Machin Bisects

Hi all
One of the problems with this sort of material is the catalogue
editor's view of what is authorised. The view seems to be that unless
the matter was organised and approved at the Postmaster General or
other national authority level it is unofficial. This is patently not
so - as the majority of emergency situations which require immediate
solution will obviously arise at a regional or local level - and
someone fairly low down the "pecking order" ( in National terms ) will
have to make a decision. Therefore a lot of anomalies do not make the
catalogues. It is necessary to consult local knowledge in many cases -
hence Douglas' comments should be considered as the definitive answere
especially as he is acknowledged as an expert in all things Machin.
You find also that stamp magazines are apt to produce articles from
time to time which are well researched. Unfortunately the
well-researched article is usually of a stamp you don't have and the
one you do have doesn't yet appear to have been researched yet!!
It would be nice if there was an internet data base of all these
anomalies!!
Malcolm





"Douglas Myall" wrote in message ...
"Chris Doran" wrote in message
m...
An interesting pair of covers:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...49294 29&rd=1
I don't know what the PO rules about creating bisects are, but it
looks as if the local post office had to write an explanation on
each
envelope and the sorting office to agree. (Is "Excepted" the correct
term, or did they really mean "Accepted"?)

Chris

This kind of bisect was common at the time of decimalisation,
following the strike of that time, as many post offices did not get
supplies. Although bisects are not officially acceptable, some are
occasionally allowed through without surcharge if an acceptable (to a
post office official) reason is written on the envelope.

The two the subject of this message were posted at Redhill and were
excepted (excused) surcharge by the official at Redhill HO (Head
Office) who initialled the items.

Douglas