31p purple

2009 issues

2008-10-28T03:23:00.002Z

Looking ahead to 2009, I think the first items you'll need are:

13 January 2009
Design Classics
16p and 50p Walsall

22 January 2009
Burns miniature sheet
Scottish regional 1st, 2nd, 50p and 81p to be printed by Enschede in gravure and so new items.

12 February 2009
Charles Darwin
5p, 10p and 48p and 1st DLR

There is also talk of self-adhesives in booklets and business sheets having security features to prevent re-use being incorporated in the form of four U-shaped die cuts in the design. No doubt we'll hear more soon as the changes are planned for early in the year.

Christmas chaos

2008-10-28T03:09:00.003Z

Although not Machins, I regard the Christmas issues as pictorial definitives - a rapidly expanding collection with items like the NI pictorial 1st pair released in the miniature sheet recently and all the 'Smilers'.

Christmas 2008 follows Christmas 2007 which I didn't get round to reporting. The offering is very similar, with the Angel theme appearing as:

2nd s-a in books, Smiler sheet and sheets and gummed in miniature sheet

1st s-a as above

50p s-a in just sheets and gummed in miniature sheet

81p s-a in just sheets, Smiler sheets and gummed in miniature sheet

The 'Large' 1st and 2nd are also available as s-a in sheets and gummed in miniature sheet

Thankfully, there's no £1.24 (2007) or £1.19 (2006) value this year.

In addition the Madonna 1st and 2nd issue will be reprinted and is effectively the same stamp as 2007 but I bet there'll be a good reason to have both years' items.

I make that 19 separate items required just for Christmas! Maybe you should stick to Machins after all! Very few Christmas issues seem to appreciate in value much (due to the huge print runs and common usage) but I just know that the ones I don't get will be the ones that do!

Happy Birthday, Sir

2008-10-28T03:08:00.001Z

Prince Charles' 60th birthday is marked on 14 November with a miniature sheet which will include a 1st Welsh regional.

Lest we forget 2008

2008-10-28T03:06:00.002Z

Another beautiful main stamp with 4 regional 1st in the miniature sheet. Out on 6 November, with several other items, including reprinting of each of the three years' featuring this design.

Wilding 50th Anniversary

2008-10-28T03:02:00.004Z

I had thought that the Wilding section of my catalogue had closed but September brought a massive new bundle of them. Nice 1st re-workings of 3d, 6d and 1/3 original designs for Scotland, Wales and NI.

You'll need the miniature sheet as well as the prestige book, each being quite different printing. The book also has 1st regionals too, yielding what will no doubt prove to be different 1st Scotland, 1st NI and 1st Wales pictorial definitives.

Catalogue and site update

2008-10-27T17:58:00.002Z

I've been using some free space with Tiscali for the site but now can't access the space unless I use a Tiscali connection which I haven't had for ages. I have plenty of other web space and will transfer everything to somewhere I control on a more sensible basis.

The Machin Catalogue is now almost up-to-date, just a few 2008 entries to go.

Apologies for the time out.

8 January 2008 James Bond

2008-10-27T03:09:00.002Z

The prestige book contains a 1st Gold in Litho, so far the only source.

1 April 2008 New values and colours

2008-10-22T03:21:00.000+01:00

The fourth is a 9p bright orange - very similar to the 2005 issue but this has a slightly lower set value.

Smiler sheet ellipses

2008-10-21T20:33:00.000+01:00

The 29 September Glorious UK sheets do have ellipses in the perforations - so these are the first source of these stamps in Cartor printing with ellipses.

You'll need each of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales sheets (or, less costly, individual stamps if you can get them!)

20 September 2007 Uniforms

2008-10-20T03:36:00.000+01:00

Several goodies in the British Army Uniforms booklet

1p crimson 2 band Enschede gravure

46p old gold

54p brown

1st regionals 2 band Enschede litho

Also on this day NI 1st 2 band and 2nd 1 band DLR gravure

An article for the Philatelic Bulletin

2007-06-17T20:05:00.000+01:00

1967 brought to the public designs that made the Sixties so fresh and different to all that had gone before. One such design was the 4d Machin definitive issued in June, closely followed by others and since by every value but two in 1/2p stages to 201/2p then, with just two missing, every penny to 50p.

I was 14, adored pirate radio, wore long hair and ridiculously bright clothes. It's interesting that something so 'establishment' as a Post Office stamp should have inspired me so successfully in the face of such competition.

It was, indeed, an icon for a new generation.

New issues: March - June 2007

2007-06-17T19:50:00.001+01:00

Just a quick summary for now - still need to check some earlier lists so there may be some additions yet to come.

27/3

16p pink

48p mauve

50p grey

54p brown

78p green

23/4
England
1st new pictorial DLR
1st crowned lion DLR

17/5
Wembley Miniature sheet
England pictorial 1st new crowned lion DLR
the four pictorial definitives now printed by DLR
2nd class DLR
78p Regional DLR

5/6
[return to proprtion]
6x1st gold s-a Walsall
12x1st gold s-a Walsall
12x2nd blue s-a Walsall
2nd blue gummed DLR
£1 mauve DLR
£1 ruby DLR

1 March - easily missed firsts

2007-06-17T19:47:00.000+01:00

The A4 generic sheets of English and Wales 'pictorial' definitives printed by Cartor don't have elipses in the perforations. They are also the first self-adhesive country pictorial definitives. A bit pricey but you'll need them and kick yourself later for not getting them.

Return of design as it should be!

2007-06-17T19:38:00.000+01:00

Well, a 40th anniversary was just what we needed and a whole bunch of new items for us collectors. So nice to see the BPB stuffed full of Machins once more so fears of their early demise have faded somewhat.
The Big News, though, has to be that we're rid of those ghastly fat digit PiPs!! Hooray! And it's very rare that I type Hooray in a web log. And Good Riddance, I say! Common sense and good design prevails, eh.
I have to say that I keep thinking 39p bright pink when I see the £1 ruby illustrations, although the real thing is better. Still, a darker shade would have suited the 40th more appropriately, in my view.
I suppose a new 4p in black was a bit much to expect. Maybe in 2017 for the 50th - or will the 1st gold be brought back to life for, what would it be, the third time by then? Nice to think the design might make it to 2017 (assuming the owner of the head does).
Goodness, that's something that had never occurred to me before.

40th Anniversary : 5 June 2007

2007-06-01T00:12:00.000+01:00

A bit more Machin news beginning to appear at last - and rightly so with the 40th anniversary of the appearance of the 4d stamp way back in the Summer of Love days. I really shouldn't remember them as well as I do but that's another story!

More pics and news to come but there's a new £1 in ruby, the old violet one will officially go away but not before they stick it in a miniature sheet so that'll be another addition. I also have a feeling there'll be more too. Updates on some other recent issues to follow shortly. Just moved - that's my excuse, and I'm self-adhesiving to it.

Machins 2007

2006-12-24T17:48:00.000Z

As the year grinds to an end, it is somewhat relieving to report that the December issue of Philatelic Bulletin does make mention of Machins. Twice. On 1 March we have a resurrection of the 5p. OK, it's never been away but this is centre stage stuff for the value now. The humble 5p, still in an uncertain shade of brown, lilac, purple that has forever dogged its existence, will be only the third Machin value on self-adhesive paper, in a pane of the World of Invention booklet. And for some reason it seems more important than the 42p and 68p books of 4 that were the first and second in 2002.

That it should have to share the event adjoined to the ugly fat 1st gold is a shame but there you go.

Rather prettier will be the other sheet in the booklet with 44p and 2nd Scottish stamps. Pity they didn't use the new Sctottish first but that's another story.

The other Machin mention was, of course, Mr Myall's article. I am beginning to think that the fellow is losing his marbles somewhat as he devotes most of the first paragraph to remarks about how PiP appears to have gone smoothly as judged from the queue in his local Post Office (which I suspect is a pleasant village one where people are patient and have time to chat). What he has included, though, but made little mention of, is a splendid-looking illustration that appears to accompany the blasted PiP presentation pack. I must get hold of one and try and ignore the ghastly designs of all but two of its contents.

Nice to see him make complimentary mention of both the new Smilers and the Poppy stamp in an article entitled 'Mainly Machins'. We seem to think alike there.

30 November: new Scottish 1st

2006-12-24T17:45:00.000Z

That nearly slipped past me! I hadn't studied the illustrations terribly closely and had just assumed the one with the blue flag was the 2nd class we know about. Wrong. It's a new stamp, and a fine one too, with a quite different Saltire and a 1st class value. Only available in the miniature sheet with its sister the lion and a couple of long stamps which appear to me to have no purpose in life. Hope we see some more of the 1st flag, though.

14 November: 1st PiP coil

2006-12-24T17:44:00.000Z

Because I dislike these stamps I shall not add any more.

NI delay

2006-12-24T17:39:00.000Z

You should have got the 72p NI gravure but the other values expected on 9 November didn't appear. RM say they'll advise an issue date 'shortly'. That was a quote from the November Bulletin! No mention in December. At this rate it'll be a 75p.

Don't mention the Machins?

2006-11-12T20:12:00.000Z

Vol 44 No 3, November 2006. Apart from a solitary 1st gold loitering on a BFPO cover advert, and that's on the back inner page under 'Late news', there are no Machins! never mind 'Is this a record?' I'm inclined to wonder: 'Is this an omen?'

7 November: Christmas

2006-10-05T20:40:00.000+01:00

20 1st and 20 2nd in sheets by Cartor with labels on which you can have an image included - generic sheets probably the best bet for the collection. Also the stamps themselves and a miniature sheet.

9 November: new NI printings

2006-10-05T20:35:00.000+01:00

1st, 2nd, 44p and 72p will be issued printed by DLR in gravure instead of lithography. And don't miss the miniature sheet of 4 country 72p stamps mentioned previously and coming out on 9/11 too, not 11/11 as I thought.

3 October: fat1st and 2nd coils

2006-10-05T20:33:00.000+01:00

The title just about says it all. DLR on RMS paper.

Christmas!

2006-09-09T22:22:00.000+01:00

Once upon a time all was delightfully clear: there were definitives and there were stamps that were not definitives. Christmas stamps were sort of definitives but, being produced in the commemorative style of the day, one could safely leave them to the general collection or ignore them if that wasn't your bag. Now I'm beginning to have doubts. These may pass but this year's 4 small size stamps I mentioned previously have a sort of Smilers feel to them and I've convinced my self of their merit in my definitive collection so I guess I'll have to add the Christmas ones too. That view is confirmed as I see that there will also be two 'Large' additions, being the small size reproduced on a Horizontal PiP size stamp and lots of white space.

What worries me is what I do if more 'special' stamps come out in these formats and I shall have to get them too + all the variations. Maybe I should have stuck to machins after all!

9 November 2006: new NI pictorial definitives

2006-09-09T22:06:00.000+01:00

Again, not Machin news, I'm afraid, but pretty essential definitive items, with the 4 NI definitives being reprinted in gravure instead of litho by De La Rue. The Poppy sheet, out two days later on 11/11 will include each of the 4 Country 72p pictorial definitives again in gravure by De La Rue. Until you see the actual stamps you may not be able to decide whether the individual items meet your criteria as new additions but I'd advise playing safe and getting this sheet even if you aren't bothered about gums or less obvious variations by the same printer - and there are some new se-tenant pairings here too.

The poppy sheet will probably be produced in large numbers and is unlikely to command great prices in future but the Poppy 1st class stamp included is a superb piece of design.

17 October 2006: new Smilers

2006-09-09T21:56:00.000+01:00

A book of 6 1st class small-size Smilers - the ones I suggested definitive collectors should ensure they keep an eye on - will be issued with new designs. There will also be a presentation pack and a generic sheet. So make sure you get your current issue sheet, either with your own choice of photo or the generic one. At £6.95 this may be pricey but it is the cheapest way to get the Cartor printing. I can see this being a rare item in years to come. With all self adhesive stamps, the backing can vary and there have been issues in the past where a special run is made on white backing just for a year set or individuals supplied to BPB orders. Don't know whether the presentation pack stamps will be the same so watch out in case they aren't. So far there haven't been any white back Smilers specially produced.

2 October 2006

2006-09-09T21:46:00.000+01:00

PiPs again - looks like the same 1st class stamps with the large value but in a new booklet of six which features an advert for stamp collecting.

VC Prestige book - September 2006

2006-08-08T23:05:00.000+01:00

This will contain a 50p and fat 1st gold from Enschede - essential items for the collection although not the most inspiring looking booklets otherwise.

PiP August 2006

2006-08-08T22:59:00.000+01:00

I really don't like these things at all. I can see many people getting quite confused. The placement of the value tablet high left leaves a huge space and to me it looks wrong. Oh well. I just hope the series is like Postage Dues. Buy them, stick them in the album and move on.

On 15 August you'll need to get the books, Large (horizontal) 1st and 2nd and coil stamps. there will also be self-adhesive sheets of the standard size fat 1st and fat 2nd.

Pictorial definitives

2006-08-08T22:36:00.000+01:00

Although most people use this term to refer to the Regional issues, I think that it could be extended to the new small 'definitive' size issues such as the Smilers sheets and books. So I'm including items like this which appear clearly not 'commemorative' or particularly 'special' issues. If one day they do get regarded as definitives and something similar replaces the Machin series then these early items will be much sought after.

If you do wish to include them in your collection then remember that a new Smilers book was issued on 4 July with reference to PiP on the cover. Same stamps, though. Confusingly BPB refer to a 'Moments' booklet in July which made me think it was a new set but looks like that is the same booklet after all. Note that sheets of stamps will only be available via customised orders or the generic sheet from BPB. As I believe the sheets are printed by Cartor they seem to need to be included. A bit expensive at about £15 a sheet but maybe a few people could share a sheet if all you're after is some for the album.

What will be different will be 4 items from the Christmas set due on 7 October. There will be 4 definitive size items which I'll be including.

On 11 November, there will be 4 regional pictorial definitives in a Remembrance miniature sheet. Whilst I shall regard all 4 as new, the Northern Ireland item is completely new being the first gravure printing for NI.

Dunstable RMS 2005 -

2006-08-08T22:23:00.000+01:00

1 crimson 2 D e/pva 20/5/05
2 dp green 2 D e/pva 22/4/05
5 pale brown 2 D e 23/5/05
9 orange 2 D e/pva 18/3/06
10 tan 2 D e/pva 24/3/06
12 dk turquoise 2 D e 1/8/06
14 salmon 2 D e 1/8/06
20 brt green 2v D e 24/3/06
35 lime green Cv D e/pva 24/7/05
37 olive green Cv D e 28/3/06
44 ultramarine 2v D e 28/3/06
46 old gold 2v D e 6/6/05
47 sea green 2v D e 24/7/05
49 rust 2v D e 28/3/06
50 sand 2v D e 24/5/05
72 red 2v D e 28/3/06
100 mauve 2 D e 21/7/05

I guess this list will grow as future DLR items come along. As long as they or Mr Enschede or even the Cartor boys don't start switching plants, we may be able to get back to fairly manageable listings again soon!

All these should have pva gum that is creamy and be bright, sharp images on glossy looking paper. Dates, other than new item known issue dates, from Douglas Myall's article in the June 2006 Bulletin but I've just noticed that these may be for particular printing cylinders so I'll have to look again as there may be earlier ones. Anyway, this is a start.

Byfleet 2003-2005 quick reference

2006-08-08T22:00:00.000+01:00

1 crimson 2v D e 19/3/03
2 dp green 2v D e 25/3/03
2 dp green and pale portrait 2v D e 5/11/03
4 new blue 2v D e 1/4/03
4 brt new blue pale portrait 2v D e 18/9/03
5 pale brown 2v D e 2/4/03
7 brt pink 2v D e 1/4/04
8 dark yellow 2v D e 31/3/03
9 orange 2v D e 7/4/05
9 dp orange 2v D e 7/4/05
10 tan 2v D e 20/3/03
10 dp tan 2v D e 30/4/03
20 brt green 2v D e 4/3/03
20 brt green 2v D e/pva 4/3/03
33 dp grey blue 2v D e/pva 20/3/03
33 dp grey blue 2v D e 4/3/03
34 lime green 2v D e 6/5/03
35 dark brown 2v D e/pva 1/4/04
35 dark brown 2v D e 1/4/04
35 brt lime Cv D e 26/4/05
35 lime green Cv D e 26/4/05
37 dk grey 2v D e 4/6/03
37 dk grey 2v D e 16/3/04
39 lt grey 2v D e/pva 1/4/04
39 lt grey 2v D e 1/4/04
40 dk turquoise 2v D e/pva 1/4/04
40 dk turquoise 2v D e 1/4/04
40 dull turq and white head 2v D e 1/4/04
41 red 2v D e 4/3/03
42 sage 2v D e 24/3/03
43 emerald-green 2v D e/pva 1/4/04
43 emerald-green 2v D e 1/4/04
46 old gold 2v D e 7/4/05
47 sea green 2v D e 29/3/03
47 pale sea green e 29/3/03
50 sand 2v D e 31/3/03
68 stone 2v D e 3/6/03
100 mauve 2 D e 26/3/03
100 pale mauve 2 D e 26/3/03
150 red-brown 2 D e 1/7/03
200 dk blue-green 2 D e 1/7/03
200 dk blue-green / pale portrait 2 D e 1/7/03
300 violet 2b D e 1/7/03
300 brt violet / pale portrait 2 D e 14/4/05
500 pale slate 2 D e 1/7/03

These entries ignore variations in the brightness of phosphor and type of pva gum. The dates are when I understand the sheets were printed for items previously in production by De La Rue (which will be rather earlier than issue dates) or an issue date where it was an item that was new during this period. Information on earliest known actual availabilty dates will follow if and when I get any. Help anyone?

Byfleet and Dunstable

2006-08-08T21:23:00.000+01:00

As it took me ages to figure out why these two towns now seem set to enter the annals of Machin history, I thought it might help to set out, briefly, what I've learned.

Harrisons had been quite happily printing loads of our definitives and then got taken over by De La Rue in 2002. Questa had also been providing us with some interesting varieties but their Byfleet plant had also been acquired by DLR in 2002. So DLR moved stamp production to Byfleet and that gave us the first batch of 2003 varieties. Different types of print equipment and processes produce the varities we collectors love. Some of them are obvious just be looking at a stamp, others need closer attention.

Then, in 2005, DLR closed Byfleet and moved production to that permanent traffic jam of a town called Dunstable. The fact that I am a lecturer at the college there doesn't help but that's another matter! Maybe I should arrange a trip, for the students, of course(!) So that meant yet another set of equipment and new items that would be a pretty essential part of the collection.

Between 2003 and 2005 there were quite a few postal rate changes too so even items nearing the end of their useful life got new prints.

My main concern is to know which values were printed on the new equipment, what fairly obvious discerning features distinguish varieties and when they were 'issued' so that I could update my listings and also note the items I'd have to buy (before they got scarce - and expensive!)

I won't list the items I found here in full but they're on my new site in Group 7 (Byfleet ATN) and Group 8 (Dunstable RMS). A quick summary will be in the next postings.

Mike Holt has explained the detailed changes very well in his listings as has Robin at GB Machins but if you're not too concerned with what sort of paper is used or the fine detail of types of phospor then some simplification is necessary to get some sort of manageable listing. The veritable Douglas Myall's articles in the Philatelic Bulletin are excellent but I finished up very confused.

New AHI machin Regional site now live

2006-08-08T21:12:00.000+01:00

The new site's now available and the daily discovery of errors has diminished to a weekly wondering about a few things I need help with.

There's link somewhere on the page or just click here . I'm using the same Tiscali web space I had back in 1998. It's free and seems reliable and there are no ads. However the url is a bit sad so I'll probably switch the home page to one of my own hosted sites before long.

This web log is where I'll publish news of relevance to Machin collectors, links to useful sites and I shall also be asking some questions myself about a few things! Hope someone reads this that can help.

Definitively crazy

2006-08-08T20:44:00.000+01:00

It's not as if I haven't got other things to do but, well, there's something about a stamp collection that is terribly relaxing and it's something you can do in a cool spot while it's burining hot outside. Yes, I admit it, I collect stamps. I have done since I was 11. After that many years you tend to get quite knowledgeable about a topic and my speciality is the Machin definitive issues from Great Britain that look like the picture here.

They started in 1967 and the face values run from 1/2p to 20 1/2p without missing a beat and, with a few exceptions, on to strange vales like 68p, 72p and, of course £5. There's a host of colours, shades, head varieties, phosphor bands, gum types, paper types, perforation changes which can mean that what may look like a boring old stamp may actually have the right combination of features to make it worth £100 or more. Which isn't so boring.

I have had an on-line listing on a web site since the late 90s but it got hopelessly out of date over the last few years. So I have just spent n days, where n is quite a large integer, bringing it all up to date. Of course knowing me, that meant a whole new site as I'd grown tired of the old design! I'd also done the old one with some NetObjects Fusion software with frames and things which I've since gone off. The main problem, though, was the fact that I hadn't paid any attention to the mailings I get from the British Philatelic Bureau and others. These included not just all the details of most new issues but also the stamps themselves. Must have had over £200 in face value never mind dealer value bundled up in envelopes!

I slowly managed to find them all in various boxes that had survived a couple of moves in the meantime. It was then a task of reading through all the bulletins and spotting the changes, new issues and checking that I had what I need to stay complete (by my definition). All was going reasonably well until I reached 2003. More about that in another posting as readers will want to know the detail without ploughing through this intro. Suffice it to say that a lot of complicated changes happened from 2003 to 2005 and it was clear that some print runs must have been pretty short and so prices could be high - and some would be items that I'd have to buy as they weren't in the standard new issue lists. That gave me a sense of urgency and helped me complete the task of creating a brand new list and publishing the new site to go with it.

Lastly, today, I realised that I'd have to update it regularly and it would be a good idea to use a web log with the titles of postings appearing on a news page. This is possible with Blogger and a free newsfeed converter so whatever goes in here will turn up there. So, here I go.

By the way, the title refers to a Scottish Machin regional stamp that came out in 1985 and now retails for £100+. Quite a return on 31p. It's not the one illustrated but I will add that in due course.