Horizon label
An Horizon label is an adhesive postage label that is a type of variable value stamp. The labels were introduced in the United Kingdom in 2002[1] as part of the computerisation of the counter services of the post office network of Royal Mail using the Horizon System.[2] The first labels were large plain labels composed purely of text but later labels are of a gold colour with a Machin head and a repeating pattern of the words ROYALMAIL in order to prevent forgery.
The labels received a frosty reception from philatelists initially as they were seen as replacing postage stamps, but as they have become more complex and more stamp-like, collectors have warmed to them and they have now become a popular collecting specialism in the U.K. and an established part of modern British postal history.[1]
The training of postal workers includes the use of voided horizon labels.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "GB Postal Stationery, Postal Labels and Postmarks: Horizon Labels" by John Holman in Gibbons Stamp Monthly, February 2008, p. 43.
- ↑ Horizon Labels British Postmark Society, 27 June 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2013. Archived here.
- ↑ "Another view" by Douglas Myall in British Philatelic Bulletin, Vol. 51, No. 5, January 2014, pp. 149-151.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Variable value stamps. |
- Royal Mail Horizon Postage Labels - Summary 2007 Archived here.
- Horizon Postage Labels~Full List
- Delta Stamps Fact File No. 10 2009 Archived here.