QEII Coronation Issue Part 2

The Great Britain Issue

The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place on 2 June 1953. To commemorate this momentous event 106 stamps were issued throughout the Commonwealth. 62 of these stamps were in the Omnibus format. In Part 1 we studied the story behind the Omnibus Issue.

Being the seat of the Commonwealth it was expected that Great Britain issue a set of stamps worthy of this event. Did they succeed? You be the judge…

In all, Great Britain issued four stamps commemorating the Queen’s Coronation. All four stamps had different designers. The final designs were reviewed and approved by the Queen, herself. Although the Coronation took place on 2 June, the stamps were not issued until 3 June, due to the fact that all post offices were closed on Coronation Day.

Three of the four Coronation stamps incorporated the three-quarter portrait of the Queen by Dorothy Wilding.  Let’s study these three stamps first.

The first stamp is the 2½d denomination. The designer of this stamp was E.G. Fuller.

The 4d denomination stamp was designed by M. Goaman.

The 1s 6d, the highest value stamp in the set, was designed by M.C. Farrar-Bell.

Now we come to the only stamp that did not incorporate the Dorothy Wilding portrait. The 1s 3d stamp was designed by E. Dulac. The portrait of the Queen in this stamp was Dulac’s own artwork. Dulac was also responsible for the design of the 1937 Coronation stamp of queen Elizabeth’s father George VI.

Sadly, Dulac died just days before the Coronation stamps were issued. He was 71. 

In the third and final installemnt of this series I'll study the Coronation stamps of two other countries, one set beautiful, the other downright ugly! Until then...

Stay Stamp Crazy!