GURKHA WELFARE APPEAL 1971

 

These three interesting covers arrived on my desk a couple of weeks ago I thought I would share them with you

Each envelope has a different date and a different military cancel, namely Aldershot ,Colchester and Harrow/Wembley. The cachets show three named Gurkha soldiers who are recipients of the Victoria Cross which is the highest military medal of honour won for bravery on the field of battle.

I do not collect covers myself  but I thought there must someone out there that does. If you are interested they are now listed as a set on eBay for less than a fiver. See pics below.

Millennium Machin 23 Years On

 

Since the issuing of the Millennium Machin in (2000) I still get emails asking about the variety printed sideways and stamps listed with perforations 15 x 15. 

Where were can I get them ?  Are they rare ?  Do I have any spare? 

 I try not to repeat information written on my previous blogs so my answer is always the same. Please use the search facility at the top of the page, if the information has been written about you will find it. The word Millennium will take you to all previous posts going back 20 years or so. 

    I have just tested the search engine facility and it works perfect. This is just one of the results  Machin Mania: Millennium Machin Variety Try it out.

  

Delayed By Post Office Strike

 

I have just picked up a two cheap covers depicting the first 10p decimal booklet panes from number one in the series of post boxes issued on February 15th 1971. Although these covers arrived late to collectors they were still cancelled on the date of issue and a cachet announcing that they were delayed due to industrial action. 

Covers with the 12 single stamps from the sheet issues and the horizontal coil were also available these  have the same delayed cachet, they are more widely in circulation than the booklet pane covers. Although non of them are worth a fortune, they do add that little bit of interest to a booklet pane or Machin collection.

The two panes both had four stamps - 2 x 2p se-tenant vertically with 2 x ½p and a second pane 2 x 1p se-tenant vertically with 2 x 1½p

The illustration on the front cover of the actual booklet was of the earliest London type, the green Giant Pillar Box from 1855. This illustration was to be used on two different issue dates . The February 1971 issue and the April 1971 issue. These dates can be found at the bottom of the back cover. On inspection they are slightly different. The first booklet issue had a hight of 48mm and the second a reduced hight of 44mm. It has been said this was changed due to production problems,   

 

All stamps from the booklet pane covers had 2 phosphor bands and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) gum. They were printed on Original Coated Paper (OCP) by Harrison & Sons. Surprisingly the number printed was over 2,215,00 for each booklet. They are also known with the first pane having an error of phosphor due to mis registration, either wide band left or wide band right.