Discworld Stamps

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Tonyblack

Super Moderator
City Watch
Jul 25, 2008
30,841
3,650
Cardiff, Wales
#1
I wasn't too sure where to post this, so I thought I'd post it here.

I know this won't be news to a lot of people here, but I'm certain that a lot of members will be unaware that the Discworld stamps that first appeared in Going Postal really exist.

Not only do they really exist there are new stamps being produced constantly and there are a lot of people collecting them.

The stamps can be purchased from the Cunning Artificer at The Discworld Emporium in various ways. One of the most fun ways to do this is to purchase a Little Brown Envelope (LBE) containing a mixture of the stamps with an occasional rarity or 'sport'.

A sport is a stamp that has a printing error - sometimes intentionally and sometimes accidentally that makes them rare and sought after. Some of them are feindishly difficult to spot. ;)

The stamps are little works of art in themselves and you can now get stamps from such places as Bad Blintz, Genua, Lancre, Sto Helite as well as Ankh-Morpork.

I am the fortunate owner of one of the very rarest items of Discworld Stamp epherma - the 'Harper Collins' Little Brown Envelope, which is considered to be the very first type of LBE ever issued.



When Going Postal was released in the US, Harper Collins had Bernard Pearson (the Cunning Artificer) send them around 15 blank envelopes each containing a whole set of the (then) brand new stamps to be used as prizes to bookstores with the best display of books. My wife Sharlene (swreader) was the owner of a book store in Tucson and she got one of these. Harper Collins had by then added a label and got Terry to sign them. It is not known exactly how many of these still exist - one of them was sold on eBay for $400. :eek:

Sharlene gave me the LBE as a birthday present, but I consider it belongs to the both of us. :laugh:

Here is that original set of stamps as described in Going Postal.

The Halfpenny Orange



The Penny Patrician



The Twopenny



The Fivepenny Blue



The Tenpenny Green



The One Dollar Tower of Art



The Five Dollar Blue Triangle




Please note - the differences in size have more to do with my scanning skills than actual size difference. :oops:
 

Dotsie

Sergeant-at-Arms
Jul 28, 2008
9,068
2,850
#2
Thanks for this Tony - could have done with it a couple of weeks ago, when I started trying to find out what all this stamp stuff meant!

Tempted to get an LBE myself (yes, i'd already worked that one out, plus the "sports"), but I fear where it would lead me... :eek:

So how many stamps are there now, do you know?
 

Dotsie

Sergeant-at-Arms
Jul 28, 2008
9,068
2,850
#4
Hmmm... is there a book as well to put them all in? Or will a Roundworld book do?
 

Tonyblack

Super Moderator
City Watch
Jul 25, 2008
30,841
3,650
Cardiff, Wales
#5
You can get an album from the address I supplied above, but a lot of people make their own. There are no hard and fast rules - although the use of stamp hinges is frowned upon.

Incidentally, collectors of Discworld stamps are called Flatalists. ;)

By all means order an LBE, but don't forget to save the actual envelope as the LBEs themselves have become collectors items. :laugh:

And in a mirror to the likes of Stanley from Going Postal - even the note that comes with the order is collected. :rolleyes:

By the way, there's talk of a 'Collectors Pack' being made available. This will take out the randomness of LBEs and allow collectors to have one of each stamp in a series.
 

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