RARE Jimmy Cauty's C.N.P.D STAMP COLLECTION

L-13 Rejects and Rarities Dept

Earlier this year Jimmy Cauty gave us a metal chest of drawers to add to our archive. Inside the drawers is his entire Cautese Nationál Postal Disservice (C.N.P.D) Stamp Collection dating back to when he founded the C.N.P.D in 2005.

On this page we will sell any spare copies we don't need for our archive. This is to help fund the Towerblock1 Sculpture Carpark for his road cone star sculptures he's building in New Zealand.

We started working with Jimmy in 2004 just after he'd signed an agreement with the Royal Mail promising never to design another postage stamp featuring the Machin bust portrait of Queen Elizabeth in a gas mask. He'd published his first set of Stamps of Mass Destruction (SMD) in 2003 as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Class Stamps in response to the War in Iraq but ran into trouble with the Royal Mail's copyright police. We stepped in to help in 2004 and published his Stamps of Mass Destruction 4th, 5th and 6th Class Stamps. These featured something that looked like the Machin Bust but wasn't. This led to some lengthy discussions about semiotics and subversive strategies in art with the Royal Mail's intellectual property department. After some initial compromises for Jimmy's first exhibition with us Black Off: A Post-Terrorist Xmas Gift Shop (at the aquarium in December 2004), we founded the Cautese Nationál Postal Disservice and went into the stamp business on a mass scale; producing a vast quantity of stamps, prints and first day covers over the next 3 years.

Jimmy Cauty's C.N.P.D Stamp Collection contains all the stamps and first day covers he collected during that period. 

Each item will come with a Certificate of Authenticity stating its provenance as coming from the Jimmy Cauty Collection and signed by L-13 Chief Engineer Steve Lowe.

1. The first ever stamp sheet made by the C.N.P.D.
   Up until 2005, Jimmy's Stamps of Mass Destruction had only ever been published as Ltd Edition Prints. This sheet of real perforated and gummed stamps (yes, from the time you had to lick the backs of stamps to stick them to the envelope) came as a free sheet with a book we published Stamps of Mass Destruction & Other Postal Disasters Volume II, 2005.
   
   We have ten sets of this stamp sheet to sell. 28 stamps. Sheet size 28 x 21.5 cm
   All in mint condition.
   
   
2. Stamps of Mass Destruction 1st Class Mint Sheet
   The original 1st, 2nd and 3rd Class Stamps of Mass Destruction were never made as actual stamps when the prints were first published in 2003. It wasn't until 2008 that we made these ones and decided the C.N.P.D 5 year plan was over.
   
   We have 23 sets of this stamp sheet to sell. 28 stamps. Sheet size 23 x 15.5 cm
   All in mint condition.
   
   
3. 5-11 Guy Fawkes 400th Anniversary First Day Cover
   Like the Royal Mail, the C.N.P.D would often release stamps to mark special occasions and issue First Day Covers (FDC) on the first day of release. These consisted of printed envelopes with the stamps stuck on and addressed to the person who ordered them. This FDC commemorates the 400th Anniversary of the infamous Gunpowder Plot where a group of seditious Catholics plotted to blow up the House of Lords and Protestant King. Guy Fawkes was the person charged with lighting the fuse but was caught on 5th November 1605, then tortured and hung drawn and quartered along with his fellow conspirators. 5-11 is now celebrated each year in the UK as Bonfire Night.
   
   Jimmy's controversial stamps designs commemorate the plot by picturing a 9-11 style attack on the Houses of Parliament. He first showed these stamps in 2003 at the infamous Lewes Bonfire Night printed on Correx sheeting and hung up around the bonfire site. These were summarily confiscated by the police with them muttering something about artists being terrorists, but no charges were brought and as far as we know the stamps are still residing in the Lewes Constabulary Stamp Collection.
   
   We can't remember if we had new stamps sheets made for this release or took them from the first ever stamp sheet. If we do find stand alone sheets we'll let you know. This FDC is addressed to Jimmy as the Postmaster General and sent to his PO Box near his then studio in Portslade. We had a franking machine for postage back then and ran the FDCs directly trough it, but soon after we started using real 1st Class Stamps with a gas mask rubber stamped over the queen's face.
   
   C5 (22.9 x 16.2 cm) manilla envelope, with stamps, C.N.P.D postmarks and address label. Excellent condition. One copy available.
   
   
4. Abbey Road Beatles Immolation 1st Class
   This was one of the most popular stamps Jimmy ever designed and notably scarce.
   This is from 2006 with the Royal Mail issuing their version as a dissappointing 64p stamp in 2007, where they forgot to add the flames.
   We presume there was an FDC for this but haven't found it yet. We also have plenty of the 2nd class version that we'll list soon.
   
   We have 5 sets to sell. 16 stamps per sheet. Sheet size 14.5cm x 22.5cm.
   All in mint condition.
   
   
5. Stamps of Mass Destruction and Other Postal Disasters Volume II
   This is the first book we published for Jimmy in 2005 that kickstarted the C.N.P.D with all of the first series C.N.P.D stamps featured on envelopes addressed to James Cauty at various addresses he has lived at. The last few page are designed for the real stamps to be stuck in and an envelope stuck inside the back cover is the first ever C.N.P.D stamp sheet.
   
   There were two issues of this book. This copy is from the first issue with a complete stamp sheet and is signed on the cover in sharpie by Jimmy. The second issue came after the first stamp cull where we deleted a lot of the editions. The stamp sheet in that had the deleted designs removed and the word DELETED printed there instead.
   
   128 pages, paperback, 12.3 x 19 cm. Signed by the artist. In fine condition.
   We have only one copy available for sale.

MORE TO FOLLOW SOON