Stamp Collector

1▶ 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

Publisher: Matt Hill Editor: Matt Hill matthewh@warnersgroup.co.uk Contributors: David Bailey, Christer Brünstrom, Ed Fletcher, David Gwynn, Paula Hammond, Devlan Kruck, Stuart Leigh, Eva Mealing, Richard Stenlake, Richard Zimmerman. Contributors: Da

We hope you enjoy your copy of Coin Collector magazine. If you don’t collect coins, then please pass the issue on to a colleague who does, but if you do dabble in numismatics, we’re giving you the chance to subscribe to Coin Collector for just £2 for

This month’s guide to joint stamp issues highlights how countries around the world have come together to celebrate mutual achievements, mark common anniversaries, and highlight cooperation and friendship that crosses cultures, borders and time-zones.

The conflict in Ukraine has affected millions of people, and the response to the humanitarian crisis has prompted a response from around the world, including from post offices and stamp collecting communities. The most striking philatelic addition to

The United Nations Postal Administration recently issued a definitive stamp to commemorate the birth anniversary of Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan social, environmental and political activist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. The s

Royal Mail have revealed the winners, and subsequent stamp designs, of their ‘Covid Heroes’ competition, which challenged young people to design a stamp highlighting the amazing work played by key workers and others during the pandemic. In Spring 202

The Smithsonian National Postal Museum’s new exhibition ‘Baseball: America’s Home Run’ explores America’s national pastime through the unique lens of stamps and mail. On view from 9 April until 5 January_2025 at the museum in Washington DC, the exhib

A new exhibition at The Postal Museum reveals ground-breaking technology that revolutionised Britain and the post forever. The new temporary exhibition ‘Sorting Britain: The Power of Postcodes’ runs until 1 January 2023, and delves into the Post Offi

Postcodes are part of everyday life. They affect everything from communications and identity to house prices and care. Postcodes were trialled in Norwich in 1959, but their story goes back further. The exhibition explains the early postal districts o

The price of Jersey stamps went up recently due to ‘significant challenges’, the cost of sending a local letter is now 56p, a letter to the UK, IOM or other Channel Islands rose to 82p, while letters to Europe and the rest of the world now cost £1.20

The 2022 Congress Medal has been awarded to Michael J Roberts of Huddersfield. Mike’s philatelic life can be traced back to his fourth birthday when he started collecting. He joined Huddersfield Philatelic Society aged eight, and four years later was

The Royal Philatelic Society London has released the second edition of the book Guide to the Postal Stationery of Iraq by Clayton Rubec and Professor Akthem Al-Manaseer. According to the Society, the first 2016 edition has been one of the Royal’s bes

Mother Theresa, limited edition of 100, signed - £50 As seen on United Nations $1.80 definitive stamp, issued August 2021 Czeslaw Slania, limited edition of 100, signed - £50 As seen on Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Denmark miniature sheets, issued A

Royal Mail have increased the price of a 1st class stamp by 10p to 95p and the price of a 2nd class stamp by 2p to 68p. An official statement explained: ‘Royal Mail has considered these pricing changes very carefully in light of the long term structu

Two stamps from the Faroe Islands provide stunning views of the Northern lights (Aurora Borealis), beautiful waves of colour that light up the night sky and are caused by solar winds and flares. The two stamp designs, featuring photographs of the nat

The second stamp in a series created from previously issued Guernsey and Alderney stamps and mini sheets, and depicting elements of sustainable forest management, has been released. Guernsey’s ‘Heart of the Forest’ quartet stamp series has been creat

PostNL, the postal authority for The Netherlands, recently issued the second set in their ‘Typically Dutch’ series, which highlights ‘five sports in which the Dutch excel’. If you’re racking your brain trying to think of Dutch sporting champions, the

SEE THE LATEST NEW STAMPS AT: WWW.ALLABOUTSTAMPS.CO.UK/STAMP-GUIDES The Isle of Man Post Office recently issued a set of six stamps focussing on the major public works by the sculptor and printmaker Michael Sandle RA. Michael was brought up and studi

Royal Mail’s footballthemed stamp set serves as an ‘extended highlights’ package of this long-running competition, though some supporters will be more pleased with what is recalled than others. You can’t please everyone, and the design of the stamps

PRICES INCLUDE BUYER’S PREMIUM UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED Cherrystone Auctions recently offered a horizontal pair of 1930 ‘Miss Columbia’ Newfoundland overprints, 50c on 36c green, which were described as being ‘post office fresh’ and ‘well centred’. Th

The recent ‘Worldwide & Great Britain’ sale at Cavendish Philatelic Auctions saw a Cape of Good Hope pre-stamp cover attract interest. The 1818 cover featured the rare oval ‘CAPE OF GOOD HOPE/PACKETLETTER’ datestamp and was sent to London (Huth & Co)

Germany, Airmail ‘Südamerika Fahrt’ 1930 MNH (with cert.) SOLD FOR £1,584 Ceylon, 100 Rs brownish-grey KGV MLH SG359 (with cert.) SOLD FOR £1,441 China, Red Gards series 1968 MNH SOLD FOR £1,108 Poland, 5h green Austrian stamp overprinted ‘POCZTA, PO

Despite its ‘postage stamp’ size – a mere two-and-ahalf square miles in area – Gibraltar has played some intermittent but dramatic roles in British history. An early tenuous link might be made between the British Isles and the Rock of Gibraltar via P

In the early 1900s large international exhibitions were organised throughout Europe and North America to showcase new inventions and economic progress generally, writes Christer Brunström. These huge events attracted millions of visitors eager to lea

The story of a stray dog that wandered into a New York post office in 1888 has continued to capture the imagination of Americans ever since, giving them a glimpse into the postal history of the USA and providing a reminder of the importance of commun

A meeting of the Great Britain Philatelic Society will be held on 23 April at the Royal Philatelic Society, 15 Abchurch Lane, London EC4N 7BW from 11am. The morning session will consist of a display from Ray Simpson FRPSL & Karl Louis FRPSL entitled

The U.S. Postal Service has honoured author and illustrator Shel Silverstein with a Forever stamp featuring artwork from his book, The Giving Tree. Published in 1964 by Harper & Row, the book is about a friendship between a motherly tree and a boy. A

Mermaids are a popular theme with postcard collectors, writes Richard Stenlake, although it is the comic cards that are the favourites with predictable jokes, some too rude for a family magazine like this. This is an inexpensive topic with cards cost

As regular readers will know, February saw the Business Design Centre in Islington host the London 2022 International Stamp Exhibition – originally planned as London 2020 but postponed due to the pandemic, writes Stuart Leigh. In the past we have see

1 When QEII issued her first GB definitives in 1952, how much did it cost to post the lowest rate letter, weighing up to 2 ounces? And what colour was the stamp? 2 On the GB U.P.U. Anniversary 1s brown stamp of 1949 what were the objects that appeare

It’s a sad story if you start digging around the history of the Congo Free State (1885-1908) and there aren’t many, if any, happy endings to lift the gloom of atrocities perpetrated in the colony under the personal rule of King Leopold II. It’s easy

It’s staggering how little has been written in philatelic terms about a man who collected stamps at the highest level and even appeared on stamps, writes Devlan Kruck. King Carol II is best remembered as the King of Romania between 1930 and 1940, who

The sixtieth Spanish National Philatelic Exhibition, Exfilna 2022, is scheduled to take place in September in the city of Irún, in the Basque Country, on the border between Spain and France. The website of the exhibition was recently launched, announ

When the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie proposed, at its 1935 Brussels Conference, that member nations should set aside one day each year and call it Stamp Day, the motion received enthusiastic applause and vociferous support. Scores of Euro

In theory, the Panama Canal was such a simple idea. The Isthmus of Panama was just a thin strip of land separating two mighty oceans. If you dug a canal across it, you’d save yourself the long, hazardous journey around the Cape, or the even worse one

One of the previously neglected areas of philately is that of stamps used for the collection of taxes. This had been much more prominent a subject before the First World War when an increasing number of new issues of postage stamps caused collectors

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1. Imagine, you drive into a Petrol Station, with fuel at 150p per litre it is expensive, so you limit your fuel purchase by putting £50 worth fuel into your tank. Then you go in to pay, and the cashier asks you for £65 … how can that be? Yes, £15 (3

THE INTRIGUING CASE OF A MURDER IN PARIS ‘There were ten glossy green stamp albums, each containing pages of stamps set out by country alphabetically, some with one or two pages, others more extensive. The exceptions were found in three albums which

Dear Very Important Philatelist, Is this the end of postage? About, two weeks ago as I type, Royal Mail (The British Post Office) issued an unanticipated major announcement. I don’t wish to be alarmist, but this affects many, even most of us – theref

Austria Post have a long track record of issuing unusual stamps, and their response to the global pandemic has been typically innovative. First we had the coronavirus stamp made of toilet paper, as panic buying gripped many parts of the world; next w