Machin’s were named after their designer, Arnold Machin, and consist of a simple design showing the profile of the Queen on a stamp printed in a single colour. The first stamp was issued on the 5th June 1967.

At their first issue, the stamps were produced by Harrison & Sons using Photogravure although the higher values were larger and of a different design.

Machin stamps have continued to be issued ever since, and to date there are over 1000 known varieties! Later as demand increased other printers began production, including Questa, Waddingtons, De La Rue and Enschende. Between them they produced stamps in Photogravure and Lithography.

Later, in 1989 a series of stamps were introduced with no value, designed to help with the ever increasing postage rates. They were issued in 1st and 2nd values and were known as Non-Value Indicators.

In 1993 a test issue was released in the form of a 1st class self adhesive stamp issued in Booklets of 20. They were a success and now all modern definitive and some commemorative stamps are now issued in self adhesive form. At the same time they added a small gap in the vertical perforations, known as elliptical perfs. This was more of a security measure designed to make the illegal production of stamps harder.

The best thing about machin stamps from a collectors point of view is the wide range of colours in which they have been produced. The initial palette of 14 colours back in 1967 were chosen after extensive testing. Oddly when making their selection, the Royal Mail employed the services of the Applied Psychology Unit of Cambridge University to make the selection. By testing customers reaction to colours they produced the list of 14. There are now roughly 300 colours used to date.

Plans are that the Machin series of stamps will continue indefinitely, and will only change when the current British monarch changes.

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