A New Effigy for a New Monarch
Since the release of the world’s first adhesive postage stamp, the Penny Black, in 1840, there has been a close association between British coins and definitive stamps. The portrait of Queen Victoria on the Penny Black was based on that designed by William Wyon, chief engraver at The Royal Mint, for the ‘City’ medal of 1838, which commemorated Queen Victoria’s first visit to the City of London the year before. During successive reigns, many artists worked on both coins and stamps or had their designs for the former adapted for use on the latter. In the 1960s, Arnold Machin created an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II for decimal coinage and then designed new definitive stamps, which became an iconic symbol of the United Kingdom around the world, reproduced billions of times. The new definitive stamps are a continuation of this long tradition: they feature a portrait of His Majesty The King created by Martin Jennings for the obverse of the new UK coinage and subsequently adapted for use on stamps.
The complete set of Non-Value Indicated stamps featuring the new portrait of His Majesty King Charles III The King’s effigy appears alongside a 2D barcode printed in matching colour alongside the main body of the stamp, separated by a simulated perforation line.
Set of four includes 1st and 2nd class letter and large letter stamps. The colours for all four values are retained from the Machin stamps.
Customers with a regular order for Machin definitive stamp sets will receive this set as part of their ongoing subscription.
