First Day Covers

Not surprisingly Spring Stampex 2021 was a virtual exhibition, taking place at the end of March. Jersey and Guernsey still issued new Post and Go sets on 17 February – the planned first day of Stampex, as they have done in previous years.

Jersey’s issue depicts Coastal Towers. Some are from the Georgian and Victorian era of battlements intended as defence from the French and others as observation and communication tower buildings erected during the German occupation during the Second World War. Guernsey’s stamps feature some of the most familiar aircraft which have flown in and out of the islands airport.

The stamps issued by both Channel Islands on their First Day Covers and in the Presentation Packs contain unique datastrings – that is the row of alpha numeric digits that are printed along the bottom of the stamps.

For example Guernsey’s latest Planes issue reads B2GG21 G0041969-007. When deciphering the first block, ‘B’ denotes the kiosk series, ‘2’ is for the issue date of February; ‘GG’ is the location in Guernsey and ‘21’ is the year. The next block of ‘GG04’ refers to the kiosk reference which is a special temporary code for kiosk ‘GG02’, used by the Guernsey Philatelic Bureau as a Back Office unit specifically for the production of Stamps for FDCS and Presentation Packs. The 1969 block is normally the session number but in this instance 1969 and is a fictitious session, but some thought has gone into its creation as on 1 October 1969 Guernsey Post became postally independent. The last three digits normally relate to the item No. of the transaction but here it is ‘007’, the seventh set of Post & Go stamps to be issued by Guernsey

Jersey have a very similar datastring B2JE21 B002-1969-011, including the 1969 but the kiosk they use for FDC and Presentation Pack stamps is a specific Back Office Kiosk B002 and the Coastal Towers issue is the 11th set of Post & Go stamps to be issued

Let’s hope things will be nearer normal by the time of Autumn Stampex in September.