For
Machin purposes, Regionals are Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales
and Isle of Man issues. These represent fine hunting ground for
interesting and valuable items. One of the best British stamps in
terms of natural rarity rather than as a single from an expensive
booklet pane is a Scottish 31p purple. It was priced at nearly £100
when I last looked 6 years ago - a great return on 31p for those
lucky to get hold of it in 1985 when it appeared very briefly. There
are notably Welsh and NI items too. Smaller print runs and the extra
icon to position and reproduce helps make regionals that little
less common and more likely to yield better prices.
With
276 items, roughly equally divided between the three main players,
there's plenty to collect. Only 6 in the IOM list, though, which
I've yet to add. Only just realised those were missing!
The
Machin lists end with one or two 1st or 2nd NVIs which can easily
be forgotten and are few and far between. In 1999 Scotland and Wales
lost the Machin connection (apart from the odd NVI in 2000) and
Northern Ireland followed them into Pictorial Definitive land in
2003, when England also got a set to ensure people like me didn't
feel left out. So Machin Regionals are finished and this is one
list that is unlikely to change much other than prices.
The
Pictorial definitives are also included in a separate list for each
of the 4 regions. I find them an attractive and well-designed lot
and whilst they shouldn't really be included in a Machin catalogue
I just felt they deserve attention at this early stage. Who knows,
careful development of the designs may just provide an interesting
future when the Machin plug finally gets pulled. That's why I have
also included the new 'Smilers' which I can see taking off and representing
a possibly acceptable new definitive line. It's worth starting now,
in my view, while they're cheap.
The
AHI Machin* Catalogue 2006 Edition
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