HM Queen Elizabeth II Stamps & Ephemera

Know it's not exactly stamps but these are some of the letters I have collected over the years.

Fascinating documents, thanks so much for sharing. You've given me a lot of food for thought for ways of broadening the scope of my own collection!

King George V1 and Queen Elizabeth January 1937 Original photograph probably painted by Beatrice Johnson.  I have just bought this picture of eBay this week.  It has an interesting back story. It was given to the previous owner as a payment for electricity in the 1990s

It's great that your posts have begun again!  Often when older threads that I've been interested in are resurrected, I'll look through the entire thread again.  I've noticed that a handful of your previous images in this thread have broken - for example, this post on page 3 (the first image link is broken, for me at least).  If you have a moment, you might take a look through your posts and see if you can recall which images have been lost.

Ryan

Not seen that before, she does look really happy doesn't she?  Perhaps the photographer told her a particularly funny joke!

For the next post I will go all the way back to 1926 when Princess Elizabeth was born.

In 2006 St Vincent and the Grenadines did an amazing set of 8 stamp sheets for HM Queen Elizabeth 11. I have original pictures and information for all the stamp sheets (even though I dont own all stamp sheets as yet) I will do the first as the Christening of the then Princess Elizabeth. Some of the photographs and pictures I am about to show are actual originals that I have matched up with diffferent stamps and postcards.

St Vincent 2006 HM Queen Sheet and original photographs and postcards from the same time
















The next picture is an original drawing I bought if a relatively unknown artist in the UK.  His work is great.  He is called Gary Thompson.  Sorry about the image quality it is still in cellophane.

Hmmm, Unitrade attributes the designer to a "Steven Slipp."

Who is "Ian Leslie Macdonald?"

He took the photograph on the back of the first day cover.

I would like to share with you a very special picture. I would ask if it is not shared from this group. There are many examples on the internet but this is my own private copy just for my collection but thought as stamp collectors you may be interested to see.

I contacted the family as I had seen people were selling photographs on eBay that shouldn't have been sold of the original photoshoot that took place with John Hedgecoe and the Queen that led to the formation of the Machin Stamp. Fortunately I was able to buy them all and they are now with the proper licensing authority.  The ones from eBay are in my collection.

I dont know how many of you are Machin stamp collectors. He was an incredible sculptor and he made the final sculpture that John Hedgecoe photographed for the stamp. If is just very unfortunate John Hedgecoe never got the recognition as the person taking the original photographs and the final photograph of the sculpture and all the praise went onto Arnold Machin and the name of the stamp.

In 1977 Arnold Machin produced a limited edition of the sculpture of 1000. I was able to find one and can show you. It really is incredible There is one difference between the original stamp sculpture and the 1977 one. Wondering if any of you can see the subtle difference.

Next picture is the 1977 Machin sculpture. This is my picture. Its on Adobe photoshop as I have started to put on Adobe but just struggling with system and item too large to get out of storage again to photograph. Love research just still hate technology but know I need to start to digitally record my collection. Showing my items on this site has made me get some of the pictures out that I haven't seen for a long time and start taking hopefully decent photographs.

This is the special 1953 coronation scarf

This might be a contentious issue but I would like people's thoughts.   As part of researching HM Queen I have researched in detail the 2004 "Equanimity" portrait, the first holographic portrait of HM Queen that was made into the first holographic stamp of HM Queen in 2012.

My research of Equanimity has led me down the slippery slope of Smiler Sheets.  I have researched smiler's and read a number of articles.  I appreciate they were produced more for commercialism than anything by various companies.  I also appreciate that commercial smiler sheets production has now ceased.

Are smiler sheet stamps in the eyes of stamp collectors recognised as a stamp.  I appreciate they are a stamp with a label attached but are they defined as stamps.  I know that they still had to be authorised and that Buckingham Palace declined for the issue of a Smiler stamp sheet depicting the abdication of Edward.

The reason I ask is that I am interested in one particular stamp Sheet. Benham's 80th Birthday Of HM Queen.  The smiler sheet depicts 10 of the photographs taken and used to develop Equanimity. Each picture is very slightly different in camera angle. To produce Equanimity a special camera on rails was developed to take many pictures over a period of time whilst the Queen remained still.  They could not use the traditional laser method to develop the hologram because of safety issues of using lasers on the Queen.

This smiler sheet is the only one I can find that uses official photographs from the particular time to make the stamp.  Most other smiler sheets use old photographs of the Queen.   This smiler sheet in question is contentious in itself as the copyright is incorrect but I would like people's views on if these stamps are seen as genuine stamps or not.  

In theory if this smiler sheet stamp is recognised as a legitimate stamp it could be the rarest stamp of the Queen as each of the 10 photographs are unique and only 1000 copies made, with several of the stamp labels used for first day covers.

This then comes back to the interesting article in the recent TSF news regarding rarity and scarcity.  I own the vast majority (nearly 80%) of them including 1-20.  There are 2 on ebay at present for sale if people need them to complete their own collection or want to own one.  

It can be asked why I have bought the majority. (A number of reasons)

I feel so strongly about how they were produced and how the original designer has not had the credit he deserves. By owning the vast majority I have taken them off the market.  

It was an experiment to see if the company in question who produced the sheet would allow me to buy all the stock.  Interestingly as I bought the stock up the price went up.  They also did not allow me to buy all the stock even though they told me they had none left and I had bought all their stocks.  A year later I see that they have put other stock on sale at a very highly inflated price.

It is also an interesting way to own art.  At present if I wanted to own the original piece of art that these stamps came from I would be looking at tens of thousands of pounds.  This way i own the art albeit in a different way.  Owning the large original piece or a piece developed on a stamp fundamentally is the same.  The art collector may state it isn't but the joy i get from finding and owning my copies is the same to me than if I had thousands of pounds and had bidded in an auction and won the piece. 

I have also have completed as a long term experiment between scarcity and value, not to make a lot of money but to see what happens.  (I previously did this with a coin and was able to give a significant amount of money to charity, give a number of the coins to genuine collectors and use the money in profit to buy up the smiler sheets and other works of art which I wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise.)

This post isn't knocking people for trying to buy stamps as an investment or buying for pure enjoyment. It is trying to show how the system can be manipulated.  I buy as I love the research part. The actual stamp, coin, art, sculptor, scarf does not give me such a thrill as actually researching and meeting like minded people and showing what can be achieved with hard work and imagination.    

One of the most important things to remember with any collection that it is everyone's own personal journey.  I am a perfectionist wanting every single piece of the puzzle.  Realistically I know that this isn't going to happen but sometimes I still get frustrated.  I hope my collection makes others look at their own collection and to remember to enjoy their collecting and the journey it take you on.  Without my collecting I would never have the satisfaction of giving back in a way I never dreamt possible,

At present I am off sick again through exhaustion of trying to be a perfectionist with my job which again in this world cannot be achieved.  I have gone back to my collection to try and give me some enjoyment in a time when life is hard.  I hope my story and journey of collection helps others.  The value of a piece can be measured in monetary terms but it can also be measured in enjoyment it can bring.