A Convenient Image

The image above is taken from a digital photography review site, dpreview.com. It is a series of images that compares the amount of noise in the photos taken by various cameras.

There is no real-world location specified on the site, but the spelling is American English.

--Larry

Franking And Forgeries

What on earth is going on with Royal Mail? They spend a fortune on new security measures, overprints, codes, security slits and still the mail does not receive a cancel on a 40 - 50 % percentage the mail I receive here in Spain.

Perhaps it is because of the addition of the new self adhesive gum which is also a new security feature, after all said and done I ask myself they are difficult to remove from the envelopes (so RM think).

Take a look for your self all these shown above and below, they have actually been canceled with a wavy line and to are clearly forgeries. How come I ask myself, have these which have no phosphor bars been allowed to pass though the system?

These shown are just a small selection, I see several more Machin forgeries on eBay which have been delivered. In hindsight these should have been automatically rejected by ALF where as the genuine stamps should be canceled!!!

Judging by the price they fetch £1 or so there must be loads , perhaps hundreds and hundreds that get though the postal system. It Makes a mockery out of all that has been done by Royal Mail and the money spent. But then again looking at a brighter picture it gives collectors something else that is actually philatelic to look out for.

Machin News October 2011

A few weeks ago Ian Billings informed us that he has heard that the first of the high values to be reprinted since the original issue in 2009 may soon appear.

We can now confirm that these are being sold on eBay. Here is a scan of the £1 Ruby with the new code M11L.

Charlie Jenson has reported on the Machin Forum that the latest Deegam Report (95) from Douglas Myall is now on-line.

As usual, Douglas does not disappoint, there is a lot of information, such as the latest prestige pane, with the George V Downey Head from the First UK Aerial Post booklet in the center spot. There is also a classic view of Windsor Castle stamps from the same booklet with the images blown-up to show the differences between the former French government version and the Dutch Miniature sheet which was printed by Enschede in 2005.

The much deliberated Arnold Machin centenary mini-sheet is mentioned and a report of a horizontally imperf 35p dark brown. Several new overseas stamps which bear the Machin Head are listed.

One thing that really impressed me is the fact that a recently departed collector (with Douglas,s help and advice) has donated a Machin cast as well as one of the Wyon head (Queen Victoria) to The Royal Philatelic Society. What a generous gift and a perfect new home for them!

Thank you Charlie (and Douglas) for the write up (which I have altered slightly). Charlie finishes off by saying , "But wait, there's more !!!", but you will have to get your own copy of the report".

For those of you who have never heard the name Douglas Myall (if there is anyone) he is listed on WIKIPEDIA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Myall

The Arnold Machin Centenary Miniature Sheet (yawn...)

I have intended it write a short note about this sheet since it was issued, but every time I look at it, I get the uncontrollable urge to take a nap. So I've fortified myself with a strong espresso, and I'll try to get this finished before I doze off.

I suppose Royal Mail as a whole doesn't care any more, but this design is really an embarrassment. I can understand that they didn't want to pay a professional designer, but how hard would it have been to include a few other denominations and perhaps a label with Machin's portrait?

Royal Mail obviously creates stamps aimed solely at collectors; the stamp show souvenir sheets and the outrageously expensive prestige booklet panes come immediately to mind. But this is such a blatant grab of collectors' money, for an item that's barely worth mounting in an album, that even this cynic is disappointed and dismayed.

--Larry

A Dilemma, No Bull

I have been married now for 35 years and it is also my wife's 70th birthday this year. My dilemma is what do you buy the woman who does not collect Machins but has most everything else?

Jewelery? Clothes? Something for the home? Try asking her and the only answer I get is "just surprise me".

Well as it is also my anniversary too I thought as I am not a selfish person I will purchase something just for her that we both can get pleasure from.

In my wisdom I remembered that Arnold Machin designed a piece of pottery for Wedgewood in the form of a bull, so I started surfing the net looking for a guide to prices for such a piece.

Here are some of the results.

'Taurus the Bull', a Wedgwood Queensware figure of a bull modelled by Arnold Machin, transfer-printed in colours with astrological symbols, printed and impressed factory marks -- 15½in. long Christies sold at £88.

3rd September eBay. The stylised bull stands on all four feet with its head lowered and its tail waving against its left hind quarter. The body is scattered with vignettes of the zodiac signs and symbols in pink and brown or yellow and brown with grey backgrounds, interspersed with brown and yellow stars. The details of the bull's head and tail are painted in dark brown enamel, and round each foot is a band with a row of groups of three short strokes above it. Widely-considered to be the first 'Contemporary' style ceramic to be produced in Britain. Sold £195.


8th October . Wedgwood china model of 'Ferdinand the Bull' which was designed by Arnold Machin. He measures 7.125 inches high and 12.5 inches in length and is hand painted with a blue & yellow floral pattern. There is possibly a printed factory mark to the bottom of the front left foot although this is not clear. There are no other factory marks but this is a well known Wedgwood model. A bargain at £85.00.



There were several others that sold from £100 to £295.





Eventually I tracked one down at local Spanish market (fate) in Alicante, the asking price was 110 Euros (approx £100 at today's exchange rate) With a bit of haggling I picked it up for 95 Euros. Not bad eh? On presenting the bull to my wife I said hope you like it, you are now the proud owner of a Machin, please do not start collecting them.

Now for the short story of Ferdinand. I am not sure how true this is, but it fits in nicely from what we know about the young Arnold Machin.

Ferdinand was created for Wedgwood by designer, modeller and conscientious objector Arnold Machin. Ferdinand bears a striking resemblance to a bull in a children's story of the same name - a bull who didn't want to fight in the bullring - but wanted to sit in the field and smell the flowers! 'The Story of Ferdinand' books".

Ferdinand is suitable across the key stages and can be used to explore issues surrounding diversity, citizenship and anti-bullying".

Centenary Codes

This is a nice clear image showing one line of code on the Royal Mail overprint.


AL-AM11- ROYAL- MMIL

From a single Machin definitive 1st class extracted from the Arnold Machin Centenary souvenir sheet .


Brian is correct in his comment. Sorry I made a typo, this has now been corrected.

Machin Forgery

Richard Parsons has sent me a picture to share with you. Thanks Richard.

It comprises of one of the latest first class forgeries.

Although I have seen this reported elsewhere I do not think we covered it on this blog. From first glance this looks just like any other security stamp. It just goes to show that forgers are getting very clever.

The stamps are printed in litho, it appears to have security slits and overprint identifying that it comes from a booklet of six. Has anyone seen a booklet of six?

The letters MSIL can be seen clearly in the top right . I do not see a year code on Richards image.

From what I can gather it has no phosphor but varnished strips imitating the phosphor bars.

Hi Value Reprint M11L

Just a quick short post today. More Machins to look out for.

Ian Billings reports on http://norphil.blogspot.com/ that he has heard that the first of the high values to be reprinted since the original issue in 2009 may soon appear.

The first is expected to be the £1 ruby, with the security code M11L:

Diamond Jubilee

Although details of the definitive have not been announced an article in Stamp Magazine indicates that The Diamond Jubilee Anniversary Machin definitive could be a colour similar to the current £5 azure, with an iridescent overlay with a reference to the Jubilee.

Post And Go Errors

I have amended the text to this post, I apologise for any offence that I caused the seller. No offence to the seller was meant. I just wanted to report these errors tongue in cheek, no pun intended with the cheek word.

Manufacture your own errors and earn a nice tidy sum!

This story reminds me of the crafty little cockney Del Boy Trotter from Only Fools & Horses. Where there is a scam (If I can call it that) someone will find a way to exploit it.

It appears that several shrewd so and so,s visited Stampex and found a way to manufacture their own LEGAL unique errors on the Hytech machines. "A nice little earner Rodney".

The story goes that a new fad has emerged called "Yanking". As the strip of stamps was being printed in the machine the buyer gives a few sharp tugs on the strip which produces errors.

Several nice errors from the same strip of labels can found including normal, others can be completely blank, or in some cases some of the text is removed.

As well as strips of 6 some eBay sellers are also offering strips of 10. We now know that longer strips were available up to 99 labels in length. These were not manufactured as the Hytech postal vision Machines were operated via a debit or credit card to whatever amount the purchaser wanted.

On another note, will we now add this word "yanking" to the Machin dictionary?

French Government Print GB Stamps?

This report does not concern the Machin definitive. As I have not posted for a while I thought you readers might like some "new" information which I stumbled across.

Now I do not know how true this is, but I have read a couple of reports that The French Government have printed certain GB stamps.

The report in question concerns the Windsor Castles Recess pane from the Centenary of Aerial Post prestige booklet which was issued on 9th September 2011. This pane was reportedly subcontracted out to the French Government Printer who operate under the Phil@Poste title (previously ITVF)

It seems that Cartor have entered into a relationship with the French Government Printer to fulfil their intaglio/recess requirements. If this information is as I say correct then this is the first time the French Government Printer has printed postage stamps for Royal Mail.

Looking forward to all your replies.