04 October 2015
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star wars stamps
To coincide with their Star Wars stamps, Royal Mail have produced a range of philatelic souvenirs, giving collectors and film fans plenty to pursue, as our guide to Star Wars stamp souvenirs reveals
In addition to the twelve 1st Class stamps featuring Star Wars characters and the six-stamp miniature sheet showing off vehicles from the famous film franchise, Royal Mail have also produced a large selection of philatelic souvenirs, ranging from stamp sheets to framed gifts.
Find out more about the stamps on Royal Mail's website: www.royalmail.com/starwars
The first port of call for collectors is the presentation pack, which holds both the twelve ‘character’ stamps and the ‘vehicles’ six-stamp miniature sheet. The pack, priced at £12.35, features two full A4 sides – one dedicated to the dark side of the force, the other to the light side – of Star Wars facts, fgures, imagery and information that, according to Royal Mail, ‘will leave fans in Star Wars heaven’.
Many first day covers will feature the Star Wars stamps. There’s a huge variety to choose from, featuring a varying number of the stamps and different artwork on the envelope itself.
Royal Mail’s range of covers includes two bearing the character stamps (£9.55 from Royal Mail) and vehicle mini-sheet (£5.02), respectively.
Three medal covers add a shine to a collection, featuring a coin-like medal on the front of each envelope. Each limited to 10,000 copies, the medal covers combine the stamps with a proof quality medal produced by Royal Mint exclusively for this product and ‘housed within a clear plastic protective display window, enabling the front and rear of the medal to be viewed and admired’.
Stamp variations
The stamps are also presented in a number of different formats.
Stamp sets, presented within a presentation card, are available for the twelve character stamps and the vehicle mini-sheet. Sets featuring ten stamps of the same design are also available, priced at £6.50, for the stamps depicting Yoda, Darth Vader, Han Solo, and Boba Fett.
A larger stamp set comes in the form of a ‘Heroes and Villains’ A4 sheet featuring ten stamps (three of Yoda, three Darth Vader, two Stormtrooper, and two Han Solo) along with labels showing film stills from the Lucasfilm archives.
If the labels accompanying the stamps on the sheet are not to your liking, you can add your own with the Personalised Stamp Sheets. Featuring ten stamps of the same design (Vader, Yoda, Han or Stormtrooper), the sheet leaves space for your photo to be printed on to the labels. Find out more at royalmail.com/smilers.
While produced for use on postal items, many Star Wars stamps will take pride of place in albums or on walls, and a number of framed souvenirs are available.
While not so easy to display, many collectors will be keen to obtain the 26-page prestige stamp booklet (PSB) which ‘explores the unique British contribution throughout the Star Wars phenomena’. The book is not issued until 17 December, to coincide with the UK release date of the new film The Force Awakens.
Read the full guide to Star Wars souvenirs in the December issue of Stamp & Coin Mart.
FREE STAR WARS STAMP CARDS, courtesy of Royal Mail
The December, January and February issues of Stamp & Coin Mart will each include a pack of FREE Star Wars stamp cards, courtesy of Royal Mail.
The exclusive give-away is set to be hugely popular and the team behind the magazine are already encouraging readers to pre-order the issues or subscribe to Stamp & Coin Mart and have every issue delivered to their home.