Machin Anniversary 50th Anniversary Commemoration: how many new stamps? [Revised and Updated]

As we have known for some time, Royal Mail are next month marking the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the Machin definitive on 5 June 1967.  The issue consists of two miniature sheets... and a prestige stamp book, stamp cards, presentation packs, first day covers, a retail stamp booklet, press sheets, a medal cover, new post and go faststamps, a limited edition prestige stamp book. The stamps will be issued on Monday 5 June 2017.  (Updated again 23.5.17)

The first surprise is that one of the PSB panes is quite different to the pre-issue publicity picture that we were sent, which subsequently appeared in the Royal Mail Philatelic Bulletin.  The change introduces a new stamp and eliminates some of the duplication. Larger images of some of these products can be seen on our new webpage.

50 Years of a Design Icon Miniature Sheet
This sheet contains six new stamps showing the development of the Machin design from the design inspired by the 1d black, through to what was almost the final design.  The Machin head which is common to each stamp is embossed, as is the plaster cast portrait in the margin. Detail of the designs on the stamps is on our website.

Golden Anniversary Celebration Miniature Sheet
The second sheet shows the original 4d dark brown stamp issued in 1967, and includes many of the different design variants of the stamps issued over the 50 years. The stamps are, from left to right,

5p violet (1971), 20p black double-head (1990), 1st class orange (issued in 1993 as the first self-adhesive booklet), 1st class Millennium (2000), 1st class gold Pricing in Proportion (2006), 1st class red (2013), and a new £1 stamp based on the high-value range of 1969, printed using gold foil.

---

The Prestige Stamp Book contains five panes of stamps.  The first two have three each of the Design Icon stamps*, and pane 5 has a striking block of 4 gold foil £1 stamps.  But the other two panes contain 8 Machin definitives each, in various designs.   
*As these are separated onto two panes in the PSB they will be catalogued as individual stamps. 

Pane 3 has eight stamps and is described as having the 'make-up' or supplementary values.  These are 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p - plus 2nd class and £1 ruby.

The 50p grey and £1 ruby are not in the current colours, but in the colours first used in 2007.  Odd then that the £1 ruby - and only this stamp - has iridescent printing, coded M17L MPIL.  The central label is a detail from the 50p stamp.

Pane 4 also has eight stamps.  Aside from the 20p double-headed stamps (the pane contains two of these rather than three as shown previously), all the others are 1st class.  (Another odd decision given that the 1st class double-head stamp exists from the Special by Design PSB and the 2009 Treasures of the Archive PSB (SG 2133 and 2956 respectively).

There is also a retail booklet as unimaginative as the one produced for the 40th Anniversary; the security coding is M17L MSIL and the stamps are deep scarlet, not as shown in this publicity picture.

---

List of the stamps contained in the retail booklet, the Golden Anniversary MS and PSB panes 3-5.

1p crimson	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	PSB	Y1667
2p deep green	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	PSB	Y1668
5p pale violet	Gummed	Non-elliptical	Gravure	MS	X866
5p red-brown	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	PSB	Y1670
10p orange	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	PSB	Y1676
20p green	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	PSB	Y1687
20p black double-head	Gummed	Non-elliptical	Gravure	MS	1470
20p black double-head	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	PSB	2133
50p light grey	Gummed	Non-elliptical	Gravure	PSB	Y1727
£1 ruby MPIL M17L	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	PSB	U3007
£1 gold foil 2mm phos	Gummed	Elliptical	(Gravure)	MS	U3966
£1 gold foil 2mm phos	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	PSB	U3996
2nd blue	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	PSB	1664
1st black	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	PSB	1668s
1st orange (Horiz)	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	MS	New
1st orange (Vert)	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	PSB	1667
1st gold	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	PSB	1668
1st Millennium	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	MS	2124
1st Millennium	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	PSB	2124
1st gold PIP	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	MS+PSB	2651
1st red MPIL M17L	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	PSB	U3003
1st red MMIL M17L	Gummed	Elliptical	Gravure	MS	New
1st deep scarlet MSIL M17L	Self-adh	Elliptical	Gravure	Book	New

Table updated 14 December.  Highlights in green are new stamps, SG numbers are now shown where they have been allocated.

Responding to a request for clarification Royal Mail have said that both £1 stamps are the same, ie gold foil embossed and neither litho nor gravure. See also comments below, on other variations.
 But we now know that the stamp on the mini-sheet has phosphor bands which must be applied by litho.

§ See comments.  If these new PSB panes are gravure then this is also a new stamp, as SG2955 is litho by Cartor.

The majority of these stamps are very good matches to the originals.  I've added SG numbers numbers in the table above, although some of the original stamps exist in several variants so other numbers may also be relevant.

The new stamps
There are four stamps with security printing: 1st class red (not deep scarlet) coded M17L and MPIL, MMIL*, and 1st class deep scarlet MSIL, and the £1 ruby (magenta) M17L MPIL.

The three other new stamps are the £1 gold foil embossed (with± and without phosphor bands), the 1st class black with elliptical perforations, and the 1st class orange, landscape format, on gummed paper rather than self-adhesive*.    This makes a total of 7 new stamps although specialists will identify some subtle and not so subtle differences from the originals.  The Millennium stamp, for example, has the head placed much further to the left than on the originals, aside from being in two slightly different shades.

±  Contrary to previous observations the £1 gold stamps from both sources do have phosphor bands. But we still don't know for certain what process was used.  BM has pointed out that the embossing must be the final operation after all printing (including phosphor) and application of gold foil.  He suggests that a third party printer may have been involved with this operation, as with the recess printing by FNMT on the Long To Reign ms.

*These two are unlikely to be allocated individual numbers in the SG Great Britain Concise catalogue as they only exist from the miniature sheet. 

There is also a Limited Edition version of the PSB which RM are pricing at £99.95.  This

"comes in an exquisite specially-created display case together with a silver Machin medallion which was handmade in the UK and has been struck in solid sterling silver, weighing 97grams (diameter 60mm). In addition, centrally placed in the lid of the case is an original 4d stamp as replicated on the Golden Anniversary Celebration Miniature Sheet".  

As this is an edition of only 500 we don't know what supplies will be available for Royal Mail online and telephone buyers when it is issued.   We will have a few for those who want them.    We have been assured that the stamps they contain are the same.

The PSB, MS and retail booklet will be added to our webshop shortly.  We will also have some first day covers for sale available for pre-order. 
Customers ordering these new products should not choose immediate payment by PayPal but choose 'Pay by Cheque' and await our return.

---

Security Printing: Up, Down, both - does it matter? Not for the present.

A number of people have written about whether stamps exist on upright or inverted Security Backing Paper, which I mentioned last week.  Several stamps - and maybe even some of my pictures! - show instances that I didn't mention.

Now John Deering has written about the same feature in Gibbons Stamp Monthly (June 2017) so what exists is clearly more complex than I originally thought.  (No comments here: if you have a contribution please continue on last week's discussion.)

So I shan't be adding any further on this for the present.  It's probably not worth separately listing both types on the same stamp as a sales option in our webshop, certainly not at present.  Far better that my time is spent on sending out to customers the stamps that they have already ordered and paid for!    Next news will be about the Machin Anniversary issue.  Meanwhile shown above is a taste of what has already been shown in the philatelic press, but an actual scan.

---

Open for business - we're back!

Thank you for your patience while we have been processing orders and restocking the latest new issues.

We have now reopened the webshop.  A number of new Machin security stamps have been received since we closed, and we have also added the forgery of the £1 brown, and the 1997 trial printings by Courvoisier (only a few of those).   Also new are maximum cards of the Songbirds and David Bowie - we haven't seen any Bowie maximum cards anywhere else - and the Thistle and Post Office railway digitally-printed Post and Go stamps.

The full list:

Spear Thistle Post and Go single 1st class FV24
Post Office Underground Railway Post and Go 1st class and Collectors Strip FV25

Songthrush and Wren maximum cards
Aladdin Sane (2 types), Heroes, and Earthling David Bowie Maximum Cards

5p Machin counter sheet M17L 3005.7
20p Machin counter sheet M17L 3020.7
1st Large Machin business sheet MBIL M17L 2916aB.7
1st class Machin booklet single MTIL M17L 2936a.7
12 x 1st class Machin booklet MTIL M17L MF9a.7
Machin Forgery £1 sheet stamp M14L MTIL
Machin Undenominated Trials by Courvoisier

Updated Checklist
Our Machin Security Checklist has been updated to include the latest stamps listed above.  Version 1.5.7 dated 10 May is now available from the usual download link.
Current versions are available here from Dropbox.

---

Keen observation reveals mixed use of SBP2 backing paper

When I first reported the use of the second type of security backing paper (SBP2) I showed that if the backing paper was re-reeled and used inverted, the format of the text would be different.

UPDATE 18 MAY
"I shan't be adding any further on this for the present.  It's probably not worth separately listing both types on the same stamp as a sales option in our webshop, certainly not at present. "
See full text on later blog post here.

Small Upright Large Upright Small Inv Large Inv -- --  Small Inv Large Upright Small Up Large Inv

Now an eagle-eyed customer (thanks Rolf) has observed that the two different formats have already been used - and nobody else seems to have noticed, probably because at this stage no individual stamp has appeared on both types.

So far the split seems to be:

SI LU SU LI
2nd and 2nd Large counter sheets M17L
1st and 1st Large counter sheets M17L
2017 new tariff high values counter sheets M17L
5p and 20p counter sheets M17L
1st Large Business Sheet M17L (shown below)

SU LU SI LI
2nd M16L MBIL
2nd M16L MTIL
1st M16L MTIL
1st M16L MTIL
1st M17L MTIL (shown below)

So aside from the 2nd class business sheet, all the thin-paper stamps (counter and business sheets) have been printed on what I described originally as an 'inverted' SBP2;  and all the thicker booklet stamps have been printed on original (upright) paper.

More new printings
As 'Trelantis' mentions in a comment on last week's post about the 5p and 20p sheet stamps, the 1st Large business sheet and 12 x 1st booklet, both M17L, have now appeared and will be listed on our webshop when it reopens later today.  The iridescent printing on the business sheet is not very strong, being similar to the M16L booklet issued earlier.

1st Large business sheet (Norvic 2916aB.7) - printed 22/02/17

12 x 1st booklet M17L (norvic 2936a.7) packing date not yet known.  Cylinder numbers W7 (red),  W1 (iridescent), W2 (phosphor).

---

Universal Postmarking Machines - late usages still recorded

We've previously reported on the Christmas use of Universal machines, often with antique slogans, but it's unusual to get one from a Mail Centre at this time of year, so thanks to RS for this.

I don't think we have had a report from Medway Mail Centre before, so this example on 6 May 2017 of the Sorter-Canceller-Machine is welcome and will be noted by the British Postmark Society.  Kent seems to have adopted continental timing, with a day-slug inserted into the 'hour' slot, giving 1315PM.

UPDATE:
Our reader RS has another report, this time from North and West Yorkshire on 9 May 2017, machine number 4, with the old 

REMEMBER 

to use the 

POST CODE! 

slogan

We're happy to have all reports!

---

Royal Mail Post and Go Update - Museums

Royal Mail's erratic updating of its Post and Go webpage continues.  Nothing about operational machines at Enquiry Offices, but this is the latest Museum news.

Latest news

Royal Navy Submarine Museum - A004
Overprint ‘HMS Alliance 14th May 1947’ will be on both Union and Machin stamps from Friday 19th May until close Sunday 18th June. This marks the launch date of the submarine which is now at RNSM.

Explosion! Museum of Naval Firepower - A007
Overprint ‘Heligoland Big Bang 1947’ will be on both Union Flag and Machin from Friday 19th May until close Sunday 18th June.
This is to commemorate Operation ‘Big Bang’ on 18th April 1947 - the attempted destruction of all Germany’s military installations on the small island of Heligoland.

As usual, we will not be stocking these, and this is for information only.

---

Hear the nightingale sing from Royal Mail's stamp....

.... even if you're not in Berkeley Square.

Last week, in advance of International Dawn Chorus Day on May 7th, Royal Mail issued a set of ten stamps showing Songbirds.  The artwork is very good, and the use of pastel colours instead of stark photographs creates some striking images, even if we don't think of the call of the cuckoo as a 'song'!

Using augmented reality, Royal Mail has also created an animated version of the artwork on the Nightingale stamp along with an audio clip of its song.

The artwork can be activated by downloading the Aurasma app and holding a smartphone or android device over the Nightingale stamp.   And if your post office is one of the new 'Local' models that doesn't sell special stamps you can still hear the nightingale by pointing your phone to this picture of the stamp.

I don't know what this sort of thing costs, but whilst praising Royal Mail for this initiative, it does make me wonder why they didn't do it for all ten stamps.  After all, few of us could pick out the blackcap or willow warbler, even if we are lucky enough to have wrens, yellowhammers, and song thrushes around us.

---

More new Machin definitive printings

Two more new definitive stamps are now available, the counter sheets of 5p and 20p.  

The 5p was printed on 09/03/17 and the 20p on 02/03/17: both are printed on paper with security printing, SBP2.  A new printing of the £1.17 on 07/04/17 is also available, also on SBP2.

The new stamps will be added to our Checklist for the next edition which will be published during next week.  Pictures of the new stamps will be added here soon and they will be available on the webshop when it reopens, with numbers 3005.7 and 3020.7

---

ATTENTION users of VERIZON email, HOTMAIL, BT and Orange mail services, inc Fsnet & Wanadoo

This is important information for users of the Hotmail and Verizon email systems.  Most of the latter are in North America, but Microsoft has Hotmail users all over the world.  Your services are changing and it is important that you take action soon.  

• In particular if you change your email address you will need to change your personal and contact details on our online webshop if you have registered with us. 

• If you download our Checklist you can do so with a new email address, but it will be very useful if you tell us that you have changed address so that we can remove your old address from the system before messages start bouncing.

VERIZON recently announced that it is leaving the email business and that soon verizon.net email address will cease to function unless you specifically indicate that you wish to keep your verizon.net email address (which will then be serviced by a different company even though it will still be a verizon.net address).  IMPORTANT: If you do not either specifically choose to keep your verizon.net address or migrate to a different/new address, your verizon.net address will soon cease to
function. As they say in the FAQ:

• What will happen if I decide to take no action?
• You will no longer be able to send or receive email using your verizon.net email address. In addition, you will lose your current contacts, calendar(s) and email. Also, after 180 days of inactivity we will delete the account.

Please see the details here:
  https://www.verizon.com/support/residential/email/migrations.htm

HOTMAIL (Microsoft) announced in 2012-13 that it would be discontinuing hotmail.com addresses and shifting over to the use of outlook.com addresses.  The change-over has been gradual and most U.S.-based users who have not migrated to a different address have not seen any problems... yet.

However, hotmail.com users in Europe are starting to have difficulty when they send emails to other parts of the world.  Microsoft is no longer maintaining some features of their email services that allow authentication of emails coming from Europe, thus some of those emails are now being blocked by recipients' servers and are being returned to sender.   Below are links to two articles that discuss the subject and discuss options of what you can do.

You also can do further Internet searches to learn even more.  However, most importantly, it has now been more than four (4) years since the process of shutting down hotmail.com started and there are still many users that don't seem to know about it.  Because it takes a long time to inform all your correspondents of your new address, change your stationery, update your websites or blogs or advertising, etc., you really need to deal with this very soon.

  http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsofts-hotmail-phase-out-whats-a-user-to-do/

  https://blogs.office.com/2012/08/03/upgrade-from-hotmail-to-outlook-com/

BTinternet users (UK).
While I'm writing about changes to other systems I'll mention BT internet email services which come under various guises (btinternet.com, btopenworld.com, btconnect.com - there may be others).  Like many service providers BT have robust systems in place to filter out spam emails.  Unfortunately as BT's popularity has grown so have spam-filter problems.

Any company sending out customer information emails in the UK ought to have many BT users.  If emails are sent to more than 15 contacts with BT accounts, BT will prevent those emails from passing to their customers believing that they are spam.  They don't dump them in the user's spam folder, as far as I know, they simply block them, and bounce the message back to the sender. 

This causes problems for us as a business.  With several hundred email addresses in our address book we had, when we tackled this, nearly 40 BT addresses.  To ensure that our message got to those customers we had to create 3 new mailing lists just for those customers, limiting each one to 14 addresses! 

So if you have a BT address AND another one, I would urge you to use your other address to deal with us and any large organisations to ensure that you get all the information that you have signed up for.

Orange Email
"We have therefore decided to close Orange Email on 31 May 2017, so you can move to a better email experience, and we can focus on providing our customers with the best possible products and services."
The addresses affected by the closure are:

• Orange.net
• Orangehome.co.uk
• Wanadoo.co.uk
• Freeserve.co.uk
• Fsbusiness.co.uk
• Fslife.co.uk 
• Fsmail.net
• Fsworld.co.uk
• Fsnet.co.uk

"Are you offering an alternative email service?
Many of our users already have an alternative email address with another email provider. However if you don’t, and need to create a new address, we recommend Google's Gmail. Gmail offers a whole host of benefits such as access across different devices, 15GB of free storage and a simple email address format, ending with @gmail.com"
See more at Orange here. 




What other alternatives are there? 

I was hoping that the Zdnet article might suggest other alternatives but it is really aimed at hardcore Hotmail users.  Judging by some of the comments on that article, the new user interface of Outlook is awful!

A lot depends on whether you download your emails and store them on your computer or leave everything on the webserver.  I always did the former, and have emails going back to my first forays onto the internet back in 1998.  They were on my Windows PC, and we imported all emails to the Mac which I've been using for many years.  So it might be possible to download all your Hotmail and Verizon emails and transfer them to a completely new system: seek technical advice if necessary and at the very least look on the web for other solutions to the Verizon and Hotmail changes.

As well as the norvic-philatelics.co.uk and norphil.co.uk address we also have a Gmail address provided by Google, and everything is routed through the gmail account.  I don't imagine Google abandoning email services anytime soon - although I expect people said that about Hotmail at one time (and Google abandoned mobile app support for this blog service). 

But like Orange, I would recommend Gmail as a suitable service which you can access either on the web or download to an email programme on your computer.  Instructions on how to create a Gmail account and import emails are in that Orange link above.


If you are a business, you really ought to have your own domain and use that to handle emails.  You can still route those through Gmail and choose to reply from either your Gmail account or your own domain email address.

---

Slightly overwhelmed!

Since I listed the new definitive printings on the webshop just under a week ago, family matters and public holidays have taken precedence and so we have a backlog of orders to process.  Additionally many of the new stamps are shown as out of stock.

So that we can process the orders and check the stock levels the shop is closed to further orders.  This will allow us to catch up and avoid customer disappointment that so few of the stamps are still available.   We have some more new stock to add, but that will not be until backlogs are cleared.

Thank you for your patience.

---