Norvic Philatelics

"Rule Britannia" Smilers - 27 July 2004

"All about Britain" : summer pastimes and British icons
The flag stamp was first issued as part of a miniature sheet in October 2001.. Now the design is used for the first Smilers TM stamps in this [41 x 26mm] format. As is usual when stamps are made available for personalisation, Royal Mail has produced a sheet for collectors, which is sold at a premium over face value.

sheet of 20 stamps with attached labels and decorative borders
Click here for larger picture (195k).

Coinciding with the Athens Olympics, this colourful sheet celebrates the traditions associated with the great British culture, featuring the nation's favourite summer pastimes and great icons such as the post box, telephone box and red London bus. The images and slogans on the labels are:
three stamps and labels - red telephone box
"Britain produces more than 68 million pints of milk every day" / milk bottles on doorstep
"In the UK there are 115,000 Royal Mail Post Boxes" / double-aperture post box (2 labels)

"There are 12,429km of Coastline in Britain" / deck-chair on beach
"There are 700 Bus routes with 6,500 buses in London" / London Transport red bus No 13 to Aldwych (2 labels)

"2,400 Red Telephone Boxes are listed as Heritage Sites, and as such are legally protected" / Telephone box (2 labels)
"On average British people drink three and a half cups of tea per day" / tea kiosk

"An average of 25,200 umbrellas are lost on British transport each year" / patriotic umbrella (2 labels)
"In 2002 the British took 101.7 million holidays in the UK" / 'seaside-rock' (confectionary)


Technical details:
Following the take-over of the House of Questa these have been printed by De La Rue in litho, but this sheet is printed by Walsall Security Print so this produces a new stamp as the original stamps were printed by Questa in gravure.

Sheet image is Copyright 2004 by Royal Mail.

Postmark images are taken from Royal Mail's Postmark Bulletin, and are Copyright 2003 by Royal Mail.


Norvic Exclusive First Day Covers

We have produced a selection exclusive cover for this issue.
The stamps shown here are to illustrate the appearance on the covers only. Different covers will be used for different stamp strips.


Cover with a single stamp and label - price £2.50 each
three stamps & labels with street postbox
Cover with a split strip of 5 stamps and labels - price £5.50 each
Set of 4 covers with 4 split strips of 5 stamps & labels - price £17.50
There will be no Royal Mail FDCs for these stamps.

Also available for thematic or topical collectors who want something other than FDCs:
Mint sheet - £7.85     Any single stamp £0.55
This is a popular sheet - we have seen bids over £15 on eBay already!

All prices exclude postage & packing, which will be at cost. For prices in foreign currencies - please email us.


Postmarks for use on the day of issue:

Union flag Cartoon lion with Union Flag hat British Bulldog Britannia
Ref L9180
Union Jack Generic Issue, London SW1
Ref N9182
Smilers - The Union Jack, Flagg, Buxton
Ref L9203
Rule Britannia, London W1 (Bulldog)
Ref L9204
Rule Britannia, London SW1 (Britannia)

This page updated 26 July 2004 [16.1.05]

Any questions? please e-mail us.

2003
2004 stamp issues
2005
13 January Classic Steam Locomotives 30 January Hong Kong Stamp Expo 2004 Smilers Sheet 3 February Occasions/Greetings stamps and Smilers sheet 26 February Lord of the Rings 16 March Letters by Night Prestige Book (TPOs)
A British Journey - Northern Ireland
1 April New definitives, including airmail postcard book of stamps 6 April Centenary of the Entente Cordiale 13 April Ocean Liners 11 May 40p Country definitives 25 May Royal Horticultural Society
15 June British Journey - Wales 29 July Rule Britannia Smilers Sheet 10 August Royal Society of Arts 16 September Woodland Animals 5 October Scottish Parliament Building
12 October Crimean War 2 November Father Christmas
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