The 25th anniversary of a King’s reign is often a mixed event depending on the remaining health and vigor of the aging royal and assessments of the Reign. King George V was confident enough to go all out for his with a public holiday and much pomp and circumstance. Something went right because here we are still talking about it 87 years later. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
One part of the Jubilee that did no play out well is the stamp value of this stamp. One can imagine the young collector, having enjoyed the holiday and parades soaking this stamp off an envelope that came to his parent’s house in the mail thinking the value would skyrocket at the end of George V’s Reign. Well fast forward 87 years, and if the young collector was blessed enough to still be with us, he will find the value below face value once you adjust for all the inflation. Blame the hobby not the King.
Todays stamp is issue A98, a 1 and a half Pence stamp issued by Great Britain on May 7th, 1935. It was a four stamp issue and the last new stamp of George V’s Reign. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.
A Silver Jubilee celebrates 25 years on the Throne. This was the first time Britain had celebrated it. There were Royal Processions and a service of Thanksgiving at Saint Paul’s Cathedral and the Royal Family waved from the balcony of Buckingham Palace. The appearances were so popular that the King took several more open cairrage rides through London for the rest of the month. On one of them, young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were along. The waving from the balcony in full regalia happened daily at the same time for a week.
Congratulations and thanks came back to the King from some unexpected places. A new Jubilee chicken dish flavored with curry powder and mayonnaise was popular. Funnily, the dish was updated for Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee in 2002. The curry, no more India, was replaced by crème, parsley, and lime juice.
In far off Malaya, a businessman who had emigrated from China named Lin Lean Teng who had struck it rich, thanked George V by having a clock tower built in celebration of the Jubilee. It still stands.
In any big party, there will be a few party poopers. Some on the left pointed out that the government paid a great deal for the celebration at a time when there was much unemployment. Well at least the counter souvenir below had a lite touch to it.
Well my drink is empty. Here’s hoping Queen Elizabeth makes it for he Diamond Jubilee this year. If the celebration goes on as long as the 1935 one that Elizabeth herself must remember, I will have to buy a new toasting bottle. Perhaps a toasting case. Come again next Monday for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.