COMMONWEALTH AND WORLD STAMPS

In addition to its fine collection of British stamps, the Royal Philatelic Collection holds a varied collection of Commonwealth stamps.

In particular, the Collection has major holdings of stamps from the Australian Commonwealth, Barbados, British Guiana, Cape of Good Hope, India, Siege of Mafeking, Mauritius, Natal, New South Wales, St Helena, St Vincent, Transvaal, Turks Islands, Victoria and Zanzibar.

Perhaps the most precious stamps in the Royal Philatelic Collection are the Penny and Two Pence 'Post Office' Mauritius stamps. These were the first stamps to be issued by a colonial administration, issued in 1847, just seven years after the first postage stamps.

Although it is difficult to put a precise value on many of the items in the Collection, that of the Two Pence 'Post Office' Mauritius is in seven figures. It was acquired by King George V at auction in 1904 for a then record price of £1450.

There are also many designs for Commonwealth stamps, since new stamp designs for colonies (now overseas territories) were submitted to the Sovereign for approval.

Amongst the Collection's artists' designs are early examples featuring the Britannia design used for the stamps of Barbados, Mauritius, Trinidad and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

There is very little non-Great Britain and Commonwealth material in the Collection. However, one notable overseas treasure is a stamp album said to have belonged to Tsesarevitch Alexis (murdered with his family in Russia in 1918).

The album is said to have been stolen by a soldier and was sold to a worker for a British company in Russia, who brought it to this country when he fled from the Bolsheviks in 1923. The album was later given to The Queen by his son, who wanted Her Majesty to have the album for the Collection.