½p

The decimal halfpenny Machin has been with us since February 1971 (when decimalisation was introduced) and was available to purchase in various formats until 25th June 1985 (by when of course the halfpenny coin was no longer in circulation).

Notice I have not used the word "withdrawn", because it is actually still legal to use ½p stamps on items to be sent through the Royal Mail (in multiples of two if course). This extends to all the other stamps with halfpenny as part of their value.

During its lifetime the ½p has only ever been issued in shades of turquoise, and only ever printed using the Photogravure printing method by Harrison & Sons Ltd, however there are several varieties for the specialist to collect. In fact to give you an idea of the stretch involved - Stanley Gibbons Specialised Catalogue lists 68 varieties; I have counted 62 spaces in the Connoisseur album; whilst the Deegam Handbook lists 146 (Yes .... 146 if I have counted correctly).

Of course many of these listed by the different authors are the same stamp, but none of the three can lay claim to a unique list, because all have different classifications of what is within the remit of their particular publication. As a guess I would say there are close to 200 different varieties of the single ½p stamp for the specialist collector to find - and that doesn't include collecting items such as se-tenant pairs, coils, booklet panes, cylinder blocks and the like.

And that is if you only collect Mint stamps.