Stamps of Great Britain
Our collection comprises registration sheets, essays (trial stamps) and proofs of all stages British of stamp production from 1840 to the present day. We also hold selected metal dies and printing plates.
From 1924 the collections include all artwork, adopted and unadopted for all issued and some un-issued stamps. Material is constantly added to this collections as we receive around 500 pieces of stamp artwork from Royal Mail every year.
Also included in our collection are stamps for overseas territories produced under the auspices of the British Post Office. This includes some artwork and essays. We also hold some material on stamps for British colonies. These were produced by the Royal Mint or the Inland Revenue at Somerset House.
The final element of our GB stamps is the De la Rue material. This contains the correspondence and day books of the stamp printers De La Rue to about 1940. These are available in microfilm format in our Search Room.
Our stamps of Great Britain are divided up by reign into:
- Queen Victoria stamps
- Edward VII stamps
- George V stamps
- Edward VIII stamps
- George VI stamps
- Elizabeth II stamps up to 1964
- Elizabeth II stamps 1965-1970
Stamp Artwork Project
The Stamp artwork project encompasses stamp issues from the reigns of George V, Edward VIII, George VI and Elizabeth II, and covers the entire process of each issue, from submitted artwork, through essays to the issued stamp.
Visit the main page or jump straight to these sections:- British Empire Exhibition (1924)
- Postal Union Congress (1929)
- Silver Jubilee, 1910-1935 (1935)
- Proposed Memorial to King George V (1936)
- King Edward VIII Accession issue (1936)
- Proposed King Edward VIII Coronation issue (1936)
- King George VI Coronation issue (1937)
- Centenary of first Adhesive Postage Stamps (1940)
- Proposed Anglo-French issue (1940)
- Victory (1946)
- Proposed issue for the Wedding of Princess Elizabeth (1947)
- Royal Silver Wedding (1948)
- Channel Islands Liberation (1948)
- Proposed issue for the Birth of the King's First Grandchild (1948)
- Universal Postal Union (1949)
- Festival of Britain (1951)
Access
The best way to see all our philatelic and postal history collections is by appointment with the Curator of Philately, Douglas Muir. To make an appointment, please call 020 7239 2570 or email info@postalheritage.org.uk.
