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Fish Definitives
Home > 2010 Issue Summary > Fishes of the Reef

The ACCC approved Australia Post's proposal to increase domestic postal rates on 28 May, with new rates taking effect on 28 June 2010. An overview of the increases is given below.

Rate Current New
Small letter rate within Australia (details)
Large letter rate (up to 125 grams) (details)
Large letter rate (over 125 up to 250 grams) (details)
Large letter rate (over 250 up to 500 grams) (details)
55c
$1.10
$1.65
$2.75
60c
$1.20
$1.80
$3.00

New 5c and 60c stamps were released on 21 June, followed by the rest of the values on 28 June. The designs feature reef fish.

Issue Information
The stamps show fish species found in the tropical and sub-tropical waters off the coasts of Queensland and Western Australia.

Stamp Design: Simone Sakinofsky
Printing Process: Lithography (more information)
Stamp Size: 5c, 60c, $1.20, $1.80 30 mm x 25 mm
$3.00 50 mm x 30 mm
   
Designs: 5c Coral Rabbitfish
60c Crown Triggerfish
60c Spotted Sweetlips
60c Golden Damsel
60c Regal Angelfish
$1.20 Saddle Butterflyfish
$1.80 Chevron Butterflyfish
$3.00 Orangefin Anemonefish
   
Usage: 5c Used to up-rate 55c stamps to 60c (details)
60c Small letter rate within Australia (details)
$1.20 Large letter rate within Australia (up to 125 grams) (details)
$1.80 Large letter rate within Australia (over 125 up to 250 grams) (details)
$3.00 Large letter rate within Australia (over 250 up to 500 grams) (details)

Gummed Sheet Stamps
All sheet stamps were printed in a single pane of 50 stamps (5 x 10). To store the $3.00 pane post offices will have to fold the $3.00 sheet in half.

5c stamp 60c stamps

$1.20 stamp $1.80 stamp $3 stamp
Sheet stamps

Issue Date: 5c, 60c 21 June 2010 (more information)
$1.20, $1.80, $3.00 28 June 2010 (more information)
Printer: McKellar Renown (more information)
Gum: Ordinary gum
Paper: 5c Tullis Russell (non-phosphorised) (more information)
60c, $1.20, $1.80, $3 Tullis Russell (incorporating phosphor) (more information)
Issued In: Sheets of 50 (5 x 10) (more information)
Perforations: 5c, 60c, $1.20, $1.80 Comb perforated 14 x 14½ (more information)
$3.00 Comb perforated 14½ x 14 (more information)

Self-adhesive Coil Stamps
As with past definitives coils of 100 and 200 stamps were released. Unusually, only Pemara printed the coils. Not only is the die-cutting of these stamps different, so is the phosphor tagging.

Pemara coil
Coil stamps

Issue Date: 21 June 2010 (more information)
Printer: Pemara (more information)
Printing Process: Lithography (more information)
Gum: Self-adhesive
Paper: 40080 WLK1 stamp paper ('C' shaped phosphor tagging along top, right and bottom) (more information)
Issued In: Coils of 100 and 200 (more information)
Stamp Size: 30 mm x 25 mm
Perforations: Die-cut 12¾ (more information)

Self-adhesive Booklet Stamps
Reef Fish Self-adhesives now available.The biggest surprise with the booklet stamps is the inclusion of a self-adhesive booklet of 20 5c stamps - the lowest ever face value for an Australian self-adhesive stamp! The perforations for the these stamps differ from the coil stamps, as does the phosphor tagging.

5c self-adhesive 60c self-adhesive
Booklet stamps

Issue Date: 21 June 2010 (more information)
Printer: McKellar Renown (more information)
Printing Process: Lithography (more information)
Gum: Self-adhesive
Paper: B100 ('C' shaped phosphor tagging along top, right and bottom) (more information)
Issued In: 5c Booklets of 20 (more information)
60c Booklets of 10 and 20 (more information)
Stamp Size: 30 mm x 25 mm
Perforations: Die-cut 11¼ (more information)

Self-adhesive Booklets
This issue featured three booklets - 5c x 20, 60c x 10 and 60c x 20. Booklets were distributed to post offices in chequebooks of 20 booklets. These are not listed on this website.

5c booklet

60c booklet

60c booklet
Booklet layouts

5c booklet cover

60c booklet cover

60c booklet cover
Booklet covers (Philatelic booklets)

5c booklet cover

60c booklet cover

60c booklet cover
Booklet covers (General booklets)

Issue Date: 21 June 2010 (more information)
Booklet size: TBA
Barcodes: 9312650378769 (5c x 20 philatelic booklet)
9312650212964 (5c x 20 general booklet)
9312650377625 (60c x 10 philatelic booklet)
9312650212872 (60c x 10 general booklet)
9312650377649 (60c x 20 philatelic booklet)
9312650212889 (6c x 20 general booklet)

Postal Stationery
As with all new Australian issues each sheet stamp exists on a maximum card.

Maxicards
Maximum cards

Maximum Cards
Size: 146 mm x 104 mm (horizontal), 104 mm x 146 mm (vertical)
Selling Price: $14.45 (set of 4)
Stamp Imprint: Three bars (picture)

Issue Summary
The table below summarises the above information. The cost of each item is given, along with a total for each section. In some cases the stamps are only available from self-adhesive booklets (sold at face value), or from prestige booklets, souvenir sheets or folders (sold above face value).

Item and Description Cost
For the General Collector
Gummed sheet stamps
8 values from sheets (5c, 60c, $1.20, $1.80, $3)

Self-adhesive stamps
5 values from booklets (5c, 60c)

 
$8.45

 
$8.00

Total $16.45
For the Specialised Collector
Self-adhesive stamps
Coil stamps with different perforations

Booklets
3 booklets with philatelic barcode
3 booklets with general barcode

Postal stationery
Maximum cards

 
$2.40*

 
$20.00
$20.00

 
$14.45

Total $36.85
Grand Total $53.30
* Available from mail order, with $5 handling fee.

References
Australia Post, Draft Notification Change in Domestic Reserved Letter Pricing and other documents, July 2009-January 2010
Australia Post, New Postal Rates, accessed 9 June 2010
Australia Post, Australian Stamp Bulletin, No. 305, July-August 2010

If you have more information, or spot an error, please e-mail me.

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Last updated 9 January 2012. Website comments and queries to stamps@chrisdehaer.com.au or PO Box 1448, Booragoon WA 6954.

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