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Friday 23 January 2015

M15L 1st Class Short Bands Top


I am always looking for something different or new. This week I have come across something that I am not quite sure about. So I will leave it to you the reader to decide.

Reported on eBay from the Alice in Wonderland booklet code C and up for sale is this 1st Class M15L security coded Machin with two short bands at the top. If it meets the criteria of nicely centered it it could be the first Machin error of 2015.

I am very fussy when it comes to quality but what do you think?


Another question I would like to bring up and would be interested in your opinions is that of cylinder block formats. When I first started collecting the new regional definitives I always acquired mine in formats of 4 x 2 just to incorporate the printing of the relevant country on the block. I thought that the inclusion of the country inscription on the block (as it was new and novel) would make the blocks more attractive and perhaps more desirable when it came to parting with the collection.

Prior to these regionals I always collected cylinder blocks of 3 x 2. Did anyone else at the time come to the same conclusion as myself?


4 comments:

Unknown said...

the pre-release machins showed many plate anomolies. how these got to market is unknown. some booklet miscuts also exist ...

SBT or SBB vars exist for many 1st and 2nd class machins.

badbone said...

I try to collect the "pictorials"
in the 4x2 format, but they are very hard to find in Germany!

Ian - Norvic said...

Slight variations in the phosphor bands are not unusual. Significant ones should command a better price - such as the massive shifts on the Commonwealth Games which were big enough to put some of the phosphor from the upper Machins on to the top of the lower row. These had shifts of the iridescent printing as well.

Ian - Norvic said...

As for cylinder blocks, 2 x 3 was always the traditional way to go as it included the cylinder number.

Now there is the country name and colour name (on Machins) so some people collect 2 x 4, whilst at least for the lower values some collect the 1st two columns, ie 2 x 5.

Some prefer strips of 5 (column 1) while I had one customer ask me for lower left corner singles, which by itself destroys most of the other combinations. If the stamps are in short supply (like the 5p M14L not yet in POs) then collectors may have to accept what dealers are prepared to offer.