GB 1965 Churchill 4 D Rembrant Vs Timson Printings

Adding pre-decimal commemoratives to my Great Britain collection - can anyone show the difference between the Rembrant and Timson printings of the Churchill 4d from 1965? I have a Stanley Gibbons catalog, but the verbal description of the differences unfortunately isn't enough for me.

Left: Rembrandt
Right: Timson

Hint: look at his left eyebrow. This is complete in the "Timson" printing.

Not mentioned by SG: the white line to the right of the portrait has a break in my "Timson" example. I do not know whether this is a positional flaw or common to all stamps from this printing.

Wow! Keen eye.
....and yes, the break in line appears to be on my 1s3d example.
It is covered by a part postmark, but it certainly looks disjointed.

I'd have that as a "registration shift" ? comments?
2 pass print, gold first, then Black.

I had another look at my examples of the 1/3 and the phosphor issue. The Timson 4d in above picture is the only stamp that shows this shift in the white line. I had a look at the enlarged scan of my Timson 4d. As you can see in above picture, the black does infringe on the right border. So, yes, the registration is not perfect. This is quite common in Harrison's printings. Most traffic lights show one or more colours slightly offset.

However, the shift is much more pronounced where it infringes on the line than on the border. Also, directly above the black, the gold touches the shifted line. The bottom left corner shows that either the gold printing was shifted upward or the black downward on the 4d Timson. I am not quite sure, but you might be correct. It could be due to a registration shift.

Interestingly, my SG Specialised Vol. 3. 10th edition (1998) also shows the 4d with this shift.

I know noting about this issue, who printed them and how ... but it seems relying on printing registration would have frequent pitfalls.

Looking at the two, it goes beyond NSK's eyebrow comment ... the stamp on the left has many weaker/thinner facial lines - particularly the right side of the face in the mouth, chin, ear. Do the two printings have different marginal markings so that confirmed copies are available?

I offer these 3 scans from my collection.

If members wish to download the 2 x 1s3d examples, then "toggle" swiftly between the 2 images, you can see registration shifts in motion.

Those with a keener eye, may inspect the value tablet of 1s3d
to see a further indication of shift. (bottom stamp)

Thanks to all for the scans... this helped clarify the difference and brought up some other things to look for (the registration shifts). The Churchill wasn't too bad once I had a comparison... the Post Office Savings Bank in the other thread is more of a challenge.

@John Becker

You are correct in remarking there are more differences. Stanley Gibbons lists those you mention. The eyebrow, however, is easiest to observe when discerning between the printings from the two presses.

The Rembrandt and Timson machines are photogravure printing machines used by Harrison & Sons.

All GB photogravure printings from the 1930s until the early 1980s were performed by Harrison and Sons, with the exception of the Rosine 8p Machin that was also printed by Joh. Enschedé of Haarlem, Netherlands. The Enschedé printing of that one has a slightly slanted "p" in the value indicator.

@Rod222,

The 4d stamp was printed on the Rembrandt and Timson machines. The issue with phosphor bars was only printed on the Rembrandt press. The 1/3 stamp was printed on onother press, identified by SG as the "Linotype & Machinery No. 4" machine. This was used also to overprint the phosphor bars on both values.

It is interesting to see the shift also occurs on the 1/3 stamp. Your stamp seems to show a shift in the opposite direction. You, clearly, see the silver printing at the lower right. The shadow the value indicator is casting as a result of this is nice.

Minor shifts are common in multi-colour printings. But on this issue, they are very visible.