Ronsonol for removing self-adhesive Machins

A fellow Machin collector and member of the Great Britain Collectors Club wrote to me about his experiences removing the self-adhesive security Machins from envelopes. He used Ronsonol, a lighter fluid, to successfully remove the stamps from paper. In most cases, the slits did not prevent the stamp from being removed intact.

He notes that much residual gum remains on the stamps, and he has not been able to remove it. That's bad for collectors - who will need to use mounts or attach the stamps to pieces of clean, archival-quality paper - but good for people who want to re-use the stamps.

He writes

The joke of all this is that Royal Mail has wasted a great deal of money and effort in producing the security slits, as the stamps have enough gum on them to stick to another envelope. Since parcels in the UK no longer get the stamps cancelled and sometimes letters escape also, there will be plenty of reused stamps, despite Royal Mail's expense and trouble.

For more information on naptha, the name of the general class of flammable hydrocarbons, see the Wikipedia article.

--Larry

Whilst I am waiting for more news on the proposed Machin miniature sheet I thought you might like to see mock ups of two other products that are in the pipe line.

The first is an image of the retail booklet due for release on 30 March 2010. Printed by Walsall Security Printers containing 6 x 1st ( code S) security stamps, this will advertise the London 2010 Festival of Stamps and will cost £2.46



The second booklet cover shown below, to be released on 13 May 2010 is that of the fourth Prestige booklet of this year. Entitled Britain Alone . After this date, the year still has seven more months to run. No matter what you read elsewhere expect at least one more PB in 2010.

Changing Pace, Changing Face

You were warned way back (early) in 2009 that due to the Festival of Stamps programme 2010 it would be another expensive year. Royal Mail have always taken these opportunities to top up their coffers and this year as expected it will be no different.

Added to the long list of products already announced there will be a Machin Souvenir Sheet. It has been reported that the sheet will contain all the valued non-security stamps currently available on that date.

1p, 2p, 5p, 9p, 10p, 20p, 60p, 67p, 88p, 97p, £1.46, + a label with the London 2010 Logo.

Who was it that said "The Machin has run its course and has had its day?"

With new values appearing each time there is a rate rise, and prestige booklets, now issued up to four time per year, The Machin series clearly has a lot of life left in it still. Count the constant appearance of new varieties from Cartor and the new sheet stamps from the De La Rue plant and we can expect the list of new issues to keep the serious specialist on his or her toes for a long time to come.

For instance : News of the Machin pane from The Prestige Stamp Book: Due for release on 8th May. This will incorporate self-adhesives with security features.

Ian Billings (Norvic Philatelics) informs us via his blog. " it may consist of 4 x 1st, 4 x 2nd and 2 x 50p stamps" and continues to say " but that makes 10, so I have an error there."

If his information is near correct they are more likely to be 3 x 1st, 3 x 2nd and 2 x 50p + a label. Of great interest is the fact all these will be new stamps (Cartor or De La Rue? ) Ian also implies the the wavy background security code will show a P for Prestige !

Several other products are also lined up (added) over the course of the Festival. For full details of these and a fuller account of the news above please visit Ian's Pages

Hints & Tips Double Check Your Kilo Ware

Here we have two examples of the Enschedé printing of 2nd class NVI Bright Blue. This is the issue with the Landscape Design.

The first image on the left (stamp A) shows a stamp with a larger printed area and a small frame and the one on the right (stamp B) which I believe is the norm has a smaller printed area and a larger frame.

I have not actually seen these stamps my self, but I do remember Douglas Myall writing about them in his Deegam Report some time ago. These pics were borrowed of the web.

THE MORAL OF MY STORY IS :

When checking your kilo ware, before discarding any as duplicates it will pay to double check these stamps as Stamp A is now sought after in fine used condion and is selling for as much as £100 for a nice example.

Go Compare

Welsh Tenor and opera singer Wynne Evans is well known these days as he is often seen on British TV.

The price comparison site Go Compare is currently running a TV campaign which features an opera singer and a 'go compare' car insurance song. The character's name is "Gio Comparario".

In one of the adds they're poking a little fun, one of the jokes in the ad. "How much do you think he costs?" asks one of the actors, "He's only a Tenor," says his mate.

A Tenner! A lot cheaper than this dummy Machin Presentation Pack if it went on sale.


Apparently: This pack is another mock up. The actual Presentation Pack they will issue will cost a lot less.

Ian Billings Norvic Philatelics shows this and blow ups of the new New Machin definitive & Country stamps - 30 March 2010.

IAN REPORTS

" Although this provided image shows all the stamps in a pack, we now understand that a new Presentation Pack will be issued containing only the five new normal Machins, the two 20gr airmail stamps, and the two Recorded Signed For stamps issued last November."

To finish off for today, NO I AM NOT ON COMMISSION but if you really want to listen to Gio Comparaio click on the video below :-)

Anonymous wrote

Re: The last post. Anonymous wrote.

"Dificult to see from the picture, do you have a blow up?"

First a question for future reference. Do we have many booklet collectors reading this blog?

I myself do collect them but only specialise in Pre self adhesive booklets. I have to agree with Anon, it is not the clearest of images and I will try to enlarge the picture for you.

Lets see what happens.

Sorry without distorting the clarity, from the image supplied this is the best I can do.

I hope it is OK.

Spot The Difference

We certainly have some eagle eyed collectors reading this Blog. Your comments and emails are really appreciated, THANK YOU please keep them coming.

The latest discovery, pointed out to me by Matty is that of the Walsall 12x1st Retail booklet reprinted without the Printers Imprint on the back cover. This booklet was issued on 15th December 2009.

Not what some people may call a big deal, but to collectors of booklets it is a variation of the norm so I have reported it here.

The following two side tab variations have been found.


1/ Top

Normal narrow side tab (5mm) at right. Cylinder numbers seen to date are W5 W1 ph W1

2/ Bottom

Wider side tab (8mm) at right. Cylinder numbers seen to date are W5 W1 ph W1

Recapping On Recent Errors

As the title suggests, this is not really news but a recap on earlier posts.

Yesterday I was reading a report on The Stamp Magazine web site about the new font used on the Classic Covers Machin pane (admittedly this report was a month or so old) but it got me to thinking. If this was an error why reproduce the same error (the 54p)on the Machin pane in the following Prestige booklet?

Quote: Stamp Magazine " The wrong typeface was used for the numerals on the 5p and 54p definitives in January's Classic Album Covers prestige stamp book, due to a production error.

Only the numerals 4 and 5 are obviously affected. The 4 has an open rather than a closed shape, and the 5 more fluid angles than normal. The 10p, 20p, 22p and 62p stamps in the book appear to have the correct typeface, although a minuscule difference is suspected"

The report continues:

" An investigation will be underway into how the mistake happened, and why it was not picked up on proofs of the panes."

If this is true, It has now been confirmed that the 54p has also been printed in error on a second Machin pane with this this new typeface. Perhaps the The Royal Society Prestige Booklet to be issued 25 Feb 2010 was printed at the same time??? Worthy of a thought.

Just in case we did not mention it The Classic Albums Prestige book also marked the first appearance of the 5p, 10p, 20p, 54p and 62p printed in lithography.

Have De La Rue Mended The Errors Of Their Ways?

When directed by Royal Mail to change the printing process and the subsequent change over to the ATN press (computerised Gravure) we all thought that modern Machin printing errors would dry up in the philatelic market place. Well this has proved to be very true to an extent, not a lot seems escape these days. But can they say "job done", not quite!!


The missing £ sign on the £2.00 Machin value caused a stir and the story is well documented, but have you heard or seen reports of the £5 Ochre-Brown printing in the unissued iriodin ink colour?

This block of 6 was put up for sale at David Feldman (Philatelist auctioneers) in a All World Auction during 2008. I do not know if the block sold.

Imperforate Machins still seem to appear on a regular basis. Several Machin values have been found impeforate over the last few years, these consisted of multiples in blocks (now split into smaller blocks and pairs). The 20p Bright Green Machin was one value of which is still readily available from dealers at a modest price.

Other De La Rue imperforate Machin values of 35p Sepia, 39p Grey, 40p Turquoise-Blue, and 43p Emerald have been offered for sale by specialist dealers.

The Royal Society prestige Booklet

Thanks to Dave Feeney I now have actual (not mock up) images of the cover and Mixed Machin Pane from The Royal Society prestige Booklet to be issued 25 Feb 2010.

Again the Booklet will be printed by Cartor Security Printing in Lithography. They will be sold at £8.06.

Doulglas Myall was correct when he informed us that the 54p from this booklet will continue to be printed with the Garamond style numerals.

Having Fun with Photoshop

Something a little different today. If Royal Mail can not give me the stamp designs I want, why not make them my self? :-)

Surely Dark Side Of The Moon should have been included in the Design Classics Classic Album Covers set issued on 7 January 2010?

Apparently Royal Mail did consider it, but left it out of the program due to the fact that dark stamps do not show the phosphor tags very well and subsequently canceling can be problematic. Not only is it a great album design, the actual Album itself was in my view (and still is) a brilliant recording.


Now take a peek at my next creation. This is a banner I am messing about with, it will eventually sit on my website.

I recently had an email from Ron Jackson (Machin Base) he made remarks about a possible GB collection of Stamps on Stamps, suggesting it would make a great topic. I agree with Ron and wrote back to him.

Stamps on Stamps is a great topic to collect, just a basic GB collection can be put together quite easily. Have you read my Alternative GB pages on Machins Made Easy website.

www.gbmachins.co.uk/html/alternative_gb.html

Machin News February 2010

We are spoiling you readers, almost a post per day. I wonder will we ever run out of subject material. Even when the Machin is eventually withdrawn I think we could still find topics to write about.

I must be getting old, The Festival of Stamps 2010, George V, (memories) which is in all the philatelic news at the moment, this and the new issues we have wrote about seems to be grabbing most philatelists interest more than usual. Yes it is going to be another expensive year for the GB collector.

We also have the rate rise in April 2010 which has raised speculation of which values (including new airmail stamps ) will be issued. As well as the Airmail 20 gr stamps, the new £1.46 Machin Value seems to interest me for some unknown reason.

Getting back to getting old, I was not even born when George V was King, but I can remember when a booklet of Machin stamps appeared with a total value of £1.46. The covers depicted Sea Horses too, I guess this must be the psychological link. Yes, it was a lot cheaper to collect stamps in the olden days (as my grand daughter calls them) :-)

The first pictures of the new rate rise values 2010 are starting to appear on the web, confirming that the Airmail stamps are also Machins. Below, these are limited edition covers taken from the Bradbury website of British First Day Covers and are priced at a whopping £20.00 each.

On a end note : If you worry about your age just say to yourself, you are only as old as the woman you feel :-)

Festival of Stamps - Prestige Stamp Book (01)

There has been lots of Machin news been posted over the last couple of days, I am still digesting what Larry reported about sideways print of the high values on covers.

May 2010 London 2010 Festival of Stamps - Continued

The first of the prestige stamp books (3rd this year) has been now been unveiled. Although at this time it only shows two pages of content. I have been informed that there is a Machin pane. This could be a pane of the new double head 1st class stamps showing Elizabeth II and George V profiles heads in tandem.

The fourth Prestige Stamp book of the year due to be issued on 13 May 2010 is entitled Britain Alone. Pictures of the cover have now been publicised. It is presumed that this will also offer a Page of Machin stamps, together with the Special issues (Britain Alone) which will be released on the same date.

Are we still to believe Royal Mail when they say " no more than four Prestige Stamp Books will be issued in the period of one year." I doubt this statement very much , 2010 has seven more months to (run) expect at least another one or two after the issue of this one described above.

Anyone taking bets?

Special Coils for FDCs

What do the 1957 Scouting Jubilee stamps have to do with Machins?

Both have been issued in a special coil format for post office use in creating first day covers.

In his latest Deegam Report, number 86, Douglas Myall notes that the four high value security Machins on the recently issued stamp-coin cover are printed sideways right. (The normal stamps that we get from counter sheets are printed upright.)



Also, he notes that the die cut simulated perforations on all four stamps have exactly the same displacement, indicating that they were produced from combined cylinders in coils. The coil makes it easy for the stamps to be lifted off as a group and placed on the covers in a single operation.

Myall has confirmed this and also notes that the same coils were used on the regular first day covers.

And this brings us back to the Scouting Jamboree stamps that were issued as individual coil rolls. These were vertical coils and, if I recall correctly, were dispensed by a simple machine. Unlike the Machins, the mint Scouting stamps made it out to collectors. I don't know if these coils were guillotined so that smooth edges can identify the coils. Instead, these coils are sold in strips of 21 to prove their origin, since the sheet stamps were issued in panes of 20 rows.

--Larry

Another Double Headed Machin

Two new Miniature Sheets - 6 & 8 May 2010 are to be issued for the London Festival of Stamps Exhibition.

The first, will be issued on 6 May. The title of this sheet will be The Centenary of the King's Accession.



This will bear a new Machin 'Double-head' stamp, George V and Elizabeth II and a second (vertical se-tenant) £1.00 value showing the two heads of George V used on stamps of his reign.


The double-head Machin stamp will also be issued in ordinary sheets. Can we expect more than one value?

The second miniature sheet, goes on sale on 8 May, which is the opening day of the London 2010 exhibition.

This bears 4 stamps, two of which featuring 1st class NVIs with reprints of the British Empire Exhibition stamps of 1924, ( the first GB commemorative ) plus two £1.00 values showing reprints of the original 10 shilling and £1 'Seahorse' high values.

They should please you Michael, and please do use them on your own blog. I like them, very much I might add.

Volume 4 Continued (add to the debate)

Ian Rose has replied to this post below with his comments. (Click on comments at the end of the post to view) Many thanks Ian for adding to this debate. Douglas Mayall has also responded.

James Skinner as you say does not list them, and I appreciate non marginal singles could pose problems for dealers. However, when the stamps were first printed due to the phosphor layout so close to the perforations and the different papers it was advised to collect these as marginal pairs or singles in order to aid identification. This is how dealers should supply them.

As all date blocks and cylinder blocks consist of margins attached they (intermediate paper)should for completeness (in my view) be listed and priced in both Gibbons Vol 4 and Connoisseur.

The MCC catalogue has a lot of faults, but it is a good reference book, it does list and price these and short / inset bands too. Some time back Larry explained the way to identify these stamps, this is worth another read I think.

Douglas Myall (Thanks Douglas) informs us

"The best way of distinguishing Byfleet TR3 papers is to have identified samples of all of them (marginal date strips are ideal) and stick them onto a piece of black card, one below the other. Lay an unknown sample across these strips at right-angles so that they can all be seen together under the lamp. Because daylight contains some UV
these benchmark strips should not be exposed to it or they will become
unreliable"

The Adobe version, to be published in April, has a new appendix with publishing dates. These are linked to the catalogue lists at level 3.

My Original Post

I was also shocked to learn that (according to the Gibbons specialised vol 4) they do not recognise intermediate paper (TR3). After all the work put in by specialists to study and record details, they have now decided just to do away with them and class all TR3 intermediate papers as bright.

As I say I was shocked. This is the first I have heard of this. Has anyone else heard of another Machin specialist catalogue that has scrapped intermediate papers from its lists?

HOW I FOUND OUT.

I was intrigued to learn that the 9p Machin (Orange & yellow) was staying with us (for the time being). So I got my collection out of cold storage to cross check that my my date blocks were current against the 9p values listed in vol 4. I was so confused, half of the dates I have were not covered by Gibbons. I read up on the notes to find out why!

This means that the intermediate cylinder block cat by MCC @ £15.00 is now only worth £3.00. My inset left cylinder block (intermediate) does not exist!! How crazy is that?

At least I can possibly add to my collection of 9p (dull) date blocks and cylinder blocks, even if the intermediate blocks I have been collecting for 6 years are now bright :-)

Now you are as confused as me.

To recap on papers before someone at Gibbons decided to alter things.

TR3: This is the main term for paper that was used by Royal Mail for the Byfleet printings, there are (were) 3 types to be found to date with variations of the amount of OBA (Optical Brightening Agent) in the coating.

They (as far as I know) were listed and known to specialist collectors as Dull, Intermediate and Bright papers. Listings are given secondary codes by collectors as - d, - i, and - b.

TR3-d = DULL
TR3-i = INTERMEDIATE (no longer exists) but you can call it bright.
TR3-b = BRIGHT

RMS Paper is known as (Royal Mail Standard ) or (Specification) This is the paper currently used at Dunstable for all current printings , Known in certain circles as ATN (c) This has a cream PVA gum and is dull in appearance, developed and designed by order of The Royal Mail to get near to that of HS2 used previously by Harrison's at the High Wycome plant.

Do Not Waste Your Money Michael

In the IPDA monthly newsletter Michael Dodd (editor) recently asked "does anyone have The Stanly Gibbons catalogue (Vol 4) of Queen Elizabeth Decimal Definitives and if so what did they think of it."

Although it was not released until 2008, Gibbons promoted the catalogue with this text : "The new volume 4 will list all the Machin definitives issued between 1970 and the end of 2007 (except those mentioned above, from volume 5), with booklet panes and complete booklets in the comprehensive detail which collectors have come to expect over the years"

So if they say so it must be good. Right?

Wrong: This is my opinion , others may disagree with me.

I only have vol 4, and after reading certain sections from it I decided I would not purchase vol 5. Both catalogues are not cheap. They will set you back somewhere in the region of £70.00 for the pair. Although I have seen vol 4 advertised on eBay for £29.95 + £3.00 postage.

Rather than explain what information it does have, I will tell you what it does not not have.

Exclusions : Are numerous .

Colour shifts, dr blade flaws, omitted colours and various other sheet markings are missing other than cylinder numbers, warrant and date blocks (which are nowhere up to date).

There is no mention of 00 values, neither are stamps overprinted with training bars mentioned.

Would you believe it? Inset and short phosphor bars are excluded, but broad bars do get a mention. The listing of specialist booklets is a joke, I wont go there.

If the Gibbons editor is reading this, why not just print a catalogue with Constant Flaws? After all said and done all the other information you list is available elsewhere (and up to date I might add).

Michael take my advise if you want a decent catalogue (handbook) treat yourself to the New Deegam Handbook. Then if you still want more information on booklets, cylinder blocks etc obtain a second hand copy of the MCC catalogue. There will be plenty of these going spare via eBay soon. The reasoning for this is a new updated version should be available to MCC members soon, as this was promised for 2010.

NB: The IPDA newsletter is only available to paid up members, if you would like to see a recent copy write to Michael and he may send you a sample. If you are a Internet stamp dealer, or sell stamps via the Internet on auctions such as eBay. The IPDA are now recruiting new members. More Information on the IPDA is available on their official website.