(From the collection of the Earl of Crawford, K.T.)
But the collections of Lord Crawford have carried the historical and scientific aspects of Philately to more profound depths, and the stamps have been collected on a more lavish scale to provide ample reference material not only for present but future study. Condition, too, has received more attention, and is now a primary consideration. The collections are mostly arranged in countries or groups, and few suspect the wealth of material as yet not disclosed, among the sections which have not yet been publicly displayed. The United States collection, when shown to the New York Collectors' Club a few years ago, opened up a new aspect of Philately to the collectors in the States, and gave an effective stimulus to the serious side of collecting in America. The collection is very fully written up in the Earl's own writing, much of which was done on board his yacht, the Valhalla. The collection contains practically all that could be got together to illustrate the postal history of the United States, and makes the mention of particular items useless. The unique envelope of Annapolis, however, is especially noteworthy, and also the 10 cents, black on white, adhesive stamp of Baltimore, of which but three copies are known.
NEARLY A COMPLETE SHEET (219 STAMPS OUT OF 240) OF THE HIGHLY VALUED ONE PENNY BLACK "V.R." STAMP, INTENDED FOR OFFICIAL USE.
(From the collection of the Earl of Crawford, K.T.)
Of Great Britain, too, Lord Crawford has a large number of well-filled albums, including some extraordinarily large blocks ("part sheets" would describe them better) of the imperforate line-engraved stamps. There is nearly a complete sheet of the 1d. black "V.R." (219 stamps out of the 240), a part sheet of the ordinary 1d. black (175 stamps), and all but six rows of a sheet of the scarce 2d. blue, "no lines," which was the companion stamp of the 1d. black, and was issued on May 6, 1840.
PART SHEET (LACKING BUT SIX HORIZONTAL ROWS) OF THE SCARCE TWO PENCE BLUE STAMP "WITHOUT WHITE LINES" ISSUED IN GREAT BRITAIN, 1840.