I have been sorting some Machin Security issues recently.  I hope you enjoy seeing the three below and the details about why they are different. I find the security printing issues so interesting. All look alike but of course they are not necessarily so.




The left hand stamp is from the April 2013 De La Rue printing of sheets of 50 stamps with security slit Type 2A and security code 13. The middle stamp is from the January 2013 De La Rue printing of sheets of 50 stamps with security slit Type 2 and security code 12. And, the right hand stamp is from the January 2013 Walsall printing of Business Sheets of 50 stamps with security slit Type 1 and security code 12 B.

To learn more I recommend visiting here

If you are interested in improving your collection I hope you enjoy looking at the selection of security issues I have for sale in my Bidstart Store here

My Easter competitions were won by Jill from Australia and Glenn from Canada. I know I have been slow in announcing the winners but I was away for all of Easter week and well, I just don't know where the time goes these days.
 Prizes will be mailed soon.  Thanks to everyone who entered

Best wishes..Michael
www.cddstamps.com

Hello, hope you having a good weekend. I am exhausted :-)  been working stamps all day. Finally got my Bidstart Store http://cddstamps.com/bidstart-sales/     listing replenished. Back up to over 8800 finally. Great to sell but I do like to offer  a good selection and with the 600 I've sold over the past month that has been difficult. Great to know collectors are enjoying my listings, choice of stamps, quality I hope, and of course affordable prices to help you fill some gaps in your collection. Also it helps me fill some gaps in mine.

Now it is Easter in a week and I thought why not have an Easter competition. Prize will be the set above.

Easy to win, just email me at cddstamps@gmail.com and please include your mailing address, and I will randomly select a winner from the responses I receive. Quiz entries must be received by Wednesday evening 21:00 Hong Kong time. I will mail on Thursday to get into the mail before the Easter break as I am flying back to Australia for Easter.

Quiz question:  The handover ceremony of Hong Kong in 1997 officially marked the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the UK to the People's Republic of China.   Someone is reported as saying this was the Great Chinese Takeaway. Who was that someone?

And if it interests you,  this is a really great place to work and live and all the stupid speculation back then about what would happen to Hong Kong has of course never materialised.

Have a great weekend, oh and of course you realise the stamps are the issue commemorating the handover. SG 900 - 905 with a SG cat of £3.00;  I picked these up in a box lot at the stamp arcade here. Obviously someone had taken them off a FDC.

Michael

www.cddstamps.com 

The weekend is here and time again for stamps. Found this, nostalgia!!!  which one did you own? :-)  I did actually own one, although not in the livery shown on the car in the stamp. Great car as well I recall.

have a great weekend ... Michael   www.cddstamps.com

Hello, tonights stamps are again showing printer differences. This time the Rembrandt machine (which I wrote about the other days) versus the Jumelle machine. The Jumelle printing (right hand stamp) has the lighter shade on the Prince's head.  Hope you enjoy seeing these and perhaps when looking at your stamps you will look more carefully  These are not catalogued at much difference I must add but I think they make a nice pairing.

What you might also find interesting to learn is that the first stamps printed (I believe) on the Jumelle press were the ones I am showing you, the 1972 Royal Silver Wedding issue.  

Enjoy your stamps

Michael

www.cddstamps.com

Hi,  given it has been raining all day that gave me time to do a lot more with the stamps that are cluttering up my study. I found these. They look different and there may be a good reason but one reason is I noticed is that the perforations are different. well they look different to me.
See detail below.

The perforations on the right stamp seems to have more rounded holes and are cleaner cut. After some research I found that there were in fact two printings from different perforation machines of this 1997 issue of high value definitives. One printing used a Kampf perforator and the other used an APS Perforator - if I have not expressed this correctly I am sure I will be corrected. There is in fact a thread on this on Stampboards for those of you who know that great Stamp group.

Simply put a Kampf perforator produces holes that are clean  while APS holes and not so clean
And for the real geek philatelists out there the APS  stands for Ab Produktion Svenska, the initials of a Swedish firm which manufacturers perforators.

I just so enjoy learning all this new stuff, don't you :-)

Best wishes.. Michael
www.cddstamps.com

Hi, well a lovely day here, and I had time for sorting stamps and a visit to the Stamp Arcade in Mong Kok. A very enjoyable day.  I found a few of these and when checking saw the differences, which I hope you can see. Always worth looking and having a catalogue nearby to check why the difference. These were issued in 1965  for the Churchill  Comemoration. The left hand stamp is SG 661 and the other is SG 661a.

SG 661 was printed using the REMBRANDT machine, and the other was printed using the Timson machine. the major difference is that SG 661 has a lack of shading detail on Churchill's portrait. The Timson machine printing shows more detail on Churchill's portrait with furrow on forehead, his left eyebrow is fully drawn and there is more shading on his cheek. Also, the Queen's portrait is lighter and sharper. This is a reel fed two colour12-inch wide rotary machine and the differences in impression are due to the greater pressure applied by this printing machine. The following is a Timson machine

To read more about this and other printing machines of the 1960's I hope you enjoy this link http://deltastamps.com/Fact14LSD1960.htm

have a great weekend.... Michael

www.cddstamps

Hello, well Friday night and time for some relaxation and stamps. Hope you like this. From the 1984 Chinese lanterns issue from Hong Kong.  SG 461 and with a catalogue value or £12.00.  

Some history: The Lantern Festival is a festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunisolar year in the lunar calendar marking the last day of the Lunar New Year celebration.

During the Lantern Festival, children go out at night to temples carrying paper lanterns and solve riddles on the lanterns

In ancient times, the lanterns were fairly simple, and only the emperor and noblemen had large ornate ones.

 For example, lanterns are now often made in the shape of animals. The lanterns can symbolize the people letting go of their past selves and getting new ones, which they will let go of the next year. The lanterns are almost always red to symbolize good fortune.

I will have this and the other stamps from this set listed in my Bidstart Store over the weekend.    Hope you enjoy my other Hong Kong lots listed  here

Have a great philatelic weekend

Michael

www.cddstamps.com