The queen, butterflies and ships on favorite British stamps

A stamp reproducing a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II was voted as the favorite stamp issued by Great Britain in 2013.

Royal Mail (the British Post Office) conducts this stamp popularity poll through its publication for collectors, British Philatelic Bulletin, and announced the results of its latest poll in the April 2014 issue.

Royal Mail reports that more than 2,000 readers participated.

The poll includes categories for favorite stamp set and for favorite single stamp of 2013.

Figure 1 shows the 88-penny stamp that won in the single-stamp category with 330 votes.

Issued May 30 in a set commemorating the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s 1953 coronation, it reproduces Pietro Annigoni’s portrait of the queen commissioned in 1954.

The designs of the six stamps in this set show different portraits of the queen.

A set of 10 Butterflies stamps issued July 11 was selected as the favorite stamp issue of 2013 with 899 votes.

Wildlife artist and author Richard Lewington created the illustrations for these stamps.

The stamp featuring the red admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta) was the third most popular in the single-stamp category, receiving 222 votes. This stamp is pictured in Figure 2. Like all of the stamps in the Butterflies set, it is nondenominated and pays the first-class rate.

The 10 Merchant’s Navy stamps issued Sept. 19 placed second in the favorite-issue category, while the Cutty Sark stamp from this set came in second in the favorite stamp category. The set received 834 votes, and the nondenominated first-class Cutty Sark stamp received 265.

Figure 3 shows the stamp. It features Frederick Tudgay’s painting of this tea clipper ship under full sail.

The third most popular issue of 2013, the Madonna and Child Christmas set, received 551 votes. The stamps show Madonna and Child paintings by different artists.