New and old date cØdes appear

From Edinburgh today comes a somewhat less than inspiring bundle of 'new' items. The coil strips look exciting - strips usually are - but the 2nd Class is M12L MTIL which I featured in a February post. There may be something different that I haven't noticed and the first one did come from a specialist source. It would seem a bit unlikely, though, that it has taken the Philatelic Bureau staff six months longer to realise that this is out there. Then, of course, there's that 2012 date code! What is that about - or has this strip been around for two years and they've just realised?

My guess is that there's something else different. I just don't know what it is yet.  The first class is different, I am pleased to report. It is M13L MTIL which I haven't seen before, despite that being a 2013 code!

There were also five new booklets issued today. They have a new telephone number or something on them but what we're really interested in is the stamps and, yes, there are four that you'll need.

MA14 MFIL

MA14 MFIL

M14L MTIL

M14L MSIL

M14L MTIL

The 1st Class M14L MTIL has been around before but the others are all new.

I have always found it odd that everyone use MA14 or whatever on the Large issues but M14L on the normal sizes. There were some oddities in previous years but generally all the Large ones have an MAØØ type code and others the M1ØL style.

Fresh Freshwater Life emerges

Freshwater Life II Post and Gos now have three types: from the top in this illustration, Type 3 from the presentation pack, Type 2 from machines in offices up and down the country and now Type 3a which comes from machines Royal Mail installed at two regional exhibitions in Leamington Spa and York on 6 July. As these would only have been available for a limited period of a day and Freshwater Life III stamps will be used at the next outings, it looks like these will be extremely scarce indeed.

Next in a weird month comes an 87p Northern Ireland pictorial definitive in a distinctly darker shade. I should have compared it to an original 87p, I know. Only just noticed it was an 88p I used!

Next, coils of 10000 1st gold Machins were produced by Enschede for large distributors and the later ones had a MRIL MA12 code, making this the first, albeit belated, appearance of that code on the 1st gold.

The 20p has now emerged with the MA13 code as predicted.

Walsall booklets of 12 2nd blue CB code M11L MTIL with bright fluor have appeared on the scene. The booklet was the PIP cover without printer information and all previous books have had dull fluor.

Background information courtesy of Messrs B Alan & Co who are much better at this fluor stuff than I am. I must buy some gadget for viewing this. Any recommendations?

78, 88, 1.88P DLR CHANGE. Well, not exactly.

You have every right to be confused by the 78p, 88p and £1.88 issues, with another set arriving from Tallents House this morning! Not to mention the strange use of P in RM's despatch note. (Unless, that is, I have missed something and there is a new 1.88p denomination!!)

The story so far: These new denominations were due on counters on 27 March 2013 but De La Rue happened to be moving away from Dunstable at the time and no-one can blame them for that. Walsall did the honours and ensured counters had the pink, yellow and blue supplies.

Philatelic Bureau customers will have received these at that time too and DLR also produced some coil strips with all the values which Tallents House staff guillotined for things like FDCs and some may even have slipped into singles orders! They will have clear cut borders.

Eventually DLR got going again and their counter sheets became available and these are now being distributed to Bureau customers (although some have been available since May!) They can be distinguished by the rouletted edges on the backing paper. Now, that may look the same as Walsall's could be in your mind but if you read my previous posts you would have realised that the Walsall stamps have the code M13L and the DLR have MA13.

The 78p referred to in my previous post will be one of the new DLRs - that supplier has yet to come up with the 88p and £1.88 or maybe has lost the will to look any further. I like all this - it is what makes collecting fun, interesting and one or other of these items may prove to be just scarce enough to make it all worthwhile for our children's children's children when they look through the collections in some distant future.

I am now waiting for the minor variations in these issues to appear! Apart from the NVIs, there seem precious few really good varieties nowadays.

You should also be aware that the 20p has appeared with the Code 13 in sheets too. Before long, I think we shall need a catalogue listing the Year and which definitives were issued in it rather than my ridiculously long and confusing lists which show the value and, if you search long enough, the Codes available. I may have to work on that. If anyone does have a ready-made list, however, and can save me the work, do send me the link. Credit will, of course be given!

New code on 1st red - already!

Norvic Philatelics report that the 1st red in books of 6 is now appearing with a M13L code in place of the M12L code on release. Check your copies and look out for the revised one as this is unlikely to be supplied by the Bureau. You may need to take a magnifying glass to some local retailers!