Among the entires of Great Britain there are many long-forgotten treasures, such as the penny-farthing postcard, the twopenny card, and the South Kensington Jubilee cards.
Of colonial stamps there are some particularly complete sets of early issues. The "Sydney Views" of New South Wales are shown in whole panes of twenty-five, the triangular Capes are given in numbers, whilst the array of early Mauritius adhesives is not to be surpassed. The postcards of Ceylon are also worthy of mention.
It should be pointed out that some of the greatest rarities have been removed from the ordinary cases and placed in the Cracherode Room, where, however, they can still be viewed at leisure. The whole collection is said to be worth £100,000, was bequeathed to the Trustees of the Museum by the late Mr. T. K. Tapling, M.P., and has been in their hands since 1891. No stamps have been added to the collection since it came into the Trustees' possession, so that specimens of a later date are conspicuous by their absence.
Another fine collection of stamps is possessed by the postal authorities in Newgate Street, but, unfortunately, no facilities are given for public inspection. The labels in this collection are in an unused condition, and consist largely of the specimens which are sent out by every country belonging to the Universal Postal Union. This collection also contains a number of trial and "imprimatur" sheets of British stamps.
Commemorative Stamps 1 U.S.A.: Columbus issue 2 U.S.A.: Columbus issue 3 Canada: Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee 4 Canada: Penny Postage to Colonies 5 Roumania: Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Establishment of the Kingdom 6 Portuguese India: Vasco da Gama Celebration 7 Switzerland: Jubilee of Postal Union 8 U.S.A.: Jamestown Exhibition issue 9 Italy: Fiftieth year of Kingdom
King George's collection is probably one of the most interesting in the world. It is a private collection, and therefore not on view; but sections of it, however, have been exhibited from time to time. Mr. F. J. Melville, who is well acquainted with its contents, tells us in "Chats on Postage Stamps" (p. 312) that—
"The collection contains the original sketch of W. Mulready, R.A., for the famous envelopes and letter-sheets of 1840, to which reference has been made. Then there is the historic pair of sketches in water-colours, roughly executed by Sir Rowland Hill to show the approximate appearance of the penny stamp in black and the twopenny stamp in blue.
"All the Victorian surface-printed series are shown imperforate, including the 3d., with reticulated background; 3d., plate 3 ("dot"); 4d., in lake, watermarked "small garter"; 6d., plate 1 on safety paper, and plate 3 with hair-lines; 9d., plate 3, with hair-lines, and plate 5; 10d., plate 2; 1s., plate 1 on safety paper; plate 3 with hair-lines, 4 in an unissued colour—lilac; 2s., plate 3; 10s., £1, and £5, on blue paper.
"Of the ordinary stamps of King Edward's reign, the Royal collection contains several essays and proofs of great interest. A photograph of a stamp made up from Herr Füchs's original sketch of King Edward's head, enclosed in the newly designed frame and border, deservedly comes first, and bears the late King's written approval: from this, temporary copper-plates were engraved so that the effect might be noted, and three proofs therefrom are included. Unfortunately, the final result did not come up to the anticipated standard, and there was some talk about having a fresh design prepared after the style of the then new Transvaal stamps, but this fell through on the ground of expense; proofs of this also are in the collection, together with various colour-trials of the penny value, as adopted."