News 2019

Machin News - Issues in [2019]

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2019 Summary

Date	Issue	Source	Value	Printer
15th Jan	Stamp Classics	M/S	£6.66	Cartor

13th Feb	Leonardo da Vinci	Prestige Booklet	£13.10	Cartor

14th Mar	Marvel Comic Characters	Retail Booklet	6x1st	Walsall
	Marvel Comic Characters	Prestige Booklet	£17.45	Cartor

19th Mar	Six new Tariff Rates £1.35, £1.60, £2.30, £2.80, £3.45 and £3.60.	Sheets		Walsall
	Two new Country Tariff Rates £1.35 and £1.55.	Sheets		Cartor

4th Apr	Birds of Prey	Retail Booklet	6x1st	Walsall

24th May	Queen Victoria Bicentenary	Prestige Booklet	£17.20	Cartor

6th Jun	75th Anniversary of D Day Landings	Retail Booklet	6x1st	Walsall

3rd Sep	Music Giants - Elton John	Retail Booklet	6x1st	Walsall
19th Sep	Royal Navy Ships	Retail Booklet	6x1st	Walsall

5th Nov	Christmas 2019	Retail Booklets	12x2nd; 12x1st
26th Nov	Star Wars 3	Prestige Booklet	£17.65	Cartor
	Star Wars 3	Retail Booklet	6x1st	Walsall

2019 General Notes

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) codes are allocated on a company by company basis. The four current printers hold the following FSC codes :-

	Company	FSC Code
	Cartor	C100572
	De La Rue	C020244
	Enschedé	C017480
	Walsall	C023216

International Security Printers is a group name that includes Cartor and Walsall. Thus, when this is quoted by Royal Mail, the FSC code needs to be referred to in order to determine the printer in the group that actually printed the product.

It would appear that special issue Post & Go Labels have had their day as none are scheduled for 2019.

Royal Mail announced on 22nd February 2019 new tariff rates with the second class rate rising 3p from 58p to 61p and the first class rate by 3p also - from 67p to 70p. The changes became effective on 25th March 2019.

January 2019

A minisheet entitled Stamp Classics was issued on 15th January 2019. This coincides with the 150th Anniversary of the Royal Philatelic Society. The mainsheet priced at £6.66 contains three 1st class NVI and three £1.55 special issue stamps. The barcode was 147420. This minisheet was also available with a 'Stampex 13-16 February 2019' overprint and different barcode - 147697.

Stamp Classics minisheet

February 2019

To mark the 500th anniversary of the death Leonardo da Vinci a special issue set was issued on 13th February 2019. Accompanying this, a Prestige Stamp Booklet was produced priced at £13.10. The Machin pane contains 2x5p, 4x10p, and 2x£1.55 stamps, all have the hidden codes 'MPIL' and 'MI8L'.

March 2019

A Special Issue marking the 80th birthday of Marvel Comics was available from 14th March 2019. Associated with this issue there was a custom retail booklet of 6x1st (4xMachin and 2xSpecial Issue). The two Special Issue stamps feature Spider Man and The Hulk. The 4x1st Machin NVI stamps have the hidden codes 'MCIL' and 'MI9L'.

Additionally, a prestige booklet priced at £17.45 was issued. The Machin pane in the prestige booklet contains 2x1p, 3x20p, 2x£1.25 and 1x£1.45. The hidden codes should be 'MPIL' and 'MI8L' however, the 'P' of the code MPIL appears to be missing.

Six new Machin stamps were issued on 19th March 2019 in respect of the Tariff Rate change on 25th March 2019. These were the following :-

Value	Colour	Source	Year	Barcode	Printer
£1.35	Orchid Mauve	Counter Sheet	MI9L	148809	Walsall
£1.60	Amber Yellow		MI9L	148816
£2.30	Gooseberry Green		MI9L	148823
£2.80	Spruce Green		MI9L	148830
£3.45	Dark Pine Green		MI9L	148847
£3.60	Bright Orange		MI9L	148854
Cylinder Grid positions are arranged in four rows of two. As with other recent Walsall printings the Date of Printing is by a gravure cylinder. The £1.55 value issued in 2018 continued availability; being valid for the World Zone 1 & 2 tariff rates.

Also, on the same day, £1.35 and £1.55 values were issued for the Country Pictorial designs replacing the prevailing £1.25 and £1.45 values.

Value	Country	Design	Source	Printer	Description
£1.35	England	Oak Tree	Counter Sheet	Cartor	New value
£1.55		Tudor Rose
£1.35	N. Ireland	Linen
£1.55		Parian China
£1.35	Scotland	Thistle
£1.55		Tartan
£1.35	Wales	Daffodil
£1.55		Feathers

The tariff rates changed on 25th March 2019 - second class rose from 58p to 61p and first class rose from 67p to 70p. NVI rates include :-

Rate	Old Price	Prices from 25th March 2019
Second class	58p	61p
First class	67p	70p
Large Second class	79p	83p
Large First class	£1.01	£1.06
Europe (20 gms) World (10 gms)	£1.25	£1.35
Europe (100 gms)	£1.55	£1.60
Worldwide (20 gms)	£1.45	£1.55
Worldwide (100 gms)	£2.25	£2.30
Royal Mail Signed For First	£1.77	£1.90
Royal Mail Signed For Large	£2.11	£2.26
Special Delivery (to 100g)	£6.50	£6.60
Special Delivery (to 500g)	£7.30	£7.40
Post & Go Collectors Strips : Second Class rose from £1.37 to £1.44 and First Class rose from £8.18 to £8.56.

To view the new Royal Mail Price card - Click here.

April 2019

A 6x1st NVI Custom Retail Booklet was issued on 4th April 2019 in association with the Birds of Prey Special Issue. The two Special Issue stamps feature the Buzzard and the Hobby. The 4x1st Machin NVI stamps have the hidden codes 'MCIL' and 'MI9L'.

May 2019

A set of Special Issue stamps was issued on 24th May 2019 to mark the Birth Bicentenary of Queen Victoria. Associated with this was a Prestige Book priced at £17.20. The Machin pane (pane 2) contained 2x2p and 2x50p Machins and also definitive sized Special Issue 2x1st NVI Penny Black, 1st NVI Penny Red and 1st NVI Two Pence Blue. The Machin stamps have the hidden codes 'MPIL' and 'MI9L' and both have only been seen in very dark shades.

June 2019

A set of Special Issue stamps were issued on 6th June 2019 to mark the 75th Anniversary of the D Day Landings. An associated Custom Retail Booklet was issued also. The two Special Issue stamps featured images from 'Gold' and 'Sword' beach heads. The 4x1st Machin NVI stamps have the hidden codes 'MCIL' and 'MI9L'.

September 2019

Another Royal Mail 'Special' was produced on 3rd September 2019 - the subject being Music Giants and featured Elton John. Included with the raft of material was a Custom Retail Booklet. The two Special Issue stamps in the booklet feature 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' and 'Captain Fantastic' album covers. The 4x1st Machin NVI stamps have the hidden codes 'MCIL' and 'MI9L'.

At Autumn Stampex 2019, the large NVI counter sheets of 50 sheets (1st, 2nd Large and 1st Large) were found having a new method of folding. The two panes of 25 are now folded between the panes so that the stamps face each other. On the reverse of the carrier paper a barcode is printed - once on both panes of 25. The 1st, 2nd Large and 1st Large have been seen and all have the same printing date of 18/04/19 - the 2nd NVI will presumably appear in due course.

A set of Special Issue stamps was issued on 19th September2019 featuring Royal Navy Ships. Associated with this issue was a Custom Retail Booklet with the two Special Issue stamps featuring the 'Mary Rose' and the 'HMS Queen Elizabeth'. The 4x1st Machin NVI stamps have the hidden codes 'MCIL' and 'MI9L'.

November 2019

Two Christmas Retail Booklets were issued on 5th November 2019. These booklets contain 12x2nd NVI (£7.32) or 12x1st NVI (£8.40) self adhesive Christmas stamps respectively.

Value	Stamp Design	Printer	Method
12x2nd NVI	Angel appearing to Joseph	Walsall	Gravure
12x1st NVI	Mary and new born baby Jesus

The third and final part of the Star Wars series was issued on 26th November 2019. As well as the usual over the top mass of products there was a Prestige and Retail Booklet. The Prestige Booklet was priced at £17.65. The Machin pane (pane 1) contains 2x5p, 2x£1.17 and 4x2nd NVI. The hidden codes were 'MPIL' and 'MI9L'.

The Custom Retail Booklet had two Special Issue stamps featuring 'Poe Dameron' and a 'Sith Trooper'. The 4x1st Machin NVI stamps had the hidden codes 'MCIL' and 'MI9L'.