Innehållsförteckning för May 2023 från Stamp Collector

from/respond to: Andrew McGavin ►If You want to learn how the stamp trade works, please read on… When I was 15, I did. I wondered if there was some secret source of supply? So, I bought my 1st stamp mixture, (wholesale I thought), broke it into 50 smaller units, advertised it in Stamp Magazine ‘Classifieds’, and waited for the orders to roll in… I’m still waiting, 51 years later !… Wrong Offer ✗ Wrong Price ✗ Wrong Place ✗ (naïve seller) ✔ me but I was only 15 at the time! REQUEST MY ‘TOP TIPS OF THE TRADE’ FREE BOOKLET 2 ► Three years later, attending my first public stamp auctions I wondered how some bidders seemed to buy everything, paying the highest price? It didn’t occur to me that they were probably…

Quick Links Page 8 RDP Signatories announced Page 10 Midpex set for July Page 10 Ukraine issue Banksy stamp KING CHARLES SILHOUETTE REVEALED ON ‘FLOWERS’ STAMPS Royal Mail’s new set of special stamps celebrating flowers are the first to feature the silhouette of HM King Charles III, the first change of silhouette since 1968. The creation of the new HM King Charles III silhouette was a collaboration between the illustrator Andrew Davidson, Head of Design and Editorial at Royal Mail, Marcus James, and Ian Chilvers, from design agency, Atelier Works. The project began with Andrew Davidson creating a likeness that would work at stamp size. The second major stage of development was the digitising and fine-tuning of the detail in the silhouette. This was conducted by both Royal Mail and…

Is there any more evocative image of the Age of Steam than that of the Flying Scotsman thundering its way along the tracks, a 70-foot iron monster weighing 97 tonnes, belching steam from its funnel like a locomotive dragon? Built in 1923, this year the world’s most famous locomotive celebrates its centenary, and is the subject of the newest set of The Royal Mail’s special stamps. Now housed at the National Railway Museum in York, the Flying Scotsman was designed by Sir Nigel Gresley as part of the new A1 class, and built at the Great Northern Railway works at Doncaster in 1923. A1 locomotives were an updated incarnation of steam trains that departed from previous models, having more powerful engines that were required to pull the heavier trains that…

Liechtenstein The stamps of Liechtenstein tend to be seen as an adjunct to a collection of Austria or Switzerland, the two countries on its borders. But this tiny Alpine principality has much to offer in its own right. Up until 1918, Liechtenstein was part of the Hapsburg Empire and at first, it used Austrian stamps, so a Liechtenstein collection starts with local cancels on these stamps, which are highly sought after. Liechtenstein’s first stamps came in 1912, with two sets of three stamps followed up by a set of six. These were designed and printed in Austria – and it shows. Austria continued to administer the country and its post until 1921 when Liechtenstein gained a new constitution with increased democratic rights. The final authority however, lay with the House…

CELEBRATED SETS The Tongan archipelago consists of three main groups of islands scattered over 270,000 square miles of the Southern Pacific. They were discovered in stages from the 16th to the 17th centuries – and eventually mapped by Captain Cook. He had been well-received by the natives and dubbed the group ‘the friendly islands’ – the name it uses today. He never knew that the islands’ chiefs had been plotting to kill him and his crew. The island group was unified in 1875 after half a century of civil war and it became a constitutional monarchy under an absolute ruler. It remains the only Pacific territory to remain self-governing–never occupied or colonised. The islands became a British Protectorate in 1900, under a Treaty of Friendship. This was largely at the…

When I wrote here last month we had just been shown the new King Charles III definitives for the first time, with opinion split on whether the Machin-esque design was the right approach or if Royal Mail should have gone for something a little different. This month we’ve seen the unveiling of the King’s silhouette on special stamps as the new era of British stamps gets into full swing. Once again the designers have opted for tradition and consistency, using a simple profile of the King. You can’t really argue with this approach, and no doubt the diverse and intriguing subjects that will dominate future pictorial designs will more than make up for the straightforward silhouette. The first special stamps to feature the King’s profile are relatively calm, each depicting…

Susanna Mills is the editor-in-chief at the American Philatelic Society, where she is responsible for two distinguished philatelic publications: The American Philatelist, which was launched in 1887 and is the world’s oldest continuously published philatelic journal, and The Philatelic Literature Review. But like Stamp Collector’s interviewee last month (Georgina Tomlinson from The Postal Museum, SC April), Susanna’s love of philately developed as a result of her job, unlike many of the people we feature whose lifelong love of stamps began as a childhood hobby. ‘My first job out of college was as a part time archival intern in the American Philatelic Research Library,’ Susanna explains. ‘I had no prior interest in philately. The United States Philatelic Classics Society sponsored this position to complete the project of organising and publishing a…

With British definitive and special issues now appearing with the portrait of King Charles III, perhaps it is fitting to reflect on an aspect of the Machin portrait of Queen Elizabeth II that many may not appreciate. Much has been written about both the Arnold Machin portrait and the stamps issued from 1967 until 2022. The development of the stamp design is given in Douglas Muir’s excellent book A Timeless Classic: The Evolution of Machin’s Icon. Within that book appears the background to thoughts of issuing a new definitive series to mark the 30th anniversary of the Coronation in June 1983. The Queen was made aware of the idea, and while the reply from her Deputy Private Secretary advised that ‘Her Majesty is prepared to give consideration to the issue’,…

CINDERELLAS French radio tax stamps About a century ago, radio broadcasting was still in its infancy but it made huge progress towards the end of the 1920s, writes Christer Brunström. The BBC traces its origins back to 1922. Radio listening soon became a favourite pastime and the demand for quality programming increased steadily. From the start it was pretty unclear which way to adopt to finance this new medium. Different countries used different strategies. In the United States, private concerns were licensed to operate radio stations relying on the income from the sale of advertising. In Europe, many countries chose another way of funding their radio stations, by requesting listeners to pay an annual licence fee. Public service radio stressed the need to educate its listeners while the commercial stations…

HOW MANY OLYMPICS 50pS ARE THERE? WHICH £2 COINS ARE WORTH OVER £10? HOW MANY 50p, 10p AND £2 COINS DO YOU OWN, AND WHICH DO YOU STILL NEED? GET THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS AND MANY MORE WITH ‘COLLECT MODERN COINS’ The full-colour A4 publication is both a souvenir of the UK’s commemorative coins and an essential guide for collectors. Find out how much your coins are worth, the errors and scarce varieties to look out for, and so much more, including… • Every 50p and £2 coin in detail • Complete your collection with checklists & price guides • How to value your coins • Mis-strikes & myths explained • Latest mintage figures • Includes space for your notes COLLECT MODERN COINS IN ASSOCIATION WITH YOUR EXPERT GUIDE TO…

The first special stamps featuring the effigy of the new King Charles III were revealed in March, with an onsale date of 4 April, just weeks before his coronation in May. These stamps mark a new philatelic era, but it has not yet been announced if there will be a special coronation stamp issue. Nonetheless it’s the ideal time for collectors wishing to add coronation pages to their Royalties and Monarchies themed pages to look at the ways coronations have been treated on postage stamps in the past. For the 1937 coronation of King George IV, held on 12 May, the Post Office had only five months from the abdication of King Edward VIII on 11 December to create both definitives and a celebration coronation issue. Designs were commissioned from…

Last month’s article described the course of the postal strike and some of the ephemera associated with it. This second part will be a short overview of what really made it famous – the many private posts that operated during the seven weeks the posties were out on strike. For the first time, the Government announced that the Post Office’s legal monopoly on carrying mail would be suspended for the duration of the strike, and several hundred private posts were set up throughout the country. These have a reputation for being ‘philatelic’ operations that existed solely as an excuse to churn out stamps – and this was sometimes well merited! – but many did operate with efficiency and transported useful quantities of mail, although normally more slowly and at a…

When Boudica and her people descended on Londinium and created untold destruction, it was one of many horrendous events that the capital city has endured through the centuries. Fortunately and usually, with many years between: the arrival of the Duke of Normandy, the Black Death plague nearly 300 years later, and more recently the destruction in 1940. However, just months apart came the Great Plague in 1665/6 and the Great Fire in September 1666. No event, not even the 1940 blitz, had such an impact on London as the Great Fire The origins of postal services began with Merchant Posts, as illustrated by an example in a previous article in June 2020 entitled ‘Before the Fire… 1485’. To carry the story and evolution of the postal system further beyond the…

Tina Jackson, author and Stamp Collector Assistant Editor David Bailey, freelance writer, collector and former stamp trader Christer Brünstrom, philatelic journalist and author WRITE FOR US Do you have a stamp-related story to tell? Would you like to share your expertise in your chosen field with fellow collectors? Why not consider writing for Stamp Collector? Writing experience is preferred but the most important attribute is a passion and knowledge of your philatelic subject. If you think that’s you contact the editor at: matthewh@warnersgroup.co.uk…

Quick Links Page 27 Stamp Detective Page 28 Online stamp prices Page 30 Gibraltar price guide AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS PRICES INCLUDE BUYER’S PREMIUM UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED INDIAN ICON Cherrystone Philatelic Auctions recently sold this unused 1854 Indian 4a blue and red, from the second printing. Unused without gum as issued, and large margins showing part of marginal ornaments, the stamp was described as being an ‘impressive example of this popular Victorian India icon’ and came with a 2022 BPA certificate. SOLD FOR £17,150 EXTRAORDINARY ‘VIGTORIA’ BLOCK An extraordinary block of 24 1854 octagonal 1/-blue stamps recently exceeded the pre-sale estimate of AUS$8,000 in the Abacus Auctions sale, fetching an impressive AUS$64,000. From the base of the sheet, with ‘huge to humongous’ margins except at the top, the block featured the ‘VIGTORIA’…