Underprints, too!

You can learn about nearly every aspect of modern philately by studying the Machins: papers, phosphors, gums, printing methods, and so on. About the only significant exception is watermarks. You'll have to go back to the Wildings for those.

The Machins can also teach you some things that you don't commonly see. One of those is underprints, that is, printing on the gum side of the stamp. This was done on several Machins from 1982 to 1986. (Five commemoratives were also underprinted, but they are beyond the scope of this blog.)

The first underprints appeared in the 1982 Christmas booklet. This booklet contained a pane of 20 Machins, ten 12 1/2p (second-class rate) and ten 15 1/2p (first-class rate). As an encouragement for patrons to buy the stamps and send holiday cards, Royal Mail sold this booklet for £2.50, a discount of 30p from the nominal face value of £2.80.

Royal Mail wanted to make sure that no one could buy the discounted stamps and then resell them at full value. The solution to this problem was to underprint the stamps with a blue star. This would identify the stamps as having been sold at a discount.

The booklet is pictured here. The pane is folded (which is the way it was sold) so that the outer three columns of stamps overlap columns five through seven. You can see the stars on the back of the stamps.

Christmas booklets in 1983 and 1986 were also sold at a discount with underprinted Machins, and two regular (non-Christmas) booklets were also sold that way, one in 1983 and one in 1985. The booklets, stamps, and underprints are described below.

By 1986, Royal Mail decided to discontinue the practice of discounting booklets. There was, however, excess paper with the underprints. Royal Mail decided to use up that paper for 12p Machins issued in sheets and 17p Machins issued in 50p booklets.


There's one critical difference between the underprints used to indicate a discount and the ones used up as excess. For the discounts, one image (either a star or the letter "D") appeared on the back of each stamp. You can see this on the XMAS booklet stamps.

When the excess paper was used up, the images and stamps were not lined up. Therefore the image appeared unevenly on the back of the stamps, and some stamps had only a portion of the image. I've seen this referred to as a "wallpaper" pattern. Shown here are the front and back of a pair of 17p stamps from the 50p booklet.

These underprints are pictured and listed in intermediate catalogs such as the Stanley Gibbons Concise and the Stoneham. They are noted (but not pictured or listed separately) in the Scott Catalogue. Roy pictures them all and has some additional information on his web site.

Here's a list of the underprinted Machins:

12 1/2p and 15 1/2p
Underprint: 2 overlapping stars, centered on stamp
Source: 1982 XMAS booklet (£2.80 face sold for £2.50)

12 1/2p
Underprint: double-line star, centered on stamp
Source: 1983 XMAS booklet (£2.50 face sold for £2.20)

13p
Underprint: double-line star, centered on stamp
Source: 1986 Christmas booklet (£1.30 face sold for £1.20)

16p
Underprint: double-line letter "D", centered on stamp
Source: 1983 counter booklet "Lyme Regis" (£1.60 face sold for £1.45)

17p
Underprint: double-line letter "D", centered on stamp
Source: 1985 counter booklet "Letters Abroad" (£1.70 face sold for £1.55)

12p
Underprint: double-line star, wallpaper pattern
Source: Sheet stamps

17p
Underprint: double-line star, wallpaper pattern
Source: 50p booklets (Pillar Box, Pond Life #1, Pond Life #2)

--Larry

The Double-Zero Machin

These unusual Machins have caused a bit of a stir since they first appeared a few months ago. Certainly, they are not valid postage stamps, but it's not obvious at first what they are.

Of course, Douglas Myall has the answer. They were produced by De La Rue Security Print, the current primary printer of Machins. They were sent to other printers of Machins, including Joh. Enschede of The Netherlands and Walsall Security Printers in the U.K., for use in color matching. It is used during printing by comparing these labels with the stamps coming off the press.

Douglas Myall tells me that even though the printers get their inks from a specialist company (that presumably creates exactly the right color), it is possible for the color to change slightly during printing. The comparison of the printed stamps with these 00p samples is done by eye. There is some tolerance allowed, which is why there are shade differences in many of the issued Machins.

These zero-value labels (for that's what they are - they aren't really stamps since they don't serve as a receipt for the prepayment of postal services) were created after Royal Mail had De La Rue standardize on a dull (does not fluoresce) paper known as RMS.

The dark green color of this 00p Machin is used for the 2p Machin. There are two different printings of the dark green 2p Machin on RMS paper, one introduced in 2005 and one in 2006. The 2006 printing is usually called an "enhanced engraving." That's a story for another time, but the bottom line is that for some values, and the 2p is one of them, the shade of the "enhanced" stamp differs noticeably from its predecessor. The 2005 printing is cylinder D1 and the 2006 is cylinder D2.

With my untrained eyes, I compared this 00p Machin with the 2p Machins printed by De La Rue in 2005 and 2006. The 00p is not an exact match to either of the two actual stamps, but it appears to be closer to the D1 than the D2. This supports my theory (and it is just a theory) that the reason this group came onto the market is that it is the color group from the 2005 printings, and they were made obsolete by the 2006 printings. (We have to wonder if De La Rue created another set of these in 2006. Let's hope we find out someday.)

I would guess that the difference I see between the 00p and the D1 stamp is within Royal Mail's tolerance.

When these labels first appeared, they fetched up to £400 each. However, the supplies started to appear in dealers' stocks and the price settled to about £95 each.

Recently, Douglas Myall told me that Royal Mail has told dealers that these labels are considered Royal Mail property, should not be sold, and may be reclaimed by Royal Mail. I don't think, however, that individual collectors who purchased them are likely to be bothered. (At least I hope not!)

Finally, a question. Why bother? Why create a separate cylinder (or multiple cylinders) to print these labels? Why not just use actual stamps? Even if those stamps were to be distributed to the public, the loss of revenue would not be too great.

I have one possible answer, which is that these labels don't have phosphor bands, and maybe they are better for comparison for that reason. But is that enough of a reason to justify the expense? Or is there another reason?

--Larry

Update December 27: Douglas Myall notes that he has seen these zero-value labels in 34 different colors and speculates that there could be as many as four more. However, one of the four he mentions is ruby, which was not used until mid-2007 and probably wasn't yet developed when these labels were created in 2005.

Like clockwork

Since 2004, Royal Mail has increased postal rates (or tariffs) annually during the first week of April. It will be no different in 2008. Royal Mail has just announced new rates effective April 7, 2008.

Accompanying the new rates will be a batch of new Machins, issued a week or two before the rates take effect. Even though non-denominated (non-value indicated or NVI) Machins are used for first- and second-class rates for letters and large letters, there will still be a need for new denominated Machins. Generally about four to six new Machins are required.

For those that collect them, there will also be a set of new pictorial regionals, two each for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England.

The rate increases are uneven. First-class letters go from 34p to 36p, an increase of 6% (rounded to the nearest percent), but second-class letters jump 13% from 24p to 27p. The situation is reversed for large letters. The first-class rate increases 8% from 48p to 52p, but the second-class increase is only 5%, from 40p to 42p.

The rate for 20 gram letters to Europe increases 4% from 48p to 50p, and the rate for 10 gram letters to the rest of the world also increases 4% from 54p to 56p.

With this rate change, Royal Mail has gotten rid of the two zones for overseas mail going to destinations outside Europe. Zone 1 includes the Americas, the Middle East, Africa, the Indian sub-continent and most of Southeast Asia including Hong Kong. Zone 2 covers the rest of the world. The rate for zone 2 is currently higher than for zone 1 for any item weighing over 20 grams. Starting in April, there will be only one "rest of world" rate that will actually represent a small decrease for destinations that were part of zone 2.

You can find the new rates on Royal Mail's web site. For now, click on "Tariff 2008 prices" on the main page, but that reference may change.

I think it is very considerate for Royal Mail to publish the new rates more than three months in advance of the effective date. It certainly helps customers predict their postage costs. Compare that to the United States Postal Service, which didn't post its latest rates on its web site until the effective date of May 14, 2007. (The rates may have been available earlier through other communication methods, but the web site was full of Star Wars promotions rather than useful postal rate charts.)

--Larry

A note on catalogs

In response to my previous post, Dennis asks about which catalog to use for more details about Machins. It's an important subject but not one that has a simple answer. I'll post a few of my thoughts here.

Charlie posted a note about Douglas Myall's The Complete Deegam Machin Handbook. I think it's the most popular with readers of this blog as well as on the Machin Forum. It's my favorite, too. While the print edition is very costly (I think now one has to buy the basic handbook and a supplement), the CD-ROM version is, I think, £40 post paid. (Don't quote me, get the latest ordering information from Myall at deegam@btopenworld.com.) Also, you get free updates by email, and you can trade your CD for an updated version at any time for half price. (Don't lose your original; you must return it to Myall.)

Granted, the CD isn't as convenient as a physical book in some respects (though it is more convenient in others, I think). However, the price may make it all worthwhile.

Another alternative is the Machin Collectors Club's Queen Elizabeth II Specialised Definifives Stamp Catalogue. It is available from the club for £36 plus £10 postage to the U.S. I personally don't recommend it because of its very awkward organization scheme, but there are many collectors that do use it. Unfortunately, I can't think of a way to get a look at it before buying. I intend to review the catalog on my web site one of these days, but that day won't come for several months, I suspect.

There's also, as Charlie notes, the Stanley Gibbons Great Britain Specialised volumes. You have to buy two, one for pre-decimal issues and one for decimal issues. The latter hasn't been updated since 2000, making it not very useful. Hopefully a new edition is coming soon.

Another possibility is to use one of the intermediate catalogs. They aren't as detailed as the ones I mentioned above, but they do go beyond the basic listing in the Scott catalog. The two intermediate ones are The Stoneham (produced by the Machin Collectors Club) and Gibbons' Concise.

I reviewed them on my web site, though I didn't concentrate on their use by Machin collectors. Of the two, I would recommend the Concise for Machins, again because I don't care for the Stoneham's organization method.

The bottom line - if you are serious about Machins, scrimp, save, cut corners, do whatever you have to, and get the Deegam.

--Larry