{{Short description|British sculptor, coin designer and stamp designer (1911–1999)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Arnold Machin | honorific_suffix = [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] [[Royal Academy|RA]] [[Royal Society of Sculptors|FRSS]] | image = Arnold Machin.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Machin in later life | birth_date = 30 September 1911 | birth_place = [[Stoke-on-Trent]], England, UK | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1999|3|9|1911|9|30}} | death_place = Stafford Borough, Staffordshire, England, UK | residence = | education = | alma_mater = [[Royal College of Art]], London | known_for = [[China painter|China painting]], sculpture, coin design, [[postage stamp]] design | notable_works = Portraits of [[Queen Elizabeth II]] on British [[Decimal Day|decimal coinage]] and postage stamps }}
'''Arnold Machin''' [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] [[Royal Academy|RA]] [[Royal Society of Sculptors|FRSS]] ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|eɪ|tʃ|ɪ|n}}; 30 September 1911 – 9 March 1999) was a British artist, sculptor, and coin and postage stamp designer.<ref name="Indie">{{Cite web|title=Obituary: Arnold Machin|author=Maureen Batkin|work=The Independent|date=15 March 1999|access-date=20 June 2015|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-arnold-machin-1080769.html}}</ref>
==Biography== Machin was born [[Stoke-on-Trent]] in 1911. He started work at the age of 14 as an apprentice [[china painter]] at the [[Mintons|Minton Pottery]]. During the [[Great Depression|Depression]] he learnt to sculpt at [[Stoke-on-Trent College of Art]], which was opposite the Minton factory. In the 1930s he moved to [[Derby]], where he worked at [[Royal Crown Derby]] and met his wife Patricia. He went on to study at the [[Royal College of Art]] in London.<ref name="Indie" />
After imprisonment in the [[Second World War]] as a [[conscientious objector]], he returned to modelling and sculpture, and created many notable ceramics which are now prized collector's items. In 1947 he was elected an associate member of the [[Royal Academy of Arts]],<ref>[http://www.racollection.org.uk/ixbin/indexplus?_IXACTION_=file&_IXFILE_=templates/full/person.html&_IXTRAIL_=Academicians&person=6089 Royal Academy of Arts Collections]</ref> was a Master of Sculpture from 1959 to 1966 and became the longest-serving member of the Academy. He was elected an Academician in 1956 and a Fellow of the [[Royal British Society of Sculptors]]. From 1951, he was a tutor at the [[Royal College of Art]].{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} Machin was appointed an [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (OBE) in the [[1965 New Year Honours]].<ref>United Kingdom list: {{London Gazette |issue=43529 |date=29 December 1964 |pages=13 |supp=y}}</ref>
After retirement, Machin lived in his home, [[Listed buildings in Eccleshall|Garmelow Manor]], [[Eccleshall]], [[Borough of Stafford|Stafford Borough]], [[Staffordshire]], until his death in 1999, aged 87.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Derbyshire's Artistic Heritage - Arnold Machin and the Queen's Head |last1=Derbyshire Life |first1=Great British Life |date=14 March 2014 |publisher=Archant Community Media Ltd |access-date=25 April 2021 |url=https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/things-to-do/whats-on/derbyshire-s-artistic-heritage-arnold-machin-and-the-queen-s-6501346}}</ref>
==Stamp and coin designs== {{more citations needed section|date=October 2022}} {{multiple image | width = 200 | image1 = Arnold_Machin_Elizabeth_II_coinage_portrait.jpg | alt1 = Machin coinage portrait | image2 = Stamp-GB Machin 4d red.jpg | alt2 = Machin stamp image | footer = Machin's portraits of Queen Elizabeth II: as used on decimal coinage from 1968 (left), and on a British postage stamp of 1969.}} In 1964 Machin was chosen to design a new image of [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II]] for the [[Decimalisation#Europe|decimal coinage]], which was to be introduced from 1968. This was used for all British coins until 1984 and was also used on the coins of [[Rhodesia]] in 1964, coins of [[Canada]] from 1965 to 1989, [[Australia]] from 1966 to 1984 and [[New Zealand]] from 1967 to 1985.
In 1966 the Queen approved Machin's similar design for an effigy of her to be used on what came to be known as the "[[Machin series]]" of British [[Definitive stamp|definitive postage stamps]]. Machin produced a [[bas-relief]] in clay which, when combined with a different coloured background, is reminiscent of the overlaid decoration of potteries such as [[Wedgwood]].{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} The design was first used on the 4[[Penny (British pre-decimal coin)|d]] stamp which was issued in June 1967, and was used on all British definitive stamps (except more recent regional issues) since. It is thought that this design is one of the most reproduced works of art in history with approximately 320 billion copies produced.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article4670207.ece |title=Timesonline |access-date=2008-09-04 |archive-date=2011-06-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616044936/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article4670207.ece |url-status=dead }}</ref>
On several occasions the Queen was approached with suggestions for the replacement of the Machin stamp portrait. Although she considered alternatives, she never approved any new design, stipulating that any such replacement would have to be "a work of real quality".<ref>Muir, Douglas N. (2007) ''A Timeless Classic: The Evolution of Machin's Icon'', British Postal Museum</ref>
In 2007 the Machin-designed stamp was still in use at its 40th anniversary and to mark the occasion, the [[Royal Mail]] issued a commemorative stamp featuring a photograph of Machin. It was also available for sale in a miniature sheet which incorporated another stamp with a reproduction of a Machin series stamp, as well as two [[£]]1 Machins in different colours.
In 2017, the 50th anniversary was celebrated by Royal Mail with a large number of products including miniature sheets, presentation packs, first day covers, a retail stamp booklet, a prestige stamp booklet, a medal cover, and new post and go faststamps.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://blog.norphil.co.uk/2017/05/machin-anniversary-50th-anniversary.html |title=Norvic Philatelics Blog |access-date=2022-12-05 }}</ref>
==Conservation== [[File:Taurus the Bull, Arnold Machin, Wedgwood, 1950.JPG|thumbnail|right|''Taurus the Bull'', modelled by Arnold Machin in 1945. Produced by [[Wedgwood]], 1950, earthenware and transfer printing. The design includes the signs of the zodiac.]] In the year 1956, while resident at number 15 [[The Villas]], Stokeville, an estate of 24 Victorian houses in Stoke-upon-Trent, he received publicity in the national press when he chained himself to an old metal [[Street light|lamp-post]], in protest at its planned removal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://the-villas.com/PhotoGallery/tabid/62/galleryType/SlideShow/ItemID/13/Default.aspx|title=Arnold Machin chained to lamp (scan of press cutting)|date=July 1956|work=The Sentinel|access-date=20 June 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716220651/http://the-villas.com/PhotoGallery/tabid/62/galleryType/SlideShow/ItemID/13/Default.aspx|archive-date=16 July 2011}}</ref> Machin's protest, "against the destruction of all the beautiful things which is going on in this country" did not prevent the lamp-post from being replaced by a concrete one; however, it was given to him for his own garden and his wife Patricia unlocked him. The lamp has since been restored to its original position.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thepotteries.org/did_you/011.htm|title=Did you know - Arnold Machin - the sculptor of the "Queen's Head" was born in Stoke-on-Trent|publisher=thepotteries.org (Press Cutting: Daily Mail)|date=12 July 1956|access-date=25 June 2010}}</ref>
==Family== Machin and his wife, (the author and painter Patricia), had a son, Francis (1949–2007), who was also an artist, and an architect. <ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1711736.ece Francis Machin | Times Online Obituary]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} 27 April 2007</ref>
After Francis died, some of his father's possessions, from his house near [[Eccleshall]] in rural [[Staffordshire]], were sold at auction.<ref>[http://www.cuttlestones.co.uk/news/220808_cuttlestones.htm Presentation of the sale on Cuttlestones website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218122745/http://www.cuttlestones.co.uk/news/220808_cuttlestones.htm |date=February 18, 2012 }}, retrieved 26 October 2008</ref> These included the fourth of the known final plasters made to create the [[Machin series|Machin stamp series]], the three others being kept in the [[Royal Mail]] archives.<ref>Richard Alleyne, "Arnold Machin plaster cast used for image of Queen on stamps is found", ''[[The Daily Telegraph|Telegraph.co.uk]]'', updated 3 September 2008; available [https://web.archive.org/web/20080906020611/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/2674511/Arnold-Machin-plaster-cast-used-for-image-of-Queen-on-stamps-is-found.html on the website] (last retrieved, 26 October 2008).</ref>
Minor planet [[3109 Machin]] is named in his honour.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://link.springr.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_3110 |title=Dictionary of Minor Planet Names |chapter=(3109) Machin |publisher=Springer |date=2003 |pages=256 |isbn=978-3-540-29925-7 |doi=10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_3110 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{commons category|Arnold Machin}} * [https://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/journal/people/arnold-machin/ Arnold Machin - Royal Mint Museum]
{{Authority control}}
{{s-start}} {{succession box | before=[[Mary Gillick]]| title=[[Coins of the pound sterling]]<br />Obverse sculptor| years=1965| after=[[Raphael Maklouf]]| }} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Machin, Arnold}} [[Category:1911 births]] [[Category:1999 deaths]] [[Category:British stamp designers|Machin]] [[Category:British conscientious objectors]] [[Category:Artists from Stoke-on-Trent]] [[Category:Academics of the Royal College of Art]] [[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:Royal Academicians]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal British Society of Sculptors]] [[Category:British coin designers]]