Somaliland 1p Machin

Yesterday,whilst I was having a relaxing couple of hours in the sun I started chatting with a lady called Vanna from Holland who as it turned out was a stamp collector. The subject soon turned to Machin definitive stamps as she informed me that she had a large collection of Machins that were printed by Enschede. She knew her stuff and was very knowledgeable on the subject.

As our conversation went on she informed me that Somaliland issued Machin stamps. These apparently were overprinted for use there.

She explained to me that the story goes way back to the mid 1990s. Someone came up with an idea to use British stamps with an overprint, but it was rejected for fear of the locals not understanding and the possibly of ethnic reprisals. She continued that the overprint idea was in fact dropped or abandoned.

New Somaliland stamps were quickly designed and printed by Harrison and sons but the new stamps could not be finished on time. This left an urgent need for stamps and it more or less forced the British government to issue the said overprinted Machin stamps after all, these had already been printed.

From what I have discovered since, these Machin stamps were withdrawn after a few days, it emerged that the natives did get restless and reactions to them were indeed rather negative.

As I had not heard of these Somaliland Machins before so I thought a little investigation was in order. Doing a google search I found this, which gives a little more information. Unfortunately I could not find a picture to show you.

"In 1996 the territories which had formerly made up British Somaliland attempted to secede from Somalia, which had been formed by the combination of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland. The contemporary 1p British "Machin" stamp appeared overprinted, allegedly for use in the breakaway republic from April 1996; the choice of the British stamp was reported at the time to be a tribute to their former contented days as a British protectorate"

For more information on British stamps with overprints visit the GB Overprints Society

"R" YOU Ready (Updated)

According to the MBPC (Modern British Philatelic Circle ) the coils were printed by De La Rue and were first reported on 16th July.

The Circle website reports

"This contradicts the announcement in the February 2009 British Philatelic Bulletin which stated that coils would not be self-adhesive and a further announcement in the March Bulletin stating that 'stamps with security features will not be available in coils (rolls)."

Well this is true to a point as they are only available in rolls of 10,000 to business users and are not available from the bureau.

As far as we know there are no first day of issue covers known.

This pic copied from the Circle website shows both 1st and 2nd class stamps on rolls, the security slits are clearly visible.

"R" You Ready For This?

Way back, at the beginning of the year we were promised that there would eventually be a new security (slit) stamp derived from a coil or roll. These were then cancelled from the program, only to be reinstated without the publicity.

Well I can now inform you, if you do not already know, that a roll of 10,000 stamps has now been purchased by a main stream Machin dealer and they are now available in the philatelic market place.

These stamps were first reported by Larry on the Machin Forum with a link showing us they are available at this time on eBay, coil strips 5 x 1st class and coils 5 x 2nd class were reported, but the seller is only parting with them (at this time) if you purchase 2 of each strip.

Ian Billings has also informed us via his blog that these are completely different from the known security stamps.

They have a security letter "R" in the semi hidden background text. This will be known as code R and the text spells out Royal Mril. R presumably = roll.

Ian informs us that " the rolls have sequence numbers every 10th stamp", and suggests "so the way to collect will probably be in strips of 3/5/10/11."
I suggest, perhaps the best way to buy them is in strips of 12 (if you can get them). This would give you a coil of 5 without a number, a coil of 5 with a number and a numbered and unnumbered single.

If you wish to purchase in this manner, Ian continues " We will, however, have some strips with and without serial numbers, and single stamps will also be available. We'll be writing to regular customers about these in the next couple of days, and will also welcome enquiries from other collectors." See Ian's post here:

Machin Booklets With Unprinted Stamps

Dummy booklets are nothing new to Machin collectors as there have been several different types on the market over the years.

Last week I spotted two new varieties of dummies for sale on eBay. I mention these on this blog as I have not heard of them or seen them before, so perhaps no one else has either.

GB 12 x 1st & 12 x 2nd Machin Booklets Blank Unprinted Stamps

The items For sale were described as:

Printed by Walsall Security printers. One of each 12 x 1st class & 12 x 2nd class NVI self adhesive Machin dummy booklets, with blank white labels instead of 1st & 2nd class Machin stamps.

These are perforated with the normal elliptical perforations (same as normal stamps) but do not have phosphor bands.

A photograph of the 1st class booklet is shown above left.

The items sold at a buy it now price of £27.99p.

The Decimal Coinage Head

I have recently visited a great website which not only describes the life and tributes of Arnold Machin but also his wife Patricia and their son, Architect, sculptor and painter Francis.




The site refers to "The Machin Arts Foundation" which was founded in 2003 by Francis Machin to celebrate the life and work of his parents, Arnold and Patricia Machin, it promotes figurative art and support emerging artists.

Following on from the last two posts which (sort of) deal with the Machin Design this is just a snippet of the information available to the general public from this web site.

The Coinage Head

"His final portrait, approved by the Queen in June 1964, was handed over to the Mint where it was reduced mechanically with a pantograph machine to coin size. Arnold visited several times to supervise the final engraving. The first two coins (the 5 new pence and the 10 new pence) with the new effigy of the Queen were in circulation in 1968. A year later a 50 new pence piece was introduced, and the remaining coins became available as legal tender on Decimalisation Day, February 15th 1971."

Did you know

"In 1972 Arnold competed in designs for a commemorative crown to celebrate the Royal Silver Wedding, and again in 1977 for Her Majesty's Silver Jubilee. He won both of these competitions, and his success meant that he was invited to design coins for Australia, Malta, Hong Kong, Brunei, the Guernsey Jubilee and the Bahamas. Arnold also produced cameos in bas-relief of the Queen and the Queen Mother, and portrait medallions of Princess Anne, to commemorate her wedding, and Prince Charles."


If you have a little time to spare log on to the Machin Arts Foundation site here I am sure you will find it interesting reading. For future reference I am also adding a permanent link from this site.

Early Machin Stamp Designs

Arnold Machin, was not only responsible for the profile portrait of The Queen’s head which is still used on British postage stamps today.

His actual diadem design was based on the image of The Queen’s head he had produced for coinage introduced first in 1968.

For this he created many preparatory designs for the stamps, two of which are displayed here.

These pictures are now in the Royal Collection having been donated to H.M.Queen elizabeth II.

It is written that "they appear to be painted over photographs of the mould made for the Royal Mint coins."

These designs were presented to Her Majesty as part of a gift of drawings by members of the Royal Academy on her Silver Jubilee in 1977"

The first portrait of Her Majesty on Australian decimal coinage was designed by Arnold Machin OBE RA for the British Royal Mint and approved in 1964.

This portrait was adopted for the obverse design of Australia's new coinage to be released on C-Day, 14 February 1966 and preceded its first use on British coins in 1968.

Comments From Larry

Larry wrote this in the Comments dept to the piece on George IV's diadem.

"And we are all obligated to remember that it was John Hedgecoe who took further photos of the Queen wearing the diadem, and Machin used these photos to create his new casts."

You are correct Larry here is a link to Hedgecoe photograph. Oh, and yes Rory is the son of Jeffery .

Writing to The Queen

A Letter from the Queen?

GET YOURSELF A BIT OF POSTAL HISTORY!

I am not sure that you will get a direct answer from Her Majesty, I guess it depends on the subject you wish to write to her about. Most replies from her come direct from her personal secretary. But saying this I guess it depends on your luck or if you are related :-)

Anyone can write to Her Majesty at the following address:Her Majesty The Queen, Buckingham Palace, London SW1A 1AA .

Notes on the Royal web site inform us:

" If you wish to write a formal letter, you can open with 'Madam' and close the letter with the form 'I have the honour to be, Madam, Your Majesty's humble and obedient servant'. This traditional approach is by no means obligatory. You should feel free to write in whatever style you feel comfortable".

Do not forget to use a Machin for postage, SHE LIKES THE DESIGN.

The Diadem

Much has been written about the Machin Plaster cast and its end use. Today we all look at Machin definitive stamps and see a beautiful work of art incorporating the image of Queen Elizabeth II, in fact we are so used to seeing it we do not glance twice and look at the other masterpiece that actually sits on her Royal Head.


The truth is, if Arnold Machin had not changed his original plaster cast design (from a tiara) we would not see this actual image of the Queens portrait and its appearance on today's postage stamps. I am so pleased he did change the design.

Without the change we would not now have any Machin collectors as such or this Machin Blog for that matter.

Due to Arnold Machin, this exceptionally beautiful head ornament, incorporating the national emblems of England, Scotland and Ireland, is probably now the most familiar piece of Her Majesty The Queen's jewellery known to the general public, and we can say in fairness it is all down to the Machin Stamp, produced billions of times and also seen by more people than you could throw a stick at.

A little about the Diadem and its history.

It is set with 1,333 diamonds, including a four-carat pale yellow brilliant in the centre of the front cross, the diadem has been regularly worn (and slightly modified) by queens regnant and consort from Queen Adelaide onwards. Pictures of Queen Victoria are well documented, many showing her wearing the jewels.

It is said that " it was originally made for George IV' (eldest son of George III and Queen Charlotte) for use at his famously extravagant coronation in 1821. On that occasion, he wore it over a large velvet 'Spanish' hat at the ceremonies in Westminster Hall and during the walking procession to Westminster Abbey".

The diadem was made by Royal Jewelers Rundells, and the work was completed by May of 1820 . The design, probably by Rundells' chief designer Philip Liebart, reflects something of the discarded plan for George IV's Imperial State Crown, which was drawn up by Liebart in the same period and was to have included the national emblems in place of the traditional fleurs-de-lis.

The picture above left shows The George IV State Diadem, here worn by Queen Alexandra (centre). This image shows Queen Alexandra, consort of Edward VII, with her daughters Louise and Victoria.

Today the crown jewels are kept in the Tower of London, the diadem is only worn by Her Majesty The Queen when travelling to and from the State Opening of Parliament.

Thanks go to Rory Matthews, webmaster of the website The Royal Collection.

New Security Stamps With Short Bands

I was browsing through the online Connoisseur Catalogue of Machin Stamps yesterday and noticed that several of the sections have been updated to include the New Slit Security Stamps and some of the Machin Post And Go labels.

This is a handy reference for up to date dealers prices. It also lists a few of the new stamps with short bands either top or bottom.

This is just a snippet from the listings:


De La Rue. Gravure, sheet printings. Iridescent security overprint.

2nd Large Bright blue 2B (S17) retail @ £8.25
1st Large Gold 2B (S16) retail @ £12.50
£1.50 Terracotta 2B (S16) retail @ £8.25
£2 Slate-blue 2B (S16) retail @ £13.75

Many Machin labels (none security) are listed with short bands although some are un priced at this time. Well worth another visit.

Strange But True

Something a little different today. I was surfing the net and found this:

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- A postage stamp with the head of Queen Victoria inverted, issued in 1854 in India and said to be one of the first stamps issued in Asia, has caught the public’s eye at the 21st Asian International Stamp Exhibition at the Taipei World Trade Center.

In a show of support for the exhibition, Gongvatana Surajit, president of the Federation of Inter-Asian Philately (FIAP) has contributed four sheets of stamps to put on display at the event, one of which, the Queen’s inverted head stamp is the most notable.

There are only 27 stamps showing the Queen’s head upside down left in the world and they are listed as the most precious stamps in Asia, according to Surajit.

Just for fun


Make sure you put on your glasses when popping a stamp on a letter.

According to an old antiquated British law it is an act of treason to place a postage stamp on a letter bearing the British King or Queens head image upside down!

I hope I am not for the chop!!