The Virtual Machin Album

This pane was printed by De La Rue Security Print (formerly Harrison and Sons) using the computerized (electro-mechanically enhanced or EME) gravure process. This is the process for which the Machin design was created and which is used today to print nearly all of the low value Machins. The introduction of the enhanced process created a sharper image which freshened the series on its thirtieth anniversary. The clarity of the image can be seen in the enlargement which you can view on the next page.

This process was previously called “photogravure” because one step in the process involved photography. The computerization eliminated the use of photography, so collectors now use the term “gravure.”

The rest of the pane shows a cylinder with a reverse, negative image of the stamps. This is one of the intermediate steps in gravure production.

This diagram shows the layout of the phosphor bands on the stamps of the pane. If you look carefully, you can see that the phosphor stops just short of the perforations at the edges that are next to the label. This is to prevent any phosphor from encroaching on the label which then could possibly be accepted as a valid stamp by the automated mail processing equipment. It is possible to distinguish each of the individual stamps even after they are separated from the pane. For example, the middle stamp from the top row has phosphor bands that stop short of the very bottom of the stamp; no other stamp in the pane has this characteristic.

This diagram is reprinted from The Complete Deegam Machin Handbook with the kind permission of the author, Douglas Myall. The Handbook has similar diagrams for all Machin booklet panes. This diagram is copyright © 1999 by Douglas Myall and may not be copied, stored, or reproduced in any form without the written permission of the author.