Collecting Stamps: The 1924/25 Empire Exhibition Stamps
	The British Empire Exhibition, held at Wembley in Middlesex close to London during 1924 & 1925, was officially opened by King George V on 23rd April 1924. At the time the British Empire consisted of 58 countries and only Gibraltar and Gambia were not represented. At a cost at the time of £12 million this was the largest ever exhibition staged anywhere in the world and over 27 million visitors attended while it was open. Stamps commemorating the exhibition were issued for both 1924 and 1925. The stamps all featured similar designs to that shown here. The penny value was red and penny halfpenny value brown. The first day of issue for the 1924 stamps was 23 April 1924 - the day King George V opened the exhibition - and the 1925 printing was issued on 9 May 1925. Apart from envelopes posted by visitors many different letter cards, postcards and souvenirs were produced commemorating the exhibition. Collectors today tend to refer to the stamp sets as being either the "1924 Wembley" or "1925 Wembley" commemorative issues.
Around 25 different special postmarks, many featuring the lion logo, were used during the exhibition in both years. The most commonly seen examples are those used on regular mail. The parcel handstamps, registered marks and specific exhibitor postal markings can be very scarce. First Day Covers for the stamps are very collectable and, depending on condition and postmarks, prices can easily exceed a £1,000 for the most desirable. The 1925 stamps on FDC are very much more valuable than the 1924 issue as many collectors at the time did not recognise the new 1925 stamp as a proper new issue meaning far fewer were serviced with FDI postmarks. Collectors should note that the stamps were only sold at the exhibition which means examples bearing first day of issue postmarks from other parts of the UK away from the exhibition (or London) are extremely rare. A number of forgeries bearing Rhyl postmarks on the 1924 issue turned up in the 1970s so excercise caution. Several postal stationery items - including pre-paid postcards, envelopes and letter cards - were produced for both years of the exhibition. While First Day of use cards are very collectable, the 1925 stationery items are far more valuable than the 1924. The stamps for both years were recess printed by Waterlow & Sons. In 1924 the stamps were normally line or comb perforated whereas only comb perforated examples are found for the 1925 stamps.

New GB postage stamps still influenced by Arnold Machin

Years after his passing in 1999, Arnold Machin is still making a huge impact on British stamp design. Perhaps the most interesting use of his iconic Queen's head design is on the latest Post and Go stamps which many collectors believe will prove to be the start of a new generation of postage stamps where services and values are overprinted at the point of sale on pre-printed stamp designs.

It therefore seems fitting that the centenary of Arnold Machin's birth was the subject of Britain's first ever commemorative Post & Go stamps.

British Stamp Auctions Ending Soon

These online stamp auctions will end very shortly - More details

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Printing The London 2012 Olympics Definitive Stamps

Did You Know?

Did you know:  Cinderella philately is the study of labels or other items that have the appearance of postage stamps but are in fact not official stamps. These could be Easter or Christmas Seals, propaganda stamps, souvenir issues or private issues from places like Lundy.

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The 1840 Penny Black - The Worlds Oldest Postage Stamp

The Penny Black was produced in sheets of 240 employing the Line Engraved print process. The plates used for 1d blacks were numbered 1a, 1b and then plates 2 through to 11. Skilled collectors can benefit from a knowledge of the identification characteristics of scarcer plate printings before scanning the online auctions. Plate 11, for example, had a very short period of use meaning a 1d Black from that plate is many times more valuable than the equivalent stamps printed using the more common plates.

Take a look at the live online penny black auctions ending soon.

British Stamp & Philately Sites From Our Directory

Centenary of the First UK Aerial Post

We wrote some time ago about the first UK Aerial Post in 1911 and how the centenary of the event was approaching. As expected the Royal Mail marked the centenary on 9th September 2011 with a special stamp issue featuring photos of the event and a miniature sheet shown above which is styled on the publicity posters which were used to advertise the original event.

BRITISH PHILATELIC POSTMARK OF THE DAY: NOTTINGHAM
	The featured GB philatelic postmark for Saturday May 19 2012 is from Nottingham. Collectors can get this special postmark applied by sending the stamped (minimum 1st Class rate) addressed envelope(s) to: Midland Special Handstamp Centre Royal Mail Birmingham Mail centre St Stephens Street BIRMINGHAM B6 4AA You can ask for any date (including public holidays) to be applied to your covers provided you send them to arrive on or before that date. It is advised you send a suitable return envelope also if you want the covers sent back protected rather than individually through the regular mail service.
We feature a different UK philatelic postmark every day so check back again

Recent GB Commemorative Stamp Issue