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Label for sheet stamps

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:52 am
by 17them+
Can anybody throw any light on the attached label? I believe it to be either a label from a packet/parcel of sheet stamps sent from the printers to the Post Office distribution centre (wherever that might be) or, more likely, a label used by the Post Office to send sheet stamps out to individual Post Offices. Any ideas, thoughts or explanations gratefully received. Also, can anybody explain the numbers on the top and bottom of the label?

Re: Label for sheet stamps

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:34 pm
by mozzerb
To the best of my understanding of Post Office odds and ends:

"SD 1288P" would be the official Post Office stock code for the particular form/label/whatever, with the prefix SD being "Stores Department".

The text at the foot refers to the warrant to print a new batch. "10m" means 10,000 were printed(*), "12/35" is the date, "G&S" is Griffith & Sons, one of the regular printers used by the Post Office for general items of stationery. I think "26293/P6342" and "670" probably refer to the overall authority and the particular warrant, but don't put too much reliance on that!

As for what they were used for, a batch size of 10,000 still being used some nine months later makes me suspect they were used to label large packs of sheets, possibly internally in the Stores Department, rather than on the regular despatches to offices. If that's the case, then surviving examples are presumably pretty rare.

(*) From notes by James Mackay, and from comparison of other labels and forms, the "m" on these imprints seems to be a print trade abbreviation for x1000 -- "mille" -- not times a million.

Re: Label for sheet stamps

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2020 5:26 pm
by 17them+
Many thanks. That's very useful information.