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Queen's Head Stamp

Machin: the Basics

For many people, there can be no more iconic image of the nation than the head of state. We see the Queen's profile every day on our notes, coins and postage stamps, but have you ever noticed that, while the monarch ages serenely with the years on the currency, she remains regally unchanged on the stamps?

Machine stamp silhouette
Arnold Machin was commissioned to design the stamp in 1967, with the intention that the image he created would remain unaltered for the rest of the Queen's reign. Like many of the best designs, it has a deceptive simplicity: deceptive because the image was only arrived at after much experimentation by means of sculpture and photography.


The result has entered the collective psyche as one of our national logos. Adorned in tiara and pearl necklace, forever gazing into the leftward distance, the Queen is alone among world heads of state in not having to share stamp space with the name of her country – in recognition of the fact that the modern postal system was invented here.