Machin Series - Genesis

Genesis

Since the accession of Elizabeth II in 1952, the definitive series figured a three-quarter photograph of the Queen by Dorothy Wilding. The same effigy had appeared on commemorative stamps too. However, the Wilding design did not please some artists. In a letter of April 1961, Michael Goaman and Faith Jacques argued that it represented the Queen, but not the monarchy. They complained it embarrassed the commemorative stamps' designers because the photograph took up one third of the stamp's area and it imposed a perspective on a two-dimensional design.

Some new designs were discussed but concerns over the technical aspects (a photograph or a painting inspired by a photograph) delayed a full competition for artists until 1965. Postmaster General Tony Benn and artist David Gentleman failed in their attempts to have the royal head replaced by the name of the country ("Great Britain" or "U.K."), but were permitted to explore temporary solutions to the commemorative head problems. This would of course have removed the uniqueness of the United Kingdom in being the only producer of postage stamps not to have its country name on its stamps in honour of its origination of the adhesive postage stamp in 1840. In 1966 Gentleman created a small single-coloured profile from a coin by Mary Gillick. The project waited until the miniaturisation of the new definitive effigy that the Stamp Advisory Committee (SAC) had advised the Postmaster General on 13 January 1965 be chosen, from profiles and engraved images based on a photograph.

The first essays were submitted by Andrew Restall and Arnold Machin with Harrison and Sons printers' assistance. They worked from photographs by Anthony Buckley, then from ones by Lord Snowdon, the Queen's brother-in-law. Machin had just finished work on the new coin's effigy based on the photographer's pictures. The competition began with more artists officially invited during Summer 1965, but at a meeting on 26 January 1966, the SAC's members decided to let only Gentleman and Machin continue work on the design.

Arnold Machin's method was to sculpt a bas-relief in clay and moulds, which he reworked and corrected depending on what the SAC required. The printing essays were then done by Harrisons & Sons from photographs of the sculpture, completed with the additions and adornments by designer Machin. Quickly, he decided to simplify the effigy with just the Queen wearing a tiara and the four regional flower emblems, like the Wilding series. Yet these flowers were also dropped: Machin's design would eventually have only the Queen's profile and the value of the stamp.

In March 1966, the Stamp Advisory Committee decided to make new photographs of the Queen available to Gentleman and Machin. They were taken by John Hedgecoe on the following 22 June. Elizabeth II selected the pictures to be given to the artists and Gentleman continued work on the "photographic alternative" to Machin's sculpture.

During the second period of 1966, Machin replaced the tiara with the George IV State Diadem on request of the SAC, the same diadem as was previously seen on the Penny Black. The Queen asked for a corsage at the bottom of her sculpted neck. The final sculpture is a rectangle of plaster, 16 inches long and 14 inches wide, kept in a London-based British Postal Museum & Archive vault.

The last adjustments to the final plaster image and to the lighting during photography created four effigies. They were unveiled to philatelists on the pre-decimal stamps, the first ones issued 5 June 1967.

Concerning the original colours, Machin encouraged the use of a clearer effigy on a single-coloured background. The 4 pence ("4d") was given a very dark brown, inspired by the Penny Black and requested by the Queen herself. But the Post Office did not fully respect Machin's views and in the first years of the series would also issue bi-coloured stamps and clear-to-dark gradated backgrounds.