Welcome to my blog, where I take pleasure in words and pictures, be they my own or those of others. I'm a creative individual, and the crafty side I explore on my 'other blog', Picking Up The Threads, which I hope you'll visit too. I'm sure you understand that I have sole copyright of my original work and any of my contributions, so please ask if you want to use them. A polite request is rarely refused. So, as they used to say on the BBC's 'Listen With Mother' radio programme, many years ago: "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin."

Sunday 20 July 2014

Post from Parliament


It was Sir Joshua Reynolds’ birthday a few days ago (16th July), so what better way to celebrate this great British painter’s life than by sharing a stamp which was issued in 1973, for his 250th birthday?
It was part of a set of four stamps; two bearing portraits by Reynolds and two by Sir Henry Raeburn, whose 150th birthday it was. The stamps were  issued on 4th July 1973, so please take note of the postmark; 2 PM on the day of issue and from no lesser establishment than the House of Commons.














I can’t remember how it came about, but the postcard was actually addressed to me, in my mother’s handwriting, and signed by the Member of Parliament, William Whitlock, who was our local MP in the constituency of Nottingham North at the time. Anyway, it’s a nice souvenir to have because the postcard also has a picture of the Palace of Westminster.




Sadly, this is a fairly ordinary commemorative stamp, and not one of the few 3p Joshua Reynolds stamps that were issued with the gold head of the Queen missed off. That would be worth around £100!

This is a contribution to Viridian’s Sunday Stamps, where the prompt is artists and illustrators.

9 comments:

  1. That's a nice souvenir, especially since its from your mother.

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  2. Yes, the monetary value is nowhere near as important as the emotional value. Still, it shows how much prices have risen since that was posted!

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  3. A great souvenir! thanks for sharing front and back details as well as the stamp.

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  4. The whole Reynolds set is valued at only £1,20 in the latest Stanley Gibbons catalogue "Collect British Stamps. But your card has much ,ore intrinsic value to you , I'm sure.

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  5. You can barely see the Queen's head so maybe it's worth, say, £50? I didn't know about that particular flaw though my husband did collect all these odd defects.

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  6. I don't usually care about cancellations, but this one is neat to have. I've heard of Raeburn, but somehow Reynolds escaped me.

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  7. What a great combination of elements in one card your mother put together. William Whitlock is a name I remember.

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  8. this is what every collector would surely love to have, regardless of the actual value

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  9. I wondered about the House of Commons having meetings in this hall, but St Stephen's Hall stands on the site of the royal Chapel of St Stephen's (where the House of Commons sat until the Chapel was destroyed by the fire of 1834). An important place, the Acts of Union with Scotland (1707) was signed here for instance.

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