Innehållsförteckning för November 2025 från Stamp Collector

There are rare occasions when treasures of philatelic literature are the focus of collectors. When philatelists from many countries gather in the auction hall of Heinrich Köhler in Wiesbaden, Germany, from 13 to 14 November, there will be one thing above all on their minds: philatelic literature! The AIJP, the world association of philatelic authors and journalists, has succeeded in bringing together 20 speakers from Europe for a summit with topics that reflect the fascination, magic and significance of philatelic literature. The UK will be represented by seven speakers, including David Beech MBE FRPSL, former curator of the philatelic department at the British Library, and Brian Birch FRPSL, arguably the world’s leading bibliographer of philately. Germany’s representatives will provide overviews of philatelic antiquarian bookshops worldwide (Björn Rosenau) and aspects of…

New Zealand’s rarest philatelic error The public stamp auction at Mowbray Collectables in New Zealand on 20 September included the legendary 1903 4d deep blue and deep brown Lake Taupo with centre inverted, which is New Zealand’s rarest and most celebrated philatelic error (lot 1). This iconic stamp featured a dramatic inverted centre, with the scenic depiction of Lake Taupo printed upside down within the frame, resulting from a printing mishap during the bicolour production. The only example known, it is widely regarded as NZ’s most valuable stamp. Offered on behalf of New Zealand Post, the stamp achieved its reserve of NZ$225,000. SOLD FOR £97,705 Used £5 orange From the Warwick & Warwick sale on 3 September, a highlight was a used 1867–83 £5 orange on white paper (lot 373).…

To assemble a collection of stamps, covers and cancellations connected to Halloween can bring a lot of fun. Halloween is a holiday with deep historical roots and a rich blend of ancient and modern traditions, which can be documented for low amounts. Halloween, celebrated annually on 31 October, is one of the most popular and widely recognised holidays, especially in Western countries like the USA, Canada and the UK but also increasingly in continental Europe. Known for costumes, candy, haunted houses and spooky decorations, Halloween has evolved over the centuries from its ancient roots as a Celtic festival into a global celebration of all things eerie and fun. This is reflected in several stamp issues and sheetlets. ORIGINS, TRADITIONS AND CELEBRATIONS Halloween traces its origins to the ancient Celtic festival…

Oh, not this again. Another week, another breathless headline about a ‘spectacular’ minting error that is apparently going to make its lucky finder richer than Croesus. Social media loves them: blurry photos of coins with a slightly lopsided rim, breathlessly described as ‘worth thousands’. Entire Facebook groups are dedicated to the pursuit of so-called treasures hiding in the nation’s pockets, where the only thing rarer than the coins themselves is a dose of realism. And yet, when these treasures actually reach the marketplace, the magic tends to vanish quicker than you can say ‘reserve price not met’. The latest case in point: a supposedly eye-popping €10 commemorative coin from Germany’s 2024 ‘Police’ issue, its blue polymer ring just a touch askew. On eBay it sold – drum roll please –…

An eastern campaign launched by Aexander the Great (356–323 BC) extended Greek influence into northwestern India. On this campaign, Aexander, who was a student of Aristotle, was accompanied by Greek philosophers Anaxarchus and Pyrrho. COINAGE OF ALEXANDER Alexander’s coinage was more than mere currency; it served as a strategic instrument for imperial unification, propaganda and cultural transmission. His eastern campaign facilitated the unprecedented spread of Hellenistic coinage across diverse regions. His famous silver tetradrachm, depicting Hercules on the obverse in the style of Alexander and Zeus enthroned on the reverse, valued at four drachms, was roughly equivalent to a month’s wages for an officer or skilled worker in his army (Figure 1). As his empire expanded, many coins continued to be issued both during his lifetime and after his death…

Monopoly celebrates 90 years To commemorate the 90th anniversary of Monopoly, the world-famous property trading game, the Royal Mint has issued a 50p – the first time a board game has been honoured on a UK coin. Monopoly evolved from ‘The Landlord’s Game’, created in the early 1900s by Lizzie Magie and inspired by the economic theories of Henry George. Since its official introduction in 1935, the game has become a classic that is often associated with family fun during the festive season. Monopoly is the world’s most printed ‘currency’ with over 275 million games having been sold globally, and an estimated one billion people having played the property trading game that has been translated into 47 languages. Designed by Emma Noble, a Royal Mint coin designer, the reverse of…

Stampex 2025 This year’s Stampex is taking place 22–25 October at the Business Design Centre in London. In July, the PTS announced a competition to design the official postcard for the event, and Fran Searle has now been announced as the winner of that competition. Thousands of Fran’s design will be printed to enable visitors to pick up a free copy when they visit the show. The design, called ‘Penny (stamp) for your thoughts’ marks 185 years since the introduction of the first penny post, linking a popular phrase to one of the core purposes of sending a postcard; sharing thoughts and feelings. The design draws inspiration from the colours, typography and print style of the era, whilst incorporating nostalgic postal imagery of a traditional post box and a robin…

JERSEY Shipbuilding On 15 August, Jersey Post released an issue celebrating the rich history of shipbuilding on the island. During the 19th century, Jersey was a central hub for shipbuilding due to the need for vessels for global voyages, cod fishing, wartime and local trade. Jersey’s no-taxation policy and plentiful harbours provided an opportunity for the island to produce world-class, high-quality ships for a fraction of the cost of larger producers such as Britain. Illustrated by Martin Mörck, the set features line drawings of people, places and ships instrumental to the rise of this major island industry. Due to the success of the cod industry during the late 1700s, there was a high demand for ships. Unfortunately, due to the American revolution, Britain was unable to provide the ships required,…

Royal Mail are celebrating British steam locomotives and the development of UK railways, on the 200th anniversaries of the opening of the Stockton to Darlington Railway and the building of Locomotion No. 1 in 1825. Issued on 25 September, the set comprises six mint stamps, in vertical se-tenant pairs, depicting iconic British steam locomotives. Royal Mail worked closely with the National Railway Museum and Darlington Council on the issue. BACKGROUND The steam locomotive was the machine that enabled the Industrial Revolution to advance, moving goods and people around the UK like never before. The locomotive’s evolution owed a lot to Richard Trevithick and the father-and-son team of George and Robert Stephenson. Trevithick was the first to have a steam locomotive pull a train, while George Stephenson designed both locomotives and…

In philately, the true prize is not always the rarity of a stamp but the depth of the story it bears. One such story – part tragedy, part naval adventure and part postal curiosity – is told by a rather unassuming envelope dispatched from Zanzibar in August 1889 (Figure 1). At first glance, the cover presents itself simply enough: a France Colonies 25c black on rose, tied by a clear ‘ZANZIBAR 31 AOUT 89’ circular datestamp, addressed to Mr Silas Morton of Sharon, MA, USA. Paris Étranger and Boston transit marks, along with a neat Sharon receiver dated 2 September, complete the postal odyssey. Yet beneath this papered skin lies a six-page letter that brings us into the very heart of a violent episode in American diplomatic history. The author,…

I first began collecting the 3c Washington heads of 1851–57 after buying a cigar box full of the perforated stamps at the old City of London Auctions about 1980. I think they cost £30. For another £30, I could have bought a box of the imperforates. Even allowing for inflation they were a bargain by today’s prices. The 1851–57 3c Washington heads have much in common with the British Penny Reds. They paid the standard letter rate and were issued in large quantities, 362 million for the imperforates and 697 million for the perforates. The imperforates were issued on 1 July 1851 and superseded the 5c and 10c Franklins and Washingtons of 1847 (SG 1 and 2), which were the first federal issues of the USA. The 1847 pair were…

Thailand is extremely popular with European holiday makers who flock to the South East Asian country to enjoy the warm climate, the beautiful beaches and the tasty Thai cuisine. Thailand offers magnificent scenery and a rich culture. Thus, it comes as no surprise that the country is a favourite destination for sun-seeking Europeans. In fact, the tourist industry is of major importance to the Thai economy. Before the pandemic, Thailand welcomed some 40 million tourists each year. The tourist industry is obviously one of the country’s most important economic activities. On 26 December 2004, disaster struck Thailand in the form of a huge tsunami that ravaged some of the most popular low-lying coastal tourist resorts, resulting in a massive loss of life. According to the latest information, more than 8,200…

CINDERELLAS Mysterious Atlantis cover In ancient Greece, Plato mentions an island empire located somewhere in the west, writes Christer Brunström. It lost favour with the gods and was submerged into the sea. Plato’s story was, of course, completely fictional and part of a literary allegory. However, the lost empire of Atlantis has inspired many writers and artists over the years. In their literary and artistic works, they have discussed this very utopian dream of a lost empire. Exactly where Atlantis was located has been debated for centuries. Some have placed the lost island in the Mediterranean, others somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. In the early 1930s, a man called JL Mott took the Atlantis story one step further by simply resuscitating the old empire by turning it into a principality.…

Digitalisation at the British Museum As part of the British Museum’s programme to make its entire collection of eight million objects accessible to the public online, painstaking work is being undertaken to check entries on the museum’s online catalogue. The work, supported by the Headley Trust, is bringing new discoveries to the surface and helping the teams learn more about the collection. In the money and medals department, rare 17th-century copper Mughal coins from the reign of Jahangir, the fourth Mughal emperor from 1605–27, have been documented. The museum’s collection of Mughal coins was the first Asian series to receive a modern catalogue, by Stanley Lane-Poole in 1892. However, this catalogue omitted the lower value denominations in copper, in favour of silver and gold coins. The apparent absence of copper…

This year marks 60 years of self-government for the Cook Islands – an archipelago of 15 islands in the South Pacific surrounded by two million square kilometres of ocean. Following the passing of a motion on 26 July 1965 in its newly elected assembly calling for the islands to be proclaimed ‘self-governing in free association with New Zealand’, the Cook Islands became a self-governing nation on 4 August of that year. At the same time, the first cabinet was sworn in, with Albert Henry as premier (the title of prime minister came later). Marguerite Story became the first woman in the democratic world to hold the post of speaker of a parliament. To mark the anniversary, a series of commemorative coins has been released by CIT for the islands. The…

A set of 10 stamps, five 1st class and five 2nd class, celebrating the UK’s wild and domesticated breeds of duck was released by Royal Mail on 11 September. Of over 120 duck species globally, 22 are found in the UK, inhabiting the country’s rivers, marshes, ponds, lakes, inland wetlands, estuaries and coasts. Ducks’ ancestors evolved around 69 million years ago, and birds recognisable as modern ducks were already established 15–20 million years ago. The characteristics of modern ducks include webbed feet and waterproof feathers, flocking behaviour, highly patterned males in contrast to camouflaged females, who must evade predators while incubating eggs, and ducklings able to walk or swim behind their mothers soon after hatching. Beaks vary from the broad, spatula-like ‘duckbill’ to pointed and saw-toothed bills designed for grasping…

It was an event of the utmost tragedy from the early 20th century. The largest and supposedly safest ship of its time, the luxurious mail and passenger steamer RMS Titanic sank after colliding with an iceberg on the night of 14 to 15 April 1912 on its first voyage across the North Atlantic. A total of 1,514 passengers lost their lives. Today, relics and postal documents are among the most expensive items related to the disaster, which is the subject of numerous exhibitions and films. TITANIC’S FIRST AND LAST VOYAGE The luxury ship of the British shipping company White Star Line, celebrated as ‘unsinkable’, was the largest and most modern passenger ship of its time – a symbol of human progress, technical innovation and social change. The ship was built…

This third and final part of this short series will look at the post-1878 additions to the Inland Registration system, taking things up to the Edwardian period and the introduction of registration labels. ‘R’ MARKINGS In 1878, the UPU introduced a rule that required registered letters to UPU countries to display a prominent capital ‘R’ in the Roman alphabet, on either a label or a postmark (Figure 1). This was a sensible rule as it could stand for a word meaning ‘registered’ in many of the main European languages (and at this time, UPU members were mostly either countries in Europe or their current or former colonies). As the notice in Figure 1 indicates, handstamps with an ‘R in oval’ were issued to larger offices. They were originally meant for…

BUY AND SELL ON DECAMPE, MORE THAN 80 MILLION COLLECTABLES ARE WAITING FOR YOU!…

Offering gifts to the gods is a practice as old as recorded history. Hindus, Jains and Buddhists left jewellery, statues and clay tablets in temples to petition for divine assistance. In Judaism, a food sacrifice called a korban was made. Mediaeval Christians left small ex-voto figurines at shrines to represent the subject of their prayer. Even Islam, which rejects the idea of offering material goods to God to gain personal favour, encourages its followers to make zakat (charitable gifts). Times may change but beliefs persist, and when cultures adopted coins, they, too, became an intrinsic part of votive practice. That’s not so surprising. Coins are both valuable and represent, in real terms, a ‘transaction’. Leaving a coin at a sacred site could be considered the equivalent of a devotee buying…

I recently saw an auction lot of three Elizabeth II Imperial Service Medals (Figure 1). Details of only one recipient was given – Colin Richard Kemp. I have several of these medals, including a few awarded to people sharing my surname. I contacted the auction house, which told me the other recipients’ names, one to another Kemp and the other to a man named Leat. That was enough to prompt me into researching all three men to see if they were linked, and when I had finished, I submitted a successful bid. I started by checking the London Gazettes for the Imperial Service Medals and found all three men. The 30 March 1984 issue shows Colin Richard Kemp was lately a technical officer in the London region of the General…