As part of their buyout of Frank Godden at the end of 2009, Stanley Gibbons has undertaken an extensive project to source suppliers and manufacturers of the highest quality in order to bring the luxury album producer’s products back to the market.
A readers email late last night alerted us to a fantastic single word internet domain name that is available to register at a very affordable price.
It is never nice to feel the need to point fingers at one particular country but I have to wonder what percentage of online scams are being hatched in China? As a webmaster I know the proportion of bots and hacking attempts that involve chinese internet addresses is high and it seems an equally big number of online shopping scams also involve a China connection.
The former manager of London's St Paul's Cathedral gift shop has been handed eight months in jail for defrauding her employer by ordering stamps in to stock and then selling them herself privately.
February 12th was International Darwin Day and the BPMA made a great blog post highlighting Royal Mail stamps that have celebrated the life and work of Charles Darwin and, along the way, making him one of the most commemorated non-royal individuals ever on British stamps.
The 399 Strand address is known the world over as the home of Stanley Gibbons, the leading name in British and world philately. Work has now started to expand the retail space to offer better, more accessible displays with dedicated seating for stamp viewings and new interactive information points which they say will make for an exciting new shopping experience.
Jersey Post has issued a glow in the dark stamp on Febryary 9th 2010 as part of a set of stamps featuring children's books.
Paul Fraser Collectibles billed the sale of the 1976 Sweet Briar Rose with value missing as 'the most important stamp error of the 20th Century' as only three examples of the stamp displaying this amazing error are known to exist.
Philatelic Auctioneers David Feldman say they are having more auctions on more different dates than usual during 2010 in order to to accommodate many wonderful properties that have been entrusted to them. The schedule starts with an April 13th-16th sale which will feature important GB Line Engraved lots, the Severn Collection of Victorian Imprimaturs, Houses of Parliament Envelopes and Victorian Registered covers etc.
Established in February 2002, the Internet Philatelic Traders Association (IPDA) was formed by a group of like minded individuals who wanted to help stamp collectors interact with each other and online stamp dealers with an increased degree of confidence and safety. Following five years of growth, the IPDA was incorporated in the US state of Florida during February 2007.
The British Postal Museum and Archive (BPMA) website hosts a 'Wiki' that allows any user to add and edit pages to help build an extensive knowledgebase about Britain's philatelic and postal history for the benefit of all.
RMS St Helena is the last dedicated Royal Mail ship and she leaves the UK for months at a time to make her way around the South Atlantic calling at Cape Town, Tristan da Cunha, St Helena and Ascension Island. It would be an understatement to say the ship is a lifeleine to British Oceanic island communities, particularly following Gordon Brown's Government decision to shelve the building of a new airport on the island of St Helena.
The Joburg 2010 International Stamp Show is scheduled for October 27th-31st October ar the Sandton Convention Centre.
Recently catalogued artwork for many commemmorative postage stamp issues during the reign of king George VI are now available to view and research online courtesy of The British Postal Museum & Archive (BPMA).
A twitter by the BPMA has tipped us off about a forthcoming book being published in association with Shire Books. Simply titled Post Offices, the book will provide an historical overview of the development of British post offices, from the ‘letter receiving house’ to its modern incarnation on town high-streets.
Just before midnight on April 14th 1912, just four days in to the ill fated ship's maiden voyage, Titanic hit an iceberg causing her to sink some two hours and forty minutes later during the early hours of April 15th 1912. As the centenary of the sinking approaches we can expect many stamps and covers to be issued commemorating the event.
A new display in the London, Sugar and Slavery gallery at the Museum of London Docklands - itself a former sugar warehouse - reveals how the abolition of slavery has been documented and commemorated on everyday postage stamps from around the world.
A noteworthy exhibition is going to open at the Guildhall Art Gallery in London that will focus on the philatelic passions of King George V, the so called 'philatelist king'.
Issued on the 21st of July 1987, a set of four Royal Mail Stamps featured various heraldic arms from Scotland to mark the 300th anniversary of the revival of the Most Ancient Order and Most Noble Order of the Thistle.
My Google alerts sent me yet another version of a common mistake made about the definition of a Philatelist today. Unfortunately - usually despite best intentions - misinformation can be all too common on the internet.
Perfins are stamps that have the initials or an identifying emblem perforated in to them. Once of little interest to collectors, things have now changed significantly, and perfins - sometimes also known as 'spifs' or 'branded stamps' - are now the focus of many serious collectors.
From time to time even the most experienced stamp collector wil run across a philatelic term or phrase they don't properly understand. This happened to me not so long ago when I viewed an online auction that described a decent stamp as being a "sleeper".
The huge potential of the internet has created a once impossible opportunity for families to find long lost documents relating to their ancestors within postal history collections, postcard collections, dealer stocks and the online auctions for covers and old documents. Are people sufficiently motivated to help unlock this potential?
Railway trains are an ever popular thematic stamp subject worldwide and this superb Royal Mail issue of six postage stamps featured some of the UK's finest preserved steam locomotive trains based on photographs by John Wildgoose has proved no exception.
The final ever runnings of Royal Mail Travelling Post Offices took place on the night of January 8th/9th 2004. In all there were nineteen possible TPO postmarks to collect for those runs and here we provide illustrations of them all.
A book by Colin Searle, Honorary Secretary of the Association of British Philatelic Societies Ltd. The book lists each of the Philatelic Congress events and gives examples of the souvenirs produced in addition to listing papers presented, and in many cases, photographs.
