KGVI 1948 Royal Silver Wedding stamps?
The wedding anniversary of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth gave Britain the perfect excuse for some positivity after a gruelling period of war and shortages. So what should you pay for the 2½d and a £1 stamps and what varieties and covers are on offer?
The dreadful hardships 1947 brought to our islands had begun with a 51-day freeze-up that commenced on 18 January; merging into February blizzards, March snow drifts (some more than ten feet deep even in urban areas), and April floods caused by torrential rainstorms that overwhelmed many river defences.
Throughout those hellish months postal workers battled to keep Britain’s mail deliveries moving via road, rail and arduous door-to-door deliveries. Optimistically politicians promised spring-time relief; instead May brought bread, potato and petrol shortages, with postmen delivering ration books, and with school children sent home because school boilers had run out of coal, even logs. Little wonder than on 31 December the entire population washed their hands of 1947 and began to look forward to a little sunshine beaming into their lives in 1948.
It took until 26 April for the sunshine to arrive; summed up by a Western Morning News editorial on that day which succinctly described the feelings of most in our nation:
HAPPY DAY! Today we are able to pay homage to the Throne, which is the summit of OUR social system, and to the normal, happy family life which is its foundation. Those who 25 years ago gave their acclamation to the marriage of the Duke of York and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-lyon could not foresee all that has happened since. They did know, however, that they were witnessing the union of a very happy couple and a most fortunate adaptation of the institution of Monarchy by which a member of the Royal House made an alliance outside the circle of Royalty to the delight of the whole nation.
On the same day the Yorkshire Post beat most competitors in giving its readers some other good news:
TWO NEW STAMPS… A special issue of postage stamps has been made to commemorate the Silver Wedding anniversary of the King and Queen. The issue consists of two denominations, 2½d and £l, to be known as the Royal Silver Wedding issue. Both will be on sale at the opening time for public business to-day, the 2½d at all post offices, and the £1 at all post offices in London, and all main offices and a number of sub-post offices in the provinces. It is expected that the stamps will remain on sale for about one month, and that they will continue to be sold until the printing is exhausted. The 2½d stamp, which is double the normal size – that is, the same size as the Peace stamps of 1946
– is blue, and of a similar hue to the ordinary 2½d stamp. The £1 stamp is silvery blue in colour, size 1.23 inches wide by 1.6 inches deep. The design for the 2½d stamp is the work of Mr. George T. Knipe (of Harrison and Sons, Ltd.). Miss Joan Hassall, A.R.E., designed the £1 value. The decision to produce these stamps was made in conformity with the tradition of issuing special stamps celebrating important events connected with the Royal Family, of which the King George V Silver Jubilee and King George VI Coronation stamps were examples. There have been only six previous special issues. A Leeds Post Office official told The Yorkshire Post that £1 stamps of previous special issues were
withdrawn some time ago, after their use on foreign cablegrams declined. Most of the new issue, he thought, would be bought by stamp collectors.
The cash-strapped British film industry worked its socks off to capture on its movie cameras the ceremonial side of the day’s events at Westminster Abbey and the cheering crowds who had gathered since before dawn at the gates of Buckingham Palace. Copies of the film were rushed to cinemas across the country; with statistics a week later indicating that four-fifths of Britain’s population had paid for tickets. Sadly, the budget ran to only a black-and-white reel, though the voice-over commentary was impressively handled by actor Robert Donat, already famous as the hero of The Thirty-nine Steps. Desperate for more colourful mementoes, large numbers of people bought pairs of the stamps as souvenir. Many made their own watercolour decorated envelopes and used them to fashion First Day Covers. They might be surprised to learn that today those self-illustrated FDCS often match, or even surpass, the selling prices reached by commercially printed FDC envelopes.
So, how much should you pay to add the 2½d or the £1; or preferably both, to your collection? We found a noticeably wide span of selling prices. An absolute beginner can buy the lower value mint for under £1; an experienced bidder at auction might spend £250+ if he/she wants a selfillustrated FDC. The good news for all readers is that the popularity of this issue back in 1948 has left us a generous legacy of the stamps available at all spending levels, as you can see from the examples we spotted during our market survey.