English colonialism began in the early decades of the 12th century with expansion into the British Isles and the Continent. Their ambitions for conquest outside of Europe date back to the 15th century, especially under the reign of Henry VII (1485-1509), whose early strategies clearly leaned toward a policy of maritime expansion. In fact, under Henry VII the British merchant navy boosted its shipbuilding and widened its range of action. However, the apogee of British imperialism, reached both through conquests and, more diplomatically, through trade, was between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the Crown Colonies covered over 33 million square kilometers, equivalent to one fourth of the earth’s dry surface area. The spread of British language, technology and trade, and the precise orderliness of British law and administration, allowed the postal network to extend into all occupied areas. Stamps whose homeland was in England struck out into very far-away lands. For 18th-century collectors, who strove to collect stamps from all over the world, stamps issued in the colonies were highly coveted, due to both their exotic subjects and rareness. Even today, many collectors all over the world enjoy reconstructing, in their own way, the history and geography of the British Empire, like an encyclopedia made of scaps of paper.

The success of Bolaffi’s auction on 12-13 D e - cember confirmed that there is still interest in this field of collecting. The Crown Colonies that aroused the most ardor in the auction were Australia, with denominations from 1929- 1930 including five shillings, ten shillings and five pounds, with a watermark multiple crown, as well as Canada. Hotly contested in the auction hall, over the phone and online, were four high denomina - tions with cancel from the 1922-27 series for Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika. The one-pen - ny carmine denomination from New Zealand proved to be one of the most sought-after ear - ly issue stamps of the Commonwealth. In the kaleidoscope of colonial stamps, numer - ous specimens from Rhodesia, South Africa and the Malayan States were the focal point for many collectors and investors. From Johor, the southernmost state of Peninsular Malaysia, there were two plate blocks of four specimens denominated 50 and 100 dollars, with the image of Sultan Ibrahim. The history and geography of the British empire flow through the pages of a striking collection in 22 albums that held a wonderful assortment of stamps from all the Crown Colonies. At the latest philatelic auction, this set was the top lot. Even rarer and more sought after than stamps are philatelic covers, the posted envelopes themselves, which are like hard-to-find documentation. When they are of high quality, they can often fetch sums well above their appraised value. This is what happened with a small collection of stamps from the Ionian Islands, Ireland and Heligoland (an archipelago in the North Sea, long disputed by Denmark, Great Britain and Germany, which now owns it). Most of its specimens were not cancelled, but its value was enhanced by the covers therein.

By Matteo Armandi