A full range of pre-orders from spring stampex 2015 are now available here:-

• http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/postagelabelsuk

Royal Mail Series B

Appearing from the outside as taller with a slicker, more streamlined appearance, inside a faster PC able to process orders and print stamp quicker with an improved screen combined with software with a simpler interface and capability to connect to smart phones apps promises a powerful package ready for the road in the UK and worldwide.

The first appearance of the “series B” machines will be Spring Stampex where three new Royal Mail series B machines will be showcased.
These machines will be designated ‘A003’, ‘A004’, ‘A005’ (‘A’ Indicating Self-Service) and will have updated print string as follows:-

B2GB14 A001-0000-001

The first character ‘B’ indicates a ‘Series ‘B’ machine , followed by Month, print location and Year designations.

The print counter has additional characters allowing for 999 prints in a single session and a reduced number of characters in the session number before the counter resets to zero.

Wednesday started off with the left hand self service  machine (No. 21) dispensing the ‘Diamond Jubilee’ overprint – and this continued until the close of the show uninterrupted.  This was mirrored in the back office by machine (No.23) for the first day of the show.

The right hand self-service machine (No.22)  was fitted with ‘Birds 4 ‘ stamps (as the current issue) until Friday where it was (as the first day of issue) replaced by the new ‘Farm Animals- series 1 – Sheep’ stamps.

Things in the back office where slightly different as due to the large demand for the Sheep stamps both back office machines had to be brought into service to print these and so the overprint was temporarily  removed from machine No. 22 and used for ‘Collectors strips’ on Friday and Saturday. (It was re-introduced for a time on Friday and then removed again on Saturday)

Therefore Sheep stamps exist from machines 22, 23 and 24.

Diamond Jubilee stamps exist from machines 21 and 23 only

Birds 4 stamps exist from machines 22 and 24 only.

The back office machines produced collectors sets of 36 (6 x 6 ) or collectors strips of 6 for the Birds and Sheep issue or collectors strips of 6 for the Diamond Jubilee overprint.

The self service machines had been modified to prevent ‘pulling’ by some collectors/dealers to manufacture their own ‘varieties’- this appeared to be successful and although the odd ‘hiccup’ was noted where misprints did occur- those that did were ‘real’ !

Any questions ? As usual -please contact me at postagelabelsuk@gmx.com

Sheep stamps were printed in advance of First Day to ensure dealers pre-orders

were ready on first day- in these cases the receipts will show the FDOI.

Whilst looking through some ‘Hytech’ vended Post and Go Stamps I have come across some where the security overprint does not cover the whole of the stamp~there is a discernible and noticable gap at the base of the stamp where the print does not reach the bottom of the stamp.   Upon checking with other dealers they have noticed the same on a handful of stamps purchased at Spring Stampex 2011  and have confirmed that at least one whole strip of five with this error on each stamp exists.

We have now received the First Day Covers back from the handstamping centre from last weeks Stampex trial of Hytechs Postalvision equipment, which produces slightly different versions of the Machin Post and Go Stamp (detailed below) . These are available for purchase  in our ATM shop as well as via  Ebay.

The Trial of Hytech “Postalvision” Post and Go kiosks is currently in full swing at the Spring Stampex in London. On the first and second days the two machines did brisk business with collectors keen to obtain examples of the unique Machin strips that were available.

The Hytech machines use the familar Machin head Post and Go stamps, vending the ‘collectors strip’ of 5 values similar to the Wincor-Nixdorf  kiosks but the machine IDs are two digit (instead of  single digit  ) –

machines 21 and 22 are in use.

Examples are available for sale via our Ebay shop or using our ATM shop.