Silver Marks On Machins (Great Britain)

I have about a dozen used Machins that have one or more silver squares or circles in addition to the cancellation. These marks are about 2 millimeters in size. I don't think they are part of the cancellation. Are they security marks to prevent the theft of stamps from corporations or government agencies? Are they there to counteract magic spells. Is it possible that they conceal miniature spy devices from the FBI or Homeland Security? I have many normal stamps of the same color and denomination that do not display these marks. Who knows what they are?
Lizardly,
halflizard

A straight snake can always be coiled up.

Those are phosphor dots, a part of the automated sorting process formerly used for British mail. Now they use a series of red-orange vertical bars. And similar to the old phosphor dots, for some reason they put the markings way up high on the envelope and it often hits the stamps. US, Canada, Australia and others have similar sorting markings but have the courtesy to at least put it at the bottom of the envelope.

http://norphil.blogspot.com/search/...sphor%20dots

Ryan

And here is the bit from adminware :

I have some used Machins that bear small dots or spots (either circular or diamond shaped) that appear to be sprayed on. Most of the spots are silver or grey. What are these spots?

I have always considered these spots "cancellation" or "sorting" marks. Linn's Stamp News in their April 24, 2006 issue (page 42, Collectors' Forum), notes the following:

"The spots are British mail-test markings that are applied to the faces of envelopes in tracking mail pieces during a mail test. Some of them happened to fall on the stamps affixed to the face of the envelope."

Drew

I think I posted some pics of this on stamps from other countries as well in another thread. I'll see if I can find the thread later.

Hi All

I am pasting a quote from a website I* had a few years ago regarding these 'spots', if they are indeed the same spots that are being referred to here.

"The spots are British mail-test markings that are applied to the faces of envelopes in tracking mail pieces during a mail test. Some of them happened to fall on the stamps affixed to the face of the envelope."

Hope this helps?

Chimo

Bujutsu

https://goscf.com/t/5034
Go down toward the end of the thread for the pics and discussion.

I was going through a tub of stamps and separated these out. It looks like placement is everything. Some have one dot, some two, and the last set have three dots on each stamp. Just a curiosity page in my collection now.