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Thursday 1 February 2007

40th Annivesary Of The Machin Definitive

From previous posts we all now know of the program from the Royal Mail (re produced here)

A Miniature Sheet (£2.68p ), First day cover (£3.63p), Uncut press sheet (£64.32 ) £1 Sheet definitive singles (£1 each).

Also if you collect them £1 cylinder blocks dot & no dot x 6, date blocks (left and right hand), Presentation Pack (£3.20 ), Prestige stamp book (£7.66p ) , Generic Smilers Sheet(£7.35 ), And last but not least, A medal Cover.

Taking each in turn we can now describe the contents of the products.

1/ Miniature Sheet:


Printed by De LA Rue Security Printers in gravure

A new £1 definitive in Ruby Red (replacing the current colour mauve ) set vertically setenant with the current £1 (or obsolete mauve) value. Two new special issue 1st class NVI stamps will sit each side (size 35mm 37mm). To the left shows a picture of Machin and caption Arnold Machin 1911 - 1999.



The second Special issue is also 1st class NVI and shows the first pre decimal 4d value from 1967. Both this and the Arnold machin stamps will be embossed so they stand out from the rest of the sheet. This will also be available in presentation packs.

2/ £1 Ruby Sheet stamps

Also printed by De La Rue in sheets of 200. dot and no dot sheets are available for those who collect cylinder blocks, also left and right date blocks.
3./ Prestige stamp book entitled The Machin The Making of a Masterpiece
This will consist of 4 separate stamp panes.>
Pane 1:

Machin definitives.
Top row 2p, 48p, 2p Middle row 46p, label showing the Queen wearing Tiara and 46p bottom row 2p, 48p, 2p

Pane 2:
£1 ruby definitives x two set setenant vertical with a central label showing a Machin head as seen through a camera lens.


Pane 3:
Anniversary 1st special issues x 4 in two rows. Two Machin Portraits and two 4d pre decimals


Pane 4:
Definitive 1st & 2nd class stamps
Top row 1 x 1st class large PIP and 1 x 2nd class large PIP

Middle row 1 x 1st class standard size, a label showing Roland Hill, and 1 x 2nd class standard size.

Bottom row 1 x 1st class large PIP and 1 x 2nd class large PIP

First day covers, for all products no doubt and a generic smilers sheet showing 20 x Arnold Machin special issues, The setenant labels will show all pre decimal stamps issued from (1967 - 1970) These consist of 1d - £1

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The embossed cover of the prestige booklet is a stunning piece of engraving!!!
Was this emboss taken from a Machin die or reproduced?
if so by whom?

Anonymous said...

After some research I believe the embossed work was carried out by an East Midlands company based in Leicester by an engraver named as Robert Erskine.