The first pictorial Scottish airletter was issued in 1974, followed by a steady, but quite sensibly conservative, flow of issues since. These airletters are produced on the instruction of the Scottish Postal Board, often when there is some anniversary or event thought to be worthy of a special stamp issue, but which the U.K. Post Office, in its wisdom, has decided against. All Scottish pictorial airletters have their printed texts in English and Gaelic.
Many collectors overlook these, often on account of their being part of the much wider field of U.K. postal stationery (which in itself is a vast subject for any collector). However, many collectors do keep a small sideline collection of all stamps with a Scottish connection (including the many stamps issued by foreign countries honouring Scots and things Scottish), and these Scottish airletters would form an important part of any such collection.
The list here has been put together as much as a reference list for
collectors as it is our price list. We therefore price all items (left
column for mint, right column for used), whether currently in stock or
not. Any items not in stock usually have their
prices
in grey (although this list cannot be practically updated
daily,
so check with us if you want). The numbers allocated are our own
catalogue
numbers, and any relation to other listings is purely coincidental.
There
are some obvious gaps in the details of our list, many of which we can
probably fill with a little more research, but we would welcome
comments,
criticism, correction, or additional information from any collectors or
dealers on the subject.
From SA14 onwards, airletters are in the "A4" format, earlier ones
being smaller.
Condition; all airletters are priced as fine clean condition, and folded to shape. (Mint airletters can sometimes be supplied unfolded, and any preference should be noted when ordering. Unfolded airletters are supplied at the same price as folded, but mail orders for these carry an additional packing charge of £1 above any other charges). Prices for used airletters are the same for items with first day cancels or commercially used (any preference should be stated).
The list is as follows; catalogue number, date of issue, face value (price originally charged at P.O. in parenthesis), anniversary or event honoured, illustration at left of airletter's front, number issued (if known), price mint, price used (Sterling).
Our stocks of these do vary, and we sometimes have reasonably large
batches of individual items. In view of this, and to give customers the
option of obtaining a selection at lower cost, we can supply £5
batches
(our choice, but no duplication) which will contain items normally
priced
at a minimum of £7.50.
Cat. No. | Date of Issue |
Face Value | Issue/Subject/Design | Number Issued |
Price mint |
Price used |
SA1 | 1974 (15 May) |
6p (7p) | Glenfinnan Monument | 200,000 | .60 | .60 |
SA2 | 1975 (13 Jan) |
6p (7p) | Robert Burns | . | .60 | .50 |
SA3 | 1975 (12 May) |
8.5p (9.5p) | Glasgow 800. Crest. | . | .60 | .60 |
SA4 | 1975 (18 Jun) |
8.5p | Kildalton Cross | . | .60 | .60 |
SA5 | 1975 (23 Jul) |
8.5p (9.5p) | Scott Monument | . | .60 | .60 |
SA6 | 1976 (14 Jul) |
10.5p (12p) | Scottish Folk Traditions. Riding of the Marches. | . | .60 | .60 |
SA7 | 1976 (25 Aug) |
10.5p | Culzean Castle & Ailsa Craig | . | .60 | .60 |
SA8 | 1978 (23 Aug) |
10.5p (12p) | Scottish Regiments. Queen's Own Highlander. | . | .50 | .50 |
SA9 | 1979 (25 Apr) |
10.5p | British Golf Open. Championship Trophy. | . | 2.00 | 2.00 |
SA10 | 1979 (4 May) |
10.5p | Wallace Monument. | . | .60 | .60 |
SA11 | 1979 (29 Aug) | 12p | Scottish Regiments. Black Watch. | . | .60 | .60 |
SA12 | 1980 (21 May) |
14p (16p) | Scottish Regiments. Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. | 117,950 | .60 | .60 |
SA13 | 1980 (13 Aug) |
14p (16p) | Society of Antiquaries Bicentenary. Tabard. | 100,350 | .75 | .75 |
SA14 | 1981 (29 Apr) |
20p (23p) | Flora and Fauna. Pine Crossbills. | 104,300 | .75 | .75 |
SA15 | 1982 (28 Apr) | 24p (27.5p) | Polaris Submarine. | 80,950 | .90 | .90 |
SA16 | 1982 (25 Aug) |
24p (27.5p) | Bicentenary of Repeal of Proscription on Highland Dress. Thistle design. | 67,150 | .75 | .75 |
SA17 | 1983 (13 Apr) |
26p (30p) | Edinburgh University Quatercentenary, and Royal Society of Edinburgh Bicentenary. Edinburgh Castle and coat of arms. | . | .75 | .75 |
SA18 | 1983 (10 Aug) |
26p (30p) | Boys' Brigade Centenary. Badge. | . | .75 | .75 |
SA19 | 1984 (29 May) |
26p (30p) | U.K. Manned Flight Bicentenary/50th Anniv. of first scheduled UK internal airmail service Inverness-Kirkwall. Nose of Datapost aeroplane. | 68,850 |
.90 | .90 |
SA20 | 1984 (14 Aug) |
26p (30p) | Edinburgh International Festival. Flags. | . | .75 | .75 |
SA21 | 1985 (23 Apr) |
26p (30p) | Scottish National Institution for War Blinded (70th anniversary). Linburn. | 77,400 |
.90 | .90 |
SA22 | 1985 (6 Aug) |
26p (30p) | Andrew Carnegie 150th birth anniversary. Portrait of Carnegie. | . | .80 | .80 |
SA23 | 1986 (8 Apr) |
26p (30p) | Northern Lighthouses Board. Skerryvore Lighthouse. | . | 1.00 | 1.00 |
SA24 | 1986 (5 Aug) |
26p (30p) | The Scottish Enlightenment 1730-1790. Royal Mile. | . | 1.00 | 1.00 |
SA25 | 1987 (14 Apr) |
26p (30p) | Mary Queen of Scots death quatercentenary. Portrait of Mary. | . | 1.00 | 1.00 |
SA26 | 1987 (4 Aug) |
26p (30p) | J.M. Barrie 50th death anniversary. Portrait of Barrie. | . | 1.00 | 1.00 |
SA27 | 1988 (29 Mar) |
26p | Year of the Bible. Celtic Cross. | . | 1.00 | 1.00 |
SA28 | 1988 (24 May) |
26p | Glasgow Garden Festival. Gardeners. | . | 1.00 | 1.00 |
SA29 | 1989 (4 Apr) | NVI (32p) | Scottish National Portrait Gallery centenary. Portraits of Charles Edward Stewart and Robert Louis Stevenson. | 74,950 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
SA30 | 1989 (8 Aug) | NVI | William Playfair birth bicentenary (town planner). Monument. | 69,350 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
SA31 | 1990 (24 Apr) |
NVI (40p) | Forth Rail Bridge centenary. Bridge. | 93,600 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
SA32 | 1990 (17 Jul) |
NVI (40p ?) | Glasgow - European City of Culture. Warwick Vase. | 88,500 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
SA33 | 1991 (12 Mar) |
NVI (42p) | Rugby World Cup. Murrayfield. | 86,000 | 1.50 | 1.50 |
SA34 | 1991 (23 Jul) |
(32p) | An Comunn Gaidhealach centenary. Cross. | 62,750 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
SA35 | 1992 (14 Apr) | (34p) | "The Nature of Scotland" - Glencoe | 98,050 | 1.00 | . |
SA36 | 1992 (23 Jun) | (34p) | Scots Guards 1642-1992. Guardsman. | 78,200 | 1.00 | . |
SA37 | 1993 (23 Mar) | (34p) | Curling. Granting of the title Royal to Caledonian Curling Club. Painting (detail) 1848. | . | 1.00 | . |
SA38 | 1993 (22 Jun) | (34p) | 900th Anniversary of death of Queen Margaret. Stained glass window. | . | 1.25 | . |
SA39 | 1994 (22 Mar) | (36p) | Robert Louis Stevenson death centenary. Portrait. | . | 1.50 | . |
SA40 | 1994 (19 Jul) | (36p) | The Gordon Highlanders Bicentenary. Regimental Badge. | . | 1.00 | . |
SA41 | 1995 (4 Apr) | (36p) | Glasgow School of Art 150th Anniversary. Charles Rennie Mackintosh Building. | . | 1.25 | . |
SA42 | 1995 (18 Jul) | (36p) | Prehistoric Scotland. Callanish Standing Stones. | . | 1.00 | . |
SA43 | 1996 (2 Apr) | (36p) | Celebration of Scottish Football. McColl and Younger. | 47,250 | 1.50 | . |
SA44 | 1996 (2 July) | (36p) | Edinburgh Festival 50. Various events. | 49,225 | 1.00 | . |
SA45 | 1997 (3 Mar) | ( ) | Alexander Graham Bell. Portrait. | 54,100 | 1.25 | . |
SA46 | 1997 (1 Jul) | ( ) | Nature of Scotland. | 44,125 | 1.00 | . |
. | 1998 | . | Lighthouses | 49,400 | . | . |
. | 1998 (21 Jul) | (45p) | Magical Worlds (Scottish version) | 29,400 | . | . |
. | 1999 (4 May) | (45p) | Crafts (Scottish version) | . | . | . |
Last updated Wednesday 5 August 2009. Copyright Robert
Murray
2000 to 2009.
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Robert Murray Stamp
Shop 5 & 6 Inverleith Gardens Edinburgh Scotland EH3 5PU Tel. 0131 552 1220 or 0131 478 7021 Homepage; www.stamp-shop.com Email; [email protected] |
How to Order Mail Orders are accepted by post, telephone, email, or fax. We accept payments by cash, cheque, Visa/MasterCard, Switch/Delta, and some foreign currencies. Basically, we charge [the advertised price of the goods] plus [the actual price of postage] plus [£1 per order handling charge]. Full details can be seen at our How to Order page. |
Our
Shop is open five days each week, and customers are always, of course, welcome. We carry very wide stocks of the whole world - much, much more than is listed on our website. Full shop information at this link. |
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The
first manned flight in the United Kingdom was carried out in Edinburgh
by an enterprising local man by the name of James Tytler. Ask
us if you are interested, as we have stocks of the souvenir covers
produced for the anniversary in 1984, and for the commemorative balloon
flight. Also see historical
page about him, with pictures of the covers). |