This
is the Andrew Hill International catalogue of Great Britain's Machin*
definitive postage stamps. I have tried to produce a listing which
includes all the issues which have been officially recognised by
the British Post Office since 1967 and which features all the changes
which produce items which can be reasonably readily identified as
different.
This
distinction is important, and distinguishes the AHI catalogue
from others that you may encounter. Collectors strive to create
and maintain a collection that is complete. The definition
of what is complete varies from individual to individual and if
you were to try and make your collection complete by referring
to some dealers' listings then you would need thousands of
stamps. That is because they include differences that can be
extremely difficult to detect such as the perforation equipment
used or the brightness of phosphor coating when viewed under
an ultra-violet lamp. Others will include items which have only
happened as a result of error in production - misplaced phosphor
bands, printing on the gummed side etc. I came to the conclusion
that it would be quite impossible ever to regard a collection of
even a small section of these issues by those criteria. Many of
the gaps that my own collection would have had would have
also been extremely costly to fill.
On
the other hand, you will find listings which contain serious
omissions, not recognising, for instance the very clear difference
between the wide and narrow value tablets or quite deliberate changes
of colour. Apart from their general inadequacy anyone going by such
brief lists may well discard what they believe to be a duplicate
item which could be a particularly valuable stamp. Worse, some unscrupulous
dealer may acquire it from them at a bargain price and then make
a huge profit. I guess that may be life but maybe it's something
my efforts here will help some of you to avoid.
So,
somewhere in between, is my listing. The experts out there will
have already realised that I have only produced the decimal
list of small size Machins so far. The rest will follow as soon
as I can. If you are looking for any information on the other
groups in the meantime please contact me and remember that
the most recent news will be on my Machin web log, accessible under
news.
What's
included
These
are the headings used in the listing. More information is provided
for each one.
*
well, mostly Machin! The new stuff's interesting too.
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