Smilers is the common name for the Royal Mail scheme for issuing personalised sheets of stamps. The sheets are available with 10 or 20 first class stamps and each stamp is supported by a graphic or photograph.

The smiler sheets issued by the Royal Mail cover a whole range of commemorative issues. Recent popular sheets incorporated the theme of Harry Potter, designed to appeal to fans.

The Royal Mail has also taken the huge step of allowing anyone to customise and order smiler sheets. This has been adopted by many companies who had their logo or slogan to stamps as a form of advertising. Many popular TV series, such as the BBC’s acclaimed Dr Who have been featured on sheets aimed at collectors and fans.

Sheets can be ordered as singles so the everyday public can order them and use them on birthday or Christmas cards. Their uses and applications are endless.

This is possibly why many collectors despise smiler sheets. Because of the sheer numbers issued and the way they can be customised there is no way of recording and documenting every single design. I could commission my own sheet and have a uniue item in my collection. How can it then ever be valued at anything above face value?

Many collectors have boycotted smiler sheets altogether, and as yet Stanley Gibbons have not incorporated them into any catalogues, on the grounds that the stamps themselves are not unique, only the surrounding designs.

But for most collectors they are an attractive item to add to any collection, and from Royal Mail’s point of view they produce a very vital source of income.

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