Machin News More Snippets

Ok I know that these are not Machins but I like them so I am up dating my previous report.

Earlier in the month I wrote about the 175th anniversary of the penny black and indicated that Royal Mail would introduce a miniature sheet to commemorate the event. This will have conventional PVAl gum and will be printed by Cartor in litho.

Even though Royal Mail claim they do not issue stamps just for the sake of it, I have also found out that there will be several other products available designed specifically for the collector.

One in particular is a novel retail booklet of six 1st class 1d black self adhesives I presume this will be printed by Walsall.

Another product is a limited edition (1000) press sheet of 15 miniature sheets and a numbered sheet and exhibition card which I am informed will also be a limited edition only available from Europhilex.


Already mentioned, there will be two Smilers Sheets, one with a number of 1st class penny black stamps and 1st class two penny blues.

Below are two images of what these smilers stamps will look like. There will be 10 different labels on each sheet. Left is a image of the 1st class penny black from the self adhesive booklet.



Other news on the grapevine concerns a Prestige Booklet that will be issued on 14th May. This will be the second booklet in the series depicting The Great War and will cost £13.96. The news is that it will contain a Machin pane that will be mixed with two poppy stamps. There will be three new Machins to collect from this pane. The stamps on the pane will be 2 x 1p, 2 x 5p and a value of £1.33.  The background codes will be M15L/MPIL.