The BC Philatelic Society had a special guest at today's weekly meeting, Michael Sefi, the keeper of Queen Elizabeth's stamp collection. He has been in Canada for 5 weeks, setting up a display from the collection at the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec.

He was in BC with his wife visiting friends on Quadra Island and was approached by Lillian Au from Canada Post to speak about the Royal Collection to the BC Phil. Originally asked for a 45 minute presentation, he ended up speaking to a rapt full house for almost 2 hours.

Michael Sefi, by profession an accountant, was also a stamp collector and became a consultant on professional collections. He became Keeper of the Royal Collection in 2003 and spends about 20 hours a week at St James's Palace with 2 associates, planning displays around the UK and around the world. Since the Queen's "annus horribilus" in 1996, Buckingham Palace has placed more importance on having the Royal Family be more accessible to the public, so items from

Stamp collecting was extremely popular in the nineteenth century, attracting numerous enthusiasts, including the princes of the Royal Family. Queen Victoria’s second son, Alfred, was a keen philatelist, as was George, Duke of York, who would become George V at the death of his father, Edward VII.

He managed to form the habit with Royal Mail to send him sheets and proofs of every new stamp automatically. Colonies and Dominions also sent him sheets and proof samples, so the collection grew rapidly during the 20's. Sometimes this put His Majesty into a unique position and resulted in his collecting some unique items.

King George V's son, Edward VIII was not at all interested in collecting and actually toyed with the idea of selling the collection, but was persuaded not to.

The King was guided by Sir John Wilson, Keeper of the Collection and a renowned philatelist. Throughout his reign, he ensured that the Collection was enriched with the artwork and proofs of all stamps bearing his image.

In the summer of 1939, upon the initiative of George VI, the Royal Philatelic Collection was stored in the vaults of Lloyds Bank in London, to protect it from bombing during the Second World War. It remained there until the end of the war.

Today, the tradition lives on, and the Royal Philatelic Collection continues to grow as successive monarchs take an interest in it.

Over a century has gone by since the founding of this phenomenal collection. Its preservation is of great interest to Queen Elizabeth II, who is involved in the approval of every new stamp bearing her image. One of the remarkable pieces acquired during her reign is the Kirkcudbright cover, mailed the first day of issue and as a block of 10, the largest-known block of Penny Blacks used.

Since she succeeded to the throne, The Queen has overseen the development of the Royal Philatelic Collection. By encouraging the presentation of selected pieces in major philatelic exhibitions, she also makes the Collection known and accessible to a wide audience in Great Britain and around the world.

However, most of the British population could not afford to mail a letter, and this slowed economic development. The rate charged was based on the number of pages and the distance covered. In addition, the postage was paid by the recipient, who could refuse the letter.

In 1837, Rowland Hill was a prominent educator and campaigner for a radical postal reform. He recommended the adoption of a uniform, prepaid rate of one penny for all letters of less than half an ounce sent to destinations within Great Britain.

This meant that the sender would pay the postage, a revolutionary concept at the time.

The reform was intended to reduce costs, increase the volume of mail and eventually make the postal service profitable. It was especially popular with merchants and businessmen, who had the most to gain from reduced postal rates.

The rest of the world followed Britain’s example. It was the most important innovation in the history of postal communication.

With the implementation of the postal reform, a national competition was launched on August 23, 1839 for the design of an innovative way of indicating that the sender had paid the postage. The idea of a postage stamp had not yet been conceived. Although the word stamp was used, it could refer to a strip of paper, an envelope or an adhesive label.

Over 2,600 people answered the call. Some suggestions were farfetched, but others were ingenious. Despite their aesthetic and visionary qualities, none resembled the Penny Black issued in 1840. However, the competition did make one thing clear to Rowland Hill: what was required was an adhesive paper stamp bearing Queen Victoria’s profile.

Most of the competition entries are now lost. Her Majesty’s collection, the most complete, contains over 100 of them.

The first postage stamp in history bears the image of Queen Victoria and was issued on May 6, 1840. Called the Penny Black because of its colour and face value, this gem is very sought-after, as it was issued only for a brief period.

Since it was evident that another stamp was needed, for letters weighing over half an ounce, the Twopenny Blue was also introduced. The two stamps differ only in their colour and face value. As the originator of postage stamps, Great Britain has the privilege of being the only country that does not display its name on its stamps.

The history of the production of the Penny Black is traced here through exceptional pieces from Her Majesty’s collection.

“To make you stare I send you a Queen’s Head the Day before it is in Penny circulation. Tomorrow it will be obliterated by a Post Office stamp. What a Pity that they should make Victoria Gummy like an old woman without teeth as I am!”

This is the only uncancelled cover of the Penny Black known to exist.

The first Penny Blacks were a huge success, but soon problems became apparent.

Rowland Hill noted in his journal that some people managed to erase the cancel and reuse the stamp. The black ink of the Penny Black proved more resistant and more durable than the red ink of the cancel.

To find the ideal ink for the stamp and the cancel, trials were done in various colours. The colour and obliteration trials enabled Rowland Hill to select a red ink for the new stamp and a black one for the cancel.

Introduced in February 1841, the Penny Red was a resounding success.

The Twopenny Blue was also improved. A blue ink developed during the trials made the stamp more resistant to forgery.

A winning pair, these two stamps remained in use for 38 years.

The complete show at the Museum of Civilization.

The web site of the BC Philatelic Society.

The Royal Philatelic Collection at the Queen's web site.

Newsletter #178
Canadian Recording Artists

5630 Dunbar St. at 41st Ave.
Vancouver, BC, V6N 1W7

Phone: 604-684-4613

e-mail: collect@direct.ca

site design and maintenance © 2008 WhateverWerx Multimedia