Machin series
Queen Elizabeth II is a series of stamps of the Royal Mail. She is the current definitive stamp series in the United Kingdom and is issued since June 5, 1967. Designed by Arnold Machin stamp series is the second with the image of Queen Elizabeth II and is considered one of the longest and most extensive definitive stamp series of postal history.
History
After the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II as Queen appeared in 1952 a stamp duration series with the picture of a photograph of the young Queen by Dorothy Wilding (see definitive stamp series Elizabeth II ( Wilding ) ). The same image of the Queen appeared at the same time as on British stamps since 1840, common on all special stamps Royal Mail in place of a postal or country name. As early as 1961 it was discussed to replace the figure by a plastic appearing representation.
1966 Arnold Machin was awarded the contract for the development of a new representation of the queen. He created a sculpture of the queen of clay, the side profile he let take a picture. Unlike the previous series Machin renounced jewelry items like coats of arms and floral scrolls, its design contained only the portrait and the numeral of value.
Published between July 5, 1967, and the January 6, 1969 16 value steps in the format 21mm x 24mm and on March 5, 1969 five large-format (format 30mm × 35mm ) Issues in the then still common in the sterling non-decimal currency specified (specify eg 2d 2 pence, 1/9 for 1 shilling / 9 pence, £ 1 for £ 1 ).
With the conversion of sterling to decimal currency in 1971 new brands in the same design, with figures in the penny ( p), and sterling (£) be issued since February 15.
In the 1980s, there have been several advances to change the design of the stamps or replace the definitive stamp series. However, Queen Elizabeth II had the Royal Mail align that they are very satisfied and these should be replaced only with difficulty equivalent to the representation of Machin.
As of 1989, brands in the value- independent postage steps "1st " and " 2nd" to spend. "1st " and " 2nd" stand ( standard letter First Class and Second Class for delivery the following day or within two to three days ) Royal Mail postage for the two classes. The stamps were issued to not necessarily always have to issue new stamps at the relatively frequent changes Porto.
1990 published on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the first issue of postage stamps in the UK special editions containing the profile of Queen Victoria in the diagram on the Penny Black in addition to the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
From 1993, an elliptical perforation in the lateral perforation was introduced at the brands that serves as an additional safety feature. Since 1997, a computer-generated representation is used for the portrait of the Queen, which gives the picture a greater detail.
In February 2009 there was a further security feature in self-adhesive expenditure imprinted two elliptical punches in the brands that should make it difficult to reuse uncancelled copies. This, however, also the release of the brand was much more difficult for philatelic purposes.
Shaping
The principle monochromatic trademarks of the series show a portrait of Elizabeth II in the side profile. Besides the portrait they still contain the respective declaration of value. Selected value levels appear in regional editions, which in the upper left corner of the coat of arms of Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
The brands the format 21mm x 24mm, 1969-1984, selected values were issued 30mm × 35mm in size.
The most striking aspect of the series is the variety of colors. For the first issues after extensive testing 14 colors were selected. With few exceptions, the stamps were designed monochrome, only when the value of 1/6d and 1/9d steps you used different colors for portrait and portrait; 10d and the values 1 / - backgrounds had, which were bright from left to right.
The dark olive - brown color of the first brand worth 4 pence, the value level most commonly used of their time, was personally selected by Queen Elizabeth II, the color should remind us of the One Penny Black. Because of confusion with the 5 pence mark, in particular through franking machines and the poor legibility of the date listed on the postmark this color but not proven and was replaced after two years by a brand in a shade of red.
Over the years, the color palette has been significantly expanded, colors no longer output value steps were reused for new value levels.
Similar expenditure
Stamps with similar representations of Queen Elizabeth II were issued including Canada, Australia and Hong Kong.
Stamps series from Hong Kong (1972 )
Stamps series from Hong Kong (1983 )
In April 1996, the 1- penny stamp was briefly issued in an overprinted form in Somaliland.