We aim to offer an effective system for you, the collector, to quickly find any
Great Britain Postage Stamp you need for your collection, from among the thousands
of stamps we have in stock - and failing that, to present you the opportunity to
send us a note of your 'WANTS' so that we can find that stamp for you.
The standard method by which these stamps are categorised is far from simple - and
this article seeks to explain how our search process operates, in order to ensure
you to get the best from our site. The search fields referred to can be found on
the
Advanced Search
page.
Basic Search
If you just what to browse our entire stock range from the early Postal History
through all subsequent periods, then there is no need to enter any search criteria
at all - just click on the 'Search' button.
Any criteria that you do choose will be used in combination with each other.
Reign
Click on the 'Reign' dropdown arrow to choose a particular period of issues or section.
The screen will refresh with an appropriate selection of values for the following
field - 'Category'.
Category
Edit the Category in the dropdown list here to narrow a search within your chosen
Reign. The categories within each Reign vary according to the stamps issued (e.g.
there are no 'Official Issues' in the periods after King Edward VII; and there are
no 'Postage Dues' prior to King George V.)
SG
This is the numbering system long established by Stanley Gibbons and for the purposes
of Great Britain stamps are listed comprehensively in
Stanley
Gibbon's GREAT BRITAIN 'CONCISE' Stamp Catalogue, in particular the 22nd Edition
published April 2007 (hereafter referred to as the 'Concise'). (This
catalogue is available from Tony Bellew at the cover price of £24.95., plus P&P
(post free in the UK).
Broadly speaking, individual alphanumeric stamp references in the 'Concise' begin
with a numeric or an alpha-numeric group of up to six characters (up to four numbers
or one/two alphabetic upper case letters followed by up to four numbers). For example...
|
SG |
Description |
|
2
|
Queen Victoria 1840 One Penny Black (1d. Black)
|
|
351
|
King George V 1912-22 Royal Cypher ½d. green
|
|
NI7
|
QEII Northern Ireland Regional 4d. deep bright blue, gum arabic
|
|
D14
|
King George V Postage Due: 1924 Block Cypher 3d. dull violet
|
Varieties on stamps of a particular SG number are listed by the addition of alphabetic
suffixes, such as with the following varieties on the above examples...
|
SG |
Description |
|
2Wi
|
1840 1d. Black with Watermark Inverted
|
|
351Wk
|
King George V 1912-22 Royal Cypher ½d. green with Watermark Inverted
|
|
NI7Ev
|
QEII Northern Ireland Regional 4d. deep bright blue, PVA gum
|
|
D14a
|
King George V Postage Due: 1924 Block Cypher 3d. dull violet - printed on the gum
side
|
A search by SG will result in a list of 'exact' matches and 'similar' matches. 'Exact'
means the item you searched for. 'Similar' means any other item with the same basic
SG number, or a set of stamps that includes the basic SG number. Any exact matches
found will be shown emboldened, and the page will be scrolled to the first such
match. Thus you will see, for your consideration, other similar items before and
after the stamp you searched for.
SG Spec
This is the numbering for more specialised and extensive listings of Great Britain
stamps established by Stanley Gibbons for Stanley Gibbon's GREAT BRITAIN 'Specialised'
Stamp Catalogues, (hereafter referred to as the 'Specialised' catalogues), including
(among others) the following three volumes covering the stamps available at www.TonyBellew.com
:
- Stanley Gibbons Great Britain Specialised Stamp Catalogue,
Volume 1: Queen Victoria, 13th Edition (This catalogue is available from
Tony Bellew at the cover price of £29.95., plus P&P (post free in the UK)
- Stanley Gibbons Great Britain Specialised Stamp Catalogue,
Volume 2: King Edward VII to King George VI, 12th Edition (This catalogue
is available from Tony Bellew at the cover price of £29.95., plus P&P (post
free in the UK)
- Stanley Gibbons Great Britain Specialised Stamp Catalogue,
Volume 3: Queen Elizabeth II Pre-decimal Issues, 11th Edition (This catalogue
is available from Tony Bellew at the cover price of £29.95., plus P&P (post
free in the UK)
Individual alphanumeric stamp references in the 'Specialised catalogues' begin with
one letter or a group of letters, (usually in upper case but in some instances with
lower case letters too):
|
SG Spec |
Description |
|
ME
|
1840 'Mulready' postal stationery letter-sheet or envelope
|
|
A or AS
|
Queen Victoria 1840 1d. Black or 1841 1d. Red printed from black plate
|
|
N
|
King George V definitive
|
|
NCom
|
King George V commemorative
|
|
XN
|
Queen Elizabeth II Northern Ireland Regional definitive
|
|
R
|
King George V Postage Due
|
However, these initial letters are usually quoted together with numbers which immediately
follow. So, continuing with these examples:
|
SG Spec |
Description |
|
ME1
|
1840 'Mulready' postal stationery: 1d. letter-sheet, printed in black
|
|
A1
|
Queen Victoria 1840 1d. Black
|
|
A2
|
Queen Victoria 1841 1d. Red printed from black plate
|
|
AS1
|
Queen Victoria 1840 1d. Black, Plate 1a, Intense Black shade
|
|
N14
|
King George V definitive, 1912-22 Royal Cypher ½d. value
|
|
NCom1
|
King George V commemorative: 1924 British Empire Exhibition 'Wembley' 1d. value
|
|
XN7
|
QEII Northern Ireland Regional definitive 4d. deep bright blue, PVA gum
|
|
R14
|
King George V Postage Due: 1924 Block Cypher 3d. dull violet
|
As with 'SG' numbers, varieties on stamps of a particular 'SG Spec' number are identified
by the addition of alphanumeric suffixes, such as with the following varieties on
the above examples:
|
SG Spec |
Description |
|
ME1n
|
1840 'Mulready' postal stationery: 1d. letter-sheet, printed in black - with advertisement
printed inside
|
|
A1e
|
Queen Victoria 1840 1d. Black, Watermark inverted
|
|
A2d
|
Queen Victoria 1841 1d. Red printed from black plate, Watermark inverted
|
|
AS1g
|
Queen Victoria 1840 1d. Black, Plate 1a, Intense Black shade, Watermark inverted
|
|
N14(1)c
|
King George V definitive, 1912-22 Royal Cypher ½d. green, Watermark inverted
|
|
NCom1aa
|
King George V commemorative: 1924 British Empire Exhibition 'Wembley' 1d. value
with Left side margin imperforate
|
|
XN7a
|
QEII Northern Ireland Regional definitive 4d. deep bright blue, PVA gum, with 'Dot
on leaf' variety.
|
|
R14c
|
King George V Postage Due: 1924 Block Cypher 3d. dull violet - printed on the gum
side
|
In N14(1)c above, the suffix '(1)' indicates the colour shade in which this stamp
is printed (i.e. green). Such numeric suffixes in brackets typically indicate the
colour shade of printing in Stanley Gibbons 'Specialised' reference numbers.
Also, in the case of definitive booklet panes which include advertisement labels,
such numeric suffixes in brackets serve another quite different descriptive purpose,
in that there they do not indicate colour shade but rather indicate the particular
advertisement shown on the booklet pane according to the Stanley Gibbons listing.
For example:
- QB23(12) King George VI 1937 Dark Colours 1½d. red-brown, advertisement pane with
advertisement number 12 ('YOU CAN REACH YOUR/FRIENDS AT SEA BY RADIO TELEGRAM').
- QB23a(13) King George VI 1937 Dark Colours 1½d. red-brown, watermark inverted, advertisement
pane with advertisement number 13 ('ATLANTIC HOLIDAYS/CUNARD WHITE STAR')
As with a search by SG, a search by SG Spec will result in a list of 'exact' matches
and 'similar' matches. 'Exact' means the item you searched for. 'Similar' means
any other item with the same basic SG Spec number, or a set of stamps that includes
the basic SG Spec number. Any exact matches found will be shown emboldened, and
the page will be scrolled to the first such match. Thus you will see, for your consideration,
other similar items before and after the stamp you searched for.
Keyword
If you have an interest in a particular subject matter, try searching by Keyword.
Enter multiple words if you like - just separate them with a space as you normally would.
All words entered are searched for independently (e.g. entering the words 'Plate' and 'Proof' will find all stock items that include either the word 'Plate' or 'Proof', or both 'Plate' and 'Proof'.
If you wish to search for an exact phrase (e.g. "Plate Proof")
then you will need to enclose that phrase in double quotes ("xxx").
All keywords are case insensitive - the search will work with uppercase, lowercase or mixed case.
Price Range
This is a mechanism simply to ensure items found using the other search criteria
are within your budget. Just choose a maximum price limit to filter the search results.
Newest Items
We understand that you don't want to trawl through our entire stock database every time you visit our site.
So, in order that you can just view the new stock items, select from the Newest Items dropdown.
You may opt to view all our stock items, or just those added in the last 30, 60 or 90 days.
Stock Number
We give each individual item in our database a stock number in order to help us
identify them in our computer system. This number is shown at the end of the description
on each item in the search results. Furthermore, the Stock Number will be published
alongside descriptions in future price lists.
If you find an item you are interested in, you can use the 'Stock Number' search
criteria to find that specific item again. Entering a number in this field will automatically cancel out
other search criteria you have previously entered - this is because the search options may contradict each other.
Other Stamp Classifications
Notwithstanding the Stanley Gibbons publications being the first, or among the first,
published catalogues of Great Britain postage stamps, other catalogues have been
and continue to be published, often concerned with specific periods of issue of
interest sections. We regret that for reasons of brevity we cannot offer search
facilities using classifications other than those of Stanley Gibbons. However, we
will be pleased to receive enquiries or Wants Lists based on other catalogue classifications.
We may respond by requesting descriptions of the required stamps or other philatelic
items, if we do not have copies of the catalogues quoted.
An alternative to the Stanley Gibbons 'Concise' catalogue which we can thoroughly
recommend is the 'Stoneham':
'New STONEHAM GREAT BRITAIN STAMP CATALOGUE', 13th Edition.
Published by The Machin Collectors Club, Norfolk, NR11 6DL.
This catalogue carries an excellent listing of Great Britain stamps, including a
range of material not included in the SG Concise, so represents what might be termed
an 'half-way house' between the Concise and Stanley Gibbons Specialised catalogues.
The Stoneham catalogue is available from Tony Bellew at the cover price of £15.95
plus P&P (post free in the UK).