Collecting The King George VI Reign - Introduction

Now that I have my computer and scanner operational... lookout!

As promised, here is the beginning of a long series on the collecting and study of the stamps of The British Empire & Commonwealth of the Reign of His Late Majesty King George VI.

This is the main focus of my stamp collecting interests, and has been so for the past 10+ years.

His Late Majesty:







I shall post a topic under the title KGVI - Part I. We'll ask questions, etc., beat it to death, and then move on to another section.

Why King George VI? Well, he reigned from 1936 (starting with the abdication of his brother HM King Edward VIII) to his death on February 6th, 1952. The stamps essentially cover a period of 15 years. Wartime printings (as one printer was bombed out in the Blitz and another assumed the printings), shortages, sunk ships, etc. all contributed to many plate, colour, shade, paper, and printing varieties. There is some wonderful postal history (we'll explore that), the change from Empire to Commonwealth, and a look at some of the social history of the reign.

For me, personally, King George VI was Colonel-In-Chief of the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (M.G.). That was the regiment in which I served.

A bit about my collection...

1. I use the Stanley Gibbons fastbound King George VI Stamp Album. I place the first (ie. 1938 printing) in that album.
2. I have ten 1" three-ringed binders with varieties, postal history, etc.
3. I also collect the postal stationery of Canada, Newfoundland, and Great Britain.
4. I use a postcard on the title page of each binder. The portrait of The King is a real photo postcard, on the title page of Volume I.
5. I only collect used stamps.

Some of this may get really technical, either philatelically or historically... so...

I will assume a few things...

1. You have a working knowledge of the Stanley Gibbons Part I of the British Commonwealth Catalogue.

2. You have a working knowledge of the Scott Catalogue.

3. You understand the British system of currency.

4. You have a basic understanding of the history of the Empire & Commonwealth of the reign (ie. You know the basic players, Queen Elizabeth and the members of the Royal Family, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, etc.)

5. You have an understanding of the major events of World War II (1939-1945).

Get a basic understanding of these from the internet, and we'll discuss them in this introduction.

As we get into it, please post questions. I want to make this a learning experience for everyone. Much of what you will learn will transfer to other collecting interests you may have. Much of our focus at the Ottawa Philatelic Society has been teaching and learning. I hope this is an extension to it.

Let the fun begin...

David

This is going to be a very interesting study of the stamps that were issued during the reign of King George the VI David,I never thought it could be that involving though you may open my eyes to the depth of this study,just one question to start with why was he holding a handkerchief around his left thumb in this photo .

regards

David, I saw an old newsreel with George 6 on tv..did not recognize your picture he did not have a cigarette and a drink in his hand !!

David......


A wonderful time period for studying postal history. It was without a doubt an absolutely fascinating era. I, for one cannot wait to see all you have acquired.

The only thing I would suggest is that, I would bet that most members here have never seen a Gibbons catalog.

David,
I can't wait to read what will be included here. Especially the historical part.
I collect books about the Royal family, and I don't have very much at all about George VI. I am sure this will be very interesting.

Just wanted to add that in looking though my books to see what I did have for George VI, I rediscovered two of my oldest and more favourite books. I LOVE all books, especially when they are old and fit into a topic I collect.
The first one is, "The Life of King Edward VII" by J. Castell Hopkins, 1910.
Second one is, "A King in the Making" An Authentic Story of Edward, Seventeenth Prince of Wales, by Genivieve Parkhurst. 1925.

Good question, Harry. Actually, you can see part of it on the handle of the sword... it's actually part of the cloth handle cover, and he is correctly holding onto the sword with the cover around his thumb.

Glad to see you're observant.

David

Good point, Phil. The King was a heavy smoker, and died of lung cancer at the age of 57.

David

That sounds more like his older brother Edward. Are you sure it wasn't him? They looked somewhat similar.

The interesting thing about George VI is that he wasn't meant to be King, his brother was. But when Eddie abdicated after less than a year, his younger brother had to take his place. Up to then, he was merely the Duke of York. His real name was Albert, but he took the name George upon being named King because his great-grandmother, Queen Victoria forbade the use of the name Albert for a monarch, because of the early death of her consort who was named Albert.

George VI also had a bad stammer that he constantly worked on to overcome. He was never a comfortable public speaker because of this, and evidence of this stammer can be heard in the speech he made on the declaration of war on September 3, 1939, which can be found on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAhFW_auT20

The strain of being King, especially during World War II, likely shortened his life immeasurably, and he aged rapidly, as can be seen in the following pictures, taken only about twelve years apart:



Towards the end of his reign, he was in very frail health, as can easily be seen.

Incidentally, here is a 1935 Canadian $50 bill, showing the Duke of York:

I heard that Eddie 7 liked the ladies..but that does not make him a bad person !!

Eddie VII and Eddie VIII both liked the ladies.

In fact, in the case of Eddie VII, rumour is that the model who posed for the portrait of Brittania on the Florins issued during his reign was one of his favorite mistresses.

Excellent points, Glen. The pictures of The King show how frail he was. He had one lung removed in 1950. Thank-you for the You Tube link... very interesting.

You can see Queen Mary (His Mum) in the background of the 1951 picture.

David

Very interesting topic David. Do you collect the Australian KGVI issues?



Balf

Balf:

I collect all the countries of the Empire & Commonwealth of the reign.

David
(Nice example of the White Wattles!)

Let me know if there's anything you're after, happy to send them your way.

Balf

Hi David, so that's the king I always see on my coins! Aside from stamps I also collect coins and his side view always pops up on a lot of them. Thanks for the info!