Coils for covers
Richard West examines the issues you may encounter with stamps printed in rolls for FDCS
For some time now, the stamps and miniature sheets used for first day covers produced by Royal Mail have been from a separate printing. The stamps have been printed in rolls (or coils as they are sometimes known), rather than sheets. Specialists of the Machin definitives would examine the stamps on Royal Mail first day covers very carefully to note minor differences from the normal releases as counter sheets, booklets and so on.
It must be emphasised the key point is that these are covers produced by Royal Mail, not those produced privately.
Recently attention has been focussed on the covers of the King Charles III definitives, as these were without the U-shaped slits found on the standard stamps. As we know, the slits are present to prevent uncancelled stamps being peeled off the envelope and re-used. Since it is unlikely that stamps on first day covers will be peeled off, the slits are superfluous.
Just occasionally, parts of the rolls used for first day covers come onto the philatelic market. One example involves the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games gold medal winners miniature sheets for which six of the Olympic Games sheets have been offered unused.
Another interesting incidence surrounded the Country definitives with data matrix codes issued on 11 August 2022. On all values, the versions from rolls differ in the appearance of the phosphor bands, with the single phosphor band on the 2nd class values being narrower. More strikingly, the denomination on the Welsh 1st class is in a different typeface. With both the Country and King Charles III definitives, the stamps are known affixed to first day envelopes that have not been cancelled.
However, the idea of printing stamps in rolls to aid the production of first day covers is not new. It was used in 1957 when the Mayflower Stamp Co suggested that it could sell six million first day covers of the World Scout Jubilee Jamboree issue (released on 1 August), sharing the profits with the Boy Scouts Association. In those days, no stamps were passed to a third party before the day of issue, and no first day of issue postmark would be applied after the day of issue. A machine was, therefore, developed by Vacuumatic Ltd of Harwich in Essex that could affix the stamps on special envelopes ready for machine cancellation, enabling these to be prepared by the Post Office ahead of the day of issue. For this purpose, the stamps were specially printed in continuous rolls comprising 4,800 for each of the three values (2½d, 4d and 1/3d), with over 480 rolls of each value being produced. In the event, only 60,632 covers were serviced.
Remaining rolls were put on sale at the Chief Post Office in London’s King Edward Street, but few were sold as the cost was prohibitive for most. So the rolls were rewound in smaller quantities – 480 of the 2½d and 4d, and 240 of the 1/3d – and placed on sale as before: still sales were low.
The covers that were so produced have the stamps in a horizontal row, a way of indicating they are from the special printing in rolls.