A Machin Stamp Exhibition Sheet

As a change of pace, I thought I would post this interesting presentation of the Machin image. It's a stamp exhibition sheet from Harrison and Sons, distributed at the London 1980 international stamp exhibition.

Stamp exhibition souvenirs such as labels, sheets and cards, have been a feature of exhibitions in the UK since 1890. As in this case, they are often created and distributed by printers interested in showing off their skills.

Many of these souvenirs are common and easily found for a modest price. Some years ago, Glenn Morgan published a catalog of these souvenirs titled British Stamp Exhibitions. More recently, he teamed up with Graham Wilson to produce an updated version available on CD-ROM. For more information, please see this description on my web site. And I also recommend a visit to Glenn's excellent web site, stampprinters.info.

Here's the description of the sheet from British Stamp Exhibitions:

Harrison & Sons Ltd.

Ungummed sheet in blue, grey, cinnamon and black illustrating monarchs' heads above lithographed exhibition logo: (1) Queen Elizabeth II by (the late) Arnold Machin, printed photogravure, and (2) Queen Victoria engraved by Geoffrey Holt as depicted on the Penny Black, printed recess. Sheet surround is photogravure in vermilion. At the company stand a single-colour Roland offset-litho press overprinted in black on these sheets, already printed at High Wycombe for the photogravure and recess portions. The demonstrated perforation (perf 14) by a Bickel perforator completed the production.

--Larry