Victoria

Have you seen ITV’s Victoria programme? Well now seems as good a time as any to take a fresh look at some Victorian stamps. Victorian being the key word here or perhaps even a diversion on my part. For below we see a stamp of Queen Victoria from…2011

 

Victoria (SG 3228)

 

It is part of a Kings and Queens series that was released as presentation packs. The series features the monarchy through the ages including the Tudors, Stuart and Windsors. This set focuses on the House of Hanover.

The House of Hanover Presentation Pack (SG 3223-3229)

There are stamps featuring King George I all the way through to Queen Victoria. There is even a penny black stamp and one of the first Prime Minister Robert Walpole. I know there are a lot of avid Victorian stamp collectors out there but I wonder if the 2011 set may have slipped your notice? (Yes…I know, not Victorian…but ‘of Victoria’!) It is a well presented pack and looks great along side the other presentation packs in the Kings and Queens series.

Oh Canada

I have just started a new collection almost by accident. Last week I stumbled across a bag of world stamps that I had forgotten to sort or file.

Having enthusiastically waded through the bag and sorted the stamps into neat(ish) alphabetical piles, I noticed one country seemed to dominate.

A pile of Canada stamps…sorted with enthusiasm!

Yes. Canada had the numerical advantage. There was no good adding these to one of my existing albums. They just wouldn’t fit. So I had to get a new book and create the brand new ‘Canada’ album. There were some real gems in the pile. Including five Victoria’s.

Queen Victoria Canadian stamp issued between 1898 and 1902

 

There was a healthy Elizabeth II collection, including one of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh before her coronation  (as the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh).

 

I was also drawn to the wonderful selection of nature and wildlife stamps. I have managed to get a few sets going and look forward to completing them soon.

I have really enjoyed putting this album together and it has certainly sparked my enthusiasm for collecting more Canadian stamps. I have ordered some George VI Canadian stamps and look forward to adding those. Perhaps the priority should be finishing those wildlife and nature sets. Great fun.

The excitement of receiving stamps

It is always great fun receiving stamps in the post. Even now, as a grown up, (almost), it is always a thrill to receive new stamps. 

It is not just the stamps IN the envelopes though, it is often the stamps ON the envelopes. 

Most dealers are kind enough to send interesting stamps on the envelope rather thank just the latest release or getting the envelope franked. I have received some right gems recently, including the example below. 

Four armada stamps! I mean, how kind was that? Those will definitely be finding their way into my collection. 

It is also interesting how different dealers and sellers package their stamps. Most send there’s in a small envelope with the stamps carefully placed on black card with a protective sheet. But I have received more inventive methods. Slotting the stamps between two pieces of heavily celotaped card is another preferred option and the bubble wrap sometimes gets a run out. 

I don’t think I will ever tire of receiving stamps. So…here’s to more deliveries! 

Portraits

My latest delivery of stamps has just arrived and it is the portrait selection from 2006 (SG 2640-2649). They were released to mark the 150th anniversary of the National Portrait Gallery.  Check out the slideshow below:

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Paintings of some of the most influential people in the world are featured. I have managed to acquire the first day of issue 10 stamp set and it was well worth the effort. The detail is extraordinary.

The portraits are:

‘Sir Winston Churchill’ by Walter Sickert

‘Sir Joshua Reynolds’ (self-portrait)

‘T.S. Eliot’ by Patrick Heron

‘Emmeline Pankhurst’ by Georgina Agnes Brackenbury

Virginia Woolf (photo) by George Charles Beresford

Bust of Sir Walter Scott by Sir Francis Leggatt Chantry

‘Mary Seacole’ by Albert Charles Challen

‘William Shakespeare’ attributed to John Taylor

‘Dame Cicely Saunders’ by Catherine Goodman

‘Charles Darwin’ by John Collier

150th Anniversary of National Portrait Gallery (SG 2640-2649)

If you like portraits and you like stamps…well, this will be the thing for you.

 

Music makers making stamps

Ralph Vaughan Williams, one of the great British composers was celebrated with his own stamp in 1972, marking 100 years since his birth.

Ralph Vaughan Williams and Score, Anniversaries 1972 (SG 903)

This is a used stamp that I acquired in a mixed pack about six months ago. It is part of a three stamp 1972 anniversaries series which includes Tutankamun and the coastguards. Yes…all a little random I know. They all mark special anniversaries for each subject. In the case of Tutankamun, 1972 marked 50 years since the discovery and it was 150 years since HM Coastguard was founded.

Statuette of Tutankhamun (SG 901)

19th-century Coastguard (SG 902)

I highlight Vaughan Williams because, other than being a huge fan of his works, he is one of few British composers to make it on to a stamp. Benjamin Britten achieved the feat in 2013 (SG 3459) as part of a Great Britons series which also featured Bill Shankly and Richard Dimbleby.

However, since starting this post, I have stumbled across this First Day Cover in my collection from 1985.

1985 FDC, European Music Year, British Composers (SG 1282-1285)

Edward Elgar, Fredrick Delius, Gustav Holst and George Fredric Handel all feature here. A closer look reveals some clever illustrations depicting some of the composers’ most famous works.

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I am on the lookout for more stamps with composers. Anyone know of any other stamps featuring musical maestros?  If so, get in touch.

King George VI

Let me begin with some of my favourite stamps. King George VI…

King George VI 1937-47 (SG 462-475) & King George VI Queen Elizabeth Coronation (SG 461)

I have always been a fan of the King George VI stamps. Perhaps more so than any other British stamps. The clarity of the stamps always impress me and the colour scheme from green to scarlet, plum and brown is simple and warm. The most striking for me is the 7d green (SG 471). Compared to the others, the brightness is evident.

7d green (SG 471)

I have included the coronation stamp in this collection. Following the abdication of Edward VIII on 11 December 1936, the Post Office faced a race against time to get the King George VI coronation stamps ready. They had a deadline of just five months. Designs were submitted by Eric Gill and Edmund Dulac, with the king preferring the latter’s effort (although there were some alterations).

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Coronation (SG 461)

Interestingly, Dulac also designed the set issued to commemorate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II but he died before their release.