Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-01-26
BY JAMES WALDO FAWCETT.

When King George v died at Sand
bingham just before midnight Mon
day, the world of stamps lost its fore
most leader.
The good sovereign is mourned by
the philatelic fraternity with sin
certify that knows no barrier of race,
nation, creed or class. He was, GER
tainly, the most eminent collector who
ever has lived; and his services to the
art and the science of stamps were
notable in the highest degree. Yet
so modest and reticent was his man.
ner, only few persons realize to the
full the debt which philately owes to
him.
His majesty's enthusiasm for stamps
began when he was but child and
continued until the last hours Of his
life. Moreover, it was personal in the
full and complete meaning of the
word. He was not a collector by
proxy, but rather an active, devoted
and loyal student OF his philatelic
properties. Mere accommodating meant
nothing to him. He gave away far
greater number of specimens than he
preserved for his own albums.
Furthermore. he was particular
about the condition Of stamps he
chose to distribute or to keep. 1t
was from his example that hundreds
Of Americans learned the policy OF
collecting blocks and strips. He
sought completeness in that respect
But to merit permanent position in
his gallery each specimen had to con-
form to the standard which he had
set for his books. Freak examples
appealed to him only as oddities.
The whole earth was his field DUR
ing the earlier period Of his philatelic
activity. Later, he specialized in the
postal issues of Great Britain and the
empire. But even after he had made
that decision and was lord and master
Of the largest and most comprehensive
post Office organization In the universe
he neither desired nor would accept
special favors of any kind from the
employees of that system. Indeed, when
a misguided administrative official
offered him desirable novelty, he de-
clined in terms that left no doubt of
his intention to avoid the dangers Of
irregularity.
King George also looked askance
upon "made-to-order" material. Au-
thentic first-day covers appealed to
him, and he had Washington cancel
lations Of all the national parks series
and many other recent United States
issues. But he could muster no toler-
ance for promotional cachets, propa-
ganda markings and the generality of
commercial Schemes for the exploita-
ton Of the collecting public.
His hand restricted to minimum
the new issues Of Great Britain, and
he also interviewed to lessen the num-
Der Of Dominion and Crown Colony
emissions. His preference was for few
stamps, but those few truly artistic in
design and carefully printed. He was
keen judge of graphic workman
ship, and he loved beauty in stamps
where such beauty was natural to
postal use. His belief in the cultural
utility of philately was not limited to
the obvious aspects of geography and
history. He included the technical
side of the subject.
In collaboration with his philatelic
secretaries, j. A. Tilleard and Edward
Denny Bacon, he arranged and re-
arranged his albums with monumental
skill ami care. Pages from his books
were shown at periodical intervals
at club meetings and exhibitions and
for charity. They manifested his pas
sion for detail, exactness and neatness.
A similar instinct prompted his
majesty to keep in close touch with
philatelic news. He read the philatelic
press with interest and had in his
library many bound volumes of stamp
magazines. auction lists and catalogs.
The Kings philatelic correspon-
dence was restricted to a small COM
pany, but within its established
boundaries reasonably extensive. Let
tiers dating back for many years were
preserved in his files. For the courte-
GUS return Of preferred gifts, he
ordered a printed card prepared.
During his career as philatelist,
his majesty saw collecting elevated