NEW STAMP ISSUE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22541, 5 October 1936, Page 6

NEW STAMP ISSUE

REMARKABLE DEMAND 30,000,000 ON FIRST DAY KING EDWARD'S PORTRAIT * [FROM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT] LONDON, Sept. o So great was the demand for the new King Edward postage ■ stamps, which were on sale for the first time on September 1, that many post offices were sold out by mid-day. The General Post Office expected to sell about 30,000,000 postage stamps on the first day of issue, representing a ,30 j>er cent increase on a normal day's sales. It soon became apparent, how. ever, that this figure would easily be surpassed. From the opening hour there were ' long queues at many of the city and West End post offices, and it was necessarv to send to Somerset House for fresh supplies. There was an unexpected run on 2jd stamps, compared with the lid and id denominations Success o! Design More than 300,000,000 of the new stamps were made. Normally this would have sufficed for 10 days, allowing a generous: safety margin. An official at the Post Office headquarters said that, while the demand had been extraordinarily keen all over the country, it had been heaviest in London. "I believe the departure from British tradition in design—the omission of curls and dolphins —is a success," he said. "District post offices report that the public on the whole regard the stamps with great approval. Of course, there have been criticisms. Some people —mostly women —complain that the head is unflattering to the King, that the neck is too thin. Others criticise the word 'postage' which, they claim is on the large side." Great, Foreign Demand Stamp dealers in London were working overtime posting thousands of souvenir letters bearing the new stamps to all parts o;t the world. Most of them have had contracts in their files for months for deliveries to home and foreign markets. The greatest foreign demand comes from the United States. - One city firm posted over 0000 individual souvenir letters to America alone on the first day of issue. "We have spent over £IOOO on postage stamps to-day," the manager of this firm said. "Cable orders are still pouring in from abroad for sheets of unused stamps. We had an American order for 10,000 this morning." Examinations for Flaws From the dealer's point of view this tremendous rush of business has its disadvantages, for he has not time to examine the stamps thoroughly for flaws or variations which might send up their value. "I have been over several thousands quickly with a magnifying glass," said one dealer. "I did not see any variations. Thousands of philatelists are now looking for the small flaws which may make rare and valuable specimens. "Although the nature of the pro. cess used in their manufacture tends to allow flaws to creep in, I believe that there in so much less detail in these stamps that any flaw would only be a matter of a hair's difference, caused by a lesser or greater quantity of ink, or perhaps some dust upon the plate. Such a difference could only slightly alter the,-value of the stamp "