GB: King Edward VII Issues

I remember a dealer suggesting to collect GB overprinted Edward V11 mint to get an idea of shades. Idea was they were cheaper and less to start with.
Another dealer told me not to worry about shades, obviously not the faded/ washed out ones, as in some cases it was a waste of time. He said he had seen blocks where the stamps had different shade at top compared to bottom. To me one of each value is all I bother about.

Here's one on cover.

P.S. really no idea if it's true that Ed. VII stamps "do not seem to get much attention" - I only have a few used, though that's probably due to laziness I'm sure, and no idea why these should be especially "notorious for fading".               I notice that looking at the page shown by hdm1950 the 4d. orange is absent, so have included an example here - I quite like orange, but don't know that I'm particularly a fan of this group on the whole - they're attractive but perhaps no more or less so than George V or VI - but I am a fan of definitives.                       The entire range produced in his rather brief tenure as monarch are typical of definitive heads, with the first run being SG 215 - 266 (such is the passion for shades and varieties), with most copying the bi coloured appearance of Victoria's similar definite range, so presumably someone thought the overall colours and designs worth re-issuing, and value wise some are worth a 'king's ransom'.
Coming back to the 4d. orange, I'm assuming the image I've added is what SG would call 'pale orange' (their No. 240) - but life is never simple and SG also provide for a 'brown orange' (239) and an 'orange red' (241).

The 3d. 'purple/yellow' I've also reproduced - again, SG have gone to town with half a dozen varieties (232 - 234 etc.) - I might have possibly two of them in my attachment. I don't like this yellow and don't like the combination of the yellow and purple - the basic design and colours are, again, simply a straight lift from Victoria's 3d. definitive.
Plain pale or lemon yellow seems to have been a popular colour during the late C19 and well into the first third of the C20, for a variety of countries - perhaps more so for the British Commonwealth ? - but IMHO as a colour it doesn't work well - its paleness creates a lack of contrast - often I need the magnifier and light to see detail, and perhaps it suffers more dirt accumulation than  many other colours.   
Having mentioned the popularity of yellow and pale yellow, I notice that after Ed. VII - at least for the home grown British issues, though not for the Commonwealth - this colour/shade seems to have been abandoned.           If anyone would like a stab at the yellows I've attached, feel free to guess at shades etc. The far right stamp isn't quite the purple look it seems - I think it's simply a dirty stamp - but if it's a rare variety please do shout.

shouldn't take pix under electric light, but never seem to take my own  advice  .......  here's a few more of this  guy with some overprints  - last  two are for India as can be seen.  Sorry if pix are a tad naff.    Hope the Royal Household example is genuine.

the Ed. VII 7d. 'grey-black' was a completely new denomination and agree with Peadar Ruadh that its appearance looks good, which may suggest at the end of the day we prefer single colour stamps. The Jubilee set of low value heads are a mish-mash of designs - they're not unattractive, but design wise they lack consistency - almost as though a variety of hands were responsible. Perhaps their retention in 1902 was a mark of respect to the late Queen - she had been monarch for along time and unlike yesterday she appears to have been revered 100%. Still, you didn't have to wait long for what are arguably the greatest designs of them all - the Seahorses.

Seeing paul1 ‘s Turkish Empire group I thought I should look to see what I had from this region. I had forgotten how many Edward VII’s I had. 


Here are a few from various departments I have. I especially like a couple of the Admiralty issues.

some nice pieces there hdm1950 - love that 5s. in particular - and somehow they look possibly better on white than mine do on black. The 'Board of Education' overprints can be pricey, I don't have any yet, and as we've already said the Royal Household likewise in terms of cost. Aside from the overprints already posted on this thread (for Ed. VII), there look to be a couple more ...... 'I.R. OFFICIAL' (for Inland Revenue) and 'O.W. OFFICIAL' (for Office of Works), and assume both must be much less common that most of those showing here. GOVT. PARCELS is possibly the most common of all ovpts.

Agree, your r/h 3d. is a v. unusual shade of something - it may have crossed swords with Domestos - but certainly looks to have been in the presence of some sort of detrimental influence, and looks not a million miles from one of mine. If you read the SG G.B. Specialized catalogue for 'Edward VII to George VI', there look to have been four separate printings for this value between 1902 and 1911, and this colour combination seems to have given problems - the catalogue lists something like eight different colour combinations, plus shades - a nightmare.

I found some time to upload.