Product Description
23 December 2020 - New Tariff stamps by Walsall: three new stamps and one reprint of an existing stamp, Royal Mail first day cover with Dereham PO counter date stamp.Postage rates were increased across the board effective 1 January 2021 and, as usual, Royal Mail issued new stamps for the airmail rates a week before the increase - two days before Christmas.
The £1.70 pays the rate for 100g letters to Europe and 20g letters to the rest of the world.
The £3.25 pays the 100g large letter rate to Europe, and the £4.20 pays the 100g large letter rate for the rest of the world.
The £2.55 was previously issued in 2017 and is printed by Walsall for the first time. This pays the 100g ordinary letter rate worldwide.
Although all 4 stamps were printed on 01/10/2020 the reprint has a M20L year code and the new stamps M21L. The three new stamps qualified for Royal Mail first day of issue treatment, but the £2.55 was only distributed to standing order customers who required such reprints. For those, the stamp would be distributed on 14 January although it was on sale in Post Office branches on 23 December.
Official FDCs do not carry the £2.55 - indeed Royal Mail have said that this stamp would be cancelled no earlier than 1 January 2021, when most POs were closed.
This cover bears all four stamps, cancelled on the first day of availability at our local crown post office. There are some slight smudges on the front of the cover due to the operational nature of the postmark. These could not be produced by philatelic offices under the usual Special Handstamp rules.
Nonetheless these will be extremely scarce. At the time of listing we have not seen any others. Only five were produced by us.
