Ray Dixon

Before listing the Post & Go labels issued by both Guernsey and Jersey with the Union Flag, (not listed in the SG Channel Islands and Isle of Man catalogues) another error has been found and is shown below (Figure 1). This is in addition to those of Guernsey & Jersey Post & Go Errors discussed in the March and December 2024 journals (Volume 32 Nos 1 and 3).

During Autumn Stampex 2016 a Guernsey roll of stock was placed in JE01 kiosk in error on the 15 September, for approximately one hour (Figure 1). It has been suggested that at most only 10 strips were dispensed. Session Numbers seen so far are 0364 and 0366.

The GB Union (Jack) Flag Post & Go label was designed by Dick Davies from an illustration by Anton Morris (figure 2), making its UK Post & Go debut on the 21 May 2012.

Jersey introduced their first Post & Go stamps at the Spring Stampex in 2014. Guernsey followed one year later at the Spring Stampex show of 2015. Both islands’ machines were capable of issuing not only their respective island flag designs but also similar GB Union Flag labels. Guernsey postal administration ceased dispensing the GB Union Flag design at the Autumn Stampex of 2015. Jersey’s final Union Flag rolls were loaded into the Broad Street Kiosk on 3 September 2015.

At the Spring Stampex show in 2014, kiosk J001 was used to issue the first GB Union Flag design (Figure 3 on previous page). The first Guernsey example (Figure 4) was dispensed from machine GG01 at the Spring Stampex Show of 2015. The UK rates on the Union Flag Post & Go strips changed three times for Jersey and twice for those issued by Guernsey.

The first two strips issued by Jersey kiosk J001, (see Table A below) were both issued with no date code in the security imprint but are also known with date code MA13 embedded in the background (see figure 5).

A table on the following page shows the details of labels issued by Jersey kiosks.

It is interesting to note that Jersey charged 5% VAT for those strips issued via the Jersey machines. At the GB and Korea locations no tax was collected. The costs of these ‘crossover’ items appear to be on the rise!

Jersey Listing of GB Union Flag Labels (Table A)
Dates	Overprint	Data String	Figure
19-22 Feb 2014	NONE (Spring Stampex)	B2GB14 J001 ²	3
11-12 Apr 2014	NONE (85th Scottish Congress)	B4GB14 J001 ²	6
7-12 Aug 2014	Philakorea 2014 World Stamp Expo	B9KR14 JE01	7
4 Sept 2014 to 16 Feb 2015	Broad Street	B9JE14 JE02*	8
17-20 Sept 2014	NONE (Autumn Stampex)	B9GB14 JE01	9
7-9 Nov 2014	NONE (Fort Regent Show)	BNJE14 JE01	10
1 Dec 2014 to 23 Jan 2015	Jersey Post PHQ	BDJE14 JE01*	11
3 Sept 2015	Broad Street	B9JE15 JE02 ¹	12
* = More than 1 Date Code Available ¹  = This strip issued in error is overprinted with Jersey Rates. The session seen so far are 0646 & 0647. ² =  Issued with and without date code ‘MA13’

Jersey Rates (Error)

Local letter up to 100g

Local large up to 100g

UK letter up to 100g

UK large up to 100g

Europe up to 20g

International letter up to 20g

The following Union Flag designs were dispensed from Guernsey kiosks. All five strips (Table B) were issued during 2015.

GUERNSEY LISTING of GB UNION FLAG LABELS (TABLE B)
DATE(S)	OVERPRINT	DATA STRING	FIGURE
18-21 Feb 2015	Spring Stampex February 2015	B2GB15 GG01	4 & 13
7-9 May 2015	Messe Essen 7-9 May 2015	B5DE15 GG01	14
13-16 May 2015	NONE (Europhilex)	B5GB15 GG01	15
From 2 Sept 2015	Envoy House	B9GG15 GG02	16
16-19 Sept 2015	NONE (Autumn Stampex)	B9JGB15 GG01	17

The Jersey Post & Go above is from the machine installed at the Fort Regent show on 7 November 2014. This is the only cover I have seen cancelled in the UK the same day it was issued in Jersey. As before if anyone can add or amend any details of this now 11 year old series of Post & Go labels please contact the editor.

Having covered the Guernsey POST AND GO Errors in the March 2024 edition, (Vol.43 No.1) the spotlight now turns onto those POST AND GO errors issued by the Jersey Post office.

The first Jersey POST AND GO, showing the Jersey Flag was issued for the Spring Stampex show held in Islington London, which opened on the 19 February 2014. Normally, (Figure 1) the ‘K’ in UK is a capital but quite a few sets are known with the ‘k’ in lowercase, (Figure 1a). This error is known from the Philatelic Bureau machine only (B001).

The second error to appear is an example from a strip of 6, (Figure 2) issued from the philatelic bureau machine B001. Dispensed on the 6 June 2014 in Jersey, the label shows within the data string B6GB14 which is incorrect.

During 2014, both POST AND GO machines, (J001 & B001) were able to print the Jersey Flag and UK Union Flag labels.

The receipt, (Figure 2a) clearly shows the Royal Mail Logo. The last three digits from this strip of six, (not shown) are 138, suggesting that at least 23 strips of 6 were issued with the wrong data string, which should have been B6JE14.

Subsequently J001 was renumbered JE01 from August 2014. B001 was changed to B002 starting with the September Autumn Stampex issue of 2014, which commemorated the First World War Centenary.

After a visit to the Perth Show in Scotland for the Scottish 85th Congress in April 2014, Jersey POST AND GO machine (JE01) attended the International Stamp Exhibition at PhilaKorea, Seoul, in August 2014.

Illustrated opposite, (Figure 3) are the bottom two labels from a strip of six issued via B001 in Jersey. The bottom label is the only one of the six to show the ‘k’ of Philakorea in lowercase.

On the 4 September 2014, a third POST AND GO kiosk (JE02) was installed in the Broad Street post office in St. Helier. Labels from this machine have nearly always carried the ‘Broad Street’ overprint.

For the Spring Stampex Show, which opened on the 18 February 2015 in London, a new design for Protected Species by Andrew Beckett was issued from Kiosk JE01 at Stampex. This set was also available from the Broad Street (JE02) and Bureau (B002) machines.

Both earlier kiosks (JE01 & B002) plus the ‘Broad Street’ kiosk, (JE02) were also set up to issue UK labels with the Union Flag, (Figure 4). However, it also dispensed the protected species with Jersey postal rates, (Figure 4a). A new reel of protected species labels was installed incorrectly, resulting in the labels receiving the UK rates, (Figure 4b) (Figures 4, 4a, and 4b are illustrated on page 27). This was soon rectified and only a few sets are known.

For the 2015 Autumn Stampex show (16 to 19 September) the Broad Street Machine was again stocked with the protected species label.

A few strips are known with missing letters from the local rates, as shown in Figure 5 on page 26. The remaining values, (like these two examples) exist with the last three numbers omitted.

On the 30 October 2015 the Jersey Broad Street post office kiosk, (JE02) was the only one to issue a set with Jersey Flags, (Figure 6) overprinted  ‘RAFA Jersey 90’ (Royal Air Force Associations 90th Anniversary in Jersey). It was available until the 30 November.

 However, the overprint was also applied for approximately 100 minutes running time to the set of six from the protected species set in error, (Figure 6a above). Only a single from each strip is shown for clarity and space saving.

Although strictly not an error, two labels from the protected species set issued via JE02 on the 14 February 2018, showed three changes to the rate overprint, compared to the same pair shown earlier, (Figure 4a).

Europe was now 100g up from 20g, (Figure 7). The rate for the Rest of the World, (formely International Letter) was also increased to 100g.

Jersey Post, visited the Southern England stamp show at Farnborough which opened on the 10 March 2017. This was a two-day event.

Kiosk (JE01) was set up to issue labels with the Jersey Crest, (Figure 8) plus Jersey Sea Shell set, (Figure 8a) in the established collectors strips of six. Surprisingly the Sea Shell set did not receive the Southern England Stamp Show 2017 overprint.

Jersey Crest strips from the show are known with blank labels and two examples illustrated below (Figures 8b & 8c).

The JE02 kiosk in Broad Street was the only one selected to celebrate the Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan. (Figure 9). The Broad Street overprint was replaced with a two line overprint on the Jersey Crest issue, (in use for only 1 day), for the 19 May 2018.

On the morning of the 19 May, for about 10 minutes, the protected species received the overprint in error, (Figure 9a). This was quickly corrected with the change to the Jersey Crest issue, which was chosen to show a complete and unimpeded overprint. The session numbers 3474 to 3483 are recorded with the error. The printed receipt from the above session numbers (not shown) state that it is a Jersey Crests Collectors strip.

Completing the pair of errors from the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan, is another blank Jersey Crest label. The top pair, (Figure. 9b) is from a strip seven (the remainder are normal).

Single blank Jersey Crest labels can come from one of the many sets issued. Therefore, collectors should always try and collect this type of error with a companion label, in order to prove the source (Figure 9b).

A new kiosk (JE03) was used at the 2019 Spring Stampex, (13 to 16 February). This machine issued collectors’ strips of six with the knots. A single with the local letter rate is shown below, (Figure 10).

Due to missing ink on some characters a few strips from the show, have been found with the word ‘Locai’ instead of  ‘Local’, (Figure 10a).

Issued in error at the show is another blank label, (Figure 10b). Like the Royal Wedding pair shown above, (Figure 9b) these two labels are digitally cropped from the top of a strip of seven.

The Broad Street (JE02) plus Jersey PHQ (JE03) kiosks were both in use to celebrate “10 years of  Jersey POST AND GO”, the Jersey Flag design appearing with the appropriate overprint (Figure 11).

However, a few sessions on 29 February from the JE02 kiosk in Broad Street were issued with the 10 Yrs of P&G overprint appearing in error on the Jersey Farm Animals, (Figure 11a).

A few sets are known with ‘scrambled printing’ (Figure 12), the computer sending corrupted data to the printing mechanism. This example is from the 2017 Southern England Stamp Show.

Earlier in this article, a Jersey protected species label was recorded with UK rates, as shown at Figure 4b.

During September 2015 collectors strips of six with the UK Flag were overprinted with Jersey rates.

Figure 13 shows two of the Jersey rate labels, digitally cropped from the top of the UK strip of six.

If anyone can enhance or provide additional information on POST AND GO errors from either Channel Island post office please contact the editor.

Recently on internet auction sites, five errors have appeared on the ongoing POST AND GO series from the Guernsey postal administration.

The Guernsey Flag design (Figure 1) made its debut on 18 February 2015. This popular design has made its appearance every year since, including the recent set issued for ‘Island Games’ on 7 July 2023.

The illustration shown in Figure 1 (the top four labels from a strip of eight – the remainder are normal) commemorates “HM The Queen’s Longest Reign”. The auction listing receipt (not shown) was issued during Autumn Stampex dated 16 September 2015. The cost of a normal strip of 6, (multi-value) was £3.62.

After the first label was printed, two phantom labels appeared before the machine (GG01) corrected itself, but now with no HM overprint!

The flowers issue first appeared on 14 February 2018 (Figure 2) and it was issued at Spring Stampex, although without any show overprint.

This design was the one used exclusively during the Guernsey 2018 Cruise Ship season; also on another four different occasions.

We are fortunate that the strip (the first of four labels from a strip of eight – the remainder are normal) is also being sold with a receipt (not shown). The receipt clearly states the multi-value strip was issued at Spring Stampex on 13 February 2019, costing £4.26.

Next a used copy with a part cancellation was found (Figure 3), but date is unknown. This label (with no details) could be from any of the flower issues but is probably also from a Spring Stampex 2019 strip.

A blank ‘Bailiwick Wildlife’ label was issued at the World Stamp Show, held in New York City between the 28 May and 4 June 2016. This was the first appearance of this new design (Figure 4). The pair, (the first two labels from a strip of seven – the remainder are normal) was recently offered for sale but, with no receipt, so the exact date is unknown. However, the ‘5’ clearly indicates it was dispensed during the four days of May the show was open.

The new ‘Fishing Boat’ designs (Figures 5 and 6) first appeared on 12 February 2020 with Envoy House overprints via Kiosk GG02.

The Guernsey Philatelic Bureau also sold six-value sets or ‘Collectors’ strips’ printed on the DKU (Desktop Kiosk Unit) system with a special machine code of GG04. The Fishing Boats were to have made their debut at Spring Stampex 2020, (subsequently cancelled due to Covid 19). The example in Figure 5 represents those attached to first day covers and included in the majority of presentation packs. All labels having the same bottom code of B2GG20 GG04. 

However, issued in error (Figure 6), the label now has a bottom code that begins with B1GG20 (1 = January), again followed by the equipment code GG04 along with the obligatory sequential session and stamp numbers. Author’s further note: The DKU (Desktop Kiosk Unit) system was first installed on Monday 1 April 2019, for the first ‘special imprint’, ‘Bianvnu Britannia’ also in Guernésiais. Also used on Thursday 4 April, on the occasion of the MV Britannia’s cruise ship’s visit. It was located at GIC (Guernsey Information Centre) North Esplanade, St. Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 2lQ.