / studying airgraphs?

That was my original thinking, although deepening the shade of blue was not that much of a change and probably went unnoticed by much of the general public. The change of the Machin from sepia to red was more significant, but you would hardly call it a change of shade , would you? I agree, I'll stic...

Attached is an image of a parcel label for 4d definitives in my collection. Until now I had assumed it referred to WILDINGS, as it refers to "new SHADE". However, a dealer has a version of the label on sale on an online auction site described as "label for 4d MACHIN sheets". If t...

Edwards Crown

I have concluded recently that I may have been getting my strikes mixed up. Did any post offices close during the 1971 strike, or did they all carry on opening under restricted circumstances to provide other services? If the latter, then which strike would the attached image have come from, and why ...

The attached press release shows that the Post Office was still buying back pre-decimal stamps until 1985!

"... continued to provide the service" one's bottom!!! "... forgotten to discontinue the service" more like

The Mail Opening Unit anybody? The upper part of the handstamp looks like “ROYAL MAIL LONDON SOUTH”

Hi all I wonder if anybody has any thoughts or certainty on the attached postage due marking. It's a shame that this is a window envelope - an actual address would have been useful! I am assuming that becaue of the word "British" in the handstruck mark that the letter is going abroad. The ...

From the days when Postal Stationery made front-page news ...

This response is so late that it's not even laughable. The need for it is probably long gone, but here it is anyway.

Brilliant! Many thanks!

So what is it? A 19p BLUE

Used on piece, the image looks good, the perfs look good, it seems to have one phosphor band but I can't get a reaction with any of my UV lamps.

Actually I found the answer myself by reading the body of the airgraph. The form was designed for civilian use in Tanganyka and Keeton does have a TA/01 which matches this format. The airgraph was sent by a Lieut IHC Godgrey who is mentioned in Keeton and must have been a prolific sender of airgraph...

Is anybody out there studying airgraphs? If so I have one which is puzzling me and identification is proving problematic.. It is from Kenya. I know that Stephens is a mess as far as East Africa is concerned and that Keeton attempts to correct it, but both conspire to leave me floundering. If I just ...

Ah, of course.

Any ideas which plate it started with, or was it throughout?

Before anything else, a Better New Year to you all. (Happy New Year in 2020 didn't work too well, so I'm abandoning Happy and going with Better). Anyway, onwards. I am working with a 1983 seventh edition SG specialised Queen Victoria catalogue here, so my information may be well out of date. My quer...

I have the fourth edition (1978) and that comment is NOT present.

Appended is the comment on the ray flaw.

Thanks for this response. The link is certainly a very interesting historical footnote, but still leaves questions.

I have recently acquired a GPO handout, PL62, advertising the Empire Air Mail Scheme. On its opening page it proclaims that the third stage of the scheme is now in operation and lists the countries or territories where first class mail now goes by air. The list includes many familiar names (although...

I thought that cutouts were only banned again very recently, within about the last two years. Certainly I have used them since the 1990s

This mark was not in general use and had a short life, but I can dream...

Many thanks for what seems a perfectly rational explanation of this blank. What doesn't seem rational is somebody separating th eblank from a partial print - I DO hope this wasn't the case!

If you've ever wondered what kind of numpty goes around buying blank bits of paper - well, hands up. I bought this recently as a single item. It had a description, but no provenance. The description was "two violet phosphor bands and blue gum", all of which is accurate. The phosphor bands ...

A nice clear date on this cover, and a nice clear address. Unfortunately the rate is far from clear and I cannot find anything in Furfie to help. 72p is way too much for airmail to Europe in 1983, is it just a tourist sending stamps to a collector? But then why put two of the 20.5p stamps on? It's a...

I have no idea whether I am using the correct terminology here or not. What I call bands are the strips of paper, glued into a band, that keep a multiple of items of postal stationery in a manageable shape for Post Office staff. Specifically, I have some airletter bands that I am trying to allocate ...

Many thanks for an excellent reply

On a trip to London last year I acquired a folded card containing advertising rates for stamp books. I have been trying unsuccessfully to date it, and the closest I can get is 1957 - 1965. The back of the card is plain. Any ideas anybody?