[press release]
Royal Mail Reveals 2018 Christmas Special Stamps

• Six stamp designs celebrate one of the best-loved traditions of a UK Christmas – posting festive greetings to friends and family
• The humble postbox takes centre stage on all the 2018 Christmas Special Stamps
• Each postbox on the stamps features a cypher from the six Monarchs of the last one hundred years
• Gloucestershire based artist, Andrew Davidson, illustrated the images; since 1982, he has worked on over 12 stamp issues for Royal Mail
• Royal Mail’s Christmas stamps feature secular and religious imagery in alternate years
• Christmas stamps of the Madonna and Child at the 1st and 2nd Class rates will also be available from Post Offices
• Help Royal Mail’s postmen and women deliver this year’s festive mail by posting early this Christmas and using the postcode
• The stamps are on sale from 1 November 2018. They will be available atwww.royalmail.com/christmas2018, by phone on 03457 641 641 and in 7,000 Post Offices across the UK

Royal Mail has revealed the images of its 2018 Christmas Special Stamps.

The six stamp designs celebrate one of the UK’s best-loved Christmas traditions – sending festive greetings in the post to friends and family far and wide.

Available in 1st Class, 2nd Class, Large letter and overseas values, the images on the stamps were illustrated byGloucestershire-based artist, Andrew Davidson.

Whilst creating the images, Andrew discovered, that, in just over one hundred years, there have been six Monarchs, as such, each of the postboxes on the stamps features a Monarch’s cypher.

The postboxes vary in design – from the early hexagonal ‘Penfold’ design of the 19th century to contemporary postboxes and ‘lamp’ boxes (those affixed to posts) – all still in use today.

Andrew said: “Knowing my illustrations on the 2018 Christmas stamps will be winging their way around the world delivering Season’s Greetings to friends and family, gives me a real sense of festive joy.”

Since 1982, Andrew has worked on over 12 stamp issues for Royal Mail.

As is usual, religious Christmas stamps of the Madonna and Child in 1st Class and 2nd Class rates will also be available from Post Offices.

Post Early for Christmas
Royal Mail is encouraging customers to post their festive greetings early, and order their online gifts and shopping well in advance, to help its postmen and women deliver the bumper festive mailbag.
UK latest recommended posting dates for Christmas 2018 are:

• Tuesday 18 December for Second Class Mail
• Thursday 20 December for First Class Mail
• Saturday 22 December for Special Delivery

Further information is available at www.royalmail.com/greetings