Plans for stamp sheets in 2009

I've been asked by a few people

Why are we doing so many sheets now?

It's a good question.

I hadn’t intended to produce so many stamp sheets when we started. But they are proving very popular with charities and organisations. And because we work so often with organisations, we find we are being asked to produce more and more official stamp sheets.

So we do produce more sheets than I would like at the moment but if we didn’t help, the organisation would only ask one of our competitors to produce their sheet instead!

And as we are working with them on cover projects anyway, it seems more sensible to produce a special sheet for them too.

HOT NEWS! HOT NEWS! HOT NEWS! HOT NEWS! HOT NEWS!

50^th Anniversary of the Mini

Next year sees some fantastic Buckingham stamp sheets. We are working with the Heritage Motor Museum at Gaydon who own Mini 1, which is rather applicable for the fiftieth anniversary. It’s the old BMC museum so it’s got lots of minis of all sorts. The illustration on our Mini stamp sheet is of Paddy Hopkirk winning 1964 Monte Carlo Rally and the sheet will be signed by him. There will be no multisigned editions.

40^th Anniversary of Concorde – AMAZING autograph!

Design work on our 40th anniversary of Concorde sheet is now finished. This will have a VERY unusual signature. It’s being signed by an engineer who flew on the very first British Concorde flight. There will also be an outstanding multisigned edition with loads of NEW great 1969 Concorde autographs. More details soon.

Great Little Trains of Wales

We are working with 10 little railways in Wales. We’re producing a stamp sheet for them and over the next 2 years, there will also be a set of 10 covers. As you can see, the sheet is superb. Again, there will be no multisigned edition.

60^th Anniversary of the Comet

Finally, the comet celebrates 60 years in 2009 and our striking stamp sheet will be signed by John Wilson, the 1949 Test pilot. It was John Wilson, along with Cats Eyes Cunningham, who got commercial jet travel going.

And more! Next year also sees:

· 40^th Anniversary of the first man on the moon

We are officially working with the Science Museum who asked us for this sheet.

· 100 years since Bleriot flew the channel

We are working locally in Dover to celebrate this landmark.

· 500^th Anniversary of the Tudor warship, the Mary Rose

We are officially working with the Mary Rose, who asked us for a sheet.

As you can see a great 2009 programme and as even more people find out about our sheets, they seem to disappear rather quickly.

I'll get images up here as soon as I can.

I'm pretty down in the dumps at the moment, lots of things are going wrong so bear with me .....

50th Anniversary of the Regionals Stamps

This is a big anniversary. It’s 50 years since a very young Tony Buckingham went to London to buy the 1958 regional stamps!

In the early days, these stamps were not available from the Post Office. There was no central Philatelic Bureau either so they were difficult to get. When I first started in 1966, I had everything to learn and the regional first day covers were a nightmare.

I knew a dealer in Wales who postmarked my covers at Bethlehem. I found friendly dealers to help in Scotland and Northern Ireland too - then I was on my own. Believe it or not, I phoned hotels in the three Islands asking for help! My 1968 and 1969 covers were done by amateurs. Even worse, the peelable labels didn’t peel. No, that’s not strictly true. They came off and were replaced by what looked like coal dust. We did have a coal fire so that might well have been what was – horrifying! That horrible dust was in the air all the time.

I got my first big break due to those stamps. A far more established dealer than me advertised for agents to produce his covers - but there was a strike so the advertisement came out after the day of issue.

I cunningly wrote to him commiserating and of course offering him some of my covers. He immediately transferred all his order to me which was a massive bonus. He gave up in 1973 and gave me his customers (he was getting married and forgot about them) I sent them an EEC Calais paquebot cds and they loved me forever.

For those who actually read my newsletters (yes, you Mrs Jones in Wick), you will be glad to know I have been to the Old Vic three times since I tried to go to Australia via my face the quick way …. and didn’t fall over. But ironically my Kiwi friend fell backwards on the escalator on the London Underground, breaking two ribs in his back. He always has to out do me!

While mentioning the Old Vic, if you get a chance, go and see the “Norman Conquests”. It’s brilliant. They got 5 stars from The Times which was well deserved, unlike “Rifleman”. That’s another story. My advice: avoid “Rifleman”! Our only regret was we didn’t leave when the actress said “this is rubbish”. It would have been nice to say, “I agree. Goodnight!” But I was too British and instead, suffered 60 hours (well 1 hour 10 minutes) before the first act ended. To get so many expletives in that time must have been a record. At least 400. Kate Blanchet (the first director and spouse of the so called playwright) and John Hannah should be ashamed. Shock is one thing, rubbish another. Pity the good old days are over, they would all be in prison.

Anyway, I'm especially pleased with our set of 3 regional covers, each bearing the 50 year old stamps and the new 2008 stamps. We could only do limited numbers because it was hard to get my hands on the 1958 stamps so if you've got one, you've done well! The signed versions are very special. They all have a fabulous football connection ...

Our signature on the miniature sheet cover has been delayed. It will be Hayley Mills, who, 50 years ago, was filming Tiger Bay in Cardiff (Welsh connection!). She won a special Oscar for her performance.

Next month, I will tell you about my Olympic Collection nightmares. I am up to about 20 out of the 27 autographs now (that’s being optimistic. It might be only 18 but I have promises for 2 at sea ) It’s been a dreadful job trying to find the 27! Hopefully by next time I will almost be there.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Very shortly, a complete Buckingham Covers catalogue will be live on our site www.buckinghamcovers.com. Everything we’ve got at the moment will be there.

If you are not already subscribed to Ellie’s email newsletter, I’d recommend signing up so you’ll be the first to know when it is live.

It’s worth joining anyway so Ellie can tell you about her special website offers each week. She makes such generous offers that most of the time, I can’t bear to look.

And I know a lot of collectors enjoy her little anecdotes about her 2 year old daughter (my granddaughter!), Caitlin.

To join Ellie’s email family, go to www.buckinghamcovers.com/family or give us a call on 01303 278 137.

Going back to the Buckingham Covers catalogue, I hope you will find it useful and my bank manager (the Borneo, Rutland, Oceana, Kakistan and Egypt)* would be grateful if you order from it.

Hope your mattress isn’t too lumpy . . .

All best wishes

Tony Buckingham

*BROKE!