United Kingdom Of Great Britain And Northern Ireland - Jennings Definitives

On 4 April 2023, Royal Mail issued the first definitives (permanent stamps) of the new reign. Royal Mail adapted the coinage head of King Charles III designed by Martin Jennings. These new stamps bear a strong resemblance to the 'Machin' definitives of Queen Elizabeth II.

To mark the occassion, Royal Mail prepared a special commemorative cover bearing the non-value-indicator ('NVI') stamps of both reigns, 'cancelled at' Windsor on the first day of issue of the King Charles III stamps.



The cover is similar to that used for the UK definitive first day covers. The partial arms at the lower left corner and flap, however, are printed in a silver ink. The cover, further, bears the inscription 'THE ROYAL SUCCESSION' / 'COMMEMORATIVE COVER' instead of 'ROYAL MAIL FIRST DAY COVER'. Above it is the number of the cover and the inscription 'OF AN EDITION OF 20,000'.

The cover comes with a 'Certificate of Authenticity' that takes the shape of the stiffener card Royal Mail sends out with its regular first day covers. One side of this stiffener card functions as said certificate.

The other side of the card provides the usual information about the stamps and the cover. The card reads "The stamps were printed by Cartor Security Printers."

Cartor Security Printers and Walsall Security Printers were part of International Security Printers (ISP) that have been printing definitives for royal mail. Cartor printed the counter sheets of 'country' stamps in lithography. Walsall printed the 'Machin' counter sheets and retail booklets in gravure.

The stiffener card sent out with the original first day cover for these Machins mentioned International Security Printers. It did not specify whether the stamps were printed by Walsall or Cartor. The stiffener card sent out with the new 'Jennings' NVIs also mentions Cartor as the printer.

The change reflects the rebranding of the companies to 'Cartor' early in 2022. The stamps show the droplets typical of gravure printing. It is likely these were printed in England at the former Walsall Security Printers unit.

The stamps have the same phosphor layouts. The 'ordinary' second class stamp has a central phosphor bar. The other stamps have two 'side' phosphor bars. In this case, the right phosphor bar is placed at the side of the stamp and stops at the simulated perforations between the stamp image and barcode.



Changing the saturation of the image reveals the side bars are 'vignetted,' i.e., the phosphor reaction is weaker on the inside of the bars.

Royal Mail also services First Day Covers. For permanent stamps, there are two first day cancellations. One is for Tallents House in Edinburgh, Scotland. This has been named after Sir Stephen George Tallents, It houses Royal Mail's philatelic bureau.

The alternative first day cancellation for national permanent stamps is for Windsor, from which the Royal Family takes its name.



The design of the cover remains largely unchanged from that used for the Machin permanent stamp first day covers. The colour of the Royal Mail Group's coat-of-arms at the lower left of the cover, however, was changed from red to blue to mark the new reign.

The stiffener card that comes with the first day cover holds contact information for Royal Mail's philatelic service on the front. The card shows the Royal Mail cruciform logo at the top left. Royal Mail Group's coat-of-arms that also appears on the front of the cover serves as background. The back of the card holds information on the stamps and cover.

Royal Mail also made available a presentation pack with the four new permanent stamps.
The pack is number 121 in the 'definitives' series.

The front of the pack shows the stamps in an insert card.
The back of the pack shows information on the stamps and the pack. It also shows copyright information and contact details for Royal Mail.

The inside of the folder gives some information on the origin of the King's portrait and its historic context.

the sets look nice. going to order online now. thank you for sharing.

The sheet stamps were printed sideways on the Cerutti press. The self-adhesive paper used has no optical brightening agent (OBA) or phosphor added to the coating (OFNP). The matrix code was printed with an inkjet digital print module. A printed line resembling perforations gives the impression that the matrix code is attached to the stamp.

Above image shows the printing on the backing paper. Turning the stamp so the King looks downward, it shows that the orientation of the line of large printing of 'ROYAL MAIL' is opposite to that of the small printing of 'ROYAL MAIL.' This is known as SBP2i. If the orientation of the printing is the same, it is SBP2u.

The stamps without a value indication (NVI) were first printed in January 2023. The stamps are overprinted 'ROYAL MAIL' in wavy lines with iridescent ink. from counter sheets issued on 4 April 2023 had the letters 'AI' of 'MAIL' just above the King's forehead replaced by the number 23. There is no further hidden code, identifying the source of the stamp as a counter sheet. These are listed as -/M23L, i.e., counter sheets printed in 2023.

Above image shows the difference between the gravure printing of the background and portrait, and the inkjet printing of the matrix code. The latter has a three-dimensional appearance.

The second-class stamp has a 4.5 mm. wide centre phosphor bar with blue fluor. 'Centre' refers to the placement of the phosphor bar between the lefthand side and the simulated perforations. The phosphor bar is visible under both shortwave and longwave ultraviolet light. It shows an afterglow after irradiation with shortwave ultraviolet light as shown in above image.

The stamps, also, were issued in retail stamp books containing eight stamps. When closed and viewed from the front, the cover of the stamp book has two small ellipses cut out at the top right. This is a recognition aid for the visually impaired, identifying it as a stamp book containing ordinary second-class stamps.

The paper matrix – the paper between and around the stamps - has been stripped away but for a strip on the extreme righthand side of the booklet, when viewed from the front. The stamp books are folded slightly off-centre. As a result, part of this strip remains visible when the stamp book is folded. Towards the bottom of the strip appears the imprint 'KC' for 'King Charles.' This was done to distinguish between the books containing Machin stamps and the new King Charles III stamps. Part of the stamp books will also show the cylinder numbers.

The backing paper for this stamp book is SBP2i.

Stamps from the stamp book have the 'A' in 'MAIL' above the back of the King's head replaced by a 'E' identifying this as a stamp from a book of eight stamps. It also has the code 'M23L' above the King's forehead. These are listed as MEIL/M23L, i.e., stamp books of eight printed in 2023.

Like the stamps from counter sheets, stamps from books have a 4.5 mm. centre phosphor bar.

The stamps were printed from three cylinders and in the same colours as their Machin predecessors. One cylinder printed the colour, a second the iridescent "ROYAL MAIL" overprint, and the third printed the phosphor bar or bars. The second-class stamp was printed in 'holly green.' The colour used for the first-class stamp was 'plum purple.'

This stamp, again, has SBP2i backing paper. The iridescent overprint on the stamps from counter sheets issued on 4 April 2023 had the letters 'AI' of 'MAIL' just above the King's forehead replaced by the number 23 and no further hidden code. The codes help identify the source of the stamp and the year in which it was printed. This is a quality-control aid that helps the printers to identify the source of any defective stamp.

The first-class stamp has two side phosphor bars that are 6.5 mm. wide. These are so-called vignetted phosphor bars that taper off towards the centre of the stamp. 'Stamp' should be understood as the area between the perforations at left and the simulated printed perforations on the right, i.e., excluding the area that carries the matrix code.

The stamps, also, were issued in retail stamp books containing four or eight stamps. When closed and viewed from the front, the covers of both stamp books have one small ellipse cut out at the top right. This is a recognition aid for the visually impaired, identifying it as a stamp book containing ordinary first-class stamps.

The paper matrix – the paper between and around the stamps – of the stamp book of eight stamps has been stripped away but for a strip on the extreme righthand side of the booklet, when viewed from the front. The stripping of the matrix is another aid for the visually impaired as well as for people who suffer from arthritis.

The stamp books are folded slightly off-centre. As a result, part of this strip remains visible when the stamp book is folded. Towards the bottom of the strip appears the imprint 'KC' for 'King Charles.' This was done to distinguish between the books containing Machin stamps and the new King Charles III stamps. Part of the stamp books will also show the cylinder numbers.

The backing paper for this stamp book is SBP2i.

Stamps from the stamp book have the 'A' in 'MAIL' above the back of the King's head replaced by a 'E' identifying this as a stamp from a book of eight stamps. It also has the code 'M23L' above the King's forehead. These are listed as MEIL/M23L, i.e., stamp books of eight printed in 2023.

Like the stamps from counter sheets, stamps from books have two 6.5 mm. wide side phosphor bars.

The stamp book of four first class stamps is very similar to that containing eight stamps. Its content "4x1st" appears on the front cover. The back cover has the same small elliptical indent as the "8x1st" stamp book. The indent appears at the top right of the folded stamp book. This helps the visually impaired recognising the content as ordinary first-class stamps.

The paper matrix of been stripped away around the four stamps. but for the narrow strip on the extreme righthand side of the booklet, when viewed from the front. The stamp books are folded slightly off-centre. As a result, part of this strip remains visible when the stamp book is folded. Towards the bottom of the strip appears the imprint 'KC' for 'King Charles.' This was done to distinguish between the books containing Machin stamps and the new King Charles III stamps. Part of the stamp books will also show the cylinder numbers. The matrix on the lefthand side of the stamp book, i.e., the inside of the front cover, has not been removed. This provides stiffness to the front cover.

The backing paper for this stamp book is SBP2i.

Stamps from the stamp book have the 'A' in 'MAIL' above the back of the King's head replaced by a 'F' identifying this as a stamp from a book of four stamps. It also has the code 'M23L' above the King's forehead. These are listed as MFIL/M23L, i.e., stamp books of four printed in 2023.

Like the stamps from counter sheets, stamps from books have two 6.5 mm. wide side phosphor bars.