IRELAND ATMs. The SOAR issues in 2020

20205, 'A History of Ireland in 100 Objects, a selection' (4th part)

An Post released the fourth part of the ninth definitive stamp series 'A history of Ireland in 100 objects' in 2020. This interesting series, based on Fintan O'Toole's book of the same name, was first released in 2017 (see article, published in VARIABLE 44) and each following year has featured a selection of outstanding objects relating to the history of the country.

The 2020 set is made up of eight new designs, initially issued in the SOAR (Stamps On A Roll) format. As with the earlier sets, some of the designs will also be released in booklets and in coils of 'traditional stamps' throughout the year.

This new definitive set was announced for July 23rd 2020 (20205 is the ordinal date, in the format YYDDD - 20 for the year, and 205 the number of the day, starting with January 1st as day 1). Fortunately, and unlike what happened in 2019, the new rolls arrived at the Dublin GPO in the afternoon of the first day, allowing the printing of variable value stamps with that date.

The manufacturer of the rolls of labels is CCL Label Ireland Ltd., with identical characteristics to the earlier series. The labels were designed by Zinc Design Consultants. The rolls have 600 self-adhesive labels with the pre-printed design, the country name - 'Éire', and upright sequential numbers (going from 1 to 600) in the lower right-hand corner.

The post offices counters are equipped with a computer system managed by the Escher Risposte platform, printing variable value stamps with an Epson TM-J7500 thermal printer (left image). In addition to the face value there is the date of purchase in ordinal format, and a unique identifier code for each stamp. The system can also include text indicating the shipment type (i.e. StandardPost, RegisteredPost, ExpressPost, ExpressPost w/Sig, etc.).

Variable rate stamps - ATMs	Pre-printed stamps
		1. The Ballinderry Sword, a mid-ninth century Viking sword found in Ballinderry, Co. Westmeath in 1928 (see maximum card). 2. The four-metre long Waterford Charter Roll, dating from 1215 to 1373, contains documents or transcripts relating to Waterford. 3. The original 15^th or 16^th century Gallowglass Gravestone still sits in a graveyard in Clonca, Co Donegal. 4. The Robert Emmet’s Ring, cut in Dublin in the 1790’s.
		5. In the 19^th century the Cooking Pot became an essential household item throughout the country. 6. The 1911 Titanic Launch Ticket which belonged to David Moneypenny who was a ship’s painter. 7. The Washing Machine became widely available in the 1950’s after homes were connected to water and electricity. 8. Intel launched their Pentium processor in 1994 and more than half of the world’s processor production was based at the Intel factory in Leixlip.
		As in 2019 (see article, published in VARIABLE 52), the rolls included an unexpected and certainly strange surprise. Again, in a sequence that is repeated every 16 labels, the rolls include the eight new designs plus another set of four designs that appear ... duplicated!. This set is made up of four commemorative designs that were issued as 'traditional' gummed stamps in 2019.

This commemorative set in SOAR format includes the 'Centenary of the first transatlantic flight' design, initially issued on June 13th 2019, one of four stamps in the 'Carnegie Libraries' tribute series, issued on August 8th, one of four stamps in the 'Culture Night' series, issued on September 5th, and the 'A stamp for Ireland' design, issued on February 4th. The images show the versions of the 'traditional' stamps and their equivalents in SOAR format, with the date of issue in this format.

The Philatelic Bureau sells two strips of four self-adhesive stamps with the eight new definitive designs, as well as a third strip of four stamps with the commemorative designs, all having the information preprinted by offset digital (HP Indigo). The information in the right-hand block is identical on all stamps - The unique face value (1.00 EUR - current basic rate for domestic mail - see the table below), the date of issue (20205 - the first day of issue), and the 11-digit code below (02501000001). By the way, this code is the same as that printed on all the SOAR designs sold by the Philatelic Bureau. Only the upright numbering, going from 1 to 12, at the right hand edge is different for each design. The Philatelic Bureau also produced pictorial first day covers with the eight definitive designs only (image below).