Observations On Irish Stamps

SOAR stamp from Aughrim in County Wicklow (0222) showing new smaller font used by updated Post Office printers. Date number 22017 (17th january, 2022) and the stamp number on the roll is 116.

Nick...have you seen the 2022 Stamp programme. Some good stuff to be issued during the year. A set of six sportswomen will be brilliant.

No I haven't seen the new ones for 2022. I am hoping to see some better design this year having been really disappointed with the Christmas issue and the increasing use of simple statements on Irish stamps. Also I have found the quality of the paper used for commemoratives increasingly thin, making separating them for normal use difficult. I always try and use commemoratives for my own mail, but of course they are only available online for those unable to get to Dublin or Cork.

I had always presumed that new issue SOAR stamps were placed in order on the roll and then the sequence repeated. But this now appears to have changed with the images repeated more often as you can see below. This suggests that some issues may be more common than others and that this may reflect in their relative value. Also, some specific stamps seem to be used again even though there were part of an earlier release. Does anyone know what the sequence for the latest issues is?

Yes I noticed this at the end ofast year.
Apart from Christmas, SOAR had three themes which change every year.
1 Wildlife to 2016
2 Easter Rising 2016
3 100 Objects in Irish History from 2017 until a year or so ago.
The series possibly interrupted by Covid.

There were 8 16 or 8 designs In a sequence thru the roll with say design at #1 also being #9, #17 etc on a typical eight design roll.

A few years back so called 'popular" designs previously issued as commemorative in sheet form were re-formatted and added to the SOAR rolls.
They used to have a specific place within the rolls but now appear in no set place.
I don't know why this is.
It certainly increases revenue but I also have a feeling that the Treasures series is not a popular set. And is being phased out before 100 objects were issued.
The next definitive series will be ART to be introduced later this year.
I blogged about this new formatting a few months ago.

I didn't know about the new definitive series that is really interesting. I don't think the 100 objects series was well thought out as many of the objects highlighted were really obscure and unreadable when reduced in size. How can I find the blog post you referred to? Thanks for the update.

I think the 100 Objects seemed like a good idea at the time. But inevitably the first issues were on objects a few thousand years old and of little modern relevance. Modern designs such as Robert Emmets ring as in your scan above are more interesting.

The objects would have included an Irih Brigade flag from 18th century (which as a Jacobite history buff would have interested me greatly)...also James Connollys shirt, a loodstained item from Bloody Sunday in Derry and the Good Friday Agreement.
Whatever the reason, starting a series of 100 objects and not finishing it seems like there is some kinda story there.
There is a link to my Blog in my profile. When you find it, s roll down and you will find a post which is headlined "SOAR new format?" Or something like that.
There is a lot about SOARS on my blog. I am not at home at the moment and using my phone to post this so I can't send the link directly.

I find this an interesting cover. I presume it was a return envelope which had already been stamped. Nearly a hundred years on and the code 186 was still being used for Dublin. I wonder when that eventually stopped?