New King Charles III Horizon Labels

Today 31st July 2023 is the last day of validity for the old style Machins without a barcode. So it is now an official fact and a sad day. It is also guaranteed that we will see no more Machin new issues.  I am sure we said the same thing about wildings so scrub the word guaranteed. You never know with Royal Mail.

What will all us die hard Machin collectors do now?  Fill gaps? Start a new Machin theme?. Or move on with the times?

One idea is to start a Charles III collection, but not everyone likes the new definitive stamps with the added barcodes. You could start a new Horizon Label collection. These are now starting to appear in Post Offices around my area. 

 Below is a scan of what to expect,  two of these were kindly given to me by my local post mistress. A unused  tête-bêche pair of the new labels now on sale.  I have no intention of collecting Charles III stamps so they will  end up on eBay for a couple of pounds.  A nice starter for someone.

Unlisted Error New Find SGFA7

 UPDATED

After 45 years since the issue in 1978 the 4th in this series (10p Farmhouses) a new variant has been found.  FA7 Wales Perf type P1.  

This is a completely new find, the pane DP31 has the 4mm centre phosphor bars offset to the left by 4mm. To date only one copy of a used pane is known. This was recently described in a Deegam report with added profiles of the stamps.

This booklet is complete, unused and to date unrecorded  by the GBDSBSC. Of the 5 stamps there are 4 different variants of the values. All  have the centre phosphor bar offset to the left by 4mm. Stamp 4 also has a short bar at the top. DG(S1). 

I currently have 2 copies of this booklet spare. If you are interested in owning one of  these I am open to offers over £5.00 for each. Contact me by email gbmachins@gmail.com

Cylinder Booklets With Cover Marker Bars

 

Last week I was going through some duplicate material that I intended to trade in. Without much thought I picked a few bits and certain items out and put them to one side with the intention to calculate the face face value.

As an after thought I gave the booklets in the pile a quick second glance, I am so pleased I did. 

Unknown to me a few of them had black marker bars on the covers. One in every 25 booklets have these which in its self is nothing special unless they are one of the rarer booklet types. But then I noticed when I viewed the contents that a few of them also had cylinder numbers + the cover marker bars.

At one time these were prized by collectors, myself included. Vending cylinder booklets with a marker bar are only found on every 200th booklet. Counter booklets 1 in every 250 and Chambon printings 1 in every 150. Needless to say these went straight back into my main collection with a little description attached.

I gave myself a little pat on the back ( self praise) as I have saved them from the incinerator via Royal Mails trade in and they now have pride of place in my stock book at four or five times their face value.