Innehållsförteckning för November 2024 från Stamp Collector

INCORPORATING COIN COLLECTOR It is in the autumn months that many philatelic activities restart after a summer break, with clubs and societies up and down the country commencing their new season of meetings. As ‘Stamp Update’ reports, this includes the Royal Philatelic Society London, who kicked off the new season on 12 September in their traditional way with a display from the Royal Philatelic Collection, which this year focussed on the region of West Africa. Other societies up and down the country are also commencing their new seasons, and I encourage you to see what is on offer in your area. Most provide a wide range of talks on a variety of subjects that enlighten and inform. Alternatively, some of the more specialist societies may be of interest to you.…

4–5 October – Eastern 130 Main Street, Bathurst, NB, E2A 1A4, Canada www.easternauctions.com 5 October – Somerset Hill Farm, Hemyock, Cullompton EX15 3UZ www.somersetstampauctions.com 9 October – AJH The Laurels, Manchester Road, Accrington BB5 2PF ajhstamps.co.uk 12 October – Bil & Co Washingborough Community Centre, Fen Road, Lincoln LN4 1AB www.bilandco.co.uk 12–13 October – Ace Cannington Exhibition Centre, Corner Albany Highway and 1 Station Street, Cannington, WA 6107, Australia acestampauctions.com 15 October – Robert A Siegel 21 West 38th Street, New York, NY 10018, USA siegelauctions.com 17–19 October – Sparks 1770 Woodward Drive, Ottawa, ON, K2C 0P8, Canada sparks-auctions.com 19 October – South West 2nd Floor, The Watermark, Erme Court, Leonards Road, Ivybridge, Devon PL21 0SZ www.swpa-stamp-auctions.com 25–26 October – Martello 4b Prospect Road, Hythe, Kent CT21 5NN www.martelloauctions.com 29–30…

The photographic carte-de-visite, about the size of a visiting card, was introduced in Paris by the photographer André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdére in 1854 and was the forerunner of the larger ‘cabinet’ size that became a must-have in Victorian society. Much more elusive are the tiny views of people and places in a stamp-like format that could be affixed to letters and postcards. Ayling’s of Oxford Street in London published a series of gummed wafers with portraits of famous poets in the 1860s, but often it is a matter of conjecture when it comes to identifying such images. By coincidence, the first two postcards featured in this article depict churches, which raises the intriguing suggestion that they might feature the clergymen involved. The postcard of St Ann’s Church in Manchester was posted from…

One of the most unusual Australian postage stamps used in the British colony of New South Wales was the long-lasting 5s value with a round image of Queen Victoria. This high-value stamp had several editions, interesting varieties, a special watermark, was executed and engraved against forgeries, and it was also overprinted as an official stamp. The usual English abbreviation of ‘Coin’ for this issue may be misleading because there was actually no coin of this type in New South Wales. The intaglio print, which appears so accurate and vivid, is a masterpiece of the engraver’s art, but it is a fantasy product – an imaginary coinage in the form of a medal, the value of which can also be recognised in the watermark of ‘5/-’ (Figure 1). Andrew Houison described…

I recently attended the BANS (British Association of Numismatic Societies) autumn weekend in Lichfield. It was great to spend a few days among fellow coin enthusiasts and learn more about the world of numismatics, where there are so many different areas to explore. Among the fascinating talks on offer were those covering the Hog money of the Somers’ Isles (modern-day Bermuda) and the Lenborough Hoard project. What I wasn’t expecting was to be amazed by the humble £1 coin. In an entertaining presentation, titled ‘Pounds! There Are More Varieties Than You Think!’, delegates were taken on a journey through the many different designs for a coin that, I have to admit, I have taken little notice of in the past. The modern £1 coin was first introduced on 21 April…

A major exhibition, opening 4 April 2025, will showcase finds from the Thames foreshore and explore the role of mudlarks in uncovering thousands of years of human history. The River Thames has been a centre of human activity for over 10,000 years. Below its waters lay lost or discarded items that paint a picture of Britain’s past, from prehistoric communities along the foreshore, to the arrival of Romans who founded Londinium and Vikings who travelled by water to expand their territory into Britain. ‘Secrets of the Thames: Mudlarking London’s Lost Treasures’ will include many never-before-seen finds that have recently joined the museum’s collection. It was recently announced that the Mint of Finland will be closed. The board said that the decision was based on global payment changes and weakened business…

On 28 August, a ‘Breaking News’ alert interrupted many coin collectors’ peaceful summer holidays: the Mint of Finland, Finland’s national mint, unexpectedly announced its ‘voluntary’ closure. The company’s board justified this drastic step by citing ‘global changes in payments’ and ‘deteriorating business prospects’. Although the Mint of Finland will continue to fulfil its existing contracts until spring 2025, it will not be accepting any new orders. All employees will be let go once the current projects are completed. Is this development yet another sign of the waning significance of cash in our increasingly digital society? The coin industry has been undergoing significant changes in recent years: • The Royal Mint of Belgium closed its doors on 1 January 2018, a decision taken by the Belgian government as part of its…

In previous issues of Coin Collector, I have talked about the coins of the Roman emperor Gallienus. In this article, I will look at Gallienus’ successor, Claudius II. Gallienus’ assassination outside Milan in 268 left the purple available to anyone with the power to grasp it. The army proclaimed Claudius and so began a short reign of some two years. Claudius was probably born around 214 and was, like so many of the so-called soldier emperors of the late-3rd century, of Danubian extraction. The vast majority of Claudius’ coins are the radiate antoniniani that had become the universal coinage of the empire in the last couple of decades. These had a tiny silver content and will sometimes appear to be silvered. Nonetheless, they had a low face value and large…

Æthelred II ‘The Unready’ – 978–1013/1014–16: The eldest son of Eadgar, Æthelred became king at the mere age of 12 following the brutal murder of his half-brother Edward (Figure 6). Young and easy to manipulate, he came to depend on his councillors for their prudent advice – an aspect in which they badly let him down. Though his reign is noted for its economic reforms and a high standard for the English coinage, it was marred by Scandinavian raids, periods of acute social instability and famine. Initially adopting a policy of paying the invaders to go away, Æthelred abruptly U-turned in 1002 and massacred many ethnic Danes resident in England. This policy backfired spectacularly, causing more Scandinavians to take up arms against him. Displaced from the throne in 1013 by Swein…

On 21 August, Romfilatelia released a stamp issue, comprising four stamps, titled Seahorses. The 53 species of seahorses currently known are grouped into one genus, Hippocampus. They live in all warm and temperate waters of seas and oceans. However, they are also found in brackish waters, such as estuaries and lagoons, and in some rivers, such as the Thames. Seahorses swim upright with their heads up, and they avoid predators by using camouflage. With the help of their prehensile (grasping) tail, they cling to various underwater plants, with some species imitating the texture of the substrate on which they sit. Two species of seahorse live in the Black Sea and in the territorial waters of Romania: Hippocampus guttulatus (3l), a common species that is also widespread in the eastern Atlantic…

When the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan issued its very first stamps in 1962, most worldwide collectors probably couldn’t place it on a map. It is located in the Himalayas, bordering on the Chinese province of Tibet to the north and to India in the south. The northern half of the country is extremely mountainous, while the southern part has subtropical plains with several river valleys, and this is where we find the major part of the population. Bhutan has an ancient history with strong ties to Tibet. The local language – Dzhongka – resembles Tibetan. Most Bhutanese are Buddhists sharing the same religious beliefs as the people of Tibet. Today, Bhutan has a population of some 777,000. The capital city is Thimphu. Britain has been involved in Bhutan since the…

POSTCARDS Beware of imitations Advertising postcards have been popular with collectors ever since the modern epoch of postcard collecting began in the early-1970s, writes Richard Stenlake. Picton’s Priced Catalogue of British Pictorial Postcards and Postmarks 1894–1939 was a trailblazing book that had been through seven editions by 1979. There was no internet in those days, so I had to ask my dad nicely if he would pop into Vera Trinder’s shop and get me a copy next time he was in London, 4000 miles away from home. In my naivety, I expected a book that would give me a price for every single postcard ever made(!) – like the stamp catalogue did, so I was disappointed when I found it just consisted of general headings instead. But even then, the…

LE Bruun auction realises over £12 million On 14 September, Stack’s Bowers Galleries conducted the first auction of coins from the LE Bruun Collection in the ballroom of the Odd Fellow Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark. When the last of the 286 lots crossed the block, €14,820,900 (£12,341,882) in Scandinavian coins had been sold to collectors and dealers worldwide (all prices include buyer’s premium). The highlight of the event was the extremely rare Danish 1496 King Hans gold noble, which doubled its pre-sale estimate to sell for €1.2 million, a new world record for any Scandinavian coin at auction and the first to exceed a price of €1 million (lot 1001). Unique in private hands, the King Hans gold noble is the crown jewel of Scandinavian numismatics, being one of the…

An Ashdown Forest Helmet silver unit of c.50–40 BC struck by the Regini tribe of West Sussex was offered at the latest Chris Rudd auction on 15 September (lot 6). This extremely fine example, struck in good-quality silver and beautifully centred, showed all the key points, including the horned helmet, like the bronze helmet found in the Thames by Waterloo Bridge, and the little hidden face above the horse that had a ring at the end of its nose. The spokes of the wheel were all curved, creating the effect of a wheel in motion. This very rare coin, found at Lewes, East Sussex, on 23 March 2017, achieved £1,800. SOLD FOR £1,800 A unique and unpublished coin from the reign of David I of Scotland (1124–53) that was minted…

My morning ritual includes a cup of coffee and an attempt to answer the many emails received overnight. This can be exciting, as you never know what someone will be sending an inquiry about. My handling of the ‘Great Kentucky Hoard’ of Civil War gold started with a brief email and a blurry picture. Unfortunately, the vast majority of emails are about coins with little value. There is so much misinformation circulating on the internet that it confuses anyone trying look up the value of a coin. This has been taken to a new level recently as posts on social media and elsewhere make outrageous claims about the value of common coins. In the United States, the most recent one was perhaps the silliest one seen in years. The online…

Organisers of the York Stamp and Coin Fair have announced the dates for next year. The first will be on Friday, 17 January to Saturday, 18 January, with the second one on Friday, 18 July to Saturday, 19 July. Both events are being held at the Grandstand at York Racecourse and will be free to visitors. For more information, see the website (www.stampshows.net) or contact Chris Rainey on 01793 513431 or Kate Puleston on 07947 631835. Based in Victoria, BC, Canada, Garden City Philatelic Auctions was established earlier this year by Stéphane Cloutier, Steve Johnson and Firmin Wyndels. These long-time collectors, auction buyers and sellers have created a traditional-style auction house in Western Canada for buyers and sellers throughout the world. Their inaugural auction was held on 28–29 September. Don’t…

An Austria Post special stamp that was planned for issue 50 years ago, but was withdrawn from the programme and postal counters shortly before it went on sale, has since dominated the higher-priced offerings of 1974 in the market and at auction. The occasion for the issue, which was to come into circulation on 8 May 1974, was the 11th European Municipalities Day. The experienced stamp designer Adalbert Pilch (1917–2004) had set the central rosette of a stained-glass window of Vienna City Hall, with an eagle bearing a coat of arms on its chest, in a blue background, surrounded by the 12 stars of the European flag, for a multicoloured format at 2.50 schillings (Figure 1). The rosette in the stamp image is located in the wall of the council…

Jersey occupation The auction of Part II of the Alfred F Kugel Collection, being sold on behalf of the American Philatelic Society, was held by Cherrystone in New Jersey, USA, on 10–11 September. The collection included several German World War II occupation issues. One of the highlights, from the German occupation of Jersey, was a set of 13 of the King George VI 1937 definitives, a 1940 Centenary set of five, plus the so-called ‘Bigwood Essay’ (lot 4285). All 19 stamps featured a swastika stamped over the head of the king. In July 1940, the German commandant for Jersey ordered Bigwoods, the official state printers, to prepare a metal casting inscribed ‘Jersey 1940’ and depicting a swastika. This device was used to overprint 60 copies each of the regular definitives…

Right from day one, Australian stamps have faced a dilemma. Should they express the country’s independent spirit? Or should they demonstrate its loyalty to the royal family and pride in its place in the Commonwealth? This dichotomy had produced the George V profile heads to run alongside the ‘Roos’. And, despite the massive change in circumstances, they were still around in the late-1950s. The post-war years were a boomtime for Australians. They had realised that their tiny population would be hard put to defend such a vast territory, so under the slogan ‘populate or perish’, they set out to encourage immigrants from Europe. The welcome extended to all European countries – but it was hoped that the bulk of the immigrants would be British, to maintain the existing racial profile…

Today’s Deutsche Post considers itself a direct descendent of an organisation that was founded 534 years ago. Carrying both government and private mail throughout the Holy Roman Empire, the Kaiserliche Reichspost (Imperial Mail) was the postal system that changed everything. The Reichspost was the first European all-encompassing, affordable and time-tabled mail system that didn’t just allow people to stay in touch, it facilitated the spread of news and smoothed trade transactions. It is no coincidence that Venice and Antwerp, where the Empire’s transcontinental post routes ended, became centres of commerce and banking. Yet, remarkably, the backbone of this vast and hugely efficient system was one family – the princely House of Thurn and Taxis. FROM POSTIES TO PRINCES The story begins in Camerata Cornello in Bergamo, Italy, where the visionary…

INCORPORATING COIN COLLECTOR ON SALE 8 NOVEMBER Collect by Country THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN EAGLE AND GREAT SEAL ON US STAMPS Philatelic Firsts FIRST MASTER OF THE POSTS Cover Explained READ ABOUT THE THE SALUKI SISTERS OF SUSSEX Coins Through the Centuries DISCOVER THE COINAGE OF THE SASANIAN EMPIRE OF THE 5TH CENTURY A–Z of Banknotes WE REACH THE BANKNOTES OF UKRAINE AVAILABLE IN ALL GOOD NEWSAGENTS OR DIRECT FROM WWW.ALLABOUTSTAMPS.CO.UK…

7 October – Baldwins 399 Strand, London WC2R 0LX baldwins.co 8 October – Noonans 16 Bolton Street, Mayfair, London W1J 8BQ www.noonans.co.uk 9 October – Tennants Harmby Road, Leyburn DL8 5SG www.tennants.co.uk 9 October – Toovey’s Spring Gardens, Washington, West Sussex RH20 3BS www.tooveys.com 13 October – Nomos Auf der Mauer 9, 8001 Zürich, Switzerland nomosag.com 14–18 October – Christoph Gärtner Steinbeisstraße 6+8, 74321 Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany www.auktionen-gaertner.de 16 October – Noonans 16 Bolton Street, Mayfair, London W1J 8BQ www.noonans.co.uk 21–24 October – Sincona Limmatquai 112, CH-8001 Zurich, Switzerland auktionen.sincona.com 22 October – Noonans 16 Bolton Street, Mayfair, London W1J 8BQ www.noonans.co.uk 6 November – Halls Bowmen Way, Battlefield, Shrewsbury SY4 3DR fineart.hallsgb.com 19 November – Sovereign Rarities 17–19 Maddox Street, London W1S 2QH www.sovr.co.uk…

The numismatic market of eastern Europe has been thriving with the growing economic power of recent decades. So, it is recommended to take a closer look at coin mintings originating from eastern territories. Some specimens may not be easily identified as true treasures. After the proclamation of the independent state of Czechoslovakia, with its new capital city of Prague, on 28 October 1918, a new currency system was urgently required. The first coins for use by the public in koruna, divided by 100 into sub-units of haléř (Czech) or halier (Slovak), only came into circulation from 1921–24. But several rare trials with a year indication of 1920 have survived. They were made for a coin competition jury in the traditional Kremnica mint in Slovakia, one of the oldest mints in…

Our story starts in the year 978, with Æthelred the newly anointed king of England at the mere age of 14. The second son of Eadgar and member of the so-called ‘House of Wessex’, he had probably been placed on the throne thanks to the conniving of his relatives and ministers. His elder brother, Edward, had been brutally murdered after just three years of rule. Although Eadgar’s reign had been stable and peaceful, it is during Æthelred’s rule that the fortunes of England as a nation state take something of a downturn (Figure 1). A common historical trope is that Æthelred was a tremendously bad king, born out of his epithet the ‘Unready’. However, this is a somewhat grotesque simplification – ‘Unready’ derives from the Anglo-Saxon word unræd, which means…