Happy 1 Year Anniversary - Machin Group
(Don't forget to scroll all the way to the bottom for pictures )
Machin Study Group Notes – February 7, 2012
Members Present: Reay C., Jorge M., David G., Dan B., Frank A., Vijay V., Peter B., Rhonda K., Garfield P., John L., Peter W., Norma B., Fred C.
Guest: Alan C.
Garfield welcomed the gathering and noted that tonight marks the 1st anniversary of the Study Group.
Thank you to Rhonda for taking notes for the record.
Around the Table
Canvassing members present we reviewed our individual progress over the first year of the Study Group:
Jorge stated that his Machin experience started with the APS course conducted by David Alderfer. Since then he has struggled to identify his used Machins. Today he received his Deegam digital catalogue.
John L. has purchased several small Machin collections and is having fun sorting and classifying.
Dan B. thought he had everything figured out. By attending the Study Group, he began to discover some of the things he didn’t know. Regular attendance has changed his attitude towards the complexity of the issue from negative to positive.
Fred C. was here by accident having misread his calendar. He did admit, however, that he does have a small Machin collection.
Norma B. has a modest Machin collection that is struggling for attention because of her other hobbies. Her big enjoyment of the Study Group is simply “being here with friends”.
Vijay tells us that the discussions have made his understanding of philatelic and technical terms far more complete. This makes the reading of the Deegam much easier and things are beginning to fall into place.
Rhonda has been buying Machins.
Frank will still not give up his Italian Castles for Machins. As President of the West Toronto Stamp Club he enjoys attending functions of the Club. (editorial comment – Frank enjoys any philatelic activity!!!)
Peter B. bought more collections and is not sure of his exact collecting direction. He is examining some of the aspects of Machin Postal History (more on that to follow)
David G. only joined our group 4 months ago. Has a high level of completeness at Level 3 but still has great difficulty with the 150 and 250 screen phosphor bands.
Peter W. came to the Group out of curiosity knowing nothing about Machins. He states that he has picked up a mass of information that he will soon need to apply to his stamps.
Reay C. finds that he is now collecting at a higher level than before and has been able to sort and identify his holding of Pre-Decimal Machins. They are now sorted in a stockbook awaiting formal mounting.
Garfield P. finds that he has gone from zero to sixty in the year. It has been two years since he got his first Machins but has since merged four collections but has miles to go. Perhaps the Machin Postal History will need to wait a few years.
Discussion on Colour
Following the discussion on colour from last month, Garfield showed a Pantone Matching System colour guide that is in common use in the printing industry. Because of the specialized coulurs developed in the Jeffery Matthews palatte for Machins, the PMS guide is also somewhat useless in our study.
Anniversary Machin Quiz
Peter B. developed a quiz requiring 24 answers. The group was given 10 minutes to complete after which the answers were discussed. The audience reaction was interesting and (unofficially) scores were somewhat varied. Peter declared that everybody tied for the top mark and thus qualified for an award. Vijay distributed 10P Machin booklets to everybody. The one booklet with the cutting error was drawn by Fred C.
Thank you Peter and Vijay
Peter B., for his second presentation of the evening discussed some aspects of Machin Postal History. He has so far identified 16 postal history formats but presented only 6 this evening. They included revenue uses, validation of bus tickets, Machins as a supplemental make up value, Machins as the sole form of franking parcels and packages and Horizon labels. Single page samples of each were shown.
The following items are handouts for your viewing pleasure:
Peter B. submits a copy of the new souvenir sheet mentioned in the January meeting. (click here)
Vijay submits an information piece on the Jubilee Issue. (click here)
David G. submits an extract from Deegam as a followup to our January discussion of underprints . (click here)
The meeting was concluded with the eating of a huge anniversary cake provided by Garfield.
 | A Studious Group |
 | Then - THERE WAS CAKE !! |
 | To include everybody, a picture of the picture taker, taking picture - our own Rhonda |