Romeo and Juliet are undeniably the most well-known lovers in literature. It is unsurprising they should appear on an Isle of Vue Valentine`s Day issue.

The basic stamps feature the pair in Montague blue, and Capulet pink. There were 12 stamps per sheet with the colours arranged in a se-tenant alternating pattern. There were variants of each colour involving the dagger and poison chalice as appropriate. An alternative sheet had the Montague stamps in the left column, Capulets to the right, and new stamp with blue shading to pink (shown right) making the middle row.
These graded colour stamps were also printed in sheets of their own, alternating the blue to pink version with a pink to blue one. This latter stamp is unavailable elsewhere.

There was of course a full complement of collectables available including a se-tenant pair of stamps in a presentation mount and their own envelope, standard and deluxe covers, and a Valentine`s card.

A bonus envelope for members of the Cinderella Stamps Forum contained a single stamp mini-sheet of a prototype design which lacked the dagger and chalice, but had a degree of colouring around the two birds. In fact there was also an uncoloured version, and another with the frame inverted in relation to the stamp.

A few collectors also came by a an unusual item; versions of the stamps which failed the printing after the yellow pass, leaving only the ghost of a design.

What to look for in this issue?

• The standard stamp variants
• Se-tenant pairs
• The blue to pink and pink to blue graded colours
•   and their variants
• The prototype design mini-sheets