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238Volume46No.5 April 2017M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M

New Issues - ‘Music Giants II: David Bowie’ special stamps

Related philatelic issuesspecial issue: SI 2017(3)source: CS 2017(3)on sale: 14 March 2017

stamp values: 3 each 1st-class and £1.52set value: £6.48

printer: Walsall Security Printers (ISP)process: gravure - Cerutti

stamp size: 34.5mm x 31.5mm sheet size: 25 (5 x 5)

paper/gum: OFNP/SAphosphor: 2 x 9mm vignetted bars

perf. gauge: 14¾ x 14¾perf. type: simulated kiss die-cut, stripped matrix

David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of

Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from

Mars was one of ten Classic Album Covers

stamps released in January2010.Theseestablished the style

used for similar musical tributes since then,

including a set for Pink Floydin2016.

The second ‘Music Giants’ stamp issue pays tribute to one of the most influential British

music and cultural figures of all time who, in addition, had a rare ability to foresee upcoming trends, David Bowie. This is the first time Royal Mail has devoted an entire stamp issue to an individual music artist; prior to this, only two groups have had such an honour, namely The Beatles in 2007 and Pink Floyd in 2016. Bowie died on 10 January 2016, only days after turning 69 and the release of his 25th studio album, Blackstar, having kept his illness a secret from the world; he had only discovered his cancer was terminal three months before he died.

Born David Robert Jones in the London suburb of Brixton on 8 January 1948, his early attempts to break into the music world, influenced by his older half-brother Terry, remained undistinguished; he led a group called Davy Jones and the Lower Third, even recording several singles. Out of fear of being confused with Davy Jones of The Monkees, David changed his last name to Bowie, a name that was inspired by the knife developed by the 19th century American pioneer Jim Bowie. Indeed, he might well have become a Buddhist monk had it not been for the success of Space Oddity in 1969, a song and eponymous album inspired after seeing Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Bowie’s next album, The Man Who Sold the World (1970), further catapulted him to stardom. The record offered up a heavier rock sound than anything Bowie had done before and included the song All the Madmen, about his institutionalized brother. His 1972 album, based on a doomed rock star, Ziggy Stardust, made him a superstar. He toured to promote the album with an

elaborate stage act transformed into his alter ego, dressed in wild costumes that spoke of some kind of wild future. This established him as a leader of glam-rock in the mid-1970s and he continued in the same vein with the album Aladdin Sane (1973).

But Bowie was a musical chameleon, and by the middle of the decade he had undergone a full-scale makeover, abandoning the outrageous costumes and garish sets. In the space of two short years he released the albums David Live (1974) and Young Americans (1975). In 1980, now living in New York, Bowie released Scary Monsters, a much-praised album that featured the single Ashes to Ashes, a sort of updated version of his earlier Space Oddity. Three years later, he recorded Let’s Dance (1983), an album that contained a bevy of hits such as the title track, Modern Love and China Girl.

Bowie’s interests were not restricted to music, however. His love of film helped land him the title role in The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976), The Hunger (1983), Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), Labyrinth (1986) and The Prestige (2006). He also took the title role in in an American stage production of The Elephant Man (1980-81).

In later life, Bowie bounced back and forth between acting and music, but apart from a couple of modest hits, his musical career certainly seemed to languish. He recovered from an onstage heart attack in 2004, and was the recipient of a Grammy Lifetime

Achievement Award in 2006. He then kept a low profile until the release of his 2013 album The Next Day, which rocketed to No. 2 on the Billboard charts. His final album Blackstar, released two days before his death, was described by his producer and friend, Tony Visconti, as ‘his parting gift’ and has since been showered with awards.

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239 Volume46No.5April 2017M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M B P C M

New Issues - ‘Music Giants II: David Bowie’ special stamps ...continued

CS number Values Grid positions Barcodes Stock codes Stamps contained NotesCS 2017(3)A 1st-class 1 & 2 5 014721 143460 NVIF DBA SI 2017(3)A.1CS 2017(3)B 1st-class 1 & 2 5 014721 143477 NVIF DBB SI 2017(3)B.1CS 2017(3)C 1st-class 1 & 2 5 014721 143484 NVIF DBC SI 2017(3)C.1CS 2017(3)D £1.52 1 & 2 5 014721 143491 P152 DBA SI 2017(3)D.1CS 2017(3)E £1.52 1 & 2 5 014721 143507 P152 DBB SI 2017(3)E.1CS 2017(3)F £1.52 1 & 2 5 014721 143514 P152 DBC SI 2017(3)F.1

Sheet details

Sheet layout & position grids | Six different counter sheets of 25 stamps were produced, one for each design. As the grid positions in the left margins show, each of the three 1st-class and three £1.52 values were printed in its own primary sheet of 50 stamps, composed of vertical pairs of counter sheets, separated by gutters. The diagram above

shows the layout of a counter sheet with the positions of the phosphor bars (at 75% of actual size).

As the stamps were self-adhesive, the stamps were kiss die-cut with gauge 14¾ x 14¾ simulated perforations including small straight sections adjacent to the black vinyl LP emerging from

All six designs

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Stamp details

The design of this set of six stamps was credited to

‘Royal Mail Group Ltd, based on an original design by Studio Dempsey’. In effect, they are based on the same concept evolved by Dempsey in January 2010 for the Classic Album Covers set, where one stamp already featured the 1972 David Bowie album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (see image on page 238). Mike Dempsey set up the studio bearing his name in 2007 after running the highly successful design consultancy Carroll, Dempsey and Thirkell, which he formed in 1979 following a decade in publishing. The studio is located just off London’s Farringdon Road (EC1), not far from the Mount Pleasant mail centre. He was responsible for the overall design and art direction of the set of 48 Millennium stamps in 1999. In 2009, Studio Dempsey designed the Plants/Kew Gardens Action for species set. Mike has also had a hand in many other stamp issues, including Victorian Britain (1987), Transport & Communication (1988) and Sounds of Britain (2006), not to mention the PiP Machin definitives in 2006 and the stamps that no doubt inspired these, the books of unreleased, experimental red or blue Machins suited for the blind, with very large, bold 1 or 2 numerals.

Like last year’s Pink Floyd set, the new stamps are still printed in gravure on self-adhesive paper by Walsall. The design concept is identical, showing an album cover from which emerges a black vinyl LP record. Also like the Pink Floyd stamps, these have the Queen’s head and value reversed out of the album background in white, apart from one design where this is not possible, but in this case these are now printed in grey rather than go to the expense, as in 2016, of an additional silver cylinder. Last year’s set managed to have some uniformity with the Queen’s head and value placed in the same corners on each stamp whereas this year there are three different combinations. The stamps

the record cover. The sheet was rouletted (as in definitive sheets) to allow individual stamps to be removed and the matrix around the stamps was stripped away, leaving only left and right sheet margins. Security backing paper was not used for this issue.

Cylinder Numbers | Each sheet shows the following cylinder numbers in the left-hand selvedge (from top to bottom): W1 (phosphor), W1 (black), W1 (yellow), W1 (magenta), W1 (cyan).

have the same dimensions, 34.5mm x 31.5mm, including the protuding record; they also have two vignetted 9mm phosphor bars which stop along the simulted perforations on the right-hand side. Being printed in gravure, there is no micro-printed year of production ‘2017’ as on litho-printed stamps but the date is reversed out of the bottom of the phosphor bar on the side opposite to the face value, as shown in the example below.

Several Royal Mail publications, such as first, show pre-production images of the six sheet stamps all with 1st-class values and £1.33 for the two higher value stamps on the miniature sheet. It was no doubt felt that increasing the price of five of the ten stamps to £1.52 was commercially more viable.

The stamps produced for official FDCs are produced in special coils to facilitate application. These have a sideways right direction of printing (i.e. printed from left to right) rather than inverted (printed from top to bottom) as on the counter sheet stamps but normally exist only in used condition. Note that the counter sheet stamps are catalogued as SI 2017(3)x.1 whereas those from the FDC coils are catalogued as SI 2017(3)x.2

• 1st-class (64p) SI 2017(3)A.1

Hunky DoryBowie’s4thalbum,releasedinDecember1971,includes

Changes and Life on Mars.Time magazine chose it as part of their‘100bestalbumsofalltime’listinJanuary2010.GeorgeUnderwood’salbumcoverdesignwasinfluencedbyaMarleneDietrichphotobookthatBowietookwithhimtothephotoshoot.

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• 1st-class (64p) SI 2017(3)B.1

Aladdin SaneBowie’s 6th album, released in April 1973, includes The Jean

Genie and Drive in Saturday.ThealbumwasamongsixBowieentries in Rolling Stone magazine’s 2003 list of the 500 greatest albumsofalltime.ComingafterZiggy Stardust,itwasthefirst

albumhewroteandreleasedfromapositionofstardom.

• 1st-class (64p) SI 2017(3)C.1

“Heroes”HistwelfthstudioalbumwasreleasedinOctober1977.Thiswasthe second instalment of his ‘Berlin Trilogy’ recorded with Brian EnoandTonyVisconti.ThetitletrackremainsoneofBowie’sbestknownandacclaimedsongs.Thealbumwasincludedin

the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

• £1.52 (European 100g airmail rate)

SI 2017(3)D.1 Let’s DanceLet’s Dancewashis15thstudioalbum,releasedinApril1983.

Coproduced by Nile Rodgers, it featured three of his most successful singles Let’s Dance, Modern Love and China Girl. Althoughhisbestsellingalbumwith10.7mcopiesworldwide,

Bowie later stated that it’s success caused him to hit a creative lowpointinhiscareerwhichlastedthenextfewyears.


SI 2017(3)E.1 EarthlingHis20thstudioalbum,releasedinFebruary1997,wasthefirst

Bowie had self-produced since Diamond Dogs. Not a major commercial success and taking only 2½ weeks to record,

Bowie compared this opus with his 1980 album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps),callingitaneffort“to produce some really

dynamic, aggressive-sounding material.”


SI 2017(3)F.1 BlackstarBowie’sfinalstudioalbumwasreleasedon8thJanuary2016tocoincidewithhis69thbirthday.Bowiediedtwodaysafteritsrelease.InFebruary2017,atthe59thAnnualGrammyAwards,thealbumwonawardsforBestAlternativeMusicAlbum;BestEngineeredAlbum,Non-Classical;BestRecordingPackage,

and the title single won Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song.ThealbumalsowontheBritishAlbumoftheYearaward

atthe2017BritAwards,alsoheldinFebruary.

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special issue: SI 2017(3)source: MS 2017(2)on sale: 14 March 2017

stamp values: 2 each 1st-class & £1.52 special issuesset value: £4.32

printer: Cartor Security Printing (ISP)process: lithography - Heidelberg Speedmaster

stamp size: 35mm x 35mmsheet size: 125mm x 89mm (including 10mm white tab)

paper/gum: OFNP(C)/PVAlphosphor: 2 x 9mm vignetted bars

perf. gauge: 14½ x 14½

Miniature sheet - MS 2017(2)

• 1st-class (64p) SI 2017(3)G

The Ziggy Stardust Tour, 1973This tour promoted the Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane

albums,takingintheUK,NorthAmericaandJapan.182showsbetween29.01.72and03.07.73;phototakeninLondon.

• 1st-class (64p) SI 2017(3)H

The Serious Moonlight Tour, 1983Designed to support the Let’s Dance album, this was Bowie’s longest,largestandmostsuccessfulconcerttour.96showsbetween18.05.83and08.12.83;phototakeninBrussels.

Where to look for the hidden micro-printed ‘2017’ dates

‘David Bowie Live’ miniature sheet with the 10mm wide rouletted white tab at left (shown at 75% of actual size). The same sheet without the tab was produced by Royal Mail for use on official FDCs and for inclusion in presentation packs.

The background image is taken from the 1987 ‘Glass Spider Tour’, launched to promote the album Never Let Me Down.

As with last year’s Pink Floyd issue, the six counter sheet stamps were complemented with a further four stamps in miniature sheet format featuring some of Bowie’s best-remembered live performances. It was designed by Royal Mail Group Ltd. With a touring history spanning 43 years (1966 – 2008), Bowie travelled 570,620 miles to perform almost 1,000 concerts. He played most often in London, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New

York and Detroit, appearing on numerous occasions with artists such as Mick Ronson, Nine Inch Nails and Iggy Pop. The stamp images were chosen among his fourteen major world tours between 1972 and 2004.

On 10 January 2017, the first anniversary of David Bowie’s passing, a large ensemble of his past collaborators and touring musicians performed a memorable concert in his honour at NYC’s Terminal 5. It could have been a solemn occasion but the atmosphere was joyous from the opening notes of Rebel Rebel right through to the finale of Under Pressure over three hours later. “We’re going to celebrate somebody who we love very much,” said keyboardist Mike Garson, who served as the MC for the evening. “He

affected every one of our lives in many levels and layers more than we know. I treasure his music.”

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special issue: SI 2017(3)source: MS 2017(3), (4) and (5)on sale: 14 March 2017

stamp values: 5 identical 1st-class special issuesretail price: £7.50 (face value £3.20)


stamp size: 34.5mm x 31.5mmsheet size: 223mm x 188mm


perf. gauge: 14¾ x 14¾


SI 2017(3)I The Stage Tour, 1978Also known as ‘Isolar II – The 1978 World Tour’, it was staged

to promote Bowie’s Low and “Heroes”albums.77showsbetween29.03.78and12.12.78;phototakeninFrankfurt.


SI 2017(3)J A Reality Tour, 2004Staged to promote the Reality album, this was to be Bowie’s lasttour.113showsbetween07.10.03and23.07.04;photo

takeninNewport,IsleofWight.

Miniature sheets - MS 2017(3), (4) and (5)

special issue: SI 2017(3)source: MS 2017(6)on sale: 14 March 2017

stamp values: 3 each 1st-class & £1.52 special issuesretail price: £12.95 (face value £6.48)


stamp size: 34.5mm x 31.5mmsheet size: 223mm x 188mm


perf. gauge: 14¾ x 14¾

Miniature sheet - MS 2017(6)

Going one step further than last year’s Pink Floyd ‘maxi sheet’ which contained ten copies of the Dark Side of the Moon stamp, Royal Mail issued several items unashamedly aimed at Bowie fans rather than stamp collectors. ‘Maxi sheet’ has now become ‘Fan sheet’ and this time there are four of them! They still sell for more or less twice face value, which would normally disqualify them from being catalogued. The problem is that the stamps they contain are printed in litho by Cartor, conventionally gummed and comb perforated and so differ totally from the standard self-adhesive Walsall productions, despite assurances by Royal Mail that the stamps would be ‘no different’ (see also Hanns Fasching’s interesting article on page 277). As such, they are new stamps and have therefore been catalogued as SI 2017(3)A.3 to F.3. The sheets are also assimilated to miniature sheets and are catalogued as MS 2017(3) to (6).

They consist of three parts - a black outer sleeve which includes a central cut-out hole through which can be seen the orange circular imprint (as shown below) on the second element, a white inner sleeve, and finally the fan sheet itself (see images on the following page).

The white text at the bottom gives

details of the printer, designer, process,

format, perforations, gum and phosphor,

plus a copyright notice. The

perforation gauge is given as 13 x 13 which is obviously incorrect as with this gauge there

would be 21 holes, but these stamps

have 23 holes, so is 14¾ x 14¾.

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‘The Berlin Years’ souvenir cover - £24.99Another item destined for hardened fans – this cover, a limited edition of 3,000, marked the city’s influence on Bowie’s life and art during the closing years of the 1970s when he produced his ‘Berlin trilogy’ – Low, “Heroes” and Lodger. One vendor on eBay in early March claimed it was already sold out and was asking £85 for it!

Sold at £7.50, the ‘Hunky Dory Fan Sheet’ (above) and the ‘“Heroes” Fan Sheet’ (above, right) each contained five identical 1st-class stamps in a limited

edition of 7,500 numbered sheets on pre-order. They obviously proved less popular as they were both still available on the Royal Mail website shop a week

before the official release date but even these had sold out by then.

Neither these Fan Sheets (“the ultimate must-have item for any Bowie aficionado” - RM) nor the souvenir cover mentioned opposite were featured in Royal Mail’s publication for stamp collectors, first. Such items are destined exclusively for the ‘fan’ market and have nothing whatsoever to do with paying postage.

Please note that some illustrations of stamps used in this account (and those of other issues) are supplied by Royal Mail

and are reproduced here for the clarity of their artwork but they nearly always fail to show accurate perforations.

Sold at £12.95, the ‘Album Art Fan Sheet’ contained all six counter sheet designs; a limited edition of 10,000 numbered sheets, the first 2,500 were used as part of another retail product, a ‘Stamp Art Souvenir Folder’, sold at £29.99.

The remaining 7,500 sheets were on pre-order and almost immediately sold out.

MS 2017(3)5 containingfive

copies of SI 2017(3)C.3


copies of SI 2017(3)B.3


copies of SI 2017(3)A.3

Sold at £7.50, the ‘Aladdin Sane Fan Sheet’ contained five identical 1st-class stamps in a limited edition of 7,500 numbered sheets on pre-order and quickly

sold out.

LATE NEWS: On the official day of issue, 14 March, these sheets had a buy-it-now price of £150 each on eBay although they were

subsequently reduced.

MS 2017(3)6 containing single copies of SI 2017(3)A.3, B.3, C.3, D.3, E.3 and F.3

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on sale: 14 March 2017pack number: 538value at issue: £11.30stamp values: 3 each 1st-class and £1.52 plus MSpack printer: CPI Colour

The illustrated presentation pack (shown below at 75% of actual size) was the work of design agency Supple Studio and, with the help of numerous illustrations, charts the principal stages in Bowie’s music and acting careers. The text is by British actor, director and writer, Nicholas Pegg. He is a noted authority on the life and work of David Bowie and is the author of the book The Complete David Bowie. He was consultant on the 2013 BBC TV documentary David Bowie: Five Years, and in the same year he contributed to the Victoria and Albert Museum’s exhibition David Bowie Is. He appeared as a Bowie expert in the 2007 TV documentary series Seven Ages of Rock. The miniature sheet is included in a standard black carrier enclosed in a separate printed card headed ‘DAVID BOWIE LIVE!’ in red capitals as if placarded outside a concert hall. The pack was printed by CPI Colour (FSC C016486) and the barcode is 143989.

A set of eleven postcards was available, ten showing an individual enlarged image of one of the different stamps in the set plus another showing the complete miniature sheet. Priced at £4.95, they were printed by Pureprint Group. Each card shows barcode 143880 and the set reference is PHQ 426.

The Royal Mail first day envelope was priced at 30p. Also designed by Supple Studio, this features a 1974 black and white photo by Terry O’Neill of Bowie sitting in a chair over which his surname is superimposed in gold in the same style as it appears on the Let’s Dance album from 1983 (shown on stamp D). The enclosed filler card provides a timeline of specific and important milestones in Bowie’s career and is written by Nicholas Pegg. The two different pictorial ‘first day of issue’ postmarks available for this stamp issue are shown below. The Tallents House FDI postmark features a black star superimposed on a record from his final studio album, Blackstar. The alternative postmark features the lightning bolt in a nod to his make-up on the Aladdin Sane album cover. London SW9 was chosen for the alternative postmark because this is the postcode for Brixton, Bowie’s birthplace.

Personalised serviced covers bearing the six special stamps cost £8.20 or £5.60 with the miniature sheet. Unaddressed FDCs for either of these two options (stamp souvenirs) cancelled with the London SW9 postmark were available from Tallents House for 90 days after issue at the same prices. Note that the FDC stamps have a different direction of printing (see page 240).

First day covers & stamp souvenirs

Stamp cards

Presentation pack

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