Early Miscut Errors

Who remembers the early 1970s?

I do with fondness as I was by this time an avid Machin collector, having been introduced to the complexities by my mothers younger brother, my late uncle Jack.

He taught me about the various things to look for, gums, phosphors, cylinder blocks and early varieties of booklet panes. I used to visit Jack most Sunday afternoons as he still lived with my grandmother. A chance to see her too and sample her specialties, which were also delights. Sponge cake still slightly warm with an aroma of jam & cream. A product which she was famous for, not to mention other items of her home baking sessions.

Jack started me off as a budding pre decimal Machin collector as a young man. At first I just used to admire his Machin collections. Then he passed on to me some of his duplicates, mostly early booklets or booklet panes and there was the odd block here and there.

One pane in particular that he gave me was my pride and joy, as it was miscut, sadly I no longer own it but the memory of writing it up and inserting it into my album still lives with me to this day. It also brings me to write this today

I spotted something similar on eBay the other day. The pane was one of 5 x 3 and half pence stamps with a blank label. I remember these were available with smooth or rough cut margins or perforated margins if my memory serves me right, paper and gum was FCP/DEX.

The miscut pane I owned is similar to the one below it shows the blank label at the top of the pane rather than the norm which should be at the bottom. A nice error of early Machin collecting and some great memories of Sunday afternoon teas. Those were the days.

R.I.P Jack and thank you for the introduction to my favorite stamp design. Little did he know that the design would still be in use today, 50 odd years later.