2010 issues

Here's what you need to know about 2010. This is almost entirely straight from Robin Harris's excellent site which has a mass of additional technical detail and that's where most of the links in this post will take you. I will start my own commentary soon - just a couple more years to go!

Post and Go

You'll be relived to know that on the Post and Go front things were a bit quieter if you are just collecting the Machin types, with a font change introduced in each of the 5 denomination prints in September 2010.

7 Jan 2010

Two Machin panes from Classic Album Covers prestige booklet
20p/54p/62p in one pane
5p/10p/22p in one pane

The 5p and 54p values have new value types (different font):

30 Mar 2010

New values and colours, including two nice additions by way of an airmail strip on the 2005 type Europe and Worldwide rate NVIs which I thought had bitten the dust along with the E stamps:

Security prints with '10' year code
Security print issues (all self-adhesive):


1st gold with 'T' and '10' (Jan 26)
1st gold with 'C' and '10' (Jun 15)
1st gold with 'S' and '10' (Jun 26)
1st gold with 'P' and '10' (May 8)
2nd light blue with 'T' and '10' (Mar 31)
2nd light blue with 'P' and '10' (May 8)
2nd light blue with 'B' and '10' (Mar 5)
2nd light blue with '10' (Mar 10)
1st Large gold with 'F' and '10' (May 8)
2nd Large light blue with 'F' and '10' (May 8)
50p grey with 'P' and '10' (May 8)
1st gold with 'P' and '10' (May 8)
1st gold with 'B' and '10' (Mar 2)
1st gold with '10' (Mar 13)
2nd light blue with 'P' and '10' (May 8)

De La Rue security print coils of 500 and 1000:
1st gold with 'R' and '10' (May 13)
2nd light blue with 'R' and '10' (May 13)




It does now look as though we collectors will be splashing out every year for new year codes on all these issues. I guess, though, that many of us would have bought each new booklet or sheet change example anyway - but there would have been some that we might have hoped wouldn't change for a few years.

April 2010

Horizon Gold labels (illustrated at same scale as other Machins on this page). Robin included these in his round-up and I'm glad he did as I had been thinking that these ought to be included in my collection. They are the ultimate Machin in a way (although I am not so sure that shouldn't be the ultimate gaudy and huge Machin!) and if they do settle down and start being used a lot I will regret not starting.

I am happy to find as many of the different codes as I can from bundles of used items someone somewhere must have at a reasonable price, if not given away, but I would like to have some crisp examples if it's possible to get them at a Post Office. So I shall trot down to Towcester tomorrow and see what they say. I also gather from the little reading I have done so far, and it has been little, thanks to this massive catch-up exercise and the flaming Post and Gos, that there are a host of varieties which will add to the fun too.





Many types exist (different letters [service], language, typeface, perf vs die cut). The Deegam Report 90 notes the following Horizon service codes:

1L 1st letter, recorded signed for
1LG 1st large letter
1PK 1st packet
2L 2nd letter, recorded signed for
2LG 2nd large letter
2PK 2nd packet
 A Airmail
AAX Airsure
BF British Forces Post Office, international parcel
BL British Forces Post Office, letter SP Standard parcel
BLG British Forces Post Office, large letter
BPK British Forces Post Office, packet
FF Free Forces
FP Fully paid
MOR Mail Order Return
PE Global economy
PS Global valueRPR RSF fee paid on a Packetpost ™ return item
SD Special delivery
1st RSF fee paid on an article for the blind
SU Surface mail

6 May 2010

George V and Machin head


Do you consider this a Machin issue? asks Robin Harris. I think I do. Just!

8 May 2010

Souvenir sheet (all lithography by Cartor)

13 May 2010

Machin pane from Britain Alone Covers prestige booklet
5p/10p/60p in one pane

26 Oct 2010

New "Special Delivery" Machins



original prices would have been:
£5.05 (non-denominated) Special Delivery, up to 100g
£5.50 (non-denominated) Special Delivery, up to 500g

As reported first by Ian Billings of Norvic Philatelics.

2009: Post and Go

Someone at Royal Mail decided that, as we didn't like queueing for stamps they should do something to help us. Now, in the past, booklets have been fine and available at all kinds of places but they felt they needed to do more. Remember Framas? Well, they did as well and tweaked that idea so that we only had to tell some machine whether we wanted letters, large letters, Europe rate or one of a couple of Worldwide rates and it would print out labels like the one above which we could slap on any time, any place.

Now, I'm still not convinced that this is any simpler than buying booklets of the appropriate stamps but it might be cheaper to print rolls of these things and just have them printed on demand rather than make thousands of nice little booklets. Had I been writing this in 2009 then I am sure I would have left it at that and not thought a great deal more about it. The thought of little men dashing from selected Post Office locations where the new-fangled machines would need to be installed to fill them up, adjust them and fix them would have negated any potential savings. But that was then. This is now and I hadn't thought of the revenue possibilities if you print pretty pictures on them instead of just the Machin head.

So, for a standard 5 denomination set which one would need, and, say, 6 different pretty pictures of birds or something, collectors will want 30 labels each time. Hmmm, beginning to make more sense now...

So, as I said in my last post, they appeared in late 2008 with the first 5 labels. they're pretty much Machin definitives so I should be collecting these. Not the pretty birds or whatever so it shouldn't be too bad for those of us who do the same and ignore those.

Those who had orders with Tallents House didn't get the originals; they got packs which staff printed there in a slightly different way to avoid having to stand at a machine for hours fulfilling orders. That produced a clear variety straightaway so by March 2009 there are two distinct types of each of the five denominations.

In fact, due to all kinds of phosphor band variations, I reckon there are 26 labels that you'd need to have a complete definitive collection of these things.  I have to acknowledge the considerable expertise of Norvic Philatelics and the ever brilliant B Alan people for helping me to make sense of all this. Nevertheless, the one thing I really really wanted but have failed to find anywhere on the net has been a simple table listing what was available and when. The B Alan Connoisseur Catalogue has a list up to March 2009 which was a great start but it took a trawl through almost all of Norvic's blog posts over the last few years to extract what came subsequently and when.

So I have now managed what I believe is a reasonably accurate list of definitive Machin Post and Gos to date. This is contained in the revised catalogue I'll be publishing shortly but if you happen to land here and have been looking for the same thing then here it is now.

You should be able to read the larger image that appears when you click it. These are just screen prints from the file I'll be publishing. If I've missed something or got something wrong do tell me! This includes 2010, 2011, 2012 and new items expected this year too which I will also refer to in the catch-up posts I'm doing.

And, yes, there have been Birds 1,2,3 and 4, a Flag version, Farm animals and goodness knows what else already! 

I do still need the items in my lists above, by the way. All I can see for sale are bits and pieces at what appear ridiculous prices but I am hoping my new account with Mr Alan will resolve that problem for the future and, indeed, they may have the past stuff too.

2009 revisited

In an attempt to catch up after a hopeless absence of over 3 years, the next few posts will simply show you what you ought to have in your Machin collections for 2009-12, starting with 2009.

13 January 2009

The British Design Classics book has a new 16p and 50p from Cartor (not with security features as illustrated, though)

12 February 2009

The Charles Darwin book as a new DLR 5p, 10p and 48p

17 February 2009

New colours and security features (with several variations of them!)

  

 

31 March 2009

New colours and values

   

March 2009

Walsall printings of the 1st, 2nd, 1st Large and 2nd Large stamps with security features.

July 2009

The DLR roll 1st and 2nd NVIs

18 August 2009

The Treasures of the British Philatelic Museum & Archives (BPMA) book has the Cartor printings of the 17p, 22p and 62p as well as 20p and 1st Anniversary stamps returning!

17 September 2009

The Royal Navy Uniforms book brings us a new Cartor 1p and 90p printing. The 1p is a distinct dark maroon.

17 November 2009

Recorded / signed for labels for 1st and 1st Large.

Post and Go

Something else happened this year - people began to realise that Post and Go stamps (or Faststamps) might not be just one of those crazy things that come and go.

The first 5 values were available from machines in October 2008. They really took off in 2009, though, and, of course I missed them being tied up with far too many other much less interesting things. I ahve, finally, caught up with what's been going on and that'll be covered in the separate post they deserve - coming up next.

Acknowledgements to the excellent Robert Harris whose site has lots more technical detail and without which I would never have been able to catch up. I have nicked these images instead of photographing my own and hope all the nice things I shall be saying about his work, which I am repeating to a large extent until I get back to the current day and can recommence my own commentary, will be sufficient recognition in the meantime.

 

2009 issues

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

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

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

Lest we forget 2008

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

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

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

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