FIRST DAY COVERS
Let the battle begin
For this month’s cover, we go back to the 1966 issue marking the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, writes Brian Austin. We show here the large Connoisseur cover (yes, there was a smaller version) with the full set of stamps and the Battle special postmark. And as I have mentioned the postmark, you may or may not know, there are two versions available, one with the swords pointing up and the other, down.
For this issue, there was also a Battle FDI postmark to collect, as well as one for Hastings, along with connected CDS postmarks, for example Battle (yet again), Normandy and Harold Hill, all very rare. A few years ago, I found a Kingstone CDS, which I was very pleased with.
There are two connected slogans, both Jersey and Guernsey had ‘Les Illes Normandes’, and these are only known on pairs of covers, and the Hastings ‘Popular with visitors
