I was reading some musings by the late Kasimir Bileski, one of the most influential Canadian stamp dealers. He described some philatelic material that he had come across that he believed could have been the World’s First Stamp Collection.
In 1838 a young gentleman, Samuel Lord Jr age 15, in the village of Woodhouse, which is near Leeds in England, began his collection. Now, in 1938 there was not a single postage stamp anywhere in the world so at this stage he was certainly not a philatelist but was developing all the attributes. The first 26 pages of his album were filled with miniature art works showing the birth-places or other dwellings of famous Englishmen, all done in pencil by himself.
From there he progressed to visiting museums and public record offices to research and create facsimiles of the signatures of famous people into his album. He then had the notion to write to famous Englishmen and mount their replies along with the envelope in his album. This was in the days of stamp-less mail.
Then on May 6, 1840, Great Britain issued the world’s first postage stamp, the Penny Black. Henceforth young Samuel would mount the letter along with the stamped envelope in his album. He had stamped envelopes addressed to him by such notables as Thomas Moore, William Wordsworth and James Montgomery. On Feb. 10, 1841 the colour of the Penny stamp was changed to a reddish brown and a few examples of letters with this stamp were added to Samuel’s album.
By late 1841 Samuel was 18 and his first album was full. He lived to the ripe old age of 89 and this single album is the only one of his to have surfaced over the years. It would be difficult to believe that he would suddenly stop collecting. I would prefer to think that somewhere, there is a treasure trove of further albums put together by Samuel Lord Jr.
Could he have been the world’s first stamp collector?
For more interesting history of stamps (and coins) please be sure to attend the Medicine Hat Coin and Stamp Club’s Fall Show on Sept. 21 under the Grandstand at the Stampede grounds. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Dennis Vickery. Collector’s Corner is contributed by the Medicine Hat Coin and Stamp Club. For questions or comments about coin or stamp collection email@medhatcsc@live.com
