Stamp Artwork from the reign of George VI now available on our online catalogue
Newly catalogued Stamp Artwork for commemmorative stamp issues in the reign of George VI are now available online.
The British Postal Museum & Archive (BPMA) is pleased to announce the digitisation of commemoratives from the reign of George VI. From today it is possible to view over 400 records of commemorative stamps from the reign of King George VI via the BPMA's online catalogue.
Among the commemoratives are stamps produced to mark the centenary of the Penny Black. The Post Office had planned to celebrate this with special, perhaps even bi-coloured, stamps. The stamps were to be 1½ times the size of definitives. The chosen design, by H L Palmer, featured a 'dual head' of Queen Victoria and King George VI. Further work was undertaken and essays produced; however, with the outbreak of the war, the stamps were abandoned.
In December 1939, Palmer was asked to revisit his design of balance and the stamps were finally issued on 6 May 1940, and overprinted for Tangier and Morocco Agencies.
Other examples include stamps commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), which effectively came into being on 9 October 1874, as well as stamps commemorating the liberation of the Channel Islands.
There are also nearly 200 registration sheets from the reign of George V, including Mackennal Profiles. The remaining George V registration sheets will be released online in the near future.
Follow the links below to see each special commemmorative issue:
1937 Coronation issue
1940 Stamp Centenary issue
1940 Proposed Anglo-French issue
1946 Victory issue
1947 Royal Wedding issue
1948 Royal Silver Wedding issue
1948 Channel Islands Liberation issue
1948 Birth of the King's first Grandchild issue
1949 Universal Postal Union issue
1951 Festival of Britain issue
Douglas Muir, Curator of Philately at the BPMA commented:
"This is part of an exciting project to make our unique collection of GB philatelic material available to everybody. Definitives from the reign of George VI will also go online in the near future; look out for announcements on our website".
