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I had to go hunting in boxes, for a customer, so thought I would show members some of our early postage labels produced from the Horizon system.

Trials started on 14 February 2002, in about 650 post office branches in the Edinburgh, Southampton, and Watford postcode areas (EH, SO, WD). So confident was Royal Mail about the success of these trials that they announced in April that the scheme would be rolled-out to all 17,500 branches by the end of May 2002, and the Philatelic Bulletin reported extension to Portsmouth (PO) and two London areas on 9 May. In the event the trials produced useful information which was used to modify the system and the nationwide launch was delayed until August. Initially plain labels were used, but slits were added to prevent peeling and possible re-use.

1st class (Hackney, east London) and Special Delivery (Southend-on-Sea) labels without slits - note that these were used after the introduction of slitted labels at other offices.


Earlier labels, but with slits: 1st class Angus, 2nd class Teesside, and Parcel Camberley


Before 2003 was out, the layout had changed so that the service indicator was more central, the Royal Mail text taller, and 1st & 2nd in lower case, but the overall height of the printing on English labels was reduced by 3mm.
An early example (220/80/3) of the 1st class from Walsall, and a much later Welsh language one 1af from Swansea



And because I am busy on other matters, these are now back in the box, to be sorted and analysed (and sold?) later.

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Ian Billings - Norvic Philatelics GB stamps info: http://www.norphil.co.uk - also /catalog for our ecommerce site, blog.norphil.co.uk, shop.norphil.co.uk and Ian_norvic on twitter

Here is a label that Norvic and I spoke about today, This white label, FEB/2003 looks good/Original, but we have our doubts about it, but we cant be 100% Sure if original or not.



Though it has no Security slits on the label (Which some did not have in 2002-2003), the label size is 64x72mm and not the Original 59x65mm size as the white labels with and without the security slits have. norvic told me the other white labels with no slits was the same size as the ones with the slits, being 59x65mm but this label is slightly bigger.

There is a possibility the post offices could of tried other types of labels, and found this label to be to big for the machines, meaning they went back to the other white labels at 59x65mm ,be for removing them from post offices and going onto the newer type labels with the slits.

It is possible they printed a few on these labels, but found they was causing problems with the machines they decided not to use them. The Label itself is also thicker then the normal white label, meaning they could also be sticking in the machines,so there could be as few reason why they did not keep with these labels.
Or it could be a possibility that this label is a Fake, Not saying it is or not, as all the fonts do match up as same as the spacings, and it very hard to even find these fonts, and the fonts all looks original, it's just the size of the label that got me and Norvic a little stumped right now.

The Label Up for sale if anyone is intrested, Starting price £25 as it could be a 1-of label, (Who knows.?)

NOTE THIS MAY STATE SOLD OUT, BUT IT HAS NOT BEEN SOLD, I WILL EDIT THIS WHEN IT IS SOLD.Though i have put £100 on here, i am willing to take offer of £25 and above, and wait a few days to see what offers come in, but if someone buys it at £50 then fine.

You can send me offers via message here or at my email.

Or if intrested in buying it without making any offers t. goto my shop link here.
http://horizonlables.net/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=204

Cheers
Steve/HorizonLabels.
http://horizonlabels.net

MODERATOR COMMENT:

Horizonlabels, there is a For Sale Forum on Stampboards here:

http://www.stampboards.com/viewforum.php?f=27

It has specific rules, including that the item is a FIXED price - if you want to auction items, I suggest you use Delcampe (or ebay...), but we DON'T do auctions here - and especially, we don't derail someone else's thread to do them.

Thanks,
Gavin.

It is not set as a fixed price.?? It is open to offers, even though my web shop has it for £50 someone wanting it may pay £50, but i am open to offers from £25 on wards, price may drop a little if i don't sell it after 2 weeks or i may just keep it,if no offers is offered..

Not being RUDE, If i was selling it at a FIX price i would say i want £?? for it,but it is open to offers.

Steve
http://horizonlabels.net

Just for clarification this one which looks like a Horizon label, and IS larger than those shown above, is something entirely diffierent.



This is 77mm wide x 61mm tall, and seems to be a laser print. It was used on a Samkyung Hitech Weigh and Vend machine at Alfreton in Derbyshire. This was trialled for a few months in 2004, at only three locations - Luton (Bedfordshire), Broadgate London, and Alfreton.

_________________
Ian Billings - Norvic Philatelics GB stamps info: http://www.norphil.co.uk - also /catalog for our ecommerce site, blog.norphil.co.uk, shop.norphil.co.uk and Ian_norvic on twitter

Oh Cool, so they did try other labels then, so this could be an original of mine, if yours was a trial and an original, then mine could of been some kind of a trial to (MAYBE),and could be real.???

What would you sell yours for if you was to sell it. ?

No, they didn't try other labels. I showed this purely to differentiate between the two.

What I show in the first post and what you show are from the over-the-counter Horizon computer system.

What I show in my last post is from a stand-alone Weigh & Vend machine like the Post & Go machines currently operating. See more about Weigh & Vend here http://postagelabelsuk.com/?page_id=8

_________________
Ian Billings - Norvic Philatelics GB stamps info: http://www.norphil.co.uk - also /catalog for our ecommerce site, blog.norphil.co.uk, shop.norphil.co.uk and Ian_norvic on twitter

Oh o.k cheers.

Hi all,
Just an update on this label.


I had several offers over the week, and have now sold it for £35.00
I told the buyer, it could be a possible Original label the P.O could of Tested as a one -of or thing, or it could be a fake, were not totally sure. You can never get a fully story on these type of labels.

But still i sold it today for £35

Steve.
http://horizonlabels.net

Just reading through this and the date given above does not match the date of the training publication I have titled "Horizon Training Workbooks".

This publication is dated at the top of the pages as 13/12/99

The entire is housed in a large A4 - 4 ring binder (too large to scan).

Below is a scan of the contents page with the date shown at the top and what each of the ten units cover ...



ALLAN

_________________
The British Postmark Database at http://philatelicweb.com/pmks/ with over 13,000 entries and over 9,600 illustrated.
Also: British Postage Rates - http://www.philatelicweb.com/rates/

Allan

The information above, taken from my website, is based on 'Counter News' or whatever it was called at the time, distributed to all PO counters. I borrowed one, and copied the details of the roll-out which I have reproduced on the page linked. My opening paragraph on that page reads:



Now this was early in 2002 after installing computer terminals in all branches. So it is possible that your December 1999 publication date is entirely consistent with the start of the installation process - remember that there were far more Post Office branches then than there are now, and that many of them had multiple counter positions.

The installation would have involved Romec engineers visiting all branches, installing linked scales in larger (Crown) POs, training staff at ALL branches off-line and on-line before they tried it out on the public. Given the size of the network, and the possibility that things did not go smoothly, and that systems changes were needed along the way, two years from 12/99 to 2/02 is not unreasonable.

The system provides computerised stock control and balancing, payment services for multiple organisations for which POLtd acts as agent (utilities, local authorities, telephone, vehicle licensing). Interestingly EPOSS for non-stamp items (such as stationery, packaging, and other items sold in Crown POs has never been included in the system, and bar-code scanning of these items is only now being incorporated into Post & Go self-service machines. Bar-codes on stamp sheets are not used for sales purposes!

I don't see any problem in your date and mine.

_________________
Ian Billings - Norvic Philatelics GB stamps info: http://www.norphil.co.uk - also /catalog for our ecommerce site, blog.norphil.co.uk, shop.norphil.co.uk and Ian_norvic on twitter

Ian ...

Thanks for taking the time to relate the details regarding the dates .... this area is well outside my comfort zone.

As you say the dates seem close enough to fit ...

An intresting publication that I am sure I will find a home for at some point ....

ALLAN

_________________
The British Postmark Database at http://philatelicweb.com/pmks/ with over 13,000 entries and over 9,600 illustrated.
Also: British Postage Rates - http://www.philatelicweb.com/rates/