Three Kings: An Alternative Christmas Story

In this festive feature from Gibbons Stamp Monthly, the UK’s best-selling stamp magazine, John Moody reimagines the Nativity with a philatelic twist—featuring three British kings.

THREE KINGS: AN ALTERNATIVE CHRISTMAS STORY

By John Moody

As the festive season gets underway, John Moody gives the Nativity story a bit of a philatelic twist.

The traditional Christian story of the Nativity tells of three kings that traversed afar bringing coveted treasures from their kingdoms to lay before the new-born baby Jesus. But what if those meandering monarchs from the story were not from the East but were instead the three British kings whose reigns oversaw prolific periods of British stamp issues, including some of most desirable items in British philately. What philatelic finery from their respective reigns would each of our monarchs consider to be a fitting tribute to present at the manger?

The First King

Fig 1 The fabled SG 266A 2d. Tyrian Plum from the reign of King Edward VII

The first of our kings, Edward VII, came carrying not gold but a Tyrian plum, which also turned out to be his parting gift to philately (Fig 1). The stamp designs of Edward’s reign followed those of his mother’s, Queen Victoria, but in 1909 it was decided to redesign the ‘Jubilee’ definitives, but on this occasion to be printed in mono-colour. The 2d. denomination of the new mono-set was scheduled to be issued on 6 May 1910. One hundred thousand sheets were printed, which amounted to 24,000,000 stamps. The stamps where delivered to the Post Office depots for distribution to local postmasters.

The 2d. was printed in Tyrian plum colour. The distribution of the stamp, however, had been held up until 6 May to allow for old stock to be sold. Unfortunately, the King died on that day and as a result the issue of the 2d. was not made and all the stock was called in and eventually destroyed, except for very few copies which escaped the incinerator.

A friend of the King managed to obtain one copy, which he posted to the Prince of Wales on 5 May, the day before the Prince would accede to the throne as King George V. The cover is now in the Royal Philatelic Collection. The same collection also has two mint copies and it is thought that about eight to 12 mint copies exist in private collections. In addition, copies of Specimen overprints are also known, thus causing speculation that at least one sheet of these appears to exist. The Postal Museum also holds a complete imperforate registration sheet; a perforated sheet with one stamp missing and a complete set of colour trials.

The Second King

Although King George V was considered to be a somewhat austere man, he was more importantly a stamp collector – he awarded Stanley Gibbons the Royal Warrant for Services to Philately in 1914. In 1893, as the Duke of York, he was elected Honorary Vice President of the Royal Philatelic Society. Its members presented him with an album, containing about 1500 stamps, as a wedding present (I’m not sure what Queen Mary thought about that). The king was personally responsible for the founding of the Royal Philatelic Collection, which continues to be developed today.

It was King George V who moved away from the simpler stamp designs of the Victorian and Edwardian era to something more adventurous and interesting to collectors. As a result, his gift was not Frankincense but a Seahorse, or to be accurate Seahorses, one of the most beautiful stamp issues of British philately (Fig 2).

Fig 2 The 1913 Seahorse high values form one of Britain’s most attractive stamp issues

Following the horrors of World War I, George V feared another war in the near future. It could be that the king approved the Seahorses design, created by Australian Bertram Mackennal, as a moral-boosting symbol for the British people. The stamp might have been a response to the German threat posed to Britain at sea, with the Seahorses testifying to Britain’s naval domination.

The design of the four high value definitives, issued in 1913, took its origins from classic and ancient art. It shows a chariot towed by three horses and driven by a ferocious looking Britannia.

As well as their beautiful design, the stamps also owe their place as a gem to collectors because of their complicated production process – printed by four different printers with two different printing processes and on three different types of paper. Because of its complex production methods the stamps opened the door for a new arm of the collecting hobby – microscopic philately.

Fig 3 A reproduction of the Seahorses die proof was reproduced as a souvenir for the 1973 British Philatelic Exhibition

Fig 4 Although not one of the best reproductions, this British booklet from 1983 also shows the Seahorse design

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Fig 5 The sheetlet produced for the London 2010 International does justice to the Seahorse design

The stamps were in circulation for 26 years; longer than any other definitive of its kind. The Seahorses even continued to be used until modern times. In 1973, the British Philatelic Exhibition reprinted a die proof as a souvenir of the show (Fig 3) and ten years later the Seahorses appeared on a stamp booklet, unfortunately it doesn’t contain a very good image of the stamp (Fig 4). A much better reprint appeared in another stamp booklet in 2010 and as a miniature sheet to commemorate the 2010 London Festival of Stamps (Fig 5) .

The Third King

As the short-lived reign of his brother only produced one mediocre British stamp issue, it was left to George VI to offer a philatelic treasure from his reign. Instead of a jar of myrrh the king carried a set of 1948 GB Olympic Games stamps. This was a rather fitting tribute given that, just as the 2021 Olympics was beset with major global problems, the 1948 had to struggle with the aftermath of a World War. Both, however, overcame the odds to organise a world-wide sporting spectacular.

King George VII backed the Government’s undertaking to act as host for the first Olympic Games since 1936 and despite travel difficulties for athletes – no Olympic village, rationing of food, poor logistics and a lack of sufficient funds and a shortage of venues – the games went ahead. The set of 1948 Olympic stamps were perhaps not the most loved of the king’s reign, but their issue was the most significant.

The stamp’s designs were quite simple, using the familiar Olympic Rings emblem in four different ways. The 2½d. used the emblem as a base to the stamp supporting a globe encased in a laurel wreath. The 3d. had the emblem stretched across the globe to represent speed. The 6d. shows the emblem behind the bust of the king and the 1s. shows the Winged Victory scattering the rings over the globe (Fig 6 to Fig 9).

The stamps were issued on 29 July 1948, and were additionally overprinted for use in Bahrain, Kuwait, Muscat, Morocco Agencies and Tangier.

I hope you have enjoyed this festive bit of philatelic fun. You could always use this article to give your friends and family a timely reminder that stamps can make the perfect Christmas gift!