VALUE MARKINGS(1)

Normalised Font

Over the years, as postage rates increased, more digits had to be crammed onto the stamp. Space was limited, forcing the use of alternative fonts.



The 19½p stamp from 1983 illustrates this problem well. In 1982 the designer Jeffery Mathews was commisioned to redesign the font. The first stamp to appear with this redesigned font was the 20½p stamp in March 1983. However it took several years before the transition had been completed.

The changes in style are illustrated above. The upper values illustrate the old style, the lower vlaues the revised style.



In most cases the change was brought in as postage rates, and hence stamp values, altered. However there are several cases where the same value / colour of stamp is available in both styles. This is either due to that particular value being long running, such as in the case of the 3p and 4p used as make-up values, or where the value appeared from a different source such as booklets. An example of the latter is the 26p value, illustrated above, which today commands a significant premium over the normal sheet stamp.