Typical, Blooming Typical!!!

I know that I have been threatening to publish a catalogue/listing of Wincor-Nixdorf and Hytech material for the last year but it is so typical that as soon as I finish the word file to a pdf and send out the converted file that I get the news of a new Wincor installation in Derby. 

I haven't read all the details of this office yet but I will have more information in the ATM Informer issue 6 around the end of the month.

Anyway, the Wincor-Nixdorf and Hytech listing is now available free of charge from pmechuk@gmail.com. If you like the contents and wish to contribute something back, there are a listing of four charities just inside the cover page. A donation to any of them would be most welcome.

ATM Informer

The third issue of my Newsletter should be available shortly after Spring Stampex. Featured offices will be Aldwych and Cambridge along with Stampex News, more on the 000000 ident and a lot more. 

Copies may be obtained by e-mailing me, going on to the Newsletter page of the PMECHUK website, or by going on to the ATM Informer Newsletter site.

 

Newsletter

At the beginning of January 2013, I produced the first edition of a newsletter covering the postal ATMs in the UK. The second issue will be ready soon for distribution. Copies may be obtained by e-mailing me at pmechuk@gmail.com. The February issue will give the story of the first home made faststamps along with defining the terms in use covering this filed of study in the UK. Pulled stamps, office idents, fonts and news of issues. Hopefully, the March issue will include information on Spring Stampex 2013 and the first of three freshwater life issues.

I would welcome contributions of material fro this publication whether it is just session number data from one office to a multi-page article. 

Happy New Year

OK, so this  blog has not been as regular as expected but, as they say, "so much to do, so little time to do it!"

I have tried to keep this blog and the six websites up to date with developments. Much of the data is in relative raw form but just requires care and time to process it. As noted in the last blog entry, I have started a newsletter to disseminate the information and encourage more data to be sent in my direction. There are other organisations out there which charge for this service such as ATEEME who operate on  a business model. I do not. I don't have the business skills, money or mobility to set up such an organisation. 

What I do have is enthusiasm for knowledge and a background in scientific research. This is what I am trying to bring to to this new area of UK collecting - trying to record the data at the time it is being produced rather than waiting for a decade plus to try to piece things together like a jigsaw with more than half the pieces missing. I may not have that 10 years for those bits to come together.

So 2012 has seen three new pictorials and a re-released robin along with the overprints for Stampex, Perth and the BPMA. And don't forget the pop up post office!

2013 will see three pictorial issues - freshwater life and a second class machin. Add to that more Stampex varieties with overprints and yet another re-released robin.

Please get in touch if you have data that will help me put together a more coherent picture.

Happy New Year to one and all.

Newsletter

There is so much information on UK ATMs on the net, in the press and available with each visit to a post office equipped with these kiosks. In the last year, I have set up about half a dozen websites listing the raw data that I have obtained along with scans of material in my personal collection. Then there is this blog.

From monitoring the hits on the Stamp Magazine forum, it is clear that there are a lot of people interested in this area of collection. Therefore, I have put together a first issue of a newsletter which can be downloaded from my pmechuk website or by e-mailing me at pmechuk@gmail.com. As I have often stated, I am not a dealer and I feel that the approach to dealing that some have taken on sites such as ebay may be misleading the unwary collector with regard to some of the terms used in advertising material (such as "SCARCE"). Therefore, the Newsletter is primarily for collectors to enable them to make informed choices. 

I would like to produce at least a few pages on a regular basis and would welcome input from others. The first issue covers from Autumn Stampex to the BPMA issue but I would welcome input not only on British Wincors and Hytechs but from around the world. 

As I have no financial support for this activity, all issues will be produced electronically and emailed to those interested. This means that there is no membership costs, no hassle with record keeping and accounts, no printing costs for me and no worry about finding postage costs.

 It is up to you whether this is a worthwhile activity.

The newsletter may be found at:
                     
                         https://sites.google.com/site/pmechuk/newsletter

The file is at the bottom of that page.

Stampex Data and Possible Newsletter

Kiosk B1 Information Wanted

I have been asked for information on the use of Kiosk B1 at Autumn Stampex. It was noticed that the date-line (1952-2012) is slightly indented from the line above (Diamond Jubilee) on the Cattle stamps erroneously overprinted for the Diamond Jubilee (it is clearly visible in the image on the pmechuk website). Can anyone supply jpeg images of items from this “backroom” kiosk (and time of purchase) as it is of interest as to when the indented date-line first occurred, by looking for the first overprinted Flag stamps from B1 with the same indent. So far, the indent is present on Flag stamps from session 334 at 12.48, session 390 at 15.06, session 446 at 17.50 all on 28 September; the latter session is very close to session 452 which produced the Cattle overprint. So it would be expected that the indent may have occurred on stamps from session 361 at 13.50 that you report in your table on the website.

Any additional information would be gratefully welcomed. Apart from knowing when the indent variant first occurred, it would also be interesting to know if it continued on stamps issued on Saturday 29 September, but so far no examples have been illustrated on the internet. 

E-mail me at pmechuk@gmail.com.

Possible Newsletter

I have been considering the suggestion about producing a regular newsletter on the UK ATMs which would be distributed electronically. There is some merit in the idea if others would be willing to contribute to its content. As a one man effort, my fear would be that it would fade away after a few issues but that would depend on you. E-mail address above.