Royal Mail’s 2024 stamps are already released into the wild and I have a confession. I still haven’t finished last year to my satisfaction. Blame it on the nasty fall in November. Being wonky eyed, with double vision for a month or two … or three, really put a cramp in my enthusiasm for doing much of anything, let along extensive reading. It’s nice to see in proper stereovision again. 

This year, I’m approaching the UK a bit differently. At times, Royal Mail puts out a shocking number of items, and it takes far too much time prepping them for posting. Some sets, in previous years, contained over 35 items, and although I cut back on the images, there was still too many. This year, I’ll cherry pick what scans to post for manageability’s sake. Last year, I found myself spending too much time organising and resizing and far too little time on research, and that kills the fun of writing for me. You’ll see the primary collectables like stamps, souvenir sheets, presentation packs and prestige packs and I’ll mention special items like framed sheets and stamps, press sheets and postcards. When something catches my fancy, I’ll include images in the general writeup. 

Cutting back on the plethora of scans should allow me to return to exploring the special sponsored cancels Royal Mail offers. Look for sponsored cancels to be added, with the SPONSORED clarification, after the official releases. 

We start the year off with a bit of Spice, whip along to visit some dinosaur, Vikings, and of course say hello to Charles. 

Enjoy
Catpaw

January

Spice Girls

10 stamps, 5 stamps on souvenir sheet, stamp pack, presentation pack, prestige pack, limited edition sheets, souvenir sheet pack, FDC (not shown), Brit award sheet, miniature sheet, postcards
offset

This set has an extensive number of items including:

• 1,000 platinum layered sheet
• 1,000 24-carat gold “finished” sheets
• 1,994 Spice Girls Limited Edition Prestige Stamp Book
• 5000 Spice Girls Fan Sheet – Brit Awards
• framed stamps, sheets and collector sheets
• press cut sheets
• fan sheets
• postcards

Stamps: 

• First Class Spice Girls performing at the BRIT Awards, 1997
• First Class Melanie Chisholm performing at the BRIT Awards, London, 1998
• First Class Spice Girls performing during the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games
• First Class Geri Halliwell performing at the BRIT Awards, London, 1997
• First Class Spice Girls performing in San Jose, California, 2007
• First Class Emma Bunton performing at Wembley, London, 1998
• First Class Spice Girls performing in Istanbul, 1997
• First Class Victoria Beckham performing during The Return of the Spice Girls Tour at Madison Square Garden, New York City, 2008
• First Class Spice Girls performing in Dublin, 1998
• First Class Melanie Brown performing at the BRIT Awards, London, 1997

Souvenir sheet:

• First Class Posh Spice
• First Class Scary Spice
• First Class Baby Spice
• First Class Ginger Spice
• First Class Sporty Spice

Designer: Supple Studio
Supple Studio’s first stamps were the Mr Men and Little Miss (2016). Last year Supple collaborated with The Chase to create the Windrush: 75 Years series. 

Release date: January 11, 2024

February

Weather Forecasting

8 stamps, FDC, cancel, presentation pack. Also available framed stamps, sheets and half sheets  
offset

Celebrating 170 years of the UK’s Met Office

• Second Class Luke Howard, pioneer meteorologist, classified clouds in 1803 Luke Howard, namer of clouds (wiley.com)
• Second Class Storm barometer of Robert FitzRoy, founder of the Met Office in 1854 Robert FitzRoy and the early Met Office – Met Office
• First Class Terra Nova Expedition studied extreme weather in 1910-12 The Terra Nova Expedition – British Antarctic Expedition – Robert Falcon Scott – 1911-1913 (coolantarctica.com)
• First Class Marine buoys collect data for the Shipping Forecast, first broadcast in 1924
• £2.00 Weather observers were vital to the success of the D-Day invasion in 1944 D-Day: How meteorologists helped win the war – The Weather Network
• £2.00 Radar and computers improved forecasting accuracy from the 1950s
• £2.20 Barbara Edwards became the first British female TV weather presenter in 1974 Barbara Edwards (meteorologist) – Wikipedia
• £2.20 Supercomputers and satellites help track the Earth’s weather today

Our history – Met Office

Designer: Hat-trick design
Hat-trick has created stamps for both Royal Mail and Jersey. Their first stamps were for the UK, Birth Bicentenary of Isambard Kingdom Brunel (2006). 
Presentation pack writer: Peter Moore author of The Weather Experiment

Release date: February 1, 2024

Viking Britain

8 stamps, FDC, cancel, presentation pack. Also available framed stamps, sheets and half sheets, numismatic cover
offset

• First Class Iron, silver and copper sword, Temple, London sword | British Museum
• First Class Olaf Guthfrithsson silver penny, minted in York – nicknamed the Raven Penny. Penny – Anlaf Guthfrithsson (Raven type) – Viking Kingdom of York – Numista / Olaf Guthfrithson | Viking ruler, Norse leader | Britannica
• £1.00 Silver penannular brooch, Penrith, Cumbria – part of the Penrith Hoard. penannular brooch | British Museum
• £1.00 Lindisfarne Priory, Northumberland Lindisfarne Priory | English Heritage (english-heritage.org.uk)
• £2.00 Norse settlement remains, Jarlshof, Shetland Jarlshof Prehistoric and Norse Settlement | Hist Env Scotland (historicenvironment.scot)
• £2.00 Antler comb and case, Coppergate, York JORVIK Artefact Gallery | JORVIK Viking Centre
• £2.20 Gilded bronze brooch, Pitney, Somerset The Pitney Brooch | The British Museum Images (bmimages.com)
• £2.20 Hogback gravestone, Govan Old, Glasgow Hogbacks: stone carved Viking monuments generally accepted as grave markers (thevintagenews.com)

 “If anyone was to ask ‘What did the Vikings ever do for us?’ the answer is that they transformed Britain and left an enduring influence on the languages, economy, society and political geography of the UK forever.

“Their impact was enormous and cannot be overlooked. 
David Gold, Royal Mail’s director of external affairs and policy

Royal Mail stamps mark 40 years of Jorvik Viking Centre | York Press

Designer: Studio Up
Studio Up created Jersey’s 1st Anniversary of Wedding of Prince Harry & Meghan Markle stamps in 2019. They previously designed four sets for UK, totaling over 48 stamps. Among the stamps was popular Aardman Classics Animation Characters in 2022.
Presentation pack writer: Thomas Williams, historian and author of Lost Realms, Viking Britain and Viking London. He specialises in the early Middle Ages and previously worked for the British Museum as a curator. 

Release date: February 20, 2023

March

The Age of Dinosaurs

8 stamps, 4 stamps on souvenir sheet, 2 FDCs, 2 cancels, presentation pack, 2 numismatic covers. Also available framed stamps, sheets and half sheets
offset 

• First Class Tyrannosaurus lived during the Late Cretaceous period between 68 and 66 million years ago
• First Class Triceratops lived around 68 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period
• First Class Coloborhynchus was one of the earliest pterosaurs to be discovered
• First Class Iguanodon lived during the Early Cretaceous period between 125 and 110 million years ago
• £2.00 Stegosaurus is one of the most recognisable dinosaurs, although we know relatively little about it as remains are rare
• £2.00 Diplodocus reached up to 27 metres in length and lived 150 million years ago at the end of the Jurassic Period.
• £2.00 Megalosaurus roamed what is now England between 170 and 155 million years ago
• £2.00 Cryptoclidus was a plesiosaur that existed from the Middle Triassic to the Late Cretaceous periods

The layout was crafted to include two species on a stamp. The stamps work in pairs, like the Triceratops and the Tyrannosaurus pair. They present two views of an encounter. In the top right of the Tyrannosaurus stamp, you see the jaws of the T-Rex. The image is picked up in the next stamp, with the full view of the T-Rex and the Triceratops appearing bottom left. 

The brief stipulated that the stamps were to be printed in se-tenant pairs. However, rather than have two unconnected images we used the format to our advantage by placing both dinosaurs in the same scene (after checking with experts at The Natural History Museum that this would have been possible), but from completely opposite angles, almost as if the moment was captured by two photographers from different stand points at exactly the same time. 
The Age of the Dinosaurs — The Chase Creative Consultants

Souvenir sheet:

• First Class One of the 19th century’s greatest fossil hunters, Mary Anning
• First Class Ichthyosaurus communis
• First Class Dapedium politum
• First Class Plesiosaurus macrocephalus

Designer: The Chase
in collaboration with the Natural History Museum

We were keen to avoid the more usual clichéd imagery of Dinosaurs standing in a tropical scene roaring in front of an exploding volcano. Instead, we explored an approach more akin to that of award winning wildlife photography. We wanted the images (created by Josh Dunlop) to look as real as possible with different landscapes, in different weather conditions and at different times of the day.
The Age of the Dinosaurs — The Chase Creative Consultants

Release date: March 12, 2024

April

King Charles III – Jennings Definitives

The new Machins uses the work sculptor Martin Jennings created for the Royal Mint’s 2022 coins. This series carries on the long running Machin design. 2 stamps in this series were released April 4, 2023, but may not be available until the existing stock of QEII Machins are used. 

Designer: Martin Jennings 
Martin Jennings

Release date: April 4, 2024

100 Years of Commemoratives

10 stamps, FDC, cancel, commemorative sheet, presentation pack. Also available framed stamps, sheets, half sheets, postcards
offset

• First Class British Empire Exhibition, Postal Union, Congress, Silver Jubilee
• First Class Royal Silver Wedding, Centenary of First Adhesive Postage Stamps, Peace and Reconstruction
• First Class Tercentenary of ‘General Letter Office’, Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Festival of Britain
• First Class Landscapes, Investiture of HRH The Prince of Wales, National Nature Week
• First Class Philympia 70 Stamp Exhibition, British Wildlife, British Achievement in Chemistry
• First Class Flowers, Halley’s Comet, Transport and Communications
• First Class Robert Burns: The Immortal Memory, Millennium, Architects of the Air
• First Class The Weather, Lest We Forget, Sounds of Britain
• First Class Landmark Buildings, Jane Austen, Queen
• First Class Platinum Jubilee, Brilliant Bugs, Windrush: 75 Years

Each stamp represents a decade in the life of Royal Post’s commemorative releases. The first UK commemorative stamp was the April 23, 1924, British Empire Exhibition set. It was released to coincide with the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Park April 23 to November 1, 1924, and from May 9 to October 31, 1925.  2 stamps were issued in ’24 and reissued with a date change for the 1925 opening. 

Designer: Hat-trick Design 
Dear Hat-Trick, could you hurry up with your website revamp? Thanks, Catpaw

Release date: April 16, 2024

May

Peppa Pig

8 stamps, 4 stamps on souvenir sheet, 2 FDCs, cancel, numismatic cover, presentation packs, prestige pack, fan sheets, Also available framed stamps, sheets, half sheets, postcards
offset

• First Class Peppa and George
• First Class Suzy Sheep and Danny Dog
• First Class George and Daddy Pig
• First Class Mummy Pig and Peppa
• £2.00 Grandpa Pig and Polly Parrot
• £2.00 Granny Pig and her Chickens
• £2.00 Mr Bull and Madame Gazelle
• £2.00 Mr Zebra and Miss Rabbit

Souvenir sheet:

• £2.00 Zoë Zebra
• First Class Peppa
• First Class George
• £2.00 Suzy Sheep

Designer: Michael O’Shea

Release date: May 16, 2024

June

Dogs

10 stamps, FDC, cancel, presentation pack. Also available framed stamps, sheets, half sheets, postcards
lithography

• Dalmatian
• Jack Russell-type Terrier
• Labrador Retriever
• Border Collie
• Whippet
• Siberian Husky
• Chihuahua
• Cocker Spaniel
• Pembroke Welsh Corgi
• Pug

Designer: Royal Mail Group Ltd

Release date: June 6, 2024

Red Arrows: 60 Seasons

8 stamps, souvenir sheet of 4 stamps, 2 FDCs, cancel, medallion cover, presentation pack, souvenir pack. Also available framed stamps, sheets, half sheets, postcards
offset

Stamps

•  Red 1, 1967
• Diamond Nine formation, 1968
• Gnats looping, 1976
• Gnats with Hawks, 1979
• Synchro Pair inverted pass, 2003
• Vixen Break manoeuvre, 2007
• Last flight with Vulcan XH558, 2015
• Coronation flypast, 2023

Souvenir sheet:

• Red Arrows over Niagara Falls, North America
• Red Arrows over Akrotiri coast, Cyprus
• Red Arrows over Paris, France
• Red Arrows over the Pyramids, Egypt

Gibraltar has released a set of stamps for the Red Arrow anniversary.

Designer: Interabang
Interabang also designed UK’s  DC Super Stamps set. 

Release date: June 20, 2024 

July

Dungeons and Dragons – 50th Anniversary

8 stamps, 6 stamps on souvenir sheet, 2 FDCs, 2 cancels, 3 fan sheets, 2 medallion covers, 2 prestige sets (the first one is a limited edition) 
Also available framed stamps, sheets, half sheets, postcards
offset

• Red Dragon
• Owlbear
• Vecna
• Gelatinous Cube
• Mind Flayer
• Mimic
• Displacer Beast
• Beholder

For the record, gelatinous cubes and the damn mimics are the most annoying creatures. 

Souvenir sheet stamps

• Tiefling Rogue
• Human Bard
• Halfling Cleric
• Elf Fighter
• Dwarf Paladin
• Dragonborn Wizard

Each stamp has a mystical “surprise” that can only be revealed by an UV light. This set includes 2 stamp replicas stamped on silver plate. Red Dragon and Beholder are available. 

The US post office also issued a substantial D&D set, this year.

Artwork: Wayne Reynolds
Designers: Common Curiosity and Royal Mail

Release date: July 25, 2024 

August

Union Flag

The first time the Union flag appeared on a stamp was in 2001.  

First stamp was part of a larger set Flags & Ensigns. Designed by Dick Davis. 

Designer: Royal Mail used Dick Davis‘ 2001 design, updating the profile. 

Release date: August 13, 2024 

Tower of London

6 stamps, 4 stamps on souvenir sheet, 2 FDCs, 2 cancels, presentation pack, medallion cover + special cancel
offset

• The White Tower
• Yeoman Warders
• Tower Green and The King’s House
• Traitors’ Gate
• St John’s Chapel
• A Raven of The Tower

Souvenir sheet, Sent to the Tower. shows 4 of the Tower’s “guests”

• Princes Edward and Richard
• Anne Boleyn
• Lady Jane Grey
• Sir Walter Raleigh

Tower of London | Historic Royal Palaces (hrp.org.uk) 

Designer: Studio Up

Release date: August 13, 2024

September

Porridge – 50th Anniversary

6 stamps, 2 FDCs, 2 cancels (including one from Fletchertown, nice touch), collector’s sheet, presentation pack.
Also available framed stamps, sheets, half sheets, postcards.
offset

• Second Class ‘I read a book once, green it was’
• Second Class ‘I treat you all with equal contempt’
• First Class ‘Born free, till somebody caught me’
• First Class ‘There is a thief among us’
• £2.00 ‘Little victories – yow told me that’
• £2.00 ‘Free eggs? More like half a dozen, mate’
• £2.50 ‘What, from here?’
• £2.50 ‘I sometimes wish I was in here with you lot’

Popular British tv sitcom from the ran between 1974 to 1977. It was followed by a brief sequel in 1978, Going Straight. 

Designer: Steers McGillan Eves

Release date: September 3, 2024 

26 September – Spiders

Release date: September 26, 2024

The Who

Release date: October 17, 2024 

Christmas 2024

Release date: November 5, 2024

Winston Churchill

Release date: November 30, 2024