HM Queen Elizabeth II Stamps & Ephemera

Finally, a Coronation Anniversary first day cover with a silver ingot reproduction, with gilded highlights, of the 1 shilling 3 pence 1953 Coronation stamp.


Scan_20210227 (7) by Daniel, on Flickr

The first holographic stamp of HM Queen made by Rob Munday.  In a special presentation pack.

Something a bit different again but stamp related.

This is a 2007 solid silver medallion of the Arnold Machin Queen Stamp celebrating 40 years.

Produced by the Royal Mail and signed by the head of stamps at that time (printed signature) 



QUEEN MACHIN STAMP PORTRAIT ON A MEDALLION

sarah, I can tell you what you have shared so far is AMAZING!!  Please "bore" all us all you want, just share more, PLEASE!  

(Although the blood did rush to my head after looking at that one Jersey se-tenant set upside down lol )

This is EXACTLY one of the reasons I joined TSF -- I know I have been enriched by seeing what you have shared--what a treat!

BOB in Orlando

This is just one example how I can go off topic and how my collection develops.

Recently I got my Machins back out whilst going through things.  This prompted my previous posts on the Machin stamps.

This is where I go off topic from the stamps.  I then get interested in Arnold Machin so I get out my tiles that I bought several years ago whilst on another Machin quest.

This leads me to this week where I have now bidded and won two further Machin plaques which I am waiting to receive in the post!  I do ask myself why when I am only supposed to collect HM Queen but get drawn into the history of the artist.

The two tiles I am about to show are the Machin Mother and Child.  The Teracotta one was produced by the Royal Worcester in a limited edition of 500. The Parian one is a trial piece which  I have offered to Royal Worcester as a loan if they ever do a Machin exhibition.

During my research I was able to tell Royal Worcester about the Machin stamp.  They have added this information to their collection as they did not have a history of the stamp. Hopefully I have done some good promoting Stamps to a pottery museum!!!!

These are the two tiles.  They are absolutely stunning.  Arnold Machin was an incredible sculptor who doesn't get the recognition he deserves.  His HM Queen sculpture is exquisite but so is some of his other works. 

This is an interesting postcard.

It is Royal protocol for the Royal family not to give their signature out unless on official documents.

I might have been completely duped on this and no one will take it seriously that it is genuine.

It came from a lady in waiting of the Queen.

Ironically I was told it was not desirable because the ink is smudged.  I did respond the ink will never be smudged on other items since 1969 when the Royal Family started using auto pens.

Any Christmas card after the late 60s are not hand signed but an auto pen is used.  Same with 100 birthday cards etc.

The ink being smudged is actually evidence it is signed not autopen.  Is the signature real.  I believe it is from research. Does it matter if I am not believed.  No!

Anyway this might be the only time you see a genuine Queen signature on a postcard. Enjoy x 

One last one for tonight to show  that you can research history and find some amazing things from a simple stamp cover





The above is a first day signed cover by Air Vice Marshall John F H Tetley.  Nothing special about that you may say and not to do with the Queen.

What I have found is incredible and so sad his family departed with his things.

All of John Tetleys personal belongings and career in the RAF were put onto Ebay.  I won some of the items.  I try to win the items that meant the most.  I have his leaving documents from the RAF and certificates as well as one of his increase in ranks by the Queen dated back all the way to 1953 just a month before the coronation.

He was one incredible man who became a Vice Marshall.  Hopefully I will be able to keep his memory alive of what he achieved.

It was really nice to see Prince Philip leave hospital but sad to see him looking so old and frail.  I appreciate he is 99 but he is a proud man and it must be hard for him.  That's when really think the Royal Family deserve privacy.

On a brighter note I want to show some nicer photographs of the Queen and Prince Philip which I felt slightly disrespectful to show whilst he was in hospital..

This was the Royal Mail showcase for the Diamond Wedding.


























This is a lovely commemorative pack.  I thought you might like to see some original photographs from the actual Wedding that show what a lovely young couple they were.


If u look closely at the pictures your will see some photos where the Queen isnt holding her bouquet.  They lost the Bouquet between Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace.  They couldnt retake the group photos again so hence why she isn't holding a bouquet in them.  For the coronation they produced 2 bouquets so that they would not have the same issue. 






 








































I hadn't realised how many photos I had until I sorted them to put some on here.  All the photos above are original press photos.  Many not seen before for years. 



I did find the stamp sheet in the middle of the them so still stamp related.

Surprisingly there are very few actual portraits of HM Queen and Prince Philip together.  In my collection I have photographs but this is the only portrait I have found.

Daniel has given me an idea.  I have loved seeing Daniel's Cover.  It is one I haven't got but know the back story of Everest and the coronation. All the explorers from that reached Everest at that time got a medal inscribed.  They are the only inscribed medals given out of the 129,051 medals awarded.

I am so enjoying showing you my collection (don't worry there is plenty more to come!) and the responses I have received.  

I wanted to give something back.  I am offering as a prize a very special cover from my collection to the person or even persons if there are more than one winner who can show me an interesting Queen Elizabeth Stamp or first day cover with some information about the cover.  It doesn't have to be in depth information just something a little bit different that piques my interest.

I am off work this week so was going to run the competition over this week with the winner or winners announced on Saturday evening. I am willing to post world wide (I will pay postage as well) so that everyone has an opportunity to enter.

I wanted my first give away to be something special that I hope a stamp collector would enjoy owning.  There is one on ebay (not being sold by me!) that is on for £70.  They are incredibly rare as I own over 80% of the stock.  A lot were destroyed ( I dont know the exact number) as they were stored in a basement in a London shop and became very damp and mouldy.

There is an interesting back story.  This was one of the first covers I started to collect.  I became fascinated with Chris Levine work and started to collect items right from the start of his career to the present day including Hologram CDs, light boxes, prints, stamps, covers etc  

He has now become so famous that I can no longer afford his work, but knowing the truth I no longer want to own.  During my research I became aware that something didn't quite add up.  I tried several times to contact Chris with no response.  I contacted the Jersey Heritage trust and again I got a very short and sharp response that they do not discuss Equanimity in any form what so ever.  I then went through the minutes of the meetings of the Jersey Heritage Trust which didn't quite add up.  On further research I then realised what had happened; Chris Levine had taken the full copyright on something he doesn't have the copyright to.  He has also taken the sole credit for a portrait that he actually had very little involvement in and it should have been described as a joint collaboration. 

I realised that the main talent behind the portrait was actually Rob Munday not Chris Levine. Rob was the incredibly talented holographer who actually designed the camera that was used to take the photograph, developed the printing technology and the actual holograph.  Equanimity should have been copyrighted to the Jersey Heritage Trust and not to just Chris and it should have been stated that it was a joint collaboration between Chris Levine and Rob Munday.

I very nervously decided to approach Rob Munday to ask him if what I had found was correct.  He is one of the nicest artist's I have come across. He was able to confirm that what I had indeed found out was true. Since then I have been able to talk to him in detail about the commission and have great respect for him as an artist. His work is incredible.  He has developed technology so that his portraits are so life like it feels like you should be able to touch them.  He now does portraits of flowers.  In his quest for perfection, he grows the flowers himself so that he is able to take the pictures at the right time.  

My feeling towards Chris Levine's work has changed and I have now sold a lot of the work I started to own.  I cannot own work that I don't believe in.  The enjoyment for me of my collection is the journey and the research. 

In 2006 Chris Levine marketed Equanimity in different forms.  Again it should have been joint marketed.  Instead it was just in his name.  I worked out the several items that were produced and started to collect as many of them as I could so that even though I cant make it right for Rob Munday I can ensure that the real story gets known through my collection.  

It made me realise how shady the art market can be.  Unfortunately like a lot of life money and power talks.  Chris Levine is now an incredibly powerful artist thanks to Equanimity which means that people are afraid to tell the truth behind it.  To add even more coincidence to the story Rob Munday was a student of Professor John Hedgecoe who never received the correct acknowledgment for the Machin portrait.

I then went on a mission to find all the signed first day covers I could.  At the time I bought them Equanimity was not widely known and nor was Chris Levine so I managed to pick them up relatively cheaply.  I then contacted the Stamp Shop in the Strand London.  They had the majority of the covers in the cellar as in 2006 stamp collecting and not many people knowing Equanimity meant that they didn't sell.  They even tried to sell further by adding an extra date stamp for the Queen's birthday and putting a sticker over the original number and making it more exclusive but again they didn't sell.  A lot of the covers had become mouldy in the cellar.  I bought the ones that hadn't been destroyed or had a very slight water mark.  I was honest to The Stamp Shop why I wanted them but again they were not interested and I think they were just happy some mad woman was willing to pay a few hundred pounds for covers that were in a basement going mouldy!

I haven't bought them to make a huge profit.  I have bought them out of principle that they were wrong to be sold. If I make a profit the money will all go to charity.  I also wanted genuine stamp collectors to have an opportunity to own them as well knowing the full story. I tried to speak to Benham about what I had found but they were not interested in talking to me. 

In summary I am offering signed rare Equanimity First Day Covers to the person or person(s) who can show me an interesting Queen Elizabeth Stamp Cover or stamp.  Please post on here.  It will close at 5pm on Saturday March 28th 2021.  I will then chose a winner or winners and will post the cover to the winners on the Tuesday.  If there are several I really like and I cant chose I will send out to more people.  It doesn't matter if I have seen the stamp or cover before I am looking for why it is your favourite. 

I will show the covers in the post below that I am offering so that you know they are genuine. I cannot guarantee which number will be given.  I will just pick a numbered cover randomly.
































 

To do this post I then decided to put them in number order.

Just found something very interesting that you possibly wouldn't notice unless you has collected a large number.


This Equanimity cover has been realeased in so many variations of numbering by Benham.  To me changing the numbering as u go along seems unfair practice.  I dont know if this is known in the stamp collecting world. 

I collected for the cover do really hadn't taken much notice of the back until now.  There are 4 variations just in this lot.  I would be annoyed if I was a stamp collector if this is going on. (I collect stamps just not variations of the different ones )

Look at the numbering and stickers and hopefully u will see what I mean.

1st Type

This has one stamp of Edinburgh dated 18th April 2006












2nd Type
This also has the Edinburgh stamp dated 18th April 2006.






3rd Type

London stamp dated 18th April 2006







4th type has a sticker over and is from a batch of 65.

this cover has 2 date stamps and a extra stamp.
stamps are different 21st April 2006 not 18th April and then 17th June 2006







To be fair I am sitting looking at them and confused.  

Another different stamp cover from Benham

Love this one as it has a beautiful Dorothy Wilding picture and an Equanimity stamp.

I hope my item below qualifies,  but if not I will post another more suitable to the occasion. It's just that when I put Her Majesty next to my collection (in my mind) this stamp always pops up !!

It was the year 2009 and I was on my way to meet a good friend I had not seen for some time. We were to meet at Stampex in London. First to the Cafeteria for coffee and catch-up and what did he surprise me with ? Wow ! At the time I was still collecting Machins although that was soon to change although I didn't know it then. To this day the stamp will always hold a special place in my collection.

De La Rue Colour Comparison stamp, one of 17 (at the time) which were distributed to all printers of GB machins. They should never have been in the public domain but were first seen at a Stamp Market in Amsterdam leading to the belief they were 'ghosted' out of Enschede of Haarlem.
Banned for some years from being sold online or other auctions. Dealers could not list them. How and when that changed is not known by me, but they have popped up on occasion on eBay and Delcampe in more recent times.
It does, at least, show Her Majesty in the most popular, iconic fashion.........just not worth anything !! 

35p Machin with a value of 00p.

The length of time does not matter that you have been on the site and I will enter you in the giveaway.  I have only been a member since September.  Thank you so much for sharing your stamp and your thoughts. Sarah x