X — Royal and National — Collections
Chapter X Royal and National Collections
The late Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as a collector—King George’s stamps: Great Britain, Mauritius, British Guiana, Barbados, Nevis—The “King of Spain Reprints”—The late Grand Duke Alexis Michaelovitch—Prince Doria Pamphilj—The “Tapling” Collection—The Berlin Postal Museum—The late Duke of Leinster’s bequest to Ireland—Mr. Worthington’s promised gift to the United States.
Royalties have been included amongst collectors almost from the beginning of Philately. The late Mr. Westoby, in describing21 a number of rarities in private albums in Paris in 1869, includes a mysterious rarity of Mexico as being one of which three specimens only are known to exist, “one of them [i.e., one of the remaining two] in the possession of the Princess Clotilde, wife of the Prince Napoleon, and the other in that of the King of Portugal.”
King George V. probably owes some of his early enthusiasm for stamps to his uncle, the late Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. As Duke of Edinburgh, the latter had long been a collector before the fact was made publicly known by his cordial support of the London Philatelic Exhibition of 1890, which he formally opened. At the lunch which followed the ceremony he said:—
“To-day Prince George of Wales starts—nay, probably has started—from Chatham in the Thrush, to the command of which he has been appointed. I am sure you will join me in wishing him a prosperous and pleasant cruise. He also is a stamp collector, and I hope that he will return with a goodly number of additions from North America and the West Indies. I am a collector, too, and I have been only too glad to contribute specimens to this fine exhibition.”
The newspaper reports of that Exhibition state that “The Duke of Edinburgh, before leaving, intimated his intention of again visiting this marvellous proof of civilization and progress.” In the same year, H.R.H. became Hon. President of the London Philatelic Society.
The late Duke’s collection was, I believe, on general lines, a large range of countries and colonies being included in his exhibits at the Portman Rooms in 1890. These included a fine lot of Uruguay, and displays of Cyprus, Gibraltar, Heligoland, Ionian Islands, and Malta; Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden; Greece, Servia, Bulgaria and Montenegro; Cuba, Porto Rico and Fernando Po. At the 1897 Exhibition, at the galleries of the Institute of Painters in Water Colours, the Duke showed only a few specimens in the class for rare stamps, his exhibit including the 2 kreuzer, orange, of Austria unused; the 54 paras of Moldavia; the Half Tornese Naples, cross, unused; several of the rare 2 reales stamps of Spain and the 3 cuartos “bear” stamp of Madrid; the Swedish 24 skill, bco., unused; the so-called “Neuchâtel” stamp of Switzerland, unused; the 18 kreuzer Wurtemburg, with silk thread, unused; Buenos Ayres 4 pesos, red; United States, 1856, 5c. red-brown and 90c. blue, perforated; and some other rarities. Of British and colonials he displayed two of the 1d. black V.R. stamps; a 12d. black of Canada; Hong Kong 96 cents, yellow-brown; a small show of rare Nevis, including the 6d. lithographed and the surface-printed 6d. green; St. Vincent 5s., watermarked star, unused; an unused 1d. Sydney View, Plate I., and an unused 6d. “laureated head.”
It will be seen from the wide field covered by his exhibits that the philatelic inclinations of the late Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha were broadly catholic. His royal nephew, King George, has limited his collecting—though not his interest—to stamps of the British Empire. His Majesty’s interest in stamp-collecting has been made popularly known by the newspapers, but it is not always realised, I think, that the interest is an appreciative personal one. Of this philatelists have had many gracious proofs. The King is understood to have been consistently collecting since his midshipman-days on the Bacchante, and his collections to some extent coincide with his travels, several of his finest albums being those which contain the stamps of West Indian colonies.
There is little collected information on the subject of His Majesty’s collections, so I will endeavour to outline a few of the salient points in those sections which have been most nearly completed.
Great Britain.—The collection contains the original sketch of W. Mulready, R.A., for the famous envelopes and letter sheets of 1840 to which reference has been made.22
A note accompanies it to the effect that, “From statements made by Mr. Mulready to his friends, it would appear that the original idea for the design was given to him by Queen Victoria and was carried out by the artist in accordance with Her Majesty’s suggestions.”
On this point of the origin of the design, Sir Rowland Hill’s journal contains an entry which scarcely bears out the legend that the Queen devised the idea together with the Prince Consort. The entry, under April 3, 1840, is: “Mr. B[aring] has sent a proof impression of the cover stamp to the Queen, with a memorandum from Mulready and Thompson [the engraver] explanatory of the design.”
Then there is the historic pair of sketches in water-colours, roughly executed by Sir Rowland Hill to show the approximate appearance of the penny stamp in black and the twopence stamp in blue. This was sent by Hill to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
In the line-engraved series, His Majesty has shown two copies of the 1d. V.R., and a fine series of imperforates of the 1d. red, Die I. and Die II., in a large range of shades; 1d. red with letters in all four corners (plates 132 and 225); 1d. red, in a pair, on Dickinson paper; ½d. rose-red (plate 9), 2d. blue with four letters (including plate 7), 1½d., plate 1 in bluish lake and plate 3 in brick-red.
All the Victorian surface-printed series are shown imperforate, including the 3d. with reticulated background; 3d., plate 3 (“dot”); 4d. in lake, watermarked “small garter”; 6d., plate 1 on safety paper and plate 3 with hair-lines; 9d., plate 3 with hair-lines and plate 5; 10d., plate 2; 1s., plate 1 on safety paper, plate 3 with hair-lines, 4 in an unissued colour, lilac; 2s., plate 3; 10s., £1, and £5 on blue paper.
In addition to the scarce items in the Victorian series of official stamps, the King possesses the extremely rare I.R. Official 5s., 10s. and £1, of the Edwardian issues, in mint corner pairs; also the almost unique Sixpence of the same set, in similar condition. Of this last stamp, no other unused copy is known, and only three which have been through the post.
Of the ordinary stamps of King Edward’s reign, the Royal collection contains several essays and proofs of great interest. A photograph of a stamp made up from Herr Füchs’s original sketch of King Edward’s head, enclosed in the newly designed frame and border, deservedly comes first, and bears the late King’s written approval: from this, temporary copper-plates were engraved, so that the effect might be noted, and three proofs therefrom are included.
Unfortunately, the final result did not come up to the anticipated standard, and there was some talk about having a fresh design prepared, after the style of the then new Transvaal stamps, but this fell through on the ground of expense; proofs of this also are in the collection, together with various colour-trials of the One Penny value, as adopted.
Of unissued stamps during the late reign, there are only three instances: the £5 value, which did not proceed so far as the completion of the plate; and a small printing of the Twopence Halfpenny, in the adopted design, but in mauve on blue paper, was destroyed, owing to a decision to print in blue on white paper. Both these stamps, the £5 and the Twopence Halfpenny mauve on blue, together with proofs of the lower value in shades and tones of blue, are in the King’s collection.
The last of the unissued stamps is the Twopence “Tyrian-plum,” which, owing to the lamented death of King Edward, the authorities decided not to issue; his present Majesty possesses an unused pair, and a unique used copy on the original envelope.
Beyond these, the collection contains proofs of the contractors’ designs for three of the new stamps, the One Penny in four types of head and bust, in the old frame of the 1881 stamp, and the Twopence and Fivepence in frames similar to those of the 1887 issue; in all these King Edward is shown in military uniform, the best of these being, so far as the portrait is concerned, the Fivepence.
A curiosity, for it was not for issue except after severance, is the sheet of one penny stamps as prepared for the booklets on sale at the post-office—for convenience in making-up and binding these small books, the stamps were specially printed in four panes of sixty each, in vertical rows of ten, each alternate three rows being inverted, and so producing a certain number of tête-bêche pairs. King George’s sheet is, outside the printers’ establishment and Somerset House, probably unique.
Mauritius.—In the stamps of this colony the royal collection is particularly strong. There is here the 1d. red Post Office used, which came from Mr. Peckitt out of the collection of the Earl of Kintore for £850, and the matchless unused copy of the 2d. blue which was purchased in Messrs. Puttick & Simpson’s saleroom on January 14, 1904, for £1,450: it is admittedly the finest known copy of this stamp, and its romantic history has been alluded to in Chapter VII. These two raræ aves are followed by a grand display of the Post Paid series, including three fine 2d. unused, one with the error “penoe” for “pence,” and a wonderful mint block of five, containing the error se tenant with four of its neighbours in the sheet. This block is a comparatively recent acquisition, having been acquired from Mr. D. Field for £500 in 1910. There is a considerable number of used copies showing all states of the plates of the 1848 issue, the small head of 1849, and the “fillet” of October, 1859. The 4d. green of April, 1854, is represented unused and used, and there is also an unused copy of the perforated 1s. deep green of 1862. The collection of this colony is practically complete from beginning to date.
British Guiana presents probably the most difficult set of stamps that any collector ever attempted to get together. The King’s collection is representative, but is strongest in the issues of 1860-82: they formed the basis of a display before the Royal Philatelic Society on March 17, 1910, and included most of the stamps in a wide range of shades, all the rarities being present, unused, except the 24 cents perforated 12 of 1860 on thin paper, and the provisional series of 1862, and a few of the “officials.” The used portion was practically complete, and in the case of the 1882 provisionals there were entire and also reconstructed sheets, showing all the varieties.
The Barbados collection, which was shown by His Majesty at the Imperial Stamp Exhibition held by the Junior Philatelic Society in London in 1908, was exceptionally rich in the scarce “1d.” on 5s. provisional, of which there were no fewer than a pair and two single copies, four in all, in the unused condition, and five used pairs and a number of single used copies.
Hong Kong and Grenada, Bermuda, Trinidad and Turks’ Islands have also been arranged and exhibited, as well as a small but choice collection of the stamps of Nevis, which contains, among other items, the beautiful card proofs of the first 1d. in green, 4d. in dull purple, 6d. in orange, and 1s. in lake. There are two reconstructed sheets of the 1d. perforated 13, and the 4d. rose, unused; the 6d. grey and 1s. green, used and unused. Of the 1867 set the 1d. is shown unused, the 4d. both used and unused and the 1s. used. Of the lithographs there are four mint sheets of the 1d., a mint sheet of the 4d. and another of the 6d., the 1s. in light and dark green; and there are two entire sheets of the 1d. perforated 111/2.
Comparatively little is known of the stamp-collections of other monarchs, but both King Alfonso of Spain and King Manuel are known to have formed collections of the stamps of their respective realms. The Spanish King’s expressed desire to add the stamps of Portugal to his collection led to the reprinting of certain of the obsolete stamps of which the dies were on hand at the Lisbon Mint; these are the stamps known as the “King of Spain Reprints,” a complete set of which was presented by King Manuel to the Reference Collection of the Royal Philatelic Society.
His Imperial Highness the late Grand Duke Alexis Michaelovitch was a member of the Philatelic Society. His early death lost to Philately a collector with a keen sense of the beauty of condition. Although only nineteen at the time of his death, he had been engaged for some years on a semi-official work on the history of the postal issues of Russia, and his collection was strong in the stamps of his own country and in Russian proofs and essays. His collection covered a very broad field, and he acquired the Peru section of the Koster collection en bloc. When the first Castle collection of Australians came on the market, the young Grand Duke acquired a number of its choicest copies, including some plated items. Some of the rarities he showed in London on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Philatelic Society (1894) were brilliant used copies of the 2 reales Spain of 1851 and 1852; the Poste Locale of Switzerland unused; the “1 Pranc”, error for “1 Franc”, on the 371/2-centime bistre, Luxemburg; the Hanover 10 gr. used; Oldenburg 1/3 gr. black on green; Nevis 6d. lithographed (in two shades); Trinidad 1858 6d. and 1s. unused; Uruguay, Diligencias 60c. and 80c. unused; entire sheets of Bergedorf essays in green of all values; and a beautiful and much admired group of thirty-two Russian essays.
Prince Doria Pamphilj, of Italy, is another of the devotees of the “royal” hobby of stamp-collecting, and his British Empire collection contained an Archer roulette and many choice items in English and colonial stamps. Of the stamps of other countries he has also had a very comprehensive collection; and at the Manchester Exhibition of 1899 he displayed some rarities of these, including the United States 1861 30 cents with grille, and the 1869 15 cents with frame inverted; the 5 cents Confederate local of Petersburg; Spain, 1851 10 reales unused and 2 reales used, 1865 12c. with inverted frame; France, 1849 1 franc vermilion; the double Geneva, types of the Zurich, the 4c. Vaud and the Poste Locale 21/2 rappen with cross unframed in used condition. The Prince has made a speciality of the Italian States. Although His Royal Highness sold his chief collection in 1904 for £2,000, he is, I understand, still to be numbered amongst the active philatelists.
Of National collections, Great Britain possesses the finest, in the bequest of the late Mr. T. K. Tapling, M.P. Mr. Tapling died in 1891, and since then the great collection which he had formed of the postage-stamps and postal stationery of the world has been arranged for exhibition purposes, in specially constructed cases, in the King’s Library of the British Museum. It is estimated to contain 100,000 specimens, the total market value of which would probably not be much short of £100,000. Since the complete collection has been available to the public for inspection, there has been no one feature at the Bloomsbury institution which has attracted more visitors; and it is good to know that philatelic students are freely using the magnificent opportunities the collection offers for study. Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive official guide to this important collection, but by the courtesy and assistance of the officials I was able to compile a fairly detailed index23 to its beauties, which was published, together with a history of the formation of the collection, by Messrs. Lawn & Barlow. To detail the gems is but to recount the Mauritius, the British Guianas, the Hawaiians (these are particularly fine), the Moldavias, Newfoundlands, Reunions, &c., to most of which frequent reference has already been made in these pages. There is here one of the copies of the famous Fourpence blue of Western Australia with the centre inverted. Unfortunately the copy is a damaged one, but the stamp is rarer than the Mauritius “Post Office,” and a celebrated and fine copy fetched £400 at auction.
It is a very real misfortune to Philately that the Trustees of the British Museum have taken no steps to continue the collection beyond 1890, or to add items which are lacking prior to that date. It is, I understand, simply a question of money, and the Trustees would not be unwilling to allow the necessary space for the growth of the collection if money were forthcoming for that purpose. It is now twenty years since Mr. Tapling died, and the loss of that period in the collection is almost irretrievable. Yet the collection as it stands is the most comprehensive treasure store of the first half century of stamp-issuing, and students in this country are fortunate indeed in having such a wealth of material at their disposal for comparison and for reference.
The collection which has been formed by the authorities of the Berlin Postal Museum has been attaining a high rank in recent years. The Museum, which is the finest repository of postal records and curios in the world, was founded by Dr. von Stephan, the first Director of the Posts of the German Empire, and the first to propose the use of post-cards. The stamp collection was based at first on the stamps received at the General Post Office in Berlin from the postal administrations of other countries. But the collection is being built up on philatelic lines, and is not to be compared with the fancy frames devised by decorative fiends for the postal museums of other countries. In Berlin the collection shows essays and proofs, those of the old German States being particularly fine, and most of the prominent rarities have been acquired, chiefly by exchange of duplicate stamps. There is the 1d. Post Office Mauritius used, and the 2d. unused; the 2 cents circular British Guiana, the 2 cents, 5 cents, and both types of the 13 cents of the Hawaiian “Missionaries”; pairs of the 27 paras and 108 paras of Moldavia, and a set of the 27, 81, and two of the 108 paras all cut round, and all used together on one envelope; the woodblock errors of the Cape of Good Hope; the 15 cents and 30 cents Reunion; and a wonderful range of the stamps of all the German States.
The late Duke of Leinster left his valuable collection to the Irish National Museum; and there are several instances of bequests and gifts of lesser importance to local museums. In 1910 Mr. George H. Worthington, the owner of the finest collection in the United States, made the announcement that he was going to leave his great collection to the city of Cleveland, Ohio.
It is to be hoped that Mr. Worthington may be spared to continue his collection for many years to come, but on the ultimate fulfilment of the bequest the people of the United States will enjoy the public possession of what is now one of the three largest collections in the world. Mr. Worthington’s gems include most of the well-known rarities. He has the Cape woodblock 4d. error in a block with three of the 1d. stamps all in red, and his entire collection of Capes is extremely fine. Like most of the larger collections in America, the Worthington one contains a strong showing of the Hawaiian stamps and of the United States and Confederate States “Postmasters’” stamps. There is, for example, the only known 2 cents Hawaiian “Missionary” on envelope. Mr. Warren H. Colson,24 of Boston, records that Mr. Worthington prizes highly the only unused copy known of the United States 15 cents of 1869 with the inverted frame, and as a companion treasure he has the 30 cents in like condition, but of this three other unused copies are recorded.
The Confederate Postmasters’ Provisionals, I gather from the same authority, include all the rare Baton Rouge; a 10 cent Beaumont, on pink paper; the Emory, Va.; Grove Hill, Alabama; the rare Macons and a particularly fine lot of the Texas locals, including several Goliads, the Helena, and two very rare Victorias.
The 1d. Post Office Mauritius is included in two copies used on the entire envelope; the Sydney Views are a splendid lot, and include a superb unused block of four of the 1d. plate 1 with original gum.