PHQ card facts for kids
PHQ cards are special postcards made by the British Post Office. They feature the designs of the cool commemorative stamps that the Post Office releases. You can usually buy these cards in bigger post offices. They often come out about two weeks before the new stamps are available.
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What are PHQ Cards?
The letters 'PHQ' stand for Postal Headquarters. This is like the main office for all things related to mail. Everything the Post Office publishes gets a special number. The very first PHQ card was released on May 16, 1973. It was given the number PHQ1. The numbers have continued in order all the way up to today.
Numbering Quirks
Sometimes, the numbering of PHQ cards got a little mixed up. There are two numbers that were never used in the main sequence. For example, PHQ24 was skipped. Also, sometimes two different sets of cards ended up with the same number. This happened with PHQ43 and PHQ129. So, some numbers were used more than once, and others were missed entirely!
The History of PHQ Cards
The very first PHQ card featured a famous cricket player named W.G. Grace. It was part of a set of stamps celebrating County Cricket. This card came out on May 16, 1973. Since then, most PHQ cards are released about two weeks before their matching stamps. This is helpful for stamp collectors! It lets them get the cards early. Then, they can attach the new stamp and get a special "First Day of Issue" postmark.
How Collecting Started
When PHQ cards first came out, they were just meant to be regular picture postcards. The Post Office sold them to anyone who wanted them. But some smart stamp dealers quickly saw a new opportunity. They realized these cards could be a new area for Stamp collecting. People started sticking the new stamps onto the cards. They would then get special postmarks from different cricket matches. This made the cards even more special for collectors.
In August 1973, a second PHQ card was released. It was for a stamp celebrating Inigo Jones. He was a famous architect and designer. Over the next three years, more single cards and a few sets were released. Since July 1976, a set of PHQ cards has been made for almost every new set of commemorative stamps.
Card Sizes Over Time
The first two PHQ cards were a bit bigger than the ones made today. The 1973 Cricket card and the 1973 Inigo Jones card measured 120 mm by 172 mm. All the cards released from PHQ3 onwards are smaller. They measure 104 mm by 148 mm. This can sometimes confuse new collectors. If they don't know about the size difference, they might think the older, larger cards are not real.
See also
- List of PHQ cards
