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QEII Registered Envelopes of the Tudor Rose Design

Introduction

Background

The Tudor Rose embossed design featuring the head of Queen Elizabeth II for the postal stationery of Great Britain was used for Registered Envelopes, Post Office Envelopes and Stamped to Order Envelopes, Paper & Postcards. The artist was Cecil Walter Thomas CBE FRBS (1885-1976), who had a long and successful career as a sculptor. His other commissions included designs for British Elizabethan coins and the Crawford Medal for the Royal Philatelic Society London.

Scope

The story of the design and use of all Tudor Rose stationery is too large to be covered in depth in five frames, so this exhibit has been restricted to just Registered Envelopes - and then mostly restricted to essays, proofs, specimens and unused examples. A small number of important used envelopes are included where relevant. The first envelopes were issued in November 1954, being superseded from 1970 with the introduction of the Machin design.

This exhibit benefits from including material from Cecil Thomas' personal archive, which has been preserved in its entirety after being acquired from the Thomas family. All of this material is unique as similar items are not held in the Postal Museum, or in the Royal Philatelic Collection.

All envelopes printed for the Post Office were made by McCorquodale & Co Ltd who were based in Wolverton, Buckinghamshire, England. Specimen envelopes have come on to the market from the printers' archive; such material is unique in private hands.

Treatment

The exhibit is divided into three sections:

1. An initial study of the embossed design used for all values [Page 1].
2. The Postage and Registration dies [Page 4]. There were seven issued values, plus two for which essays were produced but not used. These are covered in chronological order, which is also in increasing denomination order.
3. The Registration only dies [Page 54]. These were intended for use on overseas and/or forces mail which generally needed additional postage.

Items of specific importance have been highlighted with a red caption.

References

Huggins A.K., British Postal Stationery, GBPS, 1971
Samuel M. & Huggins A.K., Specimen Stamps and Stationery of Great Britain, GBPS, 1980
Huggins A.K. & Baker C., Collect British Postal Stationery, GBPS & PSS, 2007
Gledhill J.M., British and Islands Postal Stationery Provisionals, GBOS, 2017
Post Office Archives

Note: winner of a Gold Medal at Spring Stampex 2019

(link)

Frame 1

  1. Introduction
1. Design of Master Die
  1. Artist's Photographic Essays for Master Design Die
  2. Colour Trials
2. Postage and Revenue Dies
  1. RP73 Indicium 8½d
  2. RP73 Indicium 8½d
  3. RP73+ Indicium 8½d Uprated by McCorquodale with 6d Adhesive
  4. RP74 Indicium 8½d with 6d Extra Registration
  5. RP75 Indicium 8½d with 6d Extra Registration
  6. RP75 Indicium 8½d with 6d Extra Registration
  7. RP75 Indicium 8½d with 6d Extra Registration
  8. RP75 Indicium 8½d with 6d Extra Registration
  9. RP75 Indicium 8½d with 6d Extra Registration
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Frame 2

2. Postage and Revenue Dies (cont)
  1. RP78 Indicium 1s 2½d
  2. RP78 Indicium 1s 2½d
  3. RP78 Indicium 1s 2½d
  4. RP79 Indicium 1s 3d - Sans Serif Text
  5. RP79 Indicium 1s 3d - Sans Serif Text
  6. RP79 Indicium 1s 3d - Sans Serif Text
  7. RP79 Indicium 1s 3d - Sans Serif Text
  8. RP81 Indicium 1s 3d - Serifed Text
  9. RP81 Indicium 1s 3d - Serifed Text
  10. RP81 Indicium 1s 3d - Serifed Text
  11. RS8 Indicium 1s 3d - Stamped to Order
  12. RP82 Indicium 1s 9d
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Frame 3

2. Postage and Revenue Dies (cont)
  1. RP82 Indicium 1s 9d
  2. RP82 Indicium 1s 9d
  3. RP82 Indicium 1s 9d
  4. RP83 Indicium 1s 9d with 3d Extra Registration
  5. RP83 Indicium 1s 9d with 3d Extra Registration
  6. RP84 Indicium 1s 9d with 3d Extra Registration
  7. RP84 Indicium 1s 9d with 3d Extra Registration
  8. RP85 Indicium 2s
  9. RP85 Indicium 2s
  10. RP85 Indicium 2s
  11. RP85 Indicium 2s
  12. RP86 Indicium 2s 1d
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Frame 4

2. Postage and Revenue Dies (cont)
  1. RP86 Indicium 2s 1d
  2. RP86 Indicium 2s 1d
  3. RP87 Indicium 2s 1d with 1s 3d Extra Registration
  4. RP87 Indicium 2s 1d with 1s 3d Extra Registration
  5. RPxx Indicium 2s 1½d
  6. RPxx Indicium 3s
  7. RP88 Indicium 3s 4d
  8. RP88 Indicium 3s 4d - 'Registered Letter'
  9. RP88 Indicium 3s 4d - 'Registered Letter'
  10. RP88 Indicium 3s 4d - 'Registered Letter'
  11. RP88 Indicium 3s 4d - 'Registered Letter'
  12. RP88 Indicium 3s 4d - 'Registered Letter'
(link)

Frame 5

2. Postage and Revenue Dies (cont)
  1. RP89 Indicium 3s 4d - 'Registered Letter Recommandé'
  2. RP89 Indicium 3s 4d - 'Registered Letter Recommandé'
  3. RP90/91 Indicium 3s 4d - 'Registered Letter Recommandé'
  4. RP89 Indicium 3s 4d - 'Registered Letter Recommandé'
  5. RP90/91 Indicium 3s 4d - 'Registered Letter Recommandé'
3. Registration Only Dies
  1. RP77 Indicium 6d - Overseas
  2. RP77 Indicium 6d - Overseas
  3. RP80 Indicium 6d with 6d Extra Registration - Overseas
  4. RPF10 Indicium 1s - Overseas or Forces Overseas
  5. RPF11-12 Indicium 1s 6d - Forces Overseas
  6. RPF13-14 Indicium 1s 9d - Forces Overseas
  7. RPF15-17 Indicium 3s - Forces Overseas