Presentation Pack

A presentation pack is a folder, produced for philatelists and stamp collectors, that contains a full set of a new stamp issue. It normally consists of a cardboard folder with notes about the stamps, a holder for the stamps and a clear sleeve on the outside. The packs are usually sold at a small margin above the face value of the stamps.

Great Britain was one of the first countries to produce commemorative presentation packs, with the first presentation packs being issued by the General Post Office (GPO) in 1960, when they were looking for a convenient way of packaging and selling sets of stamps for the London 1960 International Stamp Exhibition, held at the Royal Festival Hall. They produced four packs priced in pounds sterling for the exhibition, and another four priced in US dollars for a Post Office sales tour of the USA. Each pack was fairly basic in design and the only information printed on the pack was a brief description of the stamps and the retail price. These presentation packs were produced in very limited numbers and are now known as Forerunners.

It was in 1964 that the first Commemorative Packs were produced by the GPO. On 23 April, the first ‘proper’ pack was issued for a set of stamps celebrating the Shakespeare Festival, which marked the 400th Anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth. The presentation pack was decorative in design and contained information on the stamp designs, the designer and stamp printer. Early packs were not produced in large numbers and are much sought-after by collectors. The pack for the "Opening of the Forth Road Bridge" stamps has a book price of £400 according to the 2010 Stanley Gibbons "Great Britain Concise Stamp Catalogue", although they sell on the open market for considerably less. The early packs issued in the 1960s had tight cellophane sleeves and some have shrunk leading to buckling of the information cards.

The Post Office viewed presentation packs as a sales tool to attract new customers and impulse buyers. They also developed the range to encourage stamp collecting in other countries, particularly Germany and Japan, by printing packs in foreign languages.

Many countries around the world (Australia etc..) now issue Presentation Packs in similar formats as they are a convenient way to sell and display a whole stamp issue.

Since the first commemorative presentation pack in 1964, there has been an increasing variety of British presentation packs released each year. There are a wide range of different presentation packs and they can be divided into the following categories:

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Wikipedia