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Sunday 11 August 2013

Octagonal Machins


Octagonal Machins were first seen in 1974, I have seen lots over the years, some of the values were enclosed in made up commemorative booklets. I have also seen them in various denominations sold as single stamps.

I had never (until today) come across a complete sheet or part sheet. This (shown below) is a sheet of 12, the block is showing multiples of the 2p value. It is currently  up for sale at £999.

Judjing by the rounded corners it looks as though it is a whole sheet. Can anyone confirm how many of these stamps were printed in one sheet?

According to the experts these octagonal stamps were the first Machin stamps with self adhesive gum. They were printed on an experimental basis by Her Majesty's Stationary office and were (still are) valid for postage.

A certain catalogue quotes that "only 1000 of each were issued". There are nine different values to collect, shown above.


I am not so sure about the numbers quoted as (most values) can be obtained as singles for a reasonable price.

Just the same however the amount they make up a nice collection and add a lot of interest to the Machin range.

2 comments:

phillstamp said...

Hi - I would be interested to know which book? Yesterday I bought a complete sheet of Octagonal Machins - one of each value printed on a single page - how can I find out any information on this item? I guess it was some sort of trial proof? It has no gum. Phill

Anonymous said...

These circular self adhesive stamps were produced for John Daynes and are his second issue the first being on large rectangular self adhesive paper. Each value was printed on sheets of 12. As to there being only 1,000 of each printed this is only an estimate as 12 does not divide into 1,000, it could be less and it could be more, but they are still very limited. I have in my possession a sheet of 12, 1.5p stamps where when printed the sheet was the wrong way round so the image overlaps onto the backing paper.