The New Security Backing Paper

According to an article written by Don Staddon in the latest issue of Stamp Magazine a 1^st class counter sheet with printed backing paper (PBP2) alternative background text has been seen. It has a printing date 09/12/16 and has iridescent code M16L. We have already mentioned a 2^nd class value from a business sheet.

Above SBP2

It is only natural and sensible to conclude that dealers and catalogue compilers will call this (PBP2) = Printed Backing Paper 2

How does it differ from PBP?

The lines of alternating text are either upright or inverted. Printers have done this not as a further aid to deter forgeries but as an aid in the the production process. More booklets, business sheets and counter sheets will follow in the near future.

PBP2 consists of :

The text “ROYAL MAIL” is printed on the substrate paper and is divided into four repeated lines of text they are all different., 

A wavy line of the text in the upright position in a small font.

A wavy line upright in a large font.

A wavy line inverted in a small font 

A wavy line inverted  in a large font.   

Decisions, Decisions - What to Call the New Shade of Red

Last year Royal Mail made a significant change to the red color used for first-class Machin stamps. It was made darker and less yellow to better match their official brand color used on vehicles, post boxes, publications, etc.

The complete set of changes in this rebranding effort were discussed in this blog and in the Norvic Philatelics Blog.

Now catalog editors have the fun chore of deciding whether to recognize this as an official change and what to call the new color.

Royal Mail's name for the original color, introduced in January 2013, is Royal Mail red. This is what appears in the margin of the sheet stamps. We haven't yet seen sheet stamps in this new shade and Royal Mail hasn't indicated whether they will change the name of the color or not.

The 2013 version is on the left above and the new stamp on the right.

The Modern British Philatelic Circle used Royal Mail's name for the original color and is calling the new color Royal Mail red+. Douglas Myall, in The Complete Deegam Machin Handbook, also used Royal Mail red for the original and is calling the new color Royal Mail red 2, abbreviated RMR2.

Stanley Gibbons called the original vermillion and is calling the new color bright scarlet.

Here in the US, the Scott Catalogue editors are, as of this writing, still thinking about whether to recognize this new shade at all, and if so, what to call it. The 2013 issue is called bright red. I'll update this post when I know what they've decided.

As long as it's open season, what's your suggestion for the name of this color?

--Larry

Here We Go Again - A Machin Plaster Cast For Sale

Plaster casts of Queen Elizabeth II made by Arnold Machin in the process of designing his iconic stamp have been trickling into the market over the past decade. We've written about sales in 2008 (here and here), 201o (here), and 2013 (here and here). Now another one has surfaced.

The previous casts were all auctioned by Cuttlestones, an auction house in Staffordshire where Machin lived but not one that specializes in philatelic material. This one is being sold by Cavendish Philatelic Auctions, Ltd., one of the leading philatelic auction houses in the U.K. It is being offered in their March 15/16, 2017 auction.

The description says the cast was executed by Machin circa March/April 1966 and was based on his previous work for British coinage.* Based on Douglas Muir's book, A Timeless Classic, and Machin's memoirs, it's probably closer to late February/early March 1966, but I won't pick nits.

The description says they know of one other cast of this model, which is held by The Postal Museum in London. It goes on to state that two casts of the final accepted head were sold, with Royal Mail paying £18,500 for the first in 2008, and a second selling for £21,000 in 2009, eventually winding up at the Royal Philatelic Society in London.

The cast was the property of a deceased estate of a former printer and has some small chips on the edge. 

The estimated price is £12,000. 

The cast is lot 815 in the sale. The catalog can be downloaded from the Cavendish web site.

--Larry

*The Cavendish advertisement for it that appeared on the back cover of the January, 2017 issue of The Chronicle, the journal of the Great Britain Collectors' Club, dated the cast from March 1965, which is incorrect. That may have been a typographical error.

Machin News February 2017

on 15th February  Machin collectors will see one of the first stamps to arrive with the 2017 iridescent code MCIL/M17L . If you have these on order from Royal Mail the mixed content retail booklet should drop on your doorstep around this date.

As we have already mentioned on the same date we will also  have the Prestige Booklet. This booklet for this issue was printed in 2016 so the stamps from the Machin pane will be coded 2016 and will be MPIL/ M16L. Only two of the stamps (2p and 1st class red) from this pane will be classed as new issues. See this earlier post

2nd Class Counter sheets have been issued with M17L. The sheets (see above) are dated 04/01/17, they look to be on plain backing paper with no security print.


Another new discovery is a 2nd  business sheet with the new security backing paper where every other line the backing paper text is inverted. These were long time coming,.., so keep your eyes open for the rest of the values.  Apparently the business sheet was printed on 15/12/16 so it will have the M16L code.

On the 14th March the second mixed retail booklet of the year will be launched. Corresponding with Music Giants issue, It will contain two of the Dave Bowie special issues and four x 1st class Machins. The codes (and Machin stamps) are expected to be the same as the those in the Windsor retail booklet.

Late March or early April should produce some more varieties with the 2017 tariff rise, We have no news of what these will be at this  time.

We will still have lots to look out for in June and July. The 50th anniversary of the Machin design will include a prestige booklt, retail mixed 1st class booklet of 6 and start to roll out on 5th June. Another prestige booklet is planned for the 1917 First World War anniversary on the 30th July. It is not known at this time if this PP will contain a Machin pane.

So there you have (or not) happy collecting.

Forgeries Galore on eBay

It seems that the forgers of Machin definitive stamps are still at it, After the discovery £1.00 value in sheet form with code T in the iridescent  security print (security print that is a laugh now)

It is only in the fact that the T for booklets of 12 is evident in the print that these £1.00 values were discovered, not by Royal Mail I might add but by eagle eyed collectors.

Well the eagle eyes are doing Royal Mails job again, collectors have discovered another example,

This time round it is in the form of 1ST class large stamps in complete business sheets. These forgeries look the part too - only with close scrutiny can they be detected.

1/ They have no security iridescent source code at all.

2/ The font used in the word large looks incorrect.

3/ To me the die cast perforations look the part but a little wavy.

Top Panel of the forged business Sheet

Other lots (including a sheet and single of the £1.00 value being offered by the same seller are.

Singles and booklets of 12 1st class code M16L/MTIL (security  backing paper)

Singles and booklets of 12 2nd class code M16L/MTIL (security backing paper)

Booklets of 12 1st class code M13L/MTIL

Booklets of 12 2nd class code M12L/MTIL

About that £5 Machin...

Roy has blogged about the new £5 Machin to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Queen's Accession to the throne in the previous post and an earlier one. Ian Billings provided some historical background in his post.

I'm surprised the response to this £5 Machin has been so muted. I consider it an out-and-out money grab.

Let's review the history that Ian so nicely described. The first commemoration of the Accession came on the 25th anniversary in 1977. It was a set of five stamps with a identical designs, somewhat reminiscent of the set issued in 1935 for King George V's 25th anniversary. (Sadly, the set contains one of the worst portraits of Her Majesty to appear on stamps, but that's another story.)

Fifteen years passed, and the 40th anniversary was honored with an innovative strip of five se-tenant photographs of events in the Queen's life.

Ten years passed, and the golden jubilee was honored with five portraits of the Queen over the five decades. This set borrowed heavily from Jeffery Matthews' 1986 set for the Queen's sixtieth birthday, but it was still attractive. The first-class Machin was changed to gold.

Ten years passed, and the diamond jubilee was marked with an inventive miniature sheet containing six first-class stamps, and the first-class Machin was changed to diamond blue.

Now here we are five years later. Royal Mail seems in a hurry to celebrate the Accession again, but apparently with no time or budget or desire to design anything new. So Royal Mail reaches deep into the archives and comes up with ... reissuing the large £5 Machin from 1977.

Why is this bad? Let me count the ways:

1. There is little need for any £5 stamp, much less an oversized one. The standard £5 Machin, first issued in 1999, was long ago withdrawn from general sales, along with its brethren, because such stamps have been replaced in most locations with Horizon labels, Post & Go stamps, and perhaps other more convenient forms of indicating payment of large amounts of postage.

2. What is it? It clearly commemorates a specific event but Royal Mail calls it a "£5 High Value Definitive." Will it replace the existing small £5 Machin? What happened to the desire for consistency, which was the rationale for printing small-size high values for the first time?  And with all deference to the Queen's ongoing longevity, is Royal Mail really going to replace one of its definitives over the long term with another one that costs twice as much?

3. Other than the overprint, it offers nothing new. It even reduces the formerly bi-colored stamp to monochrome. Whether you like them or not, the previous sets and miniature sheet reflected a desire to design something new and attractive. This stamp represents laziness, greed, lack of forethought, or some combination of all three.

4. Is it really necessary to celebrate the 65th anniversary? We've already celebrated the fact that Queen Elizabeth II has reigned longer than any other monarch, so by definition she's the first to reach the 65th anniversary. What other 65th anniversary has been commemorated on a stamp?

5. Sum those up, and it's clear to me that this is the most blatant grab of collectors' money yet. With a modicum of restraint, this could have been a £1 stamp, or £1.52 to pay a current rate. But at £5, it almost equals the cost of all the other anniversary stamps combined. (The face value of all the stamps mentioned above is £6.43 with the NVIs valued as of the date of issue.)

I gave consideration to not including this stamp in my collection. I generally follow the Deegam Handbook, and Douglas Myall does not include stamps that don't fit the definition of a definitive. I will be interested to see how he treats this one, but I've decided that since it looks identical to many other Machins, and perhaps it will replace the small £5 Machin, I will include it.

Now I am giving serious consideration to stopping my Machin collection after the fiftieth anniversary of the Machins later this year. My collection can be "The First 50 Years of Machins." If the unthinkable happens and the Machins are replaced in a few years, I can go back and get what I've missed. If Her Majesty lives longer than her mother, I may be spared from future money grabs by Royal Mail.

If you think I've been too harsh on Royal Mail or if you have a completely different opinion, please let us know in the comments.

--Larry

Blue Sapphire Anniversary

Whilst collectors will be celebrating this landmark anniversary HM the Queen will be taking it easy on the day at Sandringham House.

Well lets be honest she does deserve it having spent the last 65 years on the throne. The first British sovereign in history to so.

The jubilee will be marked by eight new coins from the Royal Mint, One of which is worth a staggering £50.000. They will range from a £5.00 to £1000.00 denominations with retail prices from £13.00 for the basic to £49,995 for the solid gold limited edition of which will be 1 to 21.


As already reported Machin collectors can look forward to the Sapphire Blue £5.00 commemorative. Of which we now have a picture and some more details.

The stamps will be printed in gravure (sheets of 10) by Walsall Security print with a cylinder number W1 . The design will incorporate a iridescent code 65TH ANNIVERSAY OF THE ACCE17ON. The stamps do not have ellipses or security slits.

By the way Thanks Larry for the post below. Nice !!!