Royal Mail barcoding stamps - existing stamps valid only until 31 Jan 2023

NBLondon

soolin said:

 I have £5 coins properly issued by the Royal Mint yet they can only be easily exchanged at the Bank of England, perhaps I should insist on my right to use them to buy something at my local corner shop! 

To be pedantic - and off topic...  The Bank of England will NOT exchange £5 coins for you - only old banknotes (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/exchanging-old-banknotes and scroll right down).  However, Post Offices (at least the Main Post Offices) accept them in payment so you can buy barcode stamps with them 

soolin

NBLondon said:

soolin said:

 I have £5 coins properly issued by the Royal Mint yet they can only be easily exchanged at the Bank of England, perhaps I should insist on my right to use them to buy something at my local corner shop! 

To be pedantic - and off topic...  The Bank of England will NOT exchange £5 coins for you - only old banknotes (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/exchanging-old-banknotes and scroll right down).  However, Post Offices (at least the Main Post Offices) accept them in payment so you can buy barcode stamps with them 

  Thank you. I asked on a specialist coin forum and was told it was just The Bank of England that would accept the coins  - our PO certainly won't take them, but if they are mandated to do so I'll try again. That would be very convenient, thank you.

NBLondon

soolin said:

  Thank you. I asked on a specialist coin forum and was told it was just The Bank of England that would accept the coins  - our PO certainly won't take them, but if they are mandated to do so I'll try again. That would be very convenient, thank you.

I'm not sure if they are mandated to... Royal Mint says that Post Offices agree to https://www.royalmint.com/help/coinage-faqs/how-can-i-dispose-of-commemorative-crowns/ but elsewhere suggest that you check as Main PO will but not necessarily at sub-post offices.    I was once given one in change and I spent it at the old Trafalgar Square PO with no questions asked.

molerat

Some thoughts wanted from any knowledgeable stamp people please.

A friend is sorting out a relation's belongings.  They were a collector and amongst all the other stamps and covers there is a folder full of 1st class stamp booklets, there must be 100+ of them, obviously all the different print runs or whatever.  A web search seems to indicate they are of no real value apart from as stamps. Some years ago we had a family stamp collection valued and were disappointed and shocked so they are not expecting much for the rest but the current stamps do have some real value so would the best plan be to trade them in with RM ?

TIA

soolin

molerat said:

Some thoughts wanted from any knowledgeable stamp people please.

A friend is sorting out a relation's belongings.  They were a collector and amongst all the other stamps and covers there is a folder full of 1st class stamp booklets, there must be 100+ of them, obviously all the different print runs or whatever.  A web search seems to indicate they are of no real value apart from as stamps. Some years ago we had a family stamp collection valued and were disappointed and shocked so they are not expecting much for the rest but the current stamps do have some real value so would the best plan be to trade them in with RM ?

TIA

Personally I would trade in anything eligible , standard Queens head type booklets rarely sell for more than about 3/4 face value. Any pictorial ones are worth a very quick check on ebay 'sold' listings, it is unlikely they will even make face value but always worth a quick look. At the moment they can't be traded in so either use them or take a loss and sell them.

NBLondon

molerat said:

They were a collector and amongst all the other stamps and covers there is a folder full of 1st class stamp booklets, there must be 100+ of them, obviously all the different print runs or whatever.  A web search seems to indicate they are of no real value apart from as stamps. 

Another collector might want one or two to fill gaps in their own collection but you'd have to identify all of them, list hem correctly and hope for the best - which would be that 5 sell for a good price and the rest for less than face value.  So I agree with soolin - trade them now for barcoded 1sts and then use those over the next few years.  Or then sell the barcoded ones on eBay; you won't make face value but you will selling them as sheets so fewer transactions.

Doc_N

Anyone remember all that fuss back in the 70s about collecting gutter pairs and traffic lights? One of my first jobs involved going down to the local Post Office for the guy in charge to buy entire sheets of stamps for him for the traffic lights and gutter pairs. Regularly, every time there was a new issue.

All doubtless now worthless, apart from a very small face value.

NBLondon

Doc_N said:

All doubtless now worthless, apart from a very small face value.

Not worthless - but only of value to another collector who wants the same combinations.

The barcoded versions are arranged differently on the sheet so some collectors are now looking for other combinations.
https://blog.norphil.co.uk/2022/10/datamatrix-stamps-positional-blocks-and.html

molerat

NBLondon said:

Doc_N said:

All doubtless now worthless, apart from a very small face value.

Not worthless - but only of value to another collector who wants the same combinations.

The barcoded versions are arranged differently on the sheet so some collectors are now looking for other combinations.
https://blog.norphil.co.uk/2022/10/datamatrix-stamps-positional-blocks-and.html

At one place I worked there was a guy who was into buying all the different sheets. I didn't get it then and still don't.  I suppose it was some sort of inflation proof collecting but that has now been thrown out of the window - you would have to be an avid collector to keep hold of them because the inflation proofing bit has pretty much gone.

Doc_N

NBLondon said:

Doc_N said:

All doubtless now worthless, apart from a very small face value.

Not worthless - but only of value to another collector who wants the same combinations.

The barcoded versions are arranged differently on the sheet so some collectors are now looking for other combinations.
https://blog.norphil.co.uk/2022/10/datamatrix-stamps-positional-blocks-and.html

Hell’s teeth! It’s still going on then! Thought that dies out years ago. I can see the rarity of the traffic lights on a sheet of stamps, but not the collectibility.

Often wondered, in a similar vein, whether old credit cards might in due course have a value, on the basis that most of them will have been destroyed!