Philately is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. While closely associated with stamp collecting and the study of postage, it is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps. For instance, the stamps being studied may be very rare or reside only in museums.
The Royal Philatelic Collection is the postage stamp collection of the British royal family. It is the most comprehensive collection of items related to the philately of the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth, with many unique pieces. Of major items, only the British Guiana 1c magenta is missing from the collection of British Imperial stamps.
John Alexander Tilleard was a British solicitor and the philatelist who was the first curator of the Royal Philatelic Collection.
Sir Edward Denny Bacon was a British philatelist who helped with the enlargement and mounting of collections possessed by rich collectors of his time and became the curator of the Royal Philatelic Collection between 1913 and 1938.
Sir John Mitchell Harvey Wilson, 2nd Baronet was a British philatelist and Keeper of the Royal Philatelic Collection from 1938 to 1969. He introduced the division of the collection by reign and, after World War II, loans from the collection to international exhibitions.
Sir John Brook Marriott was a British teacher and philatelist. He was the keeper of the Royal Philatelic Collection between 1969 and 1995.
The Crawford Medal is a vermeil medal awarded by the Royal Philatelic Society London for the most valuable and original contribution to the study and knowledge of philately published in book form during the relevant period.
The Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand is an international society for collectors of the postage stamps and postal history of New Zealand and her Dependencies.
The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists(RDP) is a philatelic award of international scale, created by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in 1921. The Roll consists of five pieces of parchment to which the signatories add their names.
John Easton was a printer and philatelic author who signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1960.
The Kohl Briefmarken-Handbuch was a seminal work of philatelic literature first published in Germany in 1923 as the 11th edition of the previous well known Handbuch published by Paul Kohl of Chemnitz.
Frederick Adolphus Philbrick, KC was an English barrister, judge, and an early philatelist.
David Richard Beech MBE was the curator of the British Library Philatelic Collections from 1983–2013. He is a fellow and past president of the Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL). In 2013, it was announced that Beech was to receive the Smithsonian Philatelic Achievement Award for outstanding lifetime accomplishments in the field of philately.
Martin Erler was a German philatelist who was an expert on the revenue stamps of Germany who with John A. Norton wrote the only comprehensive catalogue of German revenue stamps.
Charles William Viner A.M., Ph.D., was a British philatelist who was a founding member of the Philatelic Society, London, later to become the Royal Philatelic Society London, and who was present at the initial meeting of the society on 10 April 1869, and serving as its Secretary from 1871 to 1874. His obituary in The London Philatelist referred to him as the "Father of Philately" and elsewhere he was described as the vieille garde of philately having been actively collecting and writing about stamps since 1860. In 1921 he was entered on the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists as one of the founding Fathers of philately.
Hedwige Alma Lee FRPSL RDP was a Swiss-born naturalised British philatelist who specialised in the stamps of Switzerland and in topical collecting. She won large gold medals for her displays at Naba 1984, Stockholmia 1986, Hafnia 1987 and Finlandia 1988 and her collection was exhibited in the Court of Honour at PhilexFrance 1989 and New Zealand 1990. She signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1991 and later became the only non-resident member of the Consilium Philateliae Helveticae. The Royal Philatelic Society London award the Lee Medal in memory of Alma and her husband Ron.
Lieutenant-Colonel William Byam was a British Harley Street physician whose home in Guernsey was occupied by the Germans during the Second World War. In his spare time, Byam was a noted philatelist who was added to the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1949.
Mehmet Ismet Başaran is a Turkish-born British chemical engineer and philatelist. He is an authority on the tughra stamps of 1863–65 of the Ottoman Empire and has won several gold medals for his collection of those issues. He has written two books on the stamps as well as a number of articles about them. He is a former fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London and president of the Oriental Philatelic Association of London.
Adolf Passer FRPSL was an Austrian philatelist and authority on the stamps of Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Ottoman Empire and Turkey.
