Norvic Philatelics - GB New Stamps and Special Postmarks

Celebrating England - 23 April 2007

The second in the country series of Miniature sheets, Celebrating England, along with the second in the series of Smiler / Generic sheets featuring the country definitives, Glorious England, will be issued simultaneously on St George's Day 23rd April 2007.

Isle of White stamp error. Due to a design error on labels 2 & 12 - which are inscribed ISLE OF WHITE instead of ISLE OF WIGHT, the Glorious England Smilers Sheets were recalled from post offices and contracted dealers. We were originally led to believe that Royal Mail first knew of this on Thursday 19 April, but as some post offices had their replacement supplies on Friday 20th, this was clearly not the case. It has been alleged that that the Philatelic Bureau knew of the error as much as 6 weeks earlier!
We had a report of the faulty sheets being sold from a crown post office in Essex on the day of issue, and copies have been sold on eBay at up to £771, but prices have generally dropped back (23 May) to under £400. Royal Mail have not responded to a suggestion that, as they could not guarantee that all PO supplies would be recalled, they should not have taken them back from dealers who had already fixed them to FDCs!
Note: We do not have any of the error for sale.

Celebrating England miniature sheet of stamps issued 23 April 2007.
1st class Lion & flag definitive - 78p St George
78p Houses of Parliament, London - 1st class St George's flag


Smilers Sheet

Glorious England Smilers Sheet of stamps issued 23 April 2007.
Scenes depicted on the labels (column 1, then column 2) Click on the image for a larger version
The London Eye (big wheel), The Needles (Isle of Wight), village cricket Nottingham*, London taxis, The Angel of the North Gateshead,
the White Horse Uffington, Stonehenge, Gateshead Millennium Bridge, rural postbox Sawbridge Rugby, oast house Kent*.

* Does anybody recognise these locations? Let us know, please.


Technical details:

The miniature sheet is designed by Silk Pearce and is printed by De La Rue Security Print in gravure - sheet size 123 x 70mm.
Illustration: Cross of St George flag - Peter Crowther; St George and the dragon - Claire Melinsky; House of Parliament photograph - Ed Pritchard; Blackmore Vale, Dorset (background photograph) - David Noton, The Image Bank/Getty Images.

The A4 Smilers Sheet is designed by Sedley Place and are printed by Cartor Security Printing in lithography on self-adhesive paper. Photographic credits have not been provided by Royal Mail; if they are your photos, please let us know so that we can provide details.


Norvic Exclusive First Day Covers

We have two limited edition first day covers for this issue.
The cover for the miniature sheet shows views of Cromer Pier Norfolk, The Valley of the Rocks North Devon and The Stiperstones in Shropshire.
It will be available with a choice of postmarks (probably L10461, L10465 and L10462) priced at £6.95 each.
Norvic FDC for the Celebrating England miniature sheet issued 23 April 2007.

A pair of covers will be used for a half-sheet of the Smilers. This cover has views of Castle Rising Castle Norfolk, Glastonbury Somerset, and cricket at Portchester Castle Hampshire. There will be a choice of postmarks (probably M10471 & L10460) and the price is £10.00 for the pair of covers.
Click on the image to see the other cover
Norvic FDC for Glorious England SMilers sheet issued 23 April 2007.


Royal Mail Celebrating England presentation packRoyal Mail fdc for Celebrating England MS Products issued:

Mint miniature sheet
MS Presentation Pack
MS on PO FDC 
Set of 5 Stamp Cards unused 

Smilers Sheet


Special Postmarks
First day of issue postmarks are shown below - these may not be to scale - more may be added later. These postmarks cannot be obtained after the date of issue.

postmark with text as shown. St Georges, Telford, postmark with text as shown. St Georges, Telford, First Day of Issue postmark. Postmark illustrated with a lion on a crown. Postmark illustrated with the flag of St George and England.
Ref FD721
Philatelic Bureau Official Postmark, "England with all thy faults I love the still - William Cowper"
Ref FD722
St Georges, Telford, Official Postmark, "Cry God for Harry! England and St George! - William Shakespeare"
Ref FD722NP
St Georges Official non-pictorial Postmark
Ref L10460
Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N
Ref L10461
Horse Guards Parade, London SW1
Postmark illustrated with St George and the dragon. Postmark illustrated with St George and the dragon. Postmark illustrated with St George and the dragon. Postmark illustrated with St George and the dragon. Postmark illustrated with St George and the dragon.
Ref L10464
Celebrating England, George Lane, E18
Ref L10465
St Georges Way, London SE15
Ref L10459
The Royal Society of St George, Folkestone, England's National Day
Ref M10471
Saint Georges Day, Stratford upon Avon
Ref M10472
Celebrating England, St. Georges Street, Birmingham
Postmark illustrated with Houses of Parliament. Postmark illustrated with Big Ben clock tower at Westminster. Postmark illustrated with tearful dragon. Postmark with text as shown. Postmark illustrated a rose.
Ref L10462
Wesminster, London SW1
Ref L10468
England - The Mother of Parliaments London SW1
Ref L10463
St George's Chapel, Windsor
Ref M10470
Celebrating England, Stratford upon Avon
Ref N10474
Celebrating England, The Floral Trail, Harrogate


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This page updated 30 April 2007

2006
2007 stamp issues
Visit our online shop!
January
9
The Beatles
16 Definitive LOVE booklet
February
1
Sealife of the British Coast
13 The Sky at Night
March
1
World of Invention
1 Glorious Wales Smiler Sheet
22 Abolition of the Slave Trade
27 Definitive & Country stamps
April
23
Celebrating England miniature sheet and Glorious England Smilers Sheet
May
15
Beside the Seaside
17 Wembley Stadium MS and Smilers
June
5
Machins 40th Anniversary miniature sheet, PSB & Smilers
July
3
Motor racing Grand Prix
17 Harry Potter books
26 Centenary of Scouting (Europa)
August
September
4
Endangered Species - birds
20 British Military Uniforms (I)
October
16
60th Wedding Anniversary of HM the Queen
November
6
Christmas
8 Lest We Forget
30 Glorious Scotland Smilers

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Norvic Philatelics, PO Box 119, Dereham, NR20 3YN, GB. -- UK Phone: 08450 090939 -- Skype:ian.billings-norvic