About Me

Hello to all fellow Machin collectors out there! My name is Matt. I live in the New England region of northern NSW Australia in a beautiful little town called Uralla. Uralla is famous for its connection to the bushranger Captain Thunderbolt!

I am a big local history buff. In fact, I love to study history in general. I think this is what drew me to stamps in the first place. Stamps can be used as keys to unlock so much information. You collection a stamp, find out where it comes from, how it was printed etc, and suddenly you've learned a wealth of extra knowledge.

Like a lot of people I took up the hobby of stamp collecting when I was a kid. I was introduced to the hobby by my friend's father who happened to own a stamp shop in Parramatta, Sydney. On weekends I'd stay with my friend and on Saturdays we'd accompany his father to his shop. I spent many pleasant hours rummaging through his pile of used Australian stamps.

What first caught my eye were ships on stamps, particularly sailing ships. I collected as many ship stamps as I could (it was a bit more difficult in those days before the advent of the internet). I started with some ships from Australia, AAT, and Christmas Island and branched out from there.

As inevitably happens, life got in the way of stamps. For many years I completely forgot about the obsession I had had with them as a kid. About ten years ago, I happened to spot a lovely ship on a stamp and all those childhood memories came flooding back!

I am now back into the hobby with a vengeance!

I set up this blog because I already run a few blog in which i am keeping a record of my collecting journeys and I thought it might be fun to also chronicle my Machin collecting journey, particularly focusing on my favourite Machins, those with only the number 1 on them. As with my other blogs want to record the high moments, the pitfalls, and my general feelings over time while engaged in such a massive collecting effort. A lot of the content here may seem basic to a lot of collectors, but this is all very new to me and I'm writing down my entire journey. 

I hope you enjoy the blog with me...