Machin (detail)

ARNOLD MACHIN

Arnold Machin was born in Stoke-on-Trent. He lived in the city (Trent Vale) & rural Staffordshire (Offley Rock) in later decades. At the age of 14 he was an apprentice china painter at Minton China Works. He trained at Stoke School of Art & Burslem School of Art. He moved to Derby (Royal Crown Derby) & continued to study at Derby School of Art. He studied & then taught at the Royal College of Art. He also went on to teach sculpture at various other local & national institutions including Burslem School of Art. He was eventually appointed Master of Sculpture at the Royal Academy School, a position he held until 1967 - the longest-serving member of the Academy. He was a vegetarian, passionate conservationist (anti modernist) & conscientious objector who served 9 months at Wormwood Scrubs prison during the Second World War. During this time he also developed a close relationship with Wedgwood & worked with the company on a range of designs through the years. He produced a huge range & amount of work; & became recognised as one of the most accomplished figurative artists of the 20th century.

In the 1940s he married Patricia (Pat) & moved back to Stoke living in ‘The Villas’ for nearly a decade. Their Son Francis was born in Stoke-on-Trent. They moved to ‘Offley Rock’ eventually taking up residence at Garmelow Manor, near Eccleshall, & staying there for nearly four decades). He is best known for his ‘bas-relief’ ceramic plaques that provided the well known ‘Queen’s Head’ designs for both coins & stamps. He was commissioned in 1964 by The Royal Mint to produce an image for decimal coins which remained in use until 1984. However, it was his iconic profile portrait of Queen Elizabeth II commissioned by The Royal Mail that has taken on even greater significance. This image has been used on all British stamps since 1967 and is still in use today, more than 55 years later, as the Queen has repeatedly declined to have it updated. In the mid 1980s, her private office relayed a message that the Queen was ‘very content with the Machin effigy’. It is now very unlikely to change at all during her reign.

Machin resources online:

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Machin

thepotteries.org

http://www.thepotteries.org/did_you/011.htm

The Royal Mint Museum

https://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/journal/people/arnold-machin/

https://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/journal/guest-articles/meeting-and-remembering-a-man-named-machin/

The Postal Museum:

https://www.postalmuseum.org/collections/machin-design/

https://www.postalmuseum.org/blog/50th-anniversary-icon/

https://www.postalmuseum.org/collections/highlights/philatelic-collection/british-stamps/elizabeth-ii-stamps/1965-1970/