The last commemorative stamp issue had been back in 1958, and during the following year many experimental Wilding stamps appeared with phosphor variations. It was not until 7th July 1960 that a set of two stamps was issued to mark the Tercentenary of the Establishment of the General Letter Office.

The General Letter Office was created in 1660 and had slowly evolved into the form of The General Post Office which existed at the time. The 3d lilac value, depicted a postboy on horse from 1660, and the 1s3d green showed a posthorn, also from 1660.

Just over two months later, another 2 stamps were issued, providing higher value commemoratives, for the values of 6d and 1s6d. These were issued for the first anniversary of the European Postal and Telecommunications Conference. (EUROPA.)

These stamps were printed in two colours, which was very popular with the public. 6d was printed in green and purple, and 1s6d brown and blue. In a recent survey of stamp designs, they still ranked very highly, which is impressive considering their simple design.

The next issue was for the Centenary of the Post Office Savings Bank on 28th Aug. They consisted of three stamps, all printed in 3 colours and had 2 1/2d 3d and 1s6d values. There was some debate over the decision to issue these stamps, as stamps were released to mark the European Postal and Telecommunications Conference (CEPT) on the 11th September. This was held in Torquay and included representatives from nineteen countries. Many people believed that issuing two sets of stamps within 3 weeks was too much! But much to peoples amazement a further two high value stamps were issued a week later on 25th September to commemorate the Seventh Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference. They took the form of a 6d Purple and Gold, and 1s3d Green and Blue. It would be well over a year until the next issue was released.

The change of printing stamps in two, then three colours, showed the advances in technology of the time. All commemoratives were still printed by Harrison & Sons in Photogravure. Every stamp still contained the Queens image by Dorothy Wilding, an image which by this time had become a national symbol.

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