As an employee of David Feldman (the Swiss stamp auctioneers), I’m lucky enough to travel the world going to stamp exhibitions. The latest was last week in London at the Business Design Centre in Islington (the same venue as Stampex twice a year). With over 350 exhibits there was plenty to see, with many extremely important and valuable collections. The standard was particularly high even for an International Exhibition with over 38 Large Gold medals awarded.
However one in particular stood out to me as a Jubilee collector. Although not obvious from the title; “Great Britain Edward VII Essays and Proofs” by Graham Horton had some fantastic items. There were no fewer than seven “Stamp Committee” hand-painted essays, eighteen 1s green & carmine colour trials, several die proofs and the type A and type B sets of Edward VII “paste-ups”. However the pièce de résistance of the collection (for me at least) was the postal notice for the introduction of the 1s green and carmine and the 1/2d blue-green. Until the day I saw it I wasn’t even aware of its existence! (Although I have heard that there are two notices that exist for the 1st January 1887 issues). So I will have to keep an eye out if I want to add this treasure to my collection.
The 1887 Jubilee Issue 