Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Login to Like
this post
12:34:20am
The white embossed large head Machin was one of several larger Machin heads issued in a souvenir booklet in 1999 to commemorate a London Stamp Expo using different printing methodologies.
One was Engraved by Enschede of Holland, (DG N1.31.1), one Lithographed, by Harrison (DG N1.32.1), one Gravure by De La Rue (DG N1.33.1) and one Embossed by Walsall (DG N1.30.1) into the paper.
That last is what you are referring to. The pages of the booklet explained the differences between the printing methods. If it is neatly attached to the envelope, I have one that was used, but the cancellation did not actually tie the stamp to the paper. It does have a tiny smudge just under the Queen's chin that suggests it having been used and of course the gum was soaked off. I'd keep it safe that way as I have never seen a used example of the white embossed stamp properly affixed and cancel attached . In fact I've rarely seen examples of the other prints used in any way. I bet the postal clerk had to dig out his manual to see what to do.
Another proof that these attractive souvenir booklets are produced primarily to fleece collectors.
Login to Like
this post
Can we have a scan of the invisible stamp please. I am sure all of us would like to not see it.
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
01:03:56am
" .... Can we have a scan of the invisible stamp please. I am sure all of us would like to not see it. ...."
That is a lot easier now that I remembered Robin Harris' inclusive Machin site;
Click here and be amazed.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Thankyou Charlie.....appreciate your help Alas I took mine off the envelope as there were other stamps there as well ..... I spoke on line with the sender as was told that the postmaster looked at the stamp for some time before cancelling it '...... First one he had ever seen...
Login to Like
this post
"Click here and be amazed."
Wow, there it is not there, the invisible stamp! Thanks for sharing the link!
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
02:47:58pm
I met a man who wasn't there,
I saw him climbing down the stair,
He wasn't there again today,
I wish to hell he'd go away.
Either Ogden Nash or Dorothy Parker.
Login to Like
this post
How many children does the invisable man have?
(wait for it)
none, because he is not apparent
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
good one.....
Login to Like
this post
if you counted wrong, that makes him err apparent
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Charlie;
I believe that was by Hughes Mearns...one of my favorites 
Randy
Login to Like
this post
01:46:56pm
That's good Randy. I pull these things from memory. The proceeds of a lost youth.
Login to Like
this post
"...as I have never seen a used example of the white embossed stamp properly affixed and cancel attached."
I used to collect GB until their issuing policy grew silly. Here is a cover which includes all the stamps in that group.
You can barely make out the embossed stamp, and the cancel is (inevitably?) smudged, so not much to write home about there...
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
01:23:23am
I have a problem with vision these days, but it seems like the value setting on the two flame NVI settings are different. I also have a vivid imagination so it may be nothing more than dreaming.
Login to Like
this post
These stamps were sold only in a "prestige booklet" entitled 'Profile on Print', which was part of a series of three, the other two being 'Special by Design' and 'The Definitive Portrait'. Of the two NVI definitives, one is lithographed, the other photogravure; I think the lighter of the two (on the right) is litho.
I collected a handful of these booklets - they are actually quite nicely produced - but they are also clearly a totally unnecessary philatelic product, serving no purpose whatsoever except that of swelling Royal Mail's coffers. They nearly always contained a particular Machin which you couldn't get anywhere else, a cynical sales ploy which contributed to my abandonment of GB collecting.
Login to Like
this post
12:31:35pm
" ... Of the two NVI definitives, one is lithographed, the other photogravure; I think the lighter of the two (on the right) is litho. ..."
Ha-ha !
Maybe these old eyes aren't as bad as I thought.
I could see the difference of shading, but it is the value settings, a measurement I have found most useful over the years, that looked different.
The value setting tables, a Deegam invention, are not found in either Scott, of course, or Gibbons.
If you aren't collecting GB any longer, Ian, and all those unloved Machins begin to pile up in a corner somewhere, creating a fire hazard, I consider my stamp room an orphanage for the poor stamps.
Login to Like
this post
Well, Charlie, I've been thinking about what to do with my GBs, and the Machins are certainly unloved - never has there been a more boring stamp - but there are rather a lot of them, and the pictorial stamps are complete in mint up to about 2005, so they aren't exactly Holocaust Project material. I'm hanging on to them in case my son resumes stamp-collecting, or in case my grandchildren want them if and when they start. I guess that's not an unfamiliar story (and I bet you've got them all anyhow!).
I've noticed variations in value setting on Machins from time to time and wondered what was going on, but I've never bothered with a GB catalogue beyond the fairly simple, and Deegam would be way beyond my pay-grade.
Login to Like
this post
02:54:57pm
The value setting tables are one of Doug Myall's inventions, or if someone else thought of it first, adaptions.
He has tabulated the distance from the left side margins to the number and from the bottom (most issues) to the number's base of every definitive Machin, listing them in his Compete Deegam Machin Handbook no mean accomplishment by itself. Since the image is laid out first to make the master die at the printers and then the value added in place the differences between otherwise difficult issues to identify becomes much easier.
That is just one of the very helpful tools found in the DCMH, and copyrighted, as is his logical numbering system, so they aren't found in Scott or Gibbons.
Preserving your GB album for your son to reach the age where most of us return to the hobby is a far better idea than worrying about it being sold and parceled out.
I have divided my albums into groups and marked the binders that are identified in my will so that each of my children and grand children will inherit one or more albums and they will have something finite to remember me.
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Perfect Charlie!!!! I am doing the same....
Login to Like
this post
08:41:34pm
Just checked my mail and found on a letter from the UK with the white embossed head on the 1st stamp. I believe it was issued in Feb 1999 Can anyone add any more information about this interesting stamp?
Login to Like
this post
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
10 Nov 2014
12:34:20am
re: Great Britain invisible stamp
The white embossed large head Machin was one of several larger Machin heads issued in a souvenir booklet in 1999 to commemorate a London Stamp Expo using different printing methodologies.
One was Engraved by Enschede of Holland, (DG N1.31.1), one Lithographed, by Harrison (DG N1.32.1), one Gravure by De La Rue (DG N1.33.1) and one Embossed by Walsall (DG N1.30.1) into the paper.
That last is what you are referring to. The pages of the booklet explained the differences between the printing methods. If it is neatly attached to the envelope, I have one that was used, but the cancellation did not actually tie the stamp to the paper. It does have a tiny smudge just under the Queen's chin that suggests it having been used and of course the gum was soaked off. I'd keep it safe that way as I have never seen a used example of the white embossed stamp properly affixed and cancel attached . In fact I've rarely seen examples of the other prints used in any way. I bet the postal clerk had to dig out his manual to see what to do.
Another proof that these attractive souvenir booklets are produced primarily to fleece collectors.
Login to Like
this post
re: Great Britain invisible stamp
Can we have a scan of the invisible stamp please. I am sure all of us would like to not see it.
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
10 Nov 2014
01:03:56am
re: Great Britain invisible stamp
" .... Can we have a scan of the invisible stamp please. I am sure all of us would like to not see it. ...."
That is a lot easier now that I remembered Robin Harris' inclusive Machin site;
Click here and be amazed.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
08:38:51am
re: Great Britain invisible stamp
Thankyou Charlie.....appreciate your help Alas I took mine off the envelope as there were other stamps there as well ..... I spoke on line with the sender as was told that the postmaster looked at the stamp for some time before cancelling it '...... First one he had ever seen...
Login to Like
this post
re: Great Britain invisible stamp
"Click here and be amazed."
Wow, there it is not there, the invisible stamp! Thanks for sharing the link!
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
11 Nov 2014
02:47:58pm
re: Great Britain invisible stamp
I met a man who wasn't there,
I saw him climbing down the stair,
He wasn't there again today,
I wish to hell he'd go away.
Either Ogden Nash or Dorothy Parker.
Login to Like
this post
re: Great Britain invisible stamp
How many children does the invisable man have?
(wait for it)
none, because he is not apparent
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Auctions
re: Great Britain invisible stamp
if you counted wrong, that makes him err apparent
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Great Britain invisible stamp
Charlie;
I believe that was by Hughes Mearns...one of my favorites
Randy
Login to Like
this post
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
04 Sep 2015
01:46:56pm
re: Great Britain invisible stamp
That's good Randy. I pull these things from memory. The proceeds of a lost youth.
Login to Like
this post
re: Great Britain invisible stamp
"...as I have never seen a used example of the white embossed stamp properly affixed and cancel attached."
I used to collect GB until their issuing policy grew silly. Here is a cover which includes all the stamps in that group.
You can barely make out the embossed stamp, and the cancel is (inevitably?) smudged, so not much to write home about there...
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
17 Sep 2015
01:23:23am
re: Great Britain invisible stamp
I have a problem with vision these days, but it seems like the value setting on the two flame NVI settings are different. I also have a vivid imagination so it may be nothing more than dreaming.
Login to Like
this post
re: Great Britain invisible stamp
These stamps were sold only in a "prestige booklet" entitled 'Profile on Print', which was part of a series of three, the other two being 'Special by Design' and 'The Definitive Portrait'. Of the two NVI definitives, one is lithographed, the other photogravure; I think the lighter of the two (on the right) is litho.
I collected a handful of these booklets - they are actually quite nicely produced - but they are also clearly a totally unnecessary philatelic product, serving no purpose whatsoever except that of swelling Royal Mail's coffers. They nearly always contained a particular Machin which you couldn't get anywhere else, a cynical sales ploy which contributed to my abandonment of GB collecting.
Login to Like
this post
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
17 Sep 2015
12:31:35pm
re: Great Britain invisible stamp
" ... Of the two NVI definitives, one is lithographed, the other photogravure; I think the lighter of the two (on the right) is litho. ..."
Ha-ha !
Maybe these old eyes aren't as bad as I thought.
I could see the difference of shading, but it is the value settings, a measurement I have found most useful over the years, that looked different.
The value setting tables, a Deegam invention, are not found in either Scott, of course, or Gibbons.
If you aren't collecting GB any longer, Ian, and all those unloved Machins begin to pile up in a corner somewhere, creating a fire hazard, I consider my stamp room an orphanage for the poor stamps.
Login to Like
this post
re: Great Britain invisible stamp
Well, Charlie, I've been thinking about what to do with my GBs, and the Machins are certainly unloved - never has there been a more boring stamp - but there are rather a lot of them, and the pictorial stamps are complete in mint up to about 2005, so they aren't exactly Holocaust Project material. I'm hanging on to them in case my son resumes stamp-collecting, or in case my grandchildren want them if and when they start. I guess that's not an unfamiliar story (and I bet you've got them all anyhow!).
I've noticed variations in value setting on Machins from time to time and wondered what was going on, but I've never bothered with a GB catalogue beyond the fairly simple, and Deegam would be way beyond my pay-grade.
Login to Like
this post
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
18 Sep 2015
02:54:57pm
re: Great Britain invisible stamp
The value setting tables are one of Doug Myall's inventions, or if someone else thought of it first, adaptions.
He has tabulated the distance from the left side margins to the number and from the bottom (most issues) to the number's base of every definitive Machin, listing them in his Compete Deegam Machin Handbook no mean accomplishment by itself. Since the image is laid out first to make the master die at the printers and then the value added in place the differences between otherwise difficult issues to identify becomes much easier.
That is just one of the very helpful tools found in the DCMH, and copyrighted, as is his logical numbering system, so they aren't found in Scott or Gibbons.
Preserving your GB album for your son to reach the age where most of us return to the hobby is a far better idea than worrying about it being sold and parceled out.
I have divided my albums into groups and marked the binders that are identified in my will so that each of my children and grand children will inherit one or more albums and they will have something finite to remember me.
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
08:12:40pm
re: Great Britain invisible stamp
Perfect Charlie!!!! I am doing the same....
Login to Like
this post