Labuan – The Queen’s Head Stamps – 1878 to 1896
Jeremy Dickson (FRPSL) recently published an excellent and meticulously-researched book of the Queen’s Head stamps of Labuan. It runs to some 300 pages and contains numerous illustrations to support the narrative. The book has been launched at the early December MONACOPHIL 2024 meeting as part of its ‘Stamps of the Far East’ exhibition.
Over the past thirty years, the author has assembled an extensive record of Labuan’s postal history – stamps, covers, postal stationery. It discusses the background to the design of the stamps and the selection of De La Rue as printers. It then, through the author’s examination of De La Rue’s records, in detail, explain the fourteen separate printings of those stamps. Also explained are the reasons behind the surcharging of various values on a number of occassions – surcharging that was carried out in Labuan and resulted in many irregularities.
No previous book of this type has previously been published. The information within it is wherever possible based on original sources – including De La Rue’s records, the Royal Philatelic Collection, The Tapling Collection, expertisation committees and auction catalogues.
Copies can be obtained from Linda Castellini of the Musée des Timbres et des Monnaies in Monaco (Email: lcastellini@gouv.me).
