Quick links to the other parts of the article
Introduction
Covers Part 1
Covers Part 2

This is the fourth, and last, article looking at the UK Royal Mail Lord of the Rings 50th Anniversary Stamps. It is looking at some of the remaining First Day Cover bits and pieces not featured in the previous articles.

We saw in the previous articles the special postmarks issued from the release, however there are also general postmarks. These are the regular postmarks used by every post office in the country and of course were used on the Lord of the Rings release date, therefore any item with the Lord of the Rings stamps franked with a general postmark on that date is officially a First Day Cover, however these are not really as collectable as special Postmarks, although some from Tolkien related places are of interest. Here is an example of an official cover with a general postmark, The Shires, Leicester.

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Next we have some First Day Covers which are double release covers. These are from Buckingham Covers and the cover is for the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings Movie with the Isle of Man stamps release. However a set of these covers were also produce featuring the UK 50th Lord of the Rings stamps as well. There were 8 covers in the set, each cover is the same but has a different Isle of Man stamp, 4 of the covers has half the UK stamps on and the other 4 the rest of the UK stamps.

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Some of these covers were produced officially signed by the Movie actors. I have seen ones by Ian McKellen and by Christopher Lee.

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This is a cover produced by a company as a company promotion to some of their clients. This Dermal cover has halve the set of stamps on it and the official Oxford postmark.

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This is a first day cover for Great Ormond Street with a set of Peter Pan stamps from 2002 but also with a single Lord of the Rings 50th stamp with Myth and Magic Treeton Postmark.

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Meter Marks are pre-paid postage marking which companies use instead of stamps, they include the name of the company and the specific date they were used. Although an envelope does not have to include any stamps when these are used some covers have been produced with the Lord of the Rings stamps alongside the Meter Marks for the specific release date for some companies relevant to Tolkien.

I have identified some examples of these from various Tolkien related companies on the main Royal Mail Cover and on the Cotswolds Cover with various Postmarks.

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As mentioned before, any posted item with a release day Postmark is a first day issue, not just envelopes, and another collectable is first day issues of the Royal Mails Postcards of the stamps. This is where each Postcard has the corresponding stamp on it and a Postmark franked on the release day.

As with the covers, there are variations of these.

Firstly there is the Postcards where the cards all have one specific Postmark. I have seen these with the Oxford Postmark and with the Tolkien Society Postmark.

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Next there is the Postcards where all the cards have the corresponding Myth and Magic Postmarks.

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Next there is the Postcards with the stamps on the front of the cards.

I have seen these with the Myth and Magic Postmarks.

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I also have a set of Postcards with the stamps on the front and with a very random set of Postmarks. There are probably lots of variations of individual Postcards with different Postmarks.

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This just leaves a couple of unusual items I have found.

There is this pair of ‘Stamp Cards’ featuring the stamps and the Myth and Magic Treeton Postmark. I do not know which organisation produced these, the cards have Folkestone Kent on them which suggests they are by Benham stamps. I am not sure if any other of the stamps were produced like this.

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Lastly, there are some items produce by Benham celebrating the 125th birthday of Tolkien.

First there are postcards which have a single stamp from the set, I am not sure if there are postcards featuring all the stamps, I have only seen 2 different examples. The Postmark is a general Oxford Postmark for the date of the 125th birthday and not for the stamp release.

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Next there is a large cover with a set of the stamps, again with the general Oxford Postmark for the date of the 125th birthday and not for the stamp release, and also featuring a set of the New Zealand Return of the King Movie stamps from 2003. This is limited to 100 copies.

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That concludes the articles about the UK 50th Anniversary Stamps, I hope you have found it interesting. If you have any additional details or other examples of covers/postmarks then please let me know.