FOREWORD
It has been one of the great pleasures of my life to help and advise "Daisy" in the formation of this wonderful collection of Great Britain. The exciting material offered in this catalogue is the result of forty years of research in attempting to assemble one of the great representations of the first two issues of Queen Victoria, or on a simplified basis the first four stamps of the world. The collection is anything but simplified and contains many great items from the celebrated collections of the past, including those of Adams, Burrus, Caspary, Griffiths, "Maximus", Meroni, Seymour, Stothert, "Victoria" and Yates. For the collectors of today, we have at our expense obtained B.P.A. certificates for some 350 items.
As this collection was imported into England by Christie's in December 1994, inland collectors do not have to pay V.A.T. on the hammer price. The "Daisy" collection was awarded the Grand Prix National at the London 1980 International Stamp Exhibition. One can see the reason for this!
R.L.
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
James Chalmers Essays
cover 1839 "General Postage./NOT/EXCEEDING/HALF/AN OUNCE/One Penny." (4) and "General Postage./NOT/EXCEEDING/ONE/OUNCE./Twopence." essays se-tenant in red on fine wove paper, the piece showing manuscript "Specimens of the original stamps prepaid and submitted by James Chalmers. Presented to me by Patrick Chalmers, Feb 19, 1887" and signed at lower-left; the paper folded and split (crossing one 1d.) but otherwise fine. Photo
Details
cover 1839 "General Postage./NOT/EXCEEDING/HALF/AN OUNCE/One Penny." (4) and "General Postage./NOT/EXCEEDING/ONE/OUNCE./Twopence." essays se-tenant in red on fine wove paper, the piece showing manuscript "Specimens of the original stamps prepaid and submitted by James Chalmers. Presented to me by Patrick Chalmers, Feb 19, 1887" and signed at lower-left; the paper folded and split (crossing one 1d.) but otherwise fine. Photo
Further details
The design differs from the original 1838 essays and these could be either the originals of a fresh design or a reprint. The Chalmers connection suggests the former but the status is uncertain.