cdj1122

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the passing of our friend,
Douglas Edward George Albert Myall a giant of Philately after several
years of illness and declining health.
I first became acquainted with Doug via written correspondence in the
early 1980s when I asked him a question about the then growing Machin
series.
Over the years we did exchange letters and eventually e-mails as both
his simple Deegam Machin pamphlet and the Machin series itself grew to
an internationally recognized "Handbook", (Not a price catalog ),
doubled in size and then again doubled, continuing exponentially until
the paper version volumes became too unwieldy for many to handle. Thus
he entered all the data and information onto a disc so pages and notes
can be displayed on a monitor and manipulated in so many ways.
I am proud to be able to say that when he needed help proofing and
occasionally correcting the digital pages for a newer and better disc
program, I was able to assist in my small way.
Doug discovered that the printing plates were created in two steps with
the numerical value able to float about just enough for the measurements
to the frame lines to help in determining between certain print runs
and printers.
I believe that we have Doug's work to be the source of the TCTC and TITT
systems and so many other helpful ways of identifying specific issues.
I am not sure if he was the original discoverer of Royal Mail's secret
coding system, but for me, his Deegam Report was the first I learned
of it.
Several times in the last thirty or so years I have been hospitalized
for a week or so, and I'd always have my wife bring me my somewhat worn
Volume One of the DCMH so I could read the text, or reread the chapters
while I had the time and on each occasion I better understood some facet,
not just of the Machin issue, but of the process of producing and of
identifying stamps in general as well as those of the series.
So, we mourn Doug's passing, but celebrate his long life, and the
knowledge he gathered and gifted to us as well as those who follow us.
I visualize that in fifty or a hundred years, collectors will still
benefit from his work with Machins, the Wildings that predated the
Machins and Philately in general.
Charlie Jensen
Panhandle, Texas
1/29/20

 
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philatelia

APS #156650
29 Jan 2020
11:38:57am

re: In Memoriam

Beautifully written tribute. Thank you, Charlie.

 
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wigalso

31 Jan 2020
03:56:50am

re: In Memoriam

Thank you Charlie. a super tribute to a great man who above others contributed to 'simplifying', if that is the correct word, Machins. I'm also pleased to learn that you provided assistance to Mr Machin.


Rest in peace Douglas.

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