The very first Tolkien related stamps were the UK Royal Mail Tolkien Centenary stamps issued on 27th October 1992 celebrating Tolkiens 100th anniversary. The stamps themselves are not commemorative but definitive stamps i.e the stamps do not feature anything about Tolkien but are general issue stamps. However these stamps were issued in a special Tolkien Prestige Booklet.
K & Q- Aragorn & Galadriel
The Prestige Booklet is a glossy booklet with pages about Tolkien and with four panes of stamps, each pane having a block of stamps together with a Tolkien image.
These are some examples pages:
January
Stamp Pane 1 has 6 brown 24 pence (phosphor coated) stamps with a Hobbit book and Map illustration, Pane 2 has 6 green 18 pence (centre phosphor) stamps with a Two Towers book and manuscript illustration, Pane 3 has 8 various value stamps with Silmarillion Heraldic illustrations and Pane 4 has 6 brown 24 pence (phosphor coated) stamps with a parchment illustration.
Qs-Galadriel & Shelob
On the day of issue, 27th October 1992, First Day Covers were available. These are envelopes with the stamps on the front which have been officially cancelled by the Royal Mail with an official postmark for the issue date. Special postmarks must be authorised by the UK Royal Mail and consist of an image and a place of issue in the UK.
The Royal Mail had 2 commemorative postmarks for the stamps, one was an Elf Messenger image by Tolkien from Talents House Edinburgh (the address of the Royal Mails Philatelic Bureau) and the second was an Oxford image from Oxford.
The Royal Mails official cover features an image of the front of the Prestige Booklet itself and featured the stamp block of the mixed pane 3 from the booklet.
As well as the official Royal Mail postmarks, there were 3 other authorised postmarks released specially to commemorate Tolkien. There was also 1 other postmark issued for the release but this was not Tolkien specific. It should be noted that postmarks for all local post offices around the country are also first day covers, but these are not anything special and not generally collected, although there are some very specific ones given below.
K & Q- Sauron & Shelob
All these postmarks can be found on the Royal Mail official cover with the mixed pane 3 stamps (although I don’t have a picture of the Coventry postmark).
I also believe that full sets of all 4 of the panes stamps were available on the Royal Mail official cover for all of the Tolkien specific postmarks, here is one example, with Cambridge postmarks.
Bs- Gandalf & Treebeard
This is a Royal Mail official cover with the set of the full panes with the 4 different Tolkien postmarks.
Bs- Saruman & Gollum
As well as the official cover, there were also various organisations which produced covers for the release. It should be noted that first day covers for these can be classed as a; a single cover featuring the pane 3, b; a mixed set of 4 covers featuring all the 4 panes with the 4 different Places postmarks (there can be variations of this with different postmarks on different panes), I have not found any other covers which feature the Talents House postmark, and c; single postmark sets with 4 covers featuring all the 4 panes with the same postmark. In theory there are a possible 4 sets for each cover, one set for each postmark (which would then, by default, give you mixed sets of every combination).
The first is the Cotswold Covers stamp organisation. Their cover has a ‘C’ left edge, Centenary title and Tolkien monogram. So far I have seen examples of a mixed set of postmarks and 3 of the 4 full sets of the same postmarks.
Ps Hobbit & Orc
Next is the Stuart Covers stamp organisation. Their cover has similar to the Cotswold but only has a Centenary title and Tolkien monogram. So far I have seen 3 of the 4 full sets of the same postmarks.
Kns- Bilbo & Frodo
Next is the Presentation Philatelic Services stamp organisation. Their cover has wizard in the woods image with a Tolkien title. So far I have seen examples of a mixed set of postmarks and 3 of the 4 full sets of the same postmarks.
Kns- Bilbo & Frodo
Next is the Bentham Covers stamp organisation. They produced 2 very similar sets of covers.
The first set has 4 different generic colour scenes with gold borders and a Centenary title. I believe that this was only produced with the mixed set of postmarks.
Kns- Ring Wraiths
The second set is very similar, with the 4 different generic colour scenes with gold borders and a Centenary title, but it also has details of some of the individual stamps. The covers then have those individual stamps on them with a mixed set of postmarks.
Kns- Ring Wraiths
Next is the Bradbury stamp organisation. Their cover is black with a large wizard image engraved in silver. I believe that this was only produced with the mixed set of postmarks.
Rs- Rivendale & Smial
Next is the Pilgrim stamp organisation. Their cover has the Tolkien monogram, a Tolkien Centenary and details about of booklet. I have only these with a Cambridge Postmark and a Bagendon Postmark.
Rs- Rivendale & Smial
Next is the J H Covers stamp organisation. Their set features 4 different Tolkien scenes illustrated and coloured by Fiona Vickery. I have only seen these with the mismatched postmarks shown in the image. These covers could be limited to as few as 8.
Rs- Barad-dur & Minas Morgul
Those are all the Tolkien specific covers I have identified, there are also a few other interesting first day covers, featuring the stamps, which are not Tolkien related.
These are a set of Heraldic design covers. I do not know much detail on these. They feature 4 different local postmarks.
Rs- Barad-dur & Minas Morgul
This is a single Royal Airforce cover featuring pane 3. It has a forces post office postmark.
This is a single Festiniog Railway cover featuring pane 3. It has a Caernarforn postmark and also Festiniog Railway postmark.
These is one other interesting oddity I have found, this is a British Postmark cover specifically for the Meriden postmark. It does not feature any of the Tolkien stamps, just 2 generic definitive stamps, with the postmark.
Ps Hobbits & Orcs
The stamps also featured in 2 of the Royal Mail Bulletin magazines. On the cover and a 3 page article of the September 1992 issue, specially about the stamp issue, and a 4 page article in the October 1992 issue, a more general article about Tolkien but also featuring the stamps.
2027 box lid & label.
Finally there are a few promotional items. Firstly are some Royal Mail posters promoting the release. There is an English and Welsh version of the main poster and an alternative design. These are all A4 size.
These are a couple of promotional press flyers, one in colour and one in black and white.
2027 set flyer
These are all the collectable items I have identified for these stamps, if anybody knows of anything else then please let me know.
AndyBirdUK This is a great article, I had no idea there was so much variety for this booklet, and has given me some items to look for.
I believe from a stamp collector's point of view that some of the stamps in the booklet, were only issued in that booklet, and so the booklet is also quite collectable by stamp collectors, just for the stamps.
You can still pick some of these lovely covers up at a fair price. I am tempted myself TBH. I have the prestige booklet, but all the various covers are just fantastic:
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