Stamp
Category
Ephemera
Date
Unknown
Materials
paper, ink, glue
Measurements
23 x 20 mm
Order this imageCollection
Mr Straw's House, Nottinghamshire
NT 748711.38
Caption
King George V’s stamp collection was the product of the Monarch’s passion for philately earning him the unofficial nickname, “The King of Philately”. Patriotically, the King’s collection focused on stamps from the British Empire housed in 328 “Red Albums”, each of around 60 pages. Later Monarchs would add their own albums to the Royal Philatelic Collection, including George VI’s “Blue Albums and Queen Elizabeth II’s “Green Albums”. In 1893, while still Duke of York, George V was elected honorary vice-president of what became the Royal Philatelic Society of London. As a wedding gift later that year, fellow society members gifted George with an album of nearly 1,500 postage stamps. George duly expanded this collection with a number of valuable purchases, in 1905 he set a new record price for a single stamp when he purchased a Mauritius two pence blue for £1,450. This purchase led to a famous exchange. Upon hearing of the sale, a courtier asked the prince if he had heard "that some damned fool had paid as much as £1,400 for one stamp". "Yes," replied George. "I was that damned fool!". George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. He was the second son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), and the grandson of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria. From the time of his birth, he was third in the line of succession behind his father and his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale. From 1877 to 1891, George served in the Royal Navy, until the unexpected death of his elder brother in early 1892 put him directly in line for the throne. On the death of his grandmother in 1901, George's father became King-Emperor of the British Empire, and George was created Prince of Wales. He succeeded his father in 1910. He was the only Emperor of India to be present at his own Delhi Durbar.
Summary
Postage stamp - green printed stamp depicting head of George V.in an oval frame with decorative patterns to lower left and right. The words 'POSTAGE' and ''REVENUE' are written across the top with a crown between them. Below the head is printed 'HALF PENNY'. There is no postal mark visible. The stamp is on page 7 'BRITISH EMPIRE GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND', third stamp on first row.The stamp is kept in 'THE WORLD POSTAGE STAMP ALBUM' with blue book boards and two world globes front centre in black and white surrounded by a series of world stamp images. On the back in the centre printed in black are two crossed flags depicting the British flag above a globe. The album contains a hundred and forty five pages, plus an additional page added at the rear of 'United South Africa' taken from another album (record 748711.1).
Provenance
Straw collection bequeathed to The National Trust on the death in 1990 of William Straw.