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Royal Mail has issued a set of five new stamps marking Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II becoming our Longest Reigning Monarch. Each stamp features a different regal design highlighting a key Royal motif, and there is a new 1st Class definitive for use on everyday letters too. I’ve managed to get hold of some of the stamps fresh off the press so I can show them to you here on the blog… 1st ClassIn a nod to the historical precedent for the occasion this stamp features William Wyon’s ‘City Medal’. Depicting the head of Queen Victoria – the UK’s previous longest reigning...

This week a new £5 coin will be issued to mark Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II becoming our longest reigning monarch on 9th September.One of the very first coins has been issued by Jersey and I’ve been given exclusive access to go behind-the-scenes for the blog.The new £5 coin has been designed by Timothy Noad, whose work has featured on many UK coins over the years. He has even designed the Gold Sovereign twice, an unprecedented honour which is testament to his passion and understanding of numismatic art. This passion shows through in his design for the new £5 coin. Featuring an Oak Tree and the Royal...

The world’s first postage stamp, the Penny Black, officially turns 175 on 6th May 2015.  Today, stamps are one of those everyday things which we take so much for granted that it’s impossible to visualise a world without them; but 175 years ago sending and receiving letters was a major operation, and a relatively expensive one.Letters were charged according to the distance travelled and the number of sheets.  To send a letter from London to Glasgow cost 18 pence – a couple of days’ wages for the average man – and it was the recipient who paid, not the sender! In...

This year a brand new £5 coin has been issued to commemorate Sir Winston Churchill, and it features a never-seen-before effigy of the great man. Designed by renowned sculptor and artist David Cornell FRSA, the new portrait shows a defiant Churchill in military uniform. I’ve been given a behind the scenes look at the creation of the portrait, and had a quick chat with the artist himself. David Cornell is perhaps more famous for sculpting members of the Royal family, (he was even commissioned to paint a birthday portrait of the Queen) so I thought I’d ask him about his inspiration behind the new design:...

Did you know that since Royal Mail issued their first Christmas stamp in 1966, over 17 billion Christmas stamps have been printed in Britain?  But as popular as they are today, Great Britain was late to the table when it came to issuing Christmas stamps.  So which country can lay claim to issuing the first Christmas stamp?  The Contenders…   Canada – 1898The first country to lay claim is Canada, which produced a stamp bearing the words‘Xmas 1898’.  But many people question whether this was really a Christmas stamp at all… Denmark – 1904Denmark claims it printed the first Christmas stamp in...