In 1937 my grandfather started collecting the British empire wide series of stamps from each country. He completed the book to create a family treasure!
The 1937 coronation stamp book is a unique piece of philatelic history born out of a sudden and unexpected change in the British monarchy. It’s an example of how a massive global event was captured in miniature, with each stamp telling a part of a larger, dramatic story.
The whole stamp collection was a bit of a last-minute scramble. The coronation of King Edward VIII was set for May 12, 1937, and plans for a commemorative stamp set were already underway. But then, on December 11, 1936, Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson. This meant his shy, younger brother, Prince Albert, had to step up and become King George VI. The coronation date was kept the same, giving the British Post Office a ridiculously short amount of time—just a few months—to get new stamps designed and printed for the new King and Queen.
The stamp collection itself is known as an "omnibus issue," which means a bunch of different countries from the British Empire all came out with stamps for the same event, often with a shared design. For this coronation, 202 stamps were issued by 47 different territories. While Great Britain only released a single 1½d stamp, the rest of the Commonwealth got a set of three values each. The design, chosen by the King himself, was created by the French-British artist Edmund Dulac. It features a joint portrait of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, a first for a British commemorative stamp.
The pressure of the deadline led to some fascinating imperfections. The printing was done so quickly by two different companies, Bradbury Wilkinson and De La Rue, that the stamps are full of little quirks and flaws. To stamp collectors, or philatelists, these are a treasure trove of "aberrations, flaws, and abnormalities." For example, some stamps have missing letters, smudged ink, or other tiny mistakes that make them rare and valuable. These varieties were so numerous that a special book called The Coronation Stamp, 1937: Its Aberrations, Flaws, and Abnormalities was written to document them all!
The 1937 coronation stamp book is more than just a collection of postage stamps; it's a snapshot of a frantic moment in history, a testament to a designer's skill under pressure, and a playground for collectors hunting for the next great find.
