Tapling Collection

The Tapling Collection of postage stamps was donated to the British Museum from the estate of Thomas Tapling in 1891.[1]

Tapling collection
The Tapling Collection includes this 1854, 4 annas stamp in blue and pale red from India with the error of having the head inverted.
Housed atBritish Library
CuratorsPaul Skinner

The probate value of the Tapling collection was set at £12,000 but on arrival Richard Garnett (assistant keeper of Printed Books) estimated their value at more than £50,000 and described the bequest as the most valuable gift since the Grenville Library[2] in 1847 (equivalent to £24,000,000 in 2011).[3]

It is held in the Philatelic Collections of the British Library and selected items are on permanent public exhibition.[4][5][6]

The collection covers the period 1840 to 1890 with some items up to 1900 added subsequently and recorded on the album pages. As of January 2009 the stamps were held in 72 boxes and the postal stationary part held in 113 albums and seven boxes.[7]

Highlights
Queen Isabella II (2 reales stamp with colour error) - The Tapling Collection (1851) - BL

The collection features these rarities:[8]

  • Gold Coast: 1883 (May) 1d on 4d magenta, unique
  • Great Britain: 1858-79 1d red, plate 77, one of a few known
  • Hawaii: 1851-52 2 cents to 13 cents (both types), the "Missionaries"
  • India: 1854 4 annas blue and pale red, error head inverted, two used on a cover, unique
  • Mauritius: 1847 1d red used on cover and 2d blue, the "Post Office" issue
  • Spain: 1851 2 reales, error of colour, one of three known[9]
  • Switzerland: Zurich: 1843 4 rappen, the unique unsevered horizontal strip of five
  • Uruguay: 1858 120 centavos blue and 180 centavos green, in tête beche pairs, two of five known
  • Western Australia: 1854-55 4d blue, error frame inverted
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See also

References and sources
References
  1. "Wills and Bequests". The Times. 11 July 1891. p. 4. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2011. ...to the Trustees of the British Museum his entire collection of postage stamps and everything belonging to him 'appertaining to the science or hobby of stamp collecting,' upon the condition that the collection is kept in a separate room or part of a room, and is to be called 'The Tapling Collection,' and is always accessible to the president and secretary of the Philatelic Society.
  2. "Frederick York, The Grenville Library, a photograph". British Museum. 2010-12-13. Archived from the original on 2010-12-16. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
  3. The figure of £24 million ignores any increase in value due to age of the collection and is calculated with average earnings increase since 1891.
    • "Death of Mr. T.K. Tapling, M.P.". Leicester Chronicle and the Leicestershire Mercury (Leicester, England). April 18, 1891. p. 6.
    • Day, Alan Edwin (1998), Inside the British Library, Library Association Pub., p. 205, ISBN 978-1-85604-280-2
    • Harris 1998, p. 411
  4. "Philatelic Collections: The Tapling Collection". Bl.uk. 2003-11-30. Archived from the original on 2012-09-18. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
  5. "Tapling, Thomas Keay - Biographical entry - Blue Mauritius - Research Companion". Helenmorgan.net. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
  6. Humphreys, Rob; Bamber, Judith (2003), The Rough Guide to London (5 ed.), Rough Guides, p. 152, ISBN 978-1-84353-093-0
  7. Martin, Jeremy, & John Powell. (2010) West Africa in the British Library Philatelic Collections. Dronfield: West Africa Study Circle. pp. 154-156. ISBN 9781905647040
  8. Index to the collection of postage and other stamps bequeathed to the British Museum by Thomas Keay Tapling, M.P., British Museum, p. 24, British Library 010637981
  9. "Spain: 1851 2 reales blue, error of colour". British Library. March 26, 2009. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
Sources
  • Mackay, James A. (1964), The Tapling Collection of postage and telegraph stamps and postal stationery, British Museum
  • Melville, Frederick J. (1905), The Tapling Collection of Stamps and Postal Stationery at the British Museum. A descriptive guide and index, Lawn & Barlow
  • Index to the collection of postage and other stamps bequeathed to the British Museum by Thomas Keay Tapling, M.P., Trustees of the British Museum, 1903
  • Harris, Philip Rowland (1998), A history of the British Museum Library, 1753-1973, British Library, ISBN 978-0-7123-4562-0
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