Butterflies

Royal Mail's New Retail Booklet

On 11 July, Royal Mail issued a new Custom Booklet that I think is rather charming. The booklet contains 4 1st Class stamps in the new 'Royal Mail Red' with M13L date code and MCIL source code. The 'C' stands for Custom. The booklet also contains two 1st Class commemoratives. The Chalkhill Blue butterfly and the Comma butterfly. Although Royal Mail have this booklet listed as having been printed in Lithography it has been done in Grauvre. Royal Mail lists the printer as Cartor. It has been brought to my attention that these booklets were likely printed by Walsall. The two commemoratives are all-over phosphor. The definitives have two phosphor bands.

Stay Stamp Crazy!

Machin Diary 5

Bags of Fun!!

Recently I purchased a bag consisting of 1 Kilo of Machin stamps on paper. I haven't had much of a chance to delve into the mysterious depths of said bag just yet, but today I will be tackling it full force!!

These shots were taken on the day of arrival. Naturally I was exceedingly excited. Don't those bags, choke full of stamps, look simply marvelous? I believe is it time now to remove myself from the computer and start digging!!

I assure you, as readers of this blog, you will be the first to discover the bounty locked within these plastic bags!

Stay Stamp Crazy!

Machin Diary 4

Covered in Machins!!

Hi all. I just realised I haven't made a blog post in quite a while. I've been busy, busy, busy with my new Machin collection. 

Since the last dairy entry I wrote, I've been happily stockpiling lots and lots of new and used Machins. I have come to the decision that, not only do I want to build a collection to fit into the album pages I recently purchased (no mean feat!), but I also want to build a specialist collection of 1p Machins. Why, you may ask? Well, put simply, I have always been fascinated with 1p or 1d stamps. Especially red ones. I have a large collection of Australian KGV 1d reds that I've been working on for several years now that, at present, doesn't have an end in sight.

Anyway, back to Machins. In future diary entries I'll keep you updated on my progress with my 1p collection. But for now I thought it might be fun to share some of the covers I have recently received that are adorned with beautiful Machins. After all, postage is what these tiny masterpieces are for!!

This first cover has a 2012 Diamond Jubilee 1st Class self-adhesive stamp as well as an 8p rosine. Incidentally, the Diamond Jubilee stamp has no source code in the iridescent overprint, which means it is from a counter sheet.

This next cover has a 1p Dark Crimson (first printed 8 March 2011) with security U-slits. It also has a 5p Red Brown (8 March 2011) with security U-slts. Two lovely 9p orange stamps and a 63p Wales definitive are added to the mix.

When I saw this next cover in my mailbox, I instantly fell in love. It is delightful. Not only does it have a Doctor Who Mini Sheet affixed, it also has three spanking new Machins. First we have the 20p Light Green. This stamp was first issued on 8 March 2011. It was reprinted and released again on 3 January 2013 with an M12L date code. It has no source code so it is from a counter sheet. 

    The 50p Slate Grey was issued on the 3 January 2013 also. It too has a M12L date code and no source code. It is a real stunner, is this cover!!

Last but by no means least, we have a great make-up set of Machins totaling £1.88, the current overseas airmail rate for under 20g.

That's it for now. As always...

Stay Stamp Crazy!!

Dr Who Turns Fifty

50th Anniversary Stamps

It seems like it was only yesterday that I sat down as a kid, turned on the tele, and watched Dr Who battling some form of terrible evil. Well folks, it's now been fifty years since this iconic BBC series first aired on 23 November 1963. The recent release of a set of Dr Who stamps by Royal Mail has brought back a lot of great memories for me. I wasn't yet on this earth when Dr Who first started. I rather wish I was. The early Black and White stories, to me, are the best! So let's take a journey back to where it all began. Join me in my time machine as I go back to 1963...

It is now 1963 and the world is a very different place. No ipods, no mobile phones (cell phones), no laptop computers. This was a time when families huddled around their Televisions to watch shows transmitted Black and White. I wonder what someone from 1963 - if transported ahead in time to 2013 - would think of our huge flatscreen HD TV's?

Now that we are in 1963 why don't we find a house that has its TV on and take a peek at what they are watching? It is now 5:15pm and I have it on good authority that a brand new Science Fiction show is about to start...

Just to the left. A house with the TV on. Let's hurry. Oh good. It's just starting. The strange swirly white mist accompanied by riveting music has the family in this particular house transfixed. The story that evolves on the TV on 23 November 1963 is now very well known. The show was Dr Who. The episode was entitled An Unearthly Child.

In this very first episode of Dr Who we meet two school teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. They are both intrigued by a gifted student named Susan. The pair decide to follow Susan home. To their horror they discover that Susan lives in a junkyard at 76 Totters Lane. They follow Susan into the junkyard. There thy are accosted by a strange old man who, Susan claims, is her Grandfather. He has appeared from inside an old blue Police Box. The school teachers then find themselves inside this Police Box. They are amazed!! The inside is huge. It's a spaceship. Then the old man turns on the spaceship...

The rest is history!!

That crazy old man in the junkyard turned out to be the 1st Doctor played by William Hartnell (who happens to be my favourite). Hartnell played the Doctor for 4 seasons until his final story The Tenth Planet, the final episode of which aired on 29 June 1966. Quite a few episodes from the 1st Doctor are, sadly, today missing, including most of the scene in which Hartnell regenerates to the 2nd Doctor... 

William Hartnell

The 2nd Doctor first appeared at the end of The Tenth Planet. He was played by Patrick Troughton. The 2nd Doctor's first story was called The Power of the Daleks. It first aired on 5 November 1966 at 17:50pm. Sadly, most of the stories of the 2nd Doctor were destroyed to make space (if only they knew how popular the show was to become!). Sigh!!

Patrick Troughton

To find out more about the stories of the first 8 Doctors, check out this great site: Click here!

Stay Stamp Crazy!

Machin Diary 3

Surmounting the Mount!

I'm back again for another installment of my Machin diary. Number 3. Check out diary entries 1 and 2 for the story so far...

Okay, now that I have my Great Britain Machin album picked out - see this website HERE - my pages printed, and my mounting system all worked out, it's time to start sticking the little fellas in!

As I mentioned in my previous diary entry, I had already purchased a few boxes of Hawid stamp mounts, but I had never pulled them from their packaging and looked at them. I tell you now it came as a shock to me what they looked like. I have never used a mount in my life. Hagners - yes. Hinges - yes. But mounts - no! So I freely admit that I had absolutely no idea how I went about affixing them to the album pages! Luckily I am a member of a very good stamp forum known as The Grumpy Old Men's Club. I went straight to the forum and posed my embarrassing question. A member answered me almost straight away.

The answer to my conundrum was very simple. Lick - or wet - the backside of the mount. Okay then, problem solved. Armed with this information, I grabbed a stamp mount, licked the back, then with shaking hands placed it on the album page. There. Easy. I leaned back to admire my work... Horror! The mount was crooked!! Undeterred, I had another go. A little better, but still not great. Bugger! My disappointment rising, I headed back to the GOMC forum to vent my troubles. Within moments I got a tip that I am forever grateful for. Thank you Roos!! 

Use a ruler.

So I did. And lo and behold my mounts started going on nice and straight. I did discover one trick for myself while happily sticking on my mounts. Using a ruler with a thick edge - mine is of the wooden variety - works the best. I have now applied this method to several album pages and I'm quite happy with the results. Here's one of the pages:

Incidentally, those first two crooked mounts, I managed to, very carefully, remove from the page and apply them straight!! Here's a close-up of one of the mounts...

Next time round I'll take a look at the criteria used by the author of the album I am using to sort Machins into a workable collection.

Until then...

Stay Stamp Crazy!

Machin Diary 2

Mounting Troubles!

Welcome to my second Machin Diary post. Those of you who read my first diary post will know that this whole blog series revolves around my journey collecting Great Britain Machin Head stamps. Much of the information in my initial posts comes from a fantastic website, in which I found a great set of album pages to download. Click HERE 

In this post I'll be looking at the different choices I had for mounting my collection on the printed pages. But first I thought it might be fun to have a bit of a history lesson. 

Why are Great Britain definitives called 'Machin Heads?' 

Machin (pronounced may-chin) Heads are named after Arnold Machin (1911-1999), a British artist, sculptor, and coin and stamp designer. 

Machin's road to fame began in 1964 when he was selected to design an effigy of the Queen's head for a new series of British decimal coins scheduled to be released in 1968. Incidentally, this same effigy was also used on Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand coins until the 1980's. In 1966 a similar design of the Queen's effigy by Machin was approved by the Queen to be used on stamps. On 5 June 1967 the first Machin definitive was issued - the 4d denomination. And so began what is arguably the longest running definitive stamp series. 

Now let us turn to the question of mounts. What is the best system? Hinges? Hingeless mounts? These choices come down to personal preference. My preference is not to use hinges on mint stamps. Since my collection - at this point - will be mint stamps, hinges are out. That leaves hingeless mounts. 

Decision made, I thought. Wrong! Now I had to choose what type of hingeless mounts I wanted to use. The standard Hawid mount with a clear flap behind which the stamp is inserted. Or the other type of mount known as the GARD mount.

Hawid Mounts

GARD Mounts

A couple of years ago I had already bought a few boxes of Hawid hinges so my choice was, in effect, already made. Hawid mounts come with a clear backing or a black backing. At first I thought the black backing would look cool. But then I got to thinking: what if I placed the darn thing on the page slightly crooked? A black square on a white background would stand out like the proverbial. Thankfully I had purchased clear mounts. Phew!

Next time - Sticking the mounts in! Plus a few more goodies.

Until then...

Stay Stamp Crazy!!

Machin Diary

The Beginning

For several years now I have been planning to start a Great Britain Machin Head collection. Due to many different circumstances I have put it off and put it off. That is until the other day when I found a great website that sells Machin Head Album pages already laid out for the collector. Click HERE to have a look for yourself. It's well worth it. After looking at the site I decided to go for it.

So, having decided to take the plunge, I thought, wouldn't it be great to document my Machin journey for posterity? A collection such as this will be full of excitement, pitfalls, and perils. But what an amazing journey.  If you are new to Machins yourself, perhaps you can learn along with me. If you're an old hand at these heads, then maybe you'll get at least a little entertainment over my fumblings. There are sure to be a few of those!!

To begin our journey, let's return to the Machin Album website. Upon close inspection I discovered that there were a few choices that must be made immediately. Oh dear!! I've only just started. But I took the bull by the horns - as it were - and probed deeper. 

Firstly, I was then prompted to choose which type of collection I was to embark upon. Basic (free). Novice. Intermediate  Advanced. Each of the categories delve a little deeper into this amazing branch of philately. I carefully studied each category to see what it had to offer. (In my next diary entry I'll look more in depth at each of these categories). I also tried to take into account my budget. I didn't want an album that I knew I'd never be able to fill because of high-end material that was out of my reach. Herein lay my first problem! I know little about these stamps so how do I know if I am getting an album that I can fill? A quick consultation with my Stanley Gibbons gave me some answers. 

Now I felt I was armed with enough knowledge to choose. Being a novice, but wanting a bit more of a challenge than the Novice collection allows for, I chose intermediate. Then it was simply a matter of parting with some hard earned cash, and pressing a button. Then presto, I was now the proud owner of over 300 Machin Head album pages.  

Here is a sample of one page from the album:

Now that I had my album sitting on my hard drive ready to go, I came to my next big question. So many questions so soon!! Aarrgh!! What weight paper should I use to print out my album? Research suggested no less than 160 gsm paper. I live in the country, so I don't exactly have a wide selection of stationery to choose from. I found a ream (500 pages) of decently priced 100 gsm paper. I reasoned that it would do the trick for me as I intend to place the pages in protective plastic sleeves. Now it was simply a matter of loading up the printer. And waiting...

Within minutes I had an album sitting before me. Well, not quite. Studying the album pages I found that it was yet again decision time. Hinges!! But I'll leave that dilemma till next time...

Until then...

Stay Stamp Crazy!!