1p Used Machin -Debt Paid

I am not so unlucky after all, Larry sent me this certificate along with a very nice used 1p Machin with a Birmingham cancellation. I must have mentioned that I collect Birmingham postmarks!

Yes he pays his debts

It cost Larry a lot more than 1p, as the postage from Sunnyvale, CA .USA. was whopping $4.33

Thanks Larry, I will treasure it. You can expect a little thank you from me in return. (something you will also treasure) so watch your mailbox.

I Could Not Win a Sausage, But I Have Found Love

Typical me, I have a bet and the very next day I get an email with this information.

"We may yet get high-value stamps with 2010 or 2011 dates, and Special Delivery stamps with 2011 dates later in the year." Oh well its only 2p !!

The weather has been great here in Spain. So much so, we had residential BBQ. A great day.

Afterwards in the cool evening air, my self and my wife retired to the porch in front of the house.
I consumed a few more beers and spent a little time going through some of my Machin booklets. My wife sat with her tonic water quietly knitting.

Out of the blue, I remarked "I Love You."
"Is that the beer talking" she quipped."
"No" I said "its me talking to my beer and stamp booklets"

CHEERS !! I hope you all had a nice Easter

Ian Billings informs us that "two more 2010 coded stamps have been reported on the Recorded Signed For Letter and Large Letter stamps, printed on 11/03/10 and 12/03/10 respectively"

He has now posted pictures of the stamps on his blog.

This got me thinking about the two NVIs issued for the weight steps on the Special Delivery service stamps which were issued on 26th October last year. These also carry the year date MA10, but as they are sheet stamps there is no source code.

Images below are courtesy of Norvic Philatelics
The stamps were printed by De La rue in gravure. With a initial high value of £5.05 and £5.50 respectively. After the price increase on 4th April 2011 the new rates are now £5.45 and £5.90.

Due to the high cost of these stamps I do not think stocks will dwindle in a hurry so I personally do not envisage a new code of MA11, or perhaps MA12 will materialise. I could be wrong so I will give Larry the chance to recover his losses, my bet is a 2p used Machin.

Larry wrote about these two stamps whilst I was away, I do not think he mentioned the codes in his report.

I always pay my debts

Watch your mailbox, Roy!

--Larry

Imperf 40p With Short Bars Top (S16)

During September of last year a member of the Machin Forum posted a note advising that he had acquired a left imperforate marginal pair of SG Y1705a/Deegam 400.3.1 with dramatic S16 short bands at top. Described on site "The bands are 5mm short from the top of the stamp design. Has anyone else seen one of these? CC and Deegam do not list an S16 for this issue" Some months have now passed since the original report and the owner has posted an image (see image left). A second single stamp which appears to have short bands bottom (S17) has also been reported in an imperforate vertical pair. To read the complete thread please click here

More On The Unicorn Head Type 2

Further to my comment to Douglas, I do not actually own this type 2 pack, my scan was taken from another pack: (amended) Cathedrals which also has the 2 types of unicorn head.

However after doing some research I have only found one other pack (26) listed. This is the Scandinavian pack 26 , which was, quote "A special pack produced for sale during a visit to six cities in Denmark, Sweden and Norway by a mobile display unit between 15th April and 20th May 1971. The pack gives details of this tour and also lists the the stamps which were due to be issued in 1971, the text being in English. A separate insert gives translations in Danish, Swedish and Norwegian. The pack was also available at the Philatelic Bureau, Edinburgh."

The Scandinavian Pack is catalogued at £30.00. Normal pack : £5.00

Sorry Douglas I am still no wiser to answer your question "Are there two types of English packs?" It certainly looks that way. Pehaps someone else could enlighten us further?

Canceled To Order ? ?

I used to collect first day covers (a long time ago) but as stamp collecting got more expensive I then decided to give them up along with overpriced gutter pairs, special issue cylinder blocks, special issue traffic light blocks etc. I felt that I was being ripped off by Royal Mail to a degree, as more and more issues were appearing month after month..


Do not get me wrong, I am not one to dictate to others on what to collect, (each to his own) if you can afford it and you enjoy what you have go for it.

Just one example of a modern issue.

I was intrigued to see (above) this for sale at £20 on the Internet, described as a first day cover. On inspection the cancels look to be OK , it is the self adhesive issue cancelled with a Birmingham post mark on 08/03/11.


To my mind a Windsor cover cover with a Birmingham cancel does not look right. This is also 3p short of the current 1st class rate. I doubt very much that it travelled through the postage system.


So is it a first day cover, or just another overpriced envelope cancelled to order? I guess it could have been sent 2nd class at a cost of 37p but (again) I doubt it.


What do you think of modern day collecting and philately today in general?

2011 Self Adhesives / A list Of Issues

It has been a busy start to the year (again) for people who collect every new Machin issue with self adhesive gum . In What ever formats you collect it will be costly, just saving one mint single from each issue will make your piggy bank quite a bit lighter, or in some cases empty it completely.

2011 check list. This is a list of all known self adhesive Machin stamps (to date) known for this year .

1st class from mixed booklets (Thunderbirds) - M11L - MCIL

1st class from Business Sheets - M11L - MBIL

2nd class from Business Sheets - M11L - MBIL

2nd class from Counter Sheets - M11L - MAIL

1st class from Counter Sheets - M11L - MAIL

1st class Large Counter Sheet - MA11 - MAIL

1st class mixed booklets (Heart Foundation - M11L - MCIL (this is the same stamp as the one from the Thunderbirds booklet

2nd class Large retail booklet - MA11 - MFIL

1st class Large retail booklet - MA11 - MFIL

2nd class retail booklet of 12 - M11L - MTIL

1st class retail booklet of 6 - M11L - MSIL

2nd class Large Counter Sheet - MA11 - MAIL

1p, 2p, 5p, 10p & 20p counter sheets (no overprints) 68p, 76p, £1.10 & £1.65. new tariff rate stamps M11L and MAIL. These stamps are known guillotined and torn from from sheets

1st class retail booklet of 12 - M11L - MTIL

To be issued in May, W Morris PP (Confirmed) 5p, 10p no overprint and 50p M11L - MPIL

One to look out for: I did say a couple of years ago, that we may have some diverse subjects coming to the fold. Here is the latest promised June 14th . Another Retail stamp book (4 x 1st-class-2 x 1st-class Thomas the Tank Engine) : The price will be £2.76

William Morris Prestige Pane

Above the cover of the William Morris Prestige Booklet

Ian Billings has posted actual images of the stamps and some more information regarding the William Morris Machin Pane. It was expected that these stamps would be of the self adhesive type, and they are. What we were all wondering was will they all have the security overprint? Ian shows the scans of all values and the conclusion is, the 5p & 10p are without the security overprint, but the 50p shows the M11L and MPIL year and source codes. The printers are Walsall security Print so all values are new at DG level 1. See the images here and read about other aspects of this this issue.

Presentation Packs / Unicorn Head 2 Types

Pack 26 issued in 1971

I have known about this for some time, and have been keen to mention them on the blog. Due to my absence over the last few months it was put on the back burner until today.

A certain Machin definitive presentation pack has been discovered as having two types, this is not widely known as it is not mentioned (to my knowledge) in specialist catalogues.

The pack in question is the low value P/P number 26, issue date 15/02/1971. The differences may be small but the type 2 pack has a higher value and is quite scarce compared to its sibling (type 1.

So what is the difference between these two packs? It is in fact a minor one but one that should be mentioned (and in my opinion should be listed by several Machin specialised catalogues).

If you look at the image above you will notice on the top of the pack at the left there is a printed image of a lion and a unicorn head. The unicorn on the right side is the one to study. Type one has just one tuft in the mane behind the horn and type two has two tufts. See below.

My scanner is not the best I'm afraid but you You can see a better example of the image here

where is is listed.

The New Value Self Adhesives

I have still not managed to get supplies of the new rate values or make up values, they are expected to arrive at my UK address sometime in the near future, and will be brought out to me in Spain early June.

I have however been trolling the web for information and have come across some interesting stuff.

The Presentation packs (pack 90) for instance have been issued with just the 4 new rates selling at £4.19 . Stamp face values £4.19. I know RM add a premium to packs so is this correct

Packs have also been issued by some offices with 9 stamps, these have a price tag of £5.10, the make up values only add up to 38p. So these should have a face value of £4.42 add the premium of 68p for the P Pack to this and I get a total of £5.10. Sorry to confuse everyone but what price should these packs be sold at?

The 5 make up values (38p) were also supplied by one Post Office on a stock card to be added to the pack. How much was the buyer charged for this stock card? A gigantic an error by Royal Mail.

I know its being picky but are they supplying guillotined stamps with these cards or stamps torn from the counter sheets? The stamps from both these packs are guillotined from either coils or sheets of 25. Has anyone determined the direction of print from these packs and compared it to the sheets? Are they the same?

If you have any comments or answers to these questions please get in touch.

Thanks Roy

Online Machin Catalogues

With the age of the Internet, collecting Machins (or any stamps for that matter) has become so much more diverse. There are thousands of web sites available for collectors to research. Top of the pile, online SPECIALIST Machin catalogues have become the norm for most who deal or collect these definitives. At the apex of my list of sites, we have the brilliant Deegam Reports, these the most detailed I have read. Published every 2 - 3 months they keep the avid Machin Maniac up to speed with information on new releases, new finds and all background news, in brief they are a prelude to new chapters which are added in conjunction with the Deegam CD. My findings , superb in depth reporting. The Connoisseur catalogue of Machin Stamps published by James Skinnner is another we have mentioned in the past. The Latest to join the online fold is The MCC QEII Specialised Definitives Catalogue, this will be made available in conjunction with Sutton Stamps on line from Sunday April 17th. For a sneak preview click here