A Rare Gift; A Scarce Machin?

I was given the above stamp by a friend in London during my recent trip and visit to Stampex.
I will post the technical details of the item tomorrow which I read in a recent Deegam's update and elsewhere on the internet.
After the big exhibition, I visited a few of the smaller provincial stamp fairs as time allowed.
On one such occasion, I met with a Long-time dealer in GB items who seemed to know the latest news about this stamp. I understood from him that is now illegal to own one and I argued the point. Errors,forgeries and the like are all 'illegal' to own, and yet many dealers sell these items openly. In the UK it is 'illegal' to deal in errors which should be destroyed upon sight or returned for the shredder. It almost never happens, which is why so many are on the market and openly.
The scarce Machin you see above is one a small number of De La Rue Colour Comparison stamps [as opposed to colour trials] and should not have left the room for which they were intended. A full set of the so-called 'Matthews Colour Palette' were printed for those comparisons. Yet the full story of the stamps and how they 'ghosted' from the printers may never be known.

More next time

Londonbus1....I have one, now I want more !

Michael,

I was wondering when I'd hear about your stamp travels to London. Well, your finally here...... oh wait! Next time.



Butch

Neat story.

Idea: Sell it to Miko for a million dollars!

you guys just crack me up

Great gift Micheal can't wait to hear more about it.

Dianne

So since it is illegal to own one and sell one. Did this GB Dealer give it to you as a true "gift"?

Even now you don't own it; you are merely it's current caretaker.

Mr. Hide:

Lovely stamp to get!

You should have titled the post "RARE ENGLISH STAMP--Miko"



David

I was given the stamp by a friend Josh, you must have mis-read my original post !

From the Long-time GB dealer, amongst others, I was offered some nice sums of dollars to part with it, I knew it had some value and that I would never be able to afford one. Which is why the gift was so special.

Londonbus1.....and why I will never part with it !

Where is he?
Does he really have a $1,000,000 ?

Londonbus1.....willing to part with it after all !

Yes, we are all current caretaker's of everything.
But to me, it's mine, I own it.
If someone takes it away from me, I will call the police and prosecute.
If De La Rue came knocking, they would get the same reply.

So yes, I am the caretaker....but it's mine !

Londonbus1.....Feels like a caretaker

so this raises an interesting question since it is illegal to own one and if someone stole it from you. would you be able to file a police case?

Spock,
How do you think most errors/Freaks get onto the marketplace ??

Thieves, pure and simple.
My stamp is no different.

Beware the Tea Ladies !

Londonbus1

Is the rarity caused by the 00p? How could such a thing have happened? I don't suppose I will ever own one of those.(sigh) I had started my Machins and have gotten sidetracked about half way through them. Don't know just why I find them fascinating but I do. An album page filled with them all in mounts is a lovely sight, with all the colors.

Rohumpy,

The rarity is caused by them being on the market place at all !
They were printed only as colour comparisons, in a very small quantity and were not supposed to leave the printing premises.

How did they ?
I wonder.

Londonbus1....more details about the stamps tomorrow

ZERO VALUE STAMPS

These stamps are printed by De La rue and used as colour comparisons during print runs of Machin stamps. They were sent to each printer of Machins and used to match sheets as they came out from the press.
They first appeared on the 'market' in Holland which might suggest they 'ghosted' out of the Enschede Printing works.

34 colours have so far been seen, in very limited quantities. Some have been selling for upwards of £300 [$500] both at public auctions and on ebay and the like.

What would you say the colour of my stamp is ???



Whilst at one of those Stamp fairs in the UK, I was told by a GB dealer that these stamps are being recalled by De La Rue, and cannot now be sold at auction and the internet. Some have already been retrieved, although he did not tell me how they went about this task.

I will contact him again sometime in the future to see if there is any further news about this.
I will keep you informed.

I am sure there is more to come about ZERO VALUE STAMPS.

Londonbus1.....Don't groan, there's more to come from me too !

Assuming that the color on my screen is a close approximation, it seems to be a brownish orange. Or perhaps an orange brown.

As an aside, how do you feel about the elliptical perforations? To me they detract from the appearance of the stamp. Still don't understand quite how they are supposed to deter counterfeiters.

Great images from the stamp show. I would love to get my hands on some of those stock books and just browse.