Editor: Alastair Nixon, 7 Bramblegate, Edgcumbe Park, Crowthorne, Berks, RG45 6JA. Tel: +44 (0) 1344 775378

Email: Web site: http://ukmeterfranking.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/

Meter of the Month

David Hardwick kindly sends a scan of the first impression from his new franking machine at work - a Model DM100i. The complete frank is shown below:

David also sends a copy of the Refill Receipt for the first £100 of postage. This is useful because it gives the Meter No. 6812724 and that enables us to extend the Machine Licence Table, see page 61-3.

Jim Ashby has kindly solved the mystery of last month's Meter of the Month. The numbers are simply the telephone and fax numbers of the company concerned - without the leading zeros! What had happened was that the impression was made on a label that was too short. Therefore the left-hand side of the slogan was missing when the label was applied to the envelope. Oh well, you win some and you lose some!

Acknowledgements

My thanks to Alan Godfrey, David Hardwick, Jim Ashby, Peter Mantell and Peter Wood, for their reports / communications this month.

Latest Numbers

Below is a list of ‘Latest Numbers’ as at 28th Nov 2005. Please could I have updates for next month by 28th December, thanks.

Frama (UK)

EPSTSF251 FSC 225304 02.09.05 Static for 2 months

Sensonic 2000 FSC 293691 10.10.05

Mailspirit FSC 701320 10.10.05 [AN]

Mailspirit? FSC 790002 11.03.05 Static for 7 months

Sensonic 2000? FSC 904257 02.11.05 [PW]

Francotyp-Postalia

Optimail T 400728 06.10.05 [AN]

Optimail T 709963 26.05.05 Static for 4 months

JetMail FJ0710624 13.07.05 Static for 3 months

JetMail FJ1500003 12.08.05

Mymail FM2111725 13.01.05 Static for 8 months

Mymail FM2502550 19.08.05 Static for 3 months

Ultimail ?? FU3110120 01.06.05 Static for 5 months

Ultimail 60 FU8000986 21.10.05 [AG]

Ultimail 90 FU9000337 14.11.05 [PM]

Neopost

IJ25 N1145361 25.10.05 [PW]

IJ65, 75, 85? N1207357 02.11.05 [PM]

IJ80/90/110? N1250338 21.11.05 [PM]

IJ40, 50 N1314721 22.09.05

IJ80/90/110? N1353560 09.11.05 [PW]

Pitney Bowes

Paragon PBP83810 02.11.05 [PM]

DP200? PB128062 12.07.05 Static for 4 months

DP400? PB140935 15.08.05 Static for 3 months

DP400? PB147561 02.03.05 Static for 7 months

Personal Post PB268224 22.09.05 Static for 2 months

DM 200? PB310900 10.08.05

DM 250? PB325276 15.11.05 [AN]

DM 225, 300 PB380044 19.07.05

Personal Post PB455980 21.11.05 [AN]

DM 400 etc PB508109 23.11.05 [PM]

Post Perfect PB760377 18.11.05 [AN]

DM100 PB812811 10.11.05 [AN]

Postage Meter Licences

Further to pages 44-3 and 51-8, the Machine Licence Table can now be extended thanks to David Hardwick's report (see page 61-1). The new entry is shown in blue.

Machine no.

/

Supplied by

/

Die number

/

Model

/

Code

/

Prefix

224486

/

Frama (UK) Ltd

/

FSC224486

/

EPSTSF251

/ /

FSC

4583044

/

Pitney Bowes Ltd

/

PBP83044

/

E121

/

45

/

PBP

5500171

/

Pitney Bowes Ltd

/

PB500171

/

(DM500)

/

55

/

PB5

5502538

/

Pitney Bowes Ltd

/

PB502538

/

(DM500)

/

55

/

PB5

5504001

/

Pitney Bowes Ltd

/

PB504001

/

1A20

/

55

/

PB5

5504655

/

Pitney Bowes Ltd

/

PB504655

/

(DM500)

/

55

/

PB5

6812724

/

Pitney Bowes Ltd

/

PB812724

/

(DM100)

/

68

/

PB8

7249982

/

Pitney Bowes Ltd

/

PB249982

/

(Personal Post)

/

72

/

PB2

UPF Security Tapes

Further to page 53-1, Jim Ashby provides a possible explanation for the vertical 'security code'. It is known that UPF normally supplied label tapes with the user's name pre-printed in black. Maybe the user of the machine in question wanted to use tapes that were not supplied by UPF, and therefore not pre-printed.

On a similar theme, Jim also kindly sends an example of a GvR Universal Midget impression from 1933 that has the sender's name and address printed vertically in the slogan position:

District Codes in Townmark

Jim Ashby sends an EviiiR Midget example that has the district 'Liverpool 19' in the townmark. This is unusual for places other than London postal districts and reports of other examples would be welcome.

Channel Island Meter Machines During German Occupation

Jim Ashby sends scans of two pages from a Post Office report of August 1945 that shows the fate of meter machines used in Jersey during the German occupation. I would be pleased to hear from anyone who has any actual examples of Channel Island machines in use during the occupation.

Channel Island Meter Machines During German Occupation Continued

Here is page 2 of the report:

Recent Interesting Franks

Here is another item number 1, this time from a Francotyp-Postalia Ultimail 90 machine:

Here are two recent live examples of Neopost Pre-loaded messages. The first one is "Private & Confidential" from an IJ25 machine and the second is from an IJ40/50 machine, bringing "Good News":

Below is an unusual town mark. "High Peak" is actually a region that encompasses the main towns of Buxton, Glossop, Chapel-en-le-Frith, New Mills and Whaley Bridge. I hope to illustrate other examples of scarce town marks in future editions and would be pleased to receive scans of any from your collection.

Meter Thematics

Here is a very attractive slogan from the Sir Frank Whittle Business Centre, Rugby:

Here are two collectable thematics from the historic Naval Base in Portsmouth. The first depicts the Mary Rose and the second shows the famous entrance to the Base.

Both Alan Godfrey and Peter Mantell send examples of this one, advertising Eastnor Castle. I must admit, I would have preferred it if the slogan depicted the castle itself rather than the deer logo. Today the castle is used for corporate events, product launches, location filming and is also a popular wedding venue.


Meter Thematics

Finally for this month, Peter Mantell sends a fine selection of thematics, including 'Lady Godiva' on the first one:

Meter News Page 61-1 of 8 Nov 2005