The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 27, July 4, 2004, Article 7

NEW BOOK: THE QUEEN'S STAMPS

  One new book offered by The Philatelic Bibliopole is
  "The Queen's Stamps, The Authorised History of the Royal
  Philatelic Collection,"  by Nicholas Courtney.  It may be
  interesting reading for numismatic researchers as an insight
  into that parallel world of philately.  We call numismatics
  "the hobby of kings," but this one collection has more
  royalty associated with it than most coin collections can
  boast.

  "Housed in St James's Palace, London, the Royal Philatelic
  Collection contains some of the rarest stamps in the world.
  This history describes how the Collection grew from the
  inauguration of the Penny Postage under Queen Victoria,
  through six successive monarchs to the present day.

  The first Royal collector was Prince Alfred, Duke of
  Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria, whose career
  in the Royal Navy, from the age of fourteen, enabled him to
  collect foreign issues from all parts of the world.  However in
  1900, after years of extravagant living, he was forced to sell
  the collection to this brother, Prince of Wales (Edward VII)
  who passed it on to his son Prince George (later George V),
  already a passionate collector. At the same time, Edward VII
  arranged for his son to be sent the corner blocks of four,
  essays and proofs of all subsequent new issues from the
  Post Office and the Crown Agents for the Colonies.

  The story of the formation and continuation of The World's
  Greatest Stamp Collection. A beautiful book, color illustrations,
  but it is in no way just a "picture book" as it has much
  background information on both the collection and the actual
  stamp production. The text is well worth reading, enjoyable,
  informative and scholarly.

  2004, 337+14 pages, cloth with dj, published £25 plus transit,
  $39.95"  http://www.pbbooks.com/gbqstext.htm

  [QUIZ QUESTION:  who can list some of the famous
  royal numismatists of history?]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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