SIGNS OF THE TIMES

I was looking through some of the posts written in the past with the intention of   deleting some of the older posts that were not relevant to the actual name Machin or the stamps them selves but got side-tracked when I clicked on a post ( forgetting my original task) describing  the meaning of the word Machin.

This took me on another completely different journey and a google search looking for the meaning of the actual sir name of Machin.

Here is the result

This interesting and long-established surname recorded in many spelling forms including Macun, Machin, Mason, and Masson is of pre 10th century French origins. It is job descriptive for a skilled stone mason and a member of the ancient guild of Masons. It was introduced into England after the Norman Conquest of 1066, the derivation being from the word "machun". Job-descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the name bearer, and only later became hereditary, if the son continued in the fathers occupation. 

Early examples of the name recording include: Roger le Mason in the Cartulary of Oseney Abbey, Oxfordshire in the year 1200; Adam le Machon in the 1279 Assize Court Rolls of Northumberland; and Richard Machen in the 1284 Assize Court Rolls of Staffordshire.

 Recordings of the surname from English church registers include: the marriage of Kinborne Machin and Edward Garland on July 12th 1562, at St. Dunstan's in the East, London; and the christening of Mary, the daughter of Matthew and Jane Mochan, in 1803, at West Gate Presbyterian, Wakefield, Yorkshire.

The first recorded spelling of the family name is believed to be that of John Macun. This was dated 1130, in the "Ancient Charters of London", during the reign of King Henry 1, known as "The Lion of Justice", 1100 - 1135.

 Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Now if you want something different to add to your Machin collection, the above has been recorded on a ornate scroll which is for sale at a modest price of  £15 (UK pounds) with free delivery: 

ttp://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/ScrollDetails/Machin#ixzz2TvrcIB4S

Defeating the object, instead of deleting crap I find I am adding it :-)  here are another couple of images that turned up on my search.

Jeffery Matthews and the Regionals

This is more information from the articles in Gibbons Stamp Monthly about the work of Jeffery Matthews.

This story relates to the value tablet and the removal of the currency symbol “p”.

In 1993, Parliament passed the latest in a series of Welsh Language Acts. (The first law relating to language in Wales was passed in 1535, for those of you who are keeping track.) This new law specified that all public organizations providing services to the public in Wales had to treat Welsh and English on an equal basis.

Taking some time to deliberate how this would affect postage stamps, Royal Mail decided a few years later that having just a “p” for “pence” on its Welsh stamps would violate the act. (I shouldn’t imply that Royal Mail was procrastinating. Perhaps it took some time for the specifics of the law to be determined, as often happens here in the US.)

The Welsh equivalent to pence is “ceiniog,” (pronounced “kane-yog” according to Google). If the currency indicator were retained, it might have to include both a “p” and a “c”, perhaps something like “p/c”. (Comments about how this would be politically correct will be deleted.)

Instead, Royal Mail decided to eliminate the currency symbol altogether. After all, that had been done on commemoratives starting in 1989, and the mail-using public had survived.

As we all know, Jeffery Matthews developed the typeface used for the value tablet in the Machins since the mid-1980s. He also did the layout for the value tablet for all the new denominations as they were required. For example, when a 37p Machin was planned, he did the layout of “37p” and provided it to the printers. That way, the correct alignment and spacing were maintained. (He continued to do this until his retirement.)

Starting with the 1997 issues, Matthews provided a layout for the Welsh regionals that did not include a currency symbol. Pictured above is the se-tenant block of regionals from the 75th Anniversary of the BBC prestige booklet issued on September 23, 1997. The Welsh regionals are in the middle row. You can see that not only did he remove the currency symbol, he also moved the numerals slightly to the right so that they were better centered.

This format was used for all Welsh regionals issued that year, in sheets and prestige booklet panes. However, it didn’t last long. In 1999, the Machin versions of Welsh regionals were replaced with pictorials, and these were all designed without currency indicators.

There were rumors at the time that the currency symbol might be removed from all the Machins, following in the footsteps of the commemoratives. The SGM article confirms that Matthews was asked to develop layouts for the national Machins that did not include the “p”.

As we all know, that change never happened, and the original design has been retained. Perhaps that’s too bad; it might have been nice to simplify the elegant design even further.

Speaking of pictorial regionals, Matthews had some involvement with them as well. He did some initial work on developing a border for pictorial regionals. He did some layouts with the Queen’s cameo, value numerals and regional symbol along one side with space for a pictorial image as the main design element. That format was not developed further.

As the designs for the Scottish regionals were being developed, Matthews was asked in 1998 to work with Tayburn Design on the stamps that featured the Scottish Lion and the Thistle. The images were clay sculptures, and Matthews did the layouts showing how they would appear on the stamps with the Queen’s cameo and denomination. Those layouts were used to guide the photography of the sculptures.

--Larry

Football Prestige Booklet Panes

Updated

What do you think of these panes  from new Prestige booklet?

Pane 1:   This shows Four 1st Class Regionals, + two 1st Class Red Machins and two 1p Machins.  Only the Machins have M13L + MPIL security codes.

Pane 4:   Mixed Machin Pane consisting of two each of 2p, 5p and 10p Machins, again all with M13L + MPIL security codes. 


A reply to Dave in Durham who wrote

"What do I think of them? I don't know - I haven't seen them because the Royal Mail decided to put the booklet in a stupid plastic bag such that if you want to see the stamps, you have to destroy the bag thereby reducing the value!! Which numpty thought that one up?"

It looks as though the numpty has tried to make the booklet look like a pack of chewing gum & stickers which we useto buy as kids back in the late 50s. Although its a novel idea I agree with with Dave in a way. If you want to see the contents they have to opened. Would a resealable packet been better?

Just in case you have not seen them yet above is a pic of  the unopened article