Anyway the stamp season opened formally yesterday. The Royal Philatelic Society opens its season with a display from the Royal Collection. This year it was stamps of the West Indies - some very fine pages - mostly written up in the neat copperplate of Edward Bacon, who ran the collection from 1913 until 1938.
It was well attended - nice crowd. And it could be the last time that the season starts in the current premises in Devonshire Place - because these have been sold and the new buyers are keen for the RPSL to vacate.
Meanwhile, across London - in the Building Design Centre in Islington - Stampex was in full swing. It seemed fairly subdued and there were lots of stands selling cheaper material. In previous years there has been a lot more of the really classy stuff - £10,000 upwards. Nothing really took my fancy. I spent £4 on a sheet of Australian stamps. For the sake of the trade, I hope most philatelists are less close-fisted than myself.
see also
Great Philatelic Crooks