Douglas Myall
Encyclopedia
Douglas Myall is a British
civil servant
and philatelist
. He is known for his exhaustive study of the Machin
stamps, the British definitive
series in use since 1967. His catalogue, The Complete Deegam Machin Handbook, is one of the main reference book about this series.
registry of the Patent
s Office. He got interested in stamps while working at the office of the Inspector of Foreign Dividends, where he kept stamps from the incoming mail.
In the 1950s and 1960s, he collected the Wilding stamps
, the first definitives of Queen Elizabeth II
's reign. At the same time, he was working at the Inland Revenue
and studied security printing
that had been helping him in his philatelic activities. His first articles had been published in philatelic press.
From its start, in 1967, Myall collected the Machins and was a founding member of two specialised clubs; the Great Britain Decimal Stamp Book Study Circle (GB DSB SC) and the British Decimal Stamps Study Circle (BDSSC), being the founding president of the BDSSC, a position he held for 18 years.
He was not content with the way BDSSC and catalog editor Stanley Gibbons Ltd
were handling the potential criteria to study Machin stamps. In the end, he decided to write his own catalog and with an aspiration to be as exhaustive and precise as possible. The Complete Deegam Machin Handbook was published in 1993. In July 2003, the third edition contains 1,272 pages in two binders. A CD-ROM version of the third edition was introduced in 2005. A brand new fourth edition, available on CD-ROM only, was published in April 2010. It is regularly updated by the Deegam Reports sent by e-mail to book owners and printed for their members by some philatelic associations.
Aside from the Machins, Douglas Myall collects British perfin
s on covers and practices macro photography
of insects.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
civil servant
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
and philatelist
Philately
Philately is the study of stamps and postal history and other related items. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting, which does not necessarily involve the study of stamps. It is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps...
. He is known for his exhaustive study of the Machin
Machin series
The Machin series of postage stamps is the main definitive stamp series in the United Kingdom, used since 5 June 1967. It is the second series to figure the image of Elizabeth II, replacing the Wilding series....
stamps, the British definitive
Definitive stamp
A definitive stamp is a postage stamp, that is part of a regular issue of a country's stamps available for sale by the postal service for an extended period of time...
series in use since 1967. His catalogue, The Complete Deegam Machin Handbook, is one of the main reference book about this series.
Biography
Civil servant, he finished his career at the trademarkTrademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
registry of the Patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s Office. He got interested in stamps while working at the office of the Inspector of Foreign Dividends, where he kept stamps from the incoming mail.
In the 1950s and 1960s, he collected the Wilding stamps
Wilding series
The Wildings were a series of definitive postage stamps featuring the Dorothy Wilding photographic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II that were in use between 1952 and 1967 until they were replaced by the Machin series.- History :...
, the first definitives of Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
's reign. At the same time, he was working at the Inland Revenue
Inland Revenue
The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax, petroleum revenue tax and stamp duty...
and studied security printing
Security printing
Security printing is the field of the printing industry that deals with the printing of items such as banknotes, passports, tamper-evident labels, product authentication, stock certificates, postage stamps and identity cards...
that had been helping him in his philatelic activities. His first articles had been published in philatelic press.
From its start, in 1967, Myall collected the Machins and was a founding member of two specialised clubs; the Great Britain Decimal Stamp Book Study Circle (GB DSB SC) and the British Decimal Stamps Study Circle (BDSSC), being the founding president of the BDSSC, a position he held for 18 years.
He was not content with the way BDSSC and catalog editor Stanley Gibbons Ltd
Stanley Gibbons Ltd
The Stanley Gibbons Group plc is a company quoted on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange and which specialises in the retailing of collectable postage stamps and similar products. The group is incorporated in Jersey but with offices in London, Ringwood in Hampshire and...
were handling the potential criteria to study Machin stamps. In the end, he decided to write his own catalog and with an aspiration to be as exhaustive and precise as possible. The Complete Deegam Machin Handbook was published in 1993. In July 2003, the third edition contains 1,272 pages in two binders. A CD-ROM version of the third edition was introduced in 2005. A brand new fourth edition, available on CD-ROM only, was published in April 2010. It is regularly updated by the Deegam Reports sent by e-mail to book owners and printed for their members by some philatelic associations.
Aside from the Machins, Douglas Myall collects British perfin
Perfin
In philately, a perfin is a stamp that has had initials or a name perforated across it to discourage theft. The name is a contraction of perforated initials or perforated insignia...
s on covers and practices macro photography
Macro photography
Macrophotography is close-up photography, usually of very small subjects. Classically a macrophotograph is one in which the size of the subject on the negative is greater than life size. However in modern use it refers to a finished photograph of a subject at greater than life size...
of insects.
Works
- The Complete Deegam Machin Handbook, first edition in 1993 ; third edition, July 2003 ; updates regularly published. Cd-rom edition released in April 2005.
- (2007) 40 Years of Machins. A Timeline, publications #13 of the British Philatelic Bulletin, Royal MailRoyal MailRoyal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
, ISBN 094165580. This is a 20 page chronology of the Machin series.