The Tapling Collection of

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the ...

s was donated to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

from the estate of

Thomas Tapling Thomas Keay Tapling (30 October 1855 – 11 April 1891) was an English businessman and politician. He played first-class cricket and was also an eminent philatelist who formed one of the greatest stamp collections of his era. Early life Taplin ...

in 1891. The

probate Probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased, or whereby the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy in the sta ...

value of the Tapling collection was set at £12,000 but on arrival Richard Garnett (assistant keeper of Printed Books) estimated their value at more than £50,000 and described the bequest as the most valuable gift since the Grenville Library in 1847 (equivalent to £24,000,000 in 2011).The figure of £24 million ignores any increase in value due to age of the collection and is calculated with average earnings increase since 1891. * * * It is held in the Philatelic Collections of the British Library and selected items are on permanent public exhibition. The collection covers the period 1840 to 1890 with some items up to 1900 added subsequently and recorded on the album pages. As of January 2009 the stamps were held in 72 boxes and the

postal stationery A piece of postal stationery is a stationery item, such as a stamped envelope, letter sheet, postal card, lettercard, aerogram or wrapper, with an imprinted stamp or inscription indicating that a specific rate of postage or related se ...

part held in 113 albums and seven boxes.Martin, Jeremy, & John Powell. (2010) ''West Africa in the British Library Philatelic Collections''. Dronfield: West Africa Study Circle. pp. 154-156.

Highlights

The collection features these rarities: * Gold Coast: 1883 (May) 1d on 4d magenta, unique * Great Britain: 1858-79 1d red, plate 77, one of a few known * Hawaii: 1851-52 2 cents to 13 cents (both types), the "

Missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

" * India: 1854 4 annas blue and pale red, error head inverted, two used on a cover, unique * Mauritius: 1847 1d red used on cover and 2d blue, the "Post Office" issue * Spain: 1851 2 reales, error of colour, one of three known * Switzerland: Zurich: 1843 4 rappen, the unique unsevered horizontal strip of five * Uruguay: 1858 120 centavos blue and 180 centavos green, in

tête beche Tête, head in French, may refer to : * ''Tête'' (sculpture), a 1912 work of art by Amedeo Modigliani; one of the most expensive sculptures ever sold * "Je danse dans ma tête", a 1991 song from the Dion chante Plamondon album by Céline Dion * ...

pairs, two of five known * Western Australia: 1854-55 4d blue, error frame inverted The collection also includes a significant number of colour varieties of early United States postal issues.''A Sharp Eye on collecting US Classics'' (Sharp Photography Publications, 2021) ASIN B091MBTGJ7 (read online, page 29)

References and sources

;References ;Sources * * * *

External links

* {{British Library Named Collections British Library Philatelic Collections

Highlights

See also

References and sources

External links