With a distinguished heritage dating back to 1856, Stanley Gibbons is the world’s longest established rare stamp merchant. That legacy and the reputation that we have earned affords us the luxury of being able to offer a lifetime guarantee on all our rare items and remain the only philatelist in the world to offer this assurance.
We continue to serve hobbyists, collectors and philatelists alike and are proud to continue our association with the Royal Philatelic Collection. To this day the Stanley Gibbons shop, based opposite the Savoy on the Strand, offers the broadest selection of retail philatelic stock of any store in the world, with over a million stamps available to browse and purchase.
The year that both the original Penny Black is issued and our founder, Stanley Gibbons, is born.
Stanley Gibbons opens a stamp counter within his father's chemist shop in Plymouth.
The first Stanley Gibbons stamp catalogue is published; a penny price list that ran monthly until 1879.
Stanley Gibbons’ first magazine issue is published. Still the leading publication for philatelists well over a centenary later.
The opening lot at the newly founded Stanley Gibbons Auction House goes under the hammer.
King George V awards the Stanley Gibbons Group the royal warrant for philatelic services.
An entire edition of GSM is destroyed by a World War II bomb. However, in true Blitz spirit, an emergency edition is quickly proofed and re-printed.
Stanley Gibbons celebrates its centenary and Queen Elizabeth II grants her Royal Warrant to Stanley Gibbons, her trading philatelist to date.
The Stanley Gibbons Catalogue Centenary Exhibition is held at the Royal Festival Hall. On display is the world's rarest stamp, the British Guiana one-cent black on magenta.
Queen Elizabeth II presents Stanley Gibbons Ltd with The Queen's Award to Industry for outstanding achievement.
The 100th edition of ‘Part 1’, the premier stamp collector’s catalogue, is published.
A complete sheet of Chinese Monkey Stamps go under the hammer and sell for £109,250 setting a new in-house record.
