A Special Event Sheet (SES) is a version of a gummed Souvenir Stamp Sheet produced by Australia Post at selected events during the year. The stamps on the sheet are from their “generic base stock” and have tabs attached. The Mobile P-stamp Facility is used at the event to take a customer’s photo and print it on the tab. The sheets therefore contain a number of Personalised stamps or “P-stamps”. The current sheet layout is a block of 10 stamps with tabs on the right surrounded by a large selvedge on three sides. Perforations extend to the bottom edge to allow easy removal of the stamps.

P-stamps were invented by Australia Post and were first available at the ‘Australia ’99 Stamp Expo’ in Melbourne on 19th March 1999. These sheets had 10 x 45c Polly Woodside (Sailing Ships) stamps with a customer’s photo tab on the left.  Many other countries followed suit and now offer a similar facility for collectors.

Have I created philatelic history?
On 19th January 2011 at the Australian Open Tennis Championships in Melbourne I visited the Australia Post Shop and asked if they would print an image on the tab rather than my photo.  The photographer said, “I can’t see why not.”  So I selected a postcard of Melbourne off the shelf and handed it to him.  He said they would give it a go when they were not so busy and asked me to call back later.

I went and watched Henin, Roddick and Williams win their matches in Rod Laver Arena and returned 7 hours later.  They had succeeded.  Two sheets were on display and six in a folder marked with my name.  I asked how they did it and they said they put a box on a chair in front of the camera and attached the postcard on the front with ‘Blu-Tack’!

While I was paying for 6 sheets, a person was served next to me and asked for 2 sheets with the “Melbourne image”.  When I went to collect my sheets the photographer said he had just given 2 sheets to someone else and is printing two replacement sheets for me.  So I know there are at least 10 sheets in existence.  (The 2 display sheets were stuck onto a cardboard backing and attached to the wall with ‘Blu-Tack’.  As they were stuck onto cardboard by the sheet’s gum, I doubt if they were sold.) There is a possibility that more copies of my SES were sold to customers as the Championships did not finish until 30th January.

I have never heard or seen an SES without a customer’s photo before.  I believe this is the first Australian SES with an image instead of a customer’s photo on the tab.

Reprinted SES
Some weeks after the Tennis Championships finished I telephoned Australia Post’s Personalised Stamps department and asked if they could find the original tab image of the Melbourne postcard and print some more SES’s for me.  This was done on their laser printer, not the same one that is used with the Mobile P-stamp Facility at events.  The sheets were printed on 24th February 2011.  (Strictly they are not SESs but SSSs.)


I believe this is the first time Australian SESs have been reprinted once the event has finished.  The reprinted sheet has tabs that are quite different from the ones printed at the tennis event. The new tab image is clearer but has been offset and overlaps the perforation on some of the stamps.  I have listed the differences below.  (Because of the tab image overlap they have also created a new 60c (blue) Southern Cross stamp image variation!)  Some collectors have told me of other SESs with photos of animals on the tab and some printed after the event due to the Mobile P-stamp Facility breaking down.  The latter was not an Australian SES.

Generic tabs
Australia Post usually produces a copy of each SES for those collectors that cannot attend the event.  These contain what they call a “generic photo tab”.  The photo is of an Australia Post employee.  These sheets are not produced at the event and hence are not Special Event Sheets nor do they contain P-stamps because the tabs do not have a customer’s image or photo.

The 4 types of 2011 Australian Open Tennis SES / SSS:

Type 1

Type 2

Type 3

Type 4

Type 1 SES with P-stamp = customer’s photo on the tab – printed by the Mobile P-stamp Facility

Type 2 SES with P-stamp = customer’s non-photo image on the tab – printed by the Mobile P-stamp Facility

Type 3 SSS with P-stamp = customer’s non-photo image on the tab – reprinted by Australia Post at the Personalised Stamp department

Type 4 SSS with stamp and ‘generic’ photo on the tab – printed by Australia Post

(Note that the Type 1 and Type 2 tab images printed at the event are 17.5mm wide and the Type 3 & Type 4 tab images printed elsewhere are 20mm wide.)

 

David MallenAustralian Stamp Variations
Melbourne, Australia
david@asv.net.au
www.asv.net.au

26th April 2011

 

Terminology

P-stamp = Personalised Stamp = A stamp with a tab that contains a customer’s image or photo

SES = Special Event Sheet – printed by the Mobile P-stamp Facility at the event, containing P-stamps with tabs.

SSS = Souvenir Stamp Sheet – printed by Australia Post elsewhere, containing stamps with tabs. The tab image may be a photo or graphic supplied by a customer or an Australia Post photo or graphic.

Stamp Variation = A different version or format in which the stamp was issued (usually compared with the original single gummed sheet stamp).  Variations are produced on purpose.  e.g. perforation, self-adhesive, miniature sheet, etc.

 

David wrote the ‘Australian Stamp Variations’ article for Stamp News Australasia from June 2006 to February 2011.  He publishes the Australian Stamp Variations Catalogue containing lists of the main decimal stamp variations issued by Australia Post.  The 2010 7th Edition has over 5000 variations issued in the past 44 years.  He lists Australian P-stamps and other information about recent Australian stamp issues on his website:  http://www.asv.net.au

 

For more information on UK, Australian and New Zealand souvenir stamp sheets visit:  http://www.smilers-info.com