Royal Mail stamps - Glasgow Commonwealth Games stamps

The Glasgow Commonwealth Games were the biggest ever multi-sports event hosted by Scotland and were marked by Royal Mail stamps which put the spotlight on six of the sports featured at the Glasgow event.

The stamps in the Commonwealth Games issue feature six of the seventeen sports:

• swimming
• marathon
• squash
• netball
• judo
• para-sport track cycling

The stamps are the work of Dutch illustrator Nanette Hoogslag who has used images created by sports photographer Andy Hooper to celebrate the skill and energy displayed by Commonwealth athletes.

Each stamp features a different sport in action, ranging from an underwater image of a race swimmer, to the speed and power of track cyclists.

Each of the athletes portrayed is a professional athlete; only the faces of the subjects have been altered to keep the emphasis on the action.

Royal Mail have enlisted the expertise of philatelic writer Jim Davies for the Commonwealth Games product portfolio which comprises the six stamps, stamp cards, a presentation pack, first day cover, special postmarks and coin covers.

Both the presentation pack and first day cover were designed by Supple Studio graphic artist Tim Marrs, who has used stark white backgrounds to show off the vibrant colours of the stamps and associated images.

Three different postmarks have been produced for this issue – a Tallents House handstamp featuring the letters ‘XX’, an alternative handstamp (postmarked Glasgow) with facts and figures about the Games, and a simple ‘first day of issue’ stamp, postmarked Glasgow.


Read more about the Commonwealth Games Royal Mail stamps in the August 2014 issue of Stamp & Coin Mart, available in print and as a digital edition.