Norvic Philatelics - GB New Stamps and Special Postmarks

World Heritage Sites: Joint issue with Australia - 21 April 2005

Royal Mail and Australia Post join forces to produce a set of 8 stamps each, to coincide with the opening of the Pacific Explorer international stamp exhibition in Sydney. Each se-tenant pair of stamps shows one British and one Australian UNESCO World Heritage Site. 2005 is the 300th anniversary of the commencement of building Blenheim Palace, which is why we have chosen postmark L9521 for some of our covers.

The Australian stamps are shown below the British ones. Although they are the same size and use the same original images, the Australian stamps are quite different and a comparison between the British and Australian printings is shown on this page.

On the same day Royal Mail will also issue a Smilers Sheet for the exhibition, similar to the one issued for Hong Kong Expo 2004. A picture of this is shown below.

Hadrian's Wall & Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park stamps

Stonehenge & Wet Tropics of Queensland stamps

2nd class - Hadrian's Wall
Built on the orders of the Emperor Hadrian c. A.D. 122 at the northernmost limits of the Roman province of Britannia, the 118km-long wall is a striking example of the organization of a military zone.

2nd class - Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park
Featuring spectacular geological formations that dominate the vast red sandy plain of central Australia, the park is most famous for Uluru, formerly Ayers Rock, the world's largest monolith.

1st class - Stonehenge
Stonehenge and Avebury, in Wiltshire, are among the most famous groups of megaliths in the world. The two sanctuaries consist of circles of menhirs (single standing stones) arranged in a pattern whose astronomical significance is still being explored. These holy places and the nearby Neolithic sites are an incomparable testimony to prehistoric times.

1st class
- Wet Tropics of Queensland

984,000 hectares of tropical rainforests dominate this 450km stretch along the north-east coast of Australia from Townsville to Cooktown. It also offers a particularly extensive and varied array of plants, as well as marsupials and singing birds, along with other rare and endangered animals and plant species.

Blenheim Palace & Greater Blue Mountains stamps

Neolithic Orkney, Ring of Brodgar & Purnululu National Park stamps

47p - Blenheim Palace near Oxford, stands in a romantic park created by the famous landscape gardener 'Capability' Brown. It was presented by the English nation to John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, in recognition of his victory in 1704 over French and Bavarian troops. Building work on this eclectic palace began 300 years ago in 1705 and was completed in 1722.

47p - Greater Blue Mountains
The Greater Blue Mountains Area, inland from Sydney, consists of 1.03 million hectares of rugged tablelands, sheer escarpments deep gorges and inaccessible valleys,dominated by temperate eucalypt forest.

68p - Neolithic Orkney (Ring of Brodgar)
The monuments of Orkney, dating back to 3000-2000 BC, consist of a large chambered tomb (Maes Howe), two ceremonial stone circles (the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar) and a settlement (Skara Brae), together with a number of unexcavated burial, ceremonial and settlement sites.

68p - Purnululu National Park
in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia contains the Bungle Bungle Range composed of quartz sandstone eroded over a period of 20 million years into a series of beehive-shaped towers or cones. These cones owe their existence and uniqueness to several interacting geological, biological, erosional and climatic phenomena.

Australian stamps

Sydney postmark applied to World Heritage sites stamps issued by Australia Post 21 April 2005World Heritage sites stamps issued by Australia Post 21 April 2005


Pacific Explorer Smilers sheet

All the labels have the same slogan - Pacific Explorer 2005 World Stamp Expo - but they appear to be all different. However, closer examination suggests that labels 1 & 4 in columns 2 & 4 are probably the same. The sheet was printed by Cartor of France (a subsidiary of Walsall Secruity Print). This is the first Royal Mail stamp to be printed by Cartor and the Hello stamp used here is quite different in shade to that in the 2004 Smilers Sheet. The phosphor bands are also different so this stamp should achieve a specialist catalogue listing.

unofficial mock-up of Pacific Explorer Smilers Sheet


Technical details: .
The British World Heritage stamps are printed in lithography by Joh Enschede Security Print, perf 14.5, size 35mm square, with PVA gum.
Images are taken from Royal Mail's Philatelic Bulletin and are Copyright 2005 by Royal Mail.
Images of Australian stamps are from Australian Stamp Bulletin and are Copyright 2005 by Australian Postal Corporation.


Norvic Exclusive First Day Covers

We have produced exclusive Norvic fdcs for these stamps, as shown below. 

1 - the Great Britain set, with postmark L9521 (Blenheim Palace) or L9522 (Stonehenge) [Scans of actual covers] - Price £8.95 Norvic fdc with complete set of Great Britain World Heritage Sites stamps issued 21 April 2005
Norvic fdc with complete set of Great Britain World Heritage Sites stamps issued 21 April 2005

2 - The pair of fdcs with matching British and Australian stamps, the Australian stamps postmarked Sydney and the British ones postmarked with L99527 the map of Australia & Kangaroo. [Scans of actual covers] Price £13.50 per pair

Norvic fdc with 8 Great Britain & 8 Australian Joint-Issue World Heritage Sites stamps issued 21 April 2005
Norvic fdc with 8 Great Britain & 8 Australian Joint-Issue World Heritage Sites stamps issued 21 April 2005

3 - GB World Heritage set on 'Jurassic Coast' cover with 2nd class South-west England stamp cancelled on its issue date (8 February) with the Studland postmark 8 February, and WHS stamps cancelled 21 April. The Jurassic Coast of Dorset is one of Britain's most recently designated World Heritage Sites.
Price £11.50 - limited edition of 10. [Scan of actual cover]

Norvic Jurassic Coast fdc with complete set of Great Britain World Heritage Sites stamps issued 21 April 2005 together with 2nd class Old Harry Rocks, Dorset stamp postmarked Studland 8 February 2005]

4. Pacific Explorer Smilers FDCs
The Smilers sheet contains 18 different labels and we have produced FDCs in sets of 4 using the whole sheet Price £17.50 per set
FDCs with singles will also be available - details later. We also have the Smilers stamps and WHS sets on official Pacific Explorer Expo covers

Norvic FDC for Pacific Explorer Smiler Stamps - Captain Cook postmark
Official Pacific Explorer Exhibition cover with GB Smilers stamps with first day cancel


The special postmarks available on the Day of Issue are shown here. NB: these are not shown to scale.
All postmarks except FD531-FD533 will be available for use on the Smilers stamps as well as the WHS stamps.

Philatelic Bureau postmark applied to World Heritage sites stamps issued by Royal Mail 21 April 2005Blenheim Palace postmark applied to World Heritage sites stamps issued by Royal Mail 21 April 2005
FD531 - Bureau postmark | FD532 - Blenheim Palace postmark

stonehenge

stonehenge

stonehenge

stonehenge

Blenheim Palace

Ref L9517
Stonehenge, Salisbury

Ref L9518
Stonehenge, Amesbury, Salisbury

Ref L9522
Stonehenge, Salisbury

Ref L9532
Stonhenge Croft, Birmingham

Ref L9521
Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxford

Westminster Abbey

Map of Australia and kangaroo

Map of Australia

spirals design

Roman bust

Ref L9520
Deans Yard, London SW1 (Westminster Abbey)

Ref L9527
Great Russell Street, London WC1

Ref L9526
The Strand, London WC2

Ref L9524
Prehistoric Britain, Salisbury Wiltshire

Ref N9533
The Hadrian, Wall, Hexham Public House/Inn

sailing ship

wind

sailing ship 'Endeavour'

map showing route of 'Endeavour'

Horseback warrior drinking from bird-headed horn

Ref L9525
2005 Year of the Sea, Southampton

Ref L9528
2005 Year of the Sea, Greenwich, London SE10

Ref N9535
Captain Cook Voyage of Discovery to Australia, Whitby

Ref N9536
HM Bark Endeavour, Whitehaven, Cumbria

Ref S9536
Prehistoric Britain, Invergowrie, Dundee

eagle

koala

propeller

dolphin


Ref N9534
Roman Britain, Carlisle, Cumbria

Ref S9537
World Heritage Sites, Perth

Ref L9523
World Heritage, Hounslow, West London

Ref L9519
Barrier Approach, London SE7 - Reef


This page updated 11 May 2005

2004
2005 stamp issues
Visit our online shop!
January
11
Farm Animals
February
8
British Journey - South West England
24 Jane Eyre & Brontes prestige book
March
15
Magic Circle Centenary
22 Wilding Castles Miniature Sheet
April
5
New definitives
8 Royal Wedding
21 World Heritage Sites
26 Definitive reprints
May
10
Definitive reprints
June
7
Trooping the Colour
21
Smilers sheet - Flag stamp, White Ensign
21 Definitive reprints
July
5
End of World War II
19 British Motorcycles
August
5
London 2012 Olympics
23
Europa - Gastronomy
September
22
Independent Television 50th Anniversary
October
4
Small greetings definitives & Smilers
6 Cricket: England Ashes Winners sheet
18 Battle of Trafalgar
November
1
Christmas
Christmas Robins Smilers Sheet
2006 programme

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