Post & Go at World Stamp Show

'The whole world is here!'. This was the welcoming message on a large poster placed at the World Stamp Show entrances. No wonder, since the New York exhibition was the greatest world philatelic event in recent years, and no one wanted to miss it.

In the large entrance hall, a Curtis JN-4H biplane welcomed all visitors. This is the same type of plane featured in the first airmail set issued in the US, and which was printed upside-down, by mistake. It is the famous 'Inverted Jenny' stamp.

The World Stamp Show - NY2016 was held from May 28th to June 4th 2016, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Centre, in New York, a spectacular exhibition and congress centre located west of Manhattan. The organization, with more than 500 volunteers from various countries, had the collaboration of the American Philatelic Society, the American Stamp Dealers Association and the United States Postal Service. This event was the continuation of a series of major world exhibitions held in the United States roughly every 10 years since 1913. The previous event was in Washington in 2006, and the next is scheduled for 2026, in Boston.
	This article is mainly devoted to the 'Post & Go' activity during the fair. A lot of general articles has already been published before, during and after the event, for those who want to know more about NY2016. But some figures and images can give us a better general idea of the importance of this show.

The organization expected between 250,000 and 300,000 visitors over the eight days. Despite the high cost of the booths, more than 200 international philatelic dealers and some 60 postal administrations were involved, although many of the philatelic services were represented by large philatelic companies (upper image). Among the philatelic services attending the show, related to our field of study, were the Nordic postal administrations (central image), and Chunghwa Post, the Taiwanese postal service, promoting the next great world philatelic exhibition - PHILATAIPEI 2016 (below), with new ATM issues! More than 100 groups and philatelic associations from around the world organized hundreds of activities, meetings, exhibitions and conferences. Among them, the Meter Stamp Society, and the presentation by Peter Elias dedicated to 'Alternate postage', an introduction to the different types of variable value stamp collecting.

Usually at world exhibitions, the philatelic passport invites visitors to call at postal administrations booths, and fill the pages with stamps and special postmarks and postal markings produced for the event.

The large stand of United States Postal Service was always very busy with daily issues of stamps and special postmarks.

The great philatelic championship displayed over 700 collections from 76 countries, with more than 4,000 frames, along with the major world philatelic publications. The philatelic exhibition also included the Court of Honour and some invited collections.
The organization gave a large space to the promotion of philately for beginners, both youth and adult.

The 'Post & Go' issues at the World Stamp Show - NY2016

On its first visit to a philatelic exhibition on the American continent, the 'Post & Go' project was represented, in New York, with a total of five Intelligent AR / Royal Mail Series II philatelic kiosks. Two Royal Mail units, the Royal Gibraltar Post Office, and the Guernsey and Jersey Post kiosks.

Royal Mail and Jersey Post

In front of the USPS stand, in a privileged place, the large booth of Herrick Stamp Co. This philatelic company represented fourteen postal administrations. Among them, Royal Mail and Jersey Post, which did not have their own booths. The 'Post & Go Services', with the two new Royal Mail (A011 & A012) and Jersey Post (JE01) kiosks, were installed along the booth side, facing the USPS area.

During the eight-day event, the two Royal Mail units issued variable value stamps printed on rolls of labels with the 'Union flag' definitive design and, in honour of the event’s host city, the 'New York - Statue of Liberty' design.

Like the 'Hong Kong' design, especially released for the Hong Kong 2015 exhibition (see article and VARIABLE 39), this design was part of the 'Sea Travel' series, issued for the first time in September 2015 (article and VARIABLE 38).
Unlike the rolls with the 'Hong Kong' design and other recent productions, printed digitally, the rolls with the 'New York' design were printed along with the rolls of the original series, in gravure.

The Royal Mail 'Post & Go' kiosks offered stamps with six different face value indicators, grouped in a set or 'Collectors strip'.
All the stamps issued during the New York show included the special imprint

World Stamp
Show NY2016

Since the issue was released in the United States, the code at the bottom of the stamps issued during the first four days of the event is B5US16 A011- or B5US16 A012-, depending on the kiosk used. From June 1st, the code changed to B6US16 A011- or B6US16 A012-.

In addition to the stamps issued in New York, Royal Mail sold 'Collectors strips' with both designs and the six programmed values, with the same special overprint. The code of the stamps issued in the UK is B5GB16 B001-.

Unusually for the UK 'Post & Go' stamps, the sales on both kiosks were surcharged with a 8.875% on the face value, corresponding to the sales tax (GST) in the city of New York.

First day receipt for the purchase of the two stamps for domestic mail - '1st Class up to 100g', available at the A012 kiosk

	Royal Mail prepared a special postal mark for the exhibition, available at the joint booth, featuring the event logo.

	In the UK, Royal Mail made available to collectors two pictorial commemorative postmarks, with the date of the World Stamp Show opening.

	Next to the Royal Mail kiosks, the JE01 Jersey Post unit issued stamps with the 'Jersey flag' definitive design and the new thematic 'The Crest of Jersey' set.

		During the New York World Stamp Show, Jersey Post also issued a special imprint, but with a small difference from the rest of 'Post & Go' issues - a blank space between 'NY' and '2016' World Stamp Show NY 2016 The stamps issued with 'The Crest of Jersey' also include a nice graphic design with the logo of the philatelic event. This design series was the only one, amongst all the 'Post & Go' designs used in New York, to allow the inclusion of the graphic. Since the issue was sold in the United States, and as Royal Mail stamps, the code at the bottom of the stamps issued during the first four days of the event is B5US16 JE01-. From June 1st the code changed to B6US16 JE01-. In addition to the stamps issued in New York, Jersey Post also put on sale 'Collectors strips' with both combinations and the six programmed values, printed with the internal usage printer B002. The code of these stamps is B5JE16 B002- (images below). The special overprint on these stamps is identical to other 'Post & Go' commemorative issues from the show.

The stamps issued by the Jersey Post 'Post & Go' kiosk were sold with a 8.875% surcharge on the face value, because the sales tax in New York City.

Jersey Post also made available to visitors a special postal mark, available at the Herrick Stamp Co booth.

Guernsey Post and Royal Gibraltar Post Office

Guernsey and Gibraltar philatelic services both shared a booth in the 'A walk around the world' / postal administrations area.

There was however something not quite right. There was plenty of space but about twenty philatelic services were squeezed into small booths, some of which were shared.

Quite possibly the organizers expected the participation of a much larger number of postal administrations, but the costs were too high. Despite the relevance of the philatelic event, many offices decided not to go to New York, whilst others were there represented by a local philatelic company.

The Guernsey and Gibraltar postal kiosks were installed facing each other, in front of the small booth.
A very small space, with awkward access, because of the constant presence of visitors. This contrasted with the spacious hall and large empty spaces.

On the left, the GG01 Guernsey Post unit. On the right, the GI01 Royal Gibraltar Post Office kiosk, temporarily moved to New York from its usual location, in Gibraltar House, London.

	The GG01 kiosk of Guernsey Post issued stamps with the 'Guernsey flag' definitive design and the new thematic 'Bailiwick Life' series, first released in February 2016, during the recent London Spring Stampex.

A common factor with all 'Post & Go' issues at New York, as well as the Guernsey Post stamps issued during the World Stamp Show included the special imprint

World Stamp
Show NY2016

The code at the bottom of the stamps issued during the first four days of the event is B5US16 GG01-. From June 1st the code changed to B6US16 GG01-.

In addition to the stamps issued in New York, Guernsey Post sold sets or 'Collectors strips' with both combinations and the six programmed values, printed with the internal usage printer B002. The code at the bottom of these stamps is B5GG16 B002-.

All the stamps issued by the 'Post & Go' kiosk of Guernsey Post were sold with a 8.875% surcharge on the face value, the sales tax in New York City.


Guernsey Post made available to visitors, quite rightly, a special postmark dated for the first day of the exhibition (above), and a commemorative large size postal mark featuring the event logo (right).

Gibraltar post office took advantage of the visit to New York to introduce a new 'Post & Go' design. Complementary to the earlier issue dedicated to the Year of the Monkey, launched during London Spring Stampex 2016, the new design depicts a cute image of a couple of Gibraltar Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus), one of the most important tourist attractions of the Rock.

The designer is Stephen Perera, from a photo by Jarrad M Yates. The rolls of thermal labels were manufactured by Cartor Security Printing, with digital printing.

The Royal Gibraltar Post Office GI01 kiosk issued stamps with the two new designs released in 2016, the 'Year of the Monkey' and the 'Gibraltar macaques'.

Although the initial news announced that the new design would be issued without the special event imprint, all the stamps issued during the first day of issue included the usual commemorative imprint World Stamp Show NY2016

The special overprint on this design was removed the next day, May 29th, and remained with no imprint up to the end of the event (right column, below). The code at the bottom of the stamps issued during the first four days of the event is B5US16 GI01-. From June 1st, the code changed to B6US16 GI01-.

Although the new 'Gibraltar macaques' design is intended to be used for the printing of local mail stamps, and the 'Year of the Monkey' for international mail, RGPO decided to unify postal rates programmed at the kiosk installed in New York, and offered a temporary unique set or 'Collectors strip' which brings together the five postage rates, up to 50 grams, for the five postal areas established in Gibraltar: Local, Spain, UK, Europe and rest of the world.


	The Gibraltar Philatelic Bureau also produced a World Stamp Show commemorative postal mark.
	A small group of macaques lives in the New York Central Park Zoo. They had the opportunity to meet their Gibraltar distant relative through this maximum card.

Goodbye, New York !