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Thursday 4 January 2018

Game Of Thrones Prestige Booklet


2018 has arrived and it has been announced that the first money making (idea) issue from Royal Mail will be released on the 23rd January.  Like it or not the Game of Thrones issue is about to hit collectors and fans of the series pockets with a  real bang.

The only part of this issue Machin related is what I describe as a part mixed Machin pane. The eight stamps that make up the pane and label will consist of 2 x 2nd class Northern Ireland regional definitives, 2 x 1st class Iron throne stamps, 2 x 5p Machins, 1 x 20p Machin and 1 x £1.17p Machin.

The price of the booklet is £13.95. These may or may not (depending on the print date) have a 2018 code. We will have to wait and see.

A 2000 limited edition leather folder version of the booklet will also be offered to those with more money than sense for £75.00.



Make of it what you will, I will not be buying it or any of the Throne products. That is all they are to me "products" not collectibles. My opinion this is is just another money making blunder by Royal Mail who are now driving even more genuine philatelists away by the truck load.

I await the next Machin issue (February?) with anticipation.

3 comments:

Ian - Norvic said...

Royal Mail have made it clear that they are trying to reduce the percentage of income for 'Stamps and Collectables' that comes from core stamp collectors.

In monetary terms the income from collectors of Star Wars memorabilia (including some products at conventions which were never announced to stamp collectors) and also for Game of Thrones is swinging away from 90:10% to 75:25% and more.

Collectors have to decide for themselves whether they want to plough more money into philatelic products (presentation packs and FDCs) which have no lasting value. Dealers who buy-in stock to sell as postage are still being pressed to buy even when they are only offering 40% of face.

Maybe collectors should only buy the individual stamps or sets that they like, and ignore the rest. The day of the 'completist' or 'one-of-everything' collector is long gone.

cddstamps said...

Totally Agree.. I stopped collecting "modern" GB many years ago.. more like collecting stickers... a few nice issues from a thematic perspective - aviation for me, as you might know - But the cost, surely must be too much nowadays? I wonder how many "different" commemoratives there will be this year? Too many to even predict. And anyway, one doesn't see that many postally used anyway. Isn't that what stamps were for... :-)

So I will keep to my GB GV Downey Heads

Best wishes Happy New Year Michael

Roy said...

I still pick up cylinder older Machin blocks / earlier booklets to add to my collections. New issues are few limited to the occasional mini sheet and custom booklets. Special issues as you say Michael are more like stickers with pound signs on them.

Royal Mail have a licence to print money and will continue to do so untill people stop buying in mass these over priced unwanted products.