Stamp Collector

Stamp Collector gives you all the information, news, expert advice, market insight and inspiration you need to build your stamp collection and get the most from your hobby. Every issue features the latest prices, expert collecting advice, in-depth guides giving you the lowdown on classic stamp sets, new stamps, postal history, first-day covers and much more. Our stamp stories shed light on intriguing stamps and why they were produced, and our stamp sidelines pages provide an insight into postmarks, first-day covers, Cinderellas, Post & Go and Europa stamps.

Stamp Collector

Welcome • STAMP SUBJECTS AND THE STORIES BEHIND THEM

ROYAL MAIL REVEAL PRIDE STAMPS

GREECE STAMPS URGE RETURN OF PARTHENON MARBLES

CALLS FOR MUHAMMAD ALI STAMP

NEW UAE STAMPS COST OVER £600

WESSEX COLLECTORS EXHIBIT AT THE ROYAL

NEW UKRAINE STAMP REFLECTS CIVILIAN RESISTANCE

POSTMASTERS AND POSTMISTRESSES JOIN JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS

IN BRIEF

FEPA REVEALS AWARD WINNERS

SWITZERLAND ISSUE 'LIVING' STAMP

Country Women commemorated

Save the whales

Public art goes postal

Seagull snacks

Skál (that’s cheers) for the beers!

Celebrating a princely rarity

IN BRIEF

The cat’s whiskers • Dog lovers look away! Royal Mail has created the purrfect set of stamps for fans of felines

The rise and fall of Smilers sheets • When Royal Mail introduces a new product, collectors are often at first sceptical, and it can take years before the feasibility of the item becomes clear. In his latest column on GB stamps, Richard West reflects on the introduction and gradual disappearance of Smilers sheets

MARKET INSIGHT • AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS

Iraq Army Day • Our philatelic private eye spies another stamp set that’s likely to go up in value

LATEST INTERNET SALES • Your quick reference guide to recent online sales, in association with delcampe.net

Burma British Dominion stamps 1937-1946 • Ed Fletcher summarizes the history of Great Britain’s action-packed involvement in Burma; and looks at some selling prices for Burma issues from the reigns of George V and George VI

The Space Race on stamps • In the latest in our series on the creation of a stamp set, Richard Scott Morel, Curator, British Library’s Philatelic Collections, uses the extensive Crown Agents archives to follow the development of the Ascension Island ‘Evolution of Space Travel’ definitive stamp issue of February 1971

Stamps without borders • David Bailey discovers the world of stamps from international organisations and finds out that the intriguing theme is large, complex and collectable, not to mention topical in today’s world

Bogdanoff’s cigarettes

STAMP QUIZ

Commonwealth covers

Gibraltar and the Chinese New Year

The unsung Irish publisher

France’s stamp empire, part 2 • Join Ed Fletcher on the second leg of his French Colonials walk-through, as he heads into the pictorials gallery

Wrong name! • This stamp was issued by West Germany to celebrate the famous British nurse Florence Nightingale. So how did the error in her name come about? Chris West investigates

Pitcairn Islands 1940 The first definitive set • In his latest guide to a classic set, David Bailey discovers how these intriguing Bounty stamps rescued Pitcairn from poverty

CURATOR’S PICK A GREAT RARITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA • One of the curious things about philately is our fascination with errors and how these mishaps came about, writes Devlan Kruck as he examines an Australian oddity and the story behind it

Eminent Philatelists

EXHIBITION NEWS

York Stamp Fair

SUMMER IS HERE & THE SUN IS SHINING! • It’s time to...