Organized philately milestone celebrated across the world

Philatelic Foreword by Jay Bigalke

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Royal Philatelic Society London, and the society is planning many celebratory events across the globe.

One of those big celebrations is the Stockholmia 2019 international stamp show and exhibition taking place from May 29 through June 2 in Stockholm, Sweden.

Why Sweden? The society is having the event there to showcase its international reach.

The Jan. 21 issue of Linn’s features a special section about the show. The section also includes an article by our Nordic Scene columnist Christer Brunstrom about local stamps of Stockholm.

Another article highlights Great Britain’s Stamp Classics, a new stamp issue that debuted Jan. 15.

Late last year I heard word of the Stamp Classics issue, and one of the stamps in the new souvenir sheet inspired the cover feature for this month.

That article about the unissued Great Britain Two-Penny Tyrian Plum stamp by Matthew Healey, with research assistance from Douglas Muir, senior curator of philately of the Postal Museum in London, appears at the beginning of the Stockholmia section.

The article gathers many pieces of information about this unissued stamp and includes a stunning photograph of the die used to create the stamp. This image, photographed specifically for Linn’s Stamp News, appears on the cover of the publication with another version in the article itself.

Other society events for 2019 include a special exhibition on King George V at the spring Stampex show in February in London, a Foundation Day lunch in London in April, and more.

For those in the Washington, D.C., area, the Royal will meet and have an exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum Oct. 17-19.

If a trip to Stockholm is a possibility, enjoy the experience. But if it isn’t, I hope you enjoy this issue of Linn’s and the journey through these interesting philatelic stories.

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