Machin Head Replacement Stamps

Britain's Stamp Magazine has an interesting article online about efforts to replace Queen Elizabeth's portrait on British definitives.

According to the magazine, "In late 1981 the Post Office - through its then Design Adviser, Barry Robinson - decided to undertake work on a potential successor to the Machin design, and thus approached the experienced stamp designer Jeffery Matthews."

It goes on to say, "Even before Matthews was briefed, The Post Office had decided that new photographic studies of The Queen would be needed, to be taken by Lord Snowdon. The Queen sat for a private photo shoot in March 1982 which was either at Lord Snowdon's London studio or in Buckingham Palace, and around 200 portraits were produced."

In April 1984, however, the design work ground to a halt.

Shown above, one of the stamp designs that were considered.

To read the entire article, click here.