# Tapling Collection > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tapling_Collection > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tapling_Collection.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapling_Collection > Source revision: 1337819018 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Collection of postage stamps Tapling collection The Tapling Collection includes this 1854, 4 annas stamp in blue and pale red from India with the error of having the head inverted. Housed at British Library Curators Richard Scott Morel The **Tapling Collection** of [postage stamps](/source/Postage_stamp) was donated to the [British Museum](/source/British_Museum) from the estate of [Thomas Tapling](/source/Thomas_Tapling) in 1891.[1] The [probate](/source/Probate) value of the Tapling collection was set at £12,000 but on arrival [Richard Garnett](/source/Richard_Garnett_(writer)) (assistant keeper of Printed Books) estimated their value at more than £50,000 and described the bequest as the most valuable gift since the Grenville Library[2] in 1847 (equivalent to £24,000,000 in 2011).[3] It is held in the [Philatelic Collections of the British Library](/source/Philatelic_Collections_of_the_British_Library) and selected items are on permanent public exhibition.[4][5][6] The collection covers the period 1840 to 1890 with some items up to 1900 added subsequently and recorded on the album pages. As of January 2009 the stamps were held in 72 boxes and the [postal stationery](/source/Postal_stationery) part held in 113 albums and seven boxes.[7] ## Highlights Queen Isabella II (2 reales stamp with colour error) - The Tapling Collection (1851) - BL The collection features these rarities:[8] - Gold Coast: 1883 (May) 1d on 4d magenta, unique - Great Britain: 1858-79 1d red, plate 77, one of a few known - Hawaii: 1851-52 2 cents to 13 cents (both types), the "[Missionaries](/source/Hawaiian_Missionaries_(stamps))" - India: [1854 4 annas blue and pale red, error head inverted](/source/Inverted_Head_4_Annas), two used on a cover, unique - Mauritius: 1847 [1d red used on cover and 2d blue, the "Post Office" issue](/source/Mauritius_%22Post_Office%22) - Spain: 1851 2 reales, error of colour, one of three known[9] - Switzerland: Zürich: [1843 4 rappen](/source/Z%C3%BCrich_4_and_6), the unique unsevered horizontal strip of five - Uruguay: 1858 120 centavos blue and 180 centavos green, in [tête beche](/source/T%C3%AAte_beche) pairs, two of five known - Western Australia: [1854-55 4d blue, error frame inverted](/source/Inverted_Swan) The collection also includes a significant number of colour varieties of early [United States postal issues](/source/Postage_stamps_and_postal_history_of_the_United_States).[10] ## See also - [British Library Philatelic Collections](/source/British_Library_Philatelic_Collections) - [List of postage stamps](/source/List_of_postage_stamps) ## References and sources **References** 1. **[^](#cite_ref-CS67687659_1-0)** ["Wills and Bequests"](https://web.archive.org/web/20111004090201/http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/keywordsearch.arc?queryKeywords=WILLS+AND+BEQUESTS-The+will,+executed+on). *[The Times](/source/The_Times)*. 11 July 1891. p. 4. Archived from [the original](http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/keywordsearch.arc?queryKeywords=WILLS+AND+BEQUESTS-The+will,+executed+on) on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2011. ...to the Trustees of the British Museum his entire collection of postage stamps and everything belonging to him 'appertaining to the science or hobby of stamp collecting,' upon the condition that the collection is kept in a separate room or part of a room, and is to be called 'The Tapling Collection,' and is always accessible to the president and secretary of the Philatelic Society. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Frederick York, The Grenville Library, a photograph"](https://web.archive.org/web/20101216224048/http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/archives/f/frederick_york,_the_grenville.aspx). British Museum. 2010-12-13. Archived from [the original](https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/archives/f/frederick_york,_the_grenville.aspx) on 2010-12-16. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-group1_3-0)** The figure of £24 million ignores any increase in value due to age of the collection and is calculated with average earnings increase since 1891. - "Death of Mr. T.K. Tapling, M.P.". *Leicester Chronicle and the Leicestershire Mercury (Leicester, England)*. April 18, 1891. p. 6. - Day, Alan Edwin (1998), *Inside the British Library*, Library Association Pub., p. 205, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-85604-280-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-85604-280-2) - [Harris 1998](#CITEREFHarris1998), p. 411 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Philatelic Collections: The Tapling Collection"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120918021757/http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/philatelic/philateliccollections/articles/articletapling/articlestapling.html). Bl.uk. 2003-11-30. Archived from [the original](http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/philatelic/philateliccollections/articles/articletapling/articlestapling.html) on 2012-09-18. Retrieved 2011-01-16. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Tapling, Thomas Keay - Biographical entry - Blue Mauritius - Research Companion"](http://www.helenmorgan.net/bm/biogs/E000092b.htm). Helenmorgan.net. Retrieved 2011-01-16. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Humphreys2003_6-0)** Humphreys, Rob; Bamber, Judith (2003), *The Rough Guide to London* (5 ed.), Rough Guides, p. 152, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-84353-093-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-84353-093-0) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-west_7-0)** Martin, Jeremy, & John Powell. (2010) *West Africa in the British Library Philatelic Collections*. Dronfield: [West Africa Study Circle](/source/West_Africa_Study_Circle). pp. 154-156. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781905647040](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781905647040) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** *Index to the collection of postage and other stamps bequeathed to the British Museum by Thomas Keay Tapling, M.P.*, British Museum, p. 24, [British Library](/source/British_Library) [010637981](http://explore.bl.uk/BLVU1:LSCOP-ALL:BLL01010637981) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Spain: 1851 2 reales blue, error of colour"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160305020155/http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/philrar/s/010es0000001851u00001001.html). [British Library](/source/British_Library). March 26, 2009. Archived from [the original](http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/philrar/s/010es0000001851u00001001.html) on March 5, 2016. Retrieved December 4, 2015. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-US_Classics_10-0)** *A Sharp Eye on collecting US Classics* (Sharp Photography Publications, 2021) ASIN B091MBTGJ7 [(read online, page 29)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A_Sharp_Eye_on_collecting_US_Classics.pdf) **Sources** - [Mackay, James A.](/source/James_A._Mackay) (1964), *The Tapling Collection of postage and telegraph stamps and postal stationery*, British Museum - [Melville, Frederick J.](/source/Fred_Melville) (1905), *The Tapling Collection of Stamps and Postal Stationery at the British Museum. A descriptive guide and index*, Lawn & Barlow - *Index to the collection of postage and other stamps bequeathed to the British Museum by Thomas Keay Tapling, M.P.*, Trustees of the British Museum, 1903 - Harris, Philip Rowland (1998), [*A history of the British Museum Library, 1753-1973*](https://archive.org/details/historyofbritish00harr), British Library, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7123-4562-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7123-4562-0) ## External links - Media related to [Tapling Collection](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Tapling_Collection) at Wikimedia Commons v t e British Library Named collections Ephemera Ettridge Collection Evanion Collection Francis Place Collection Jaffray Collection National Reports Collection Literature Ashley Library Cotton Library Dexter Collection Durrell Collection Eccles Collection Ediciones Vigía Garrick Collection Hannas Collection Harold Pinter Archive King's Library Leyden Medical Dissertations Paston Letters Private Case Suppressed Safe collection Thomason Collection Todd-Bowden Collection of Tauchnitz Editions Manuscripts Arundel Manuscripts Coptic Language Collection Cotton Collection Egerton Collection Harleian Collection Royal manuscripts King's manuscripts Lansdowne manuscripts Stowe manuscripts Syriac Collection Stefan Zweig Collection Maps Beudeker Collection Newspapers Burney Collection Philatelic Bailey Collection Blackburn Collection Bojanowicz Collection Booth Papers Burnett Collection Campbell-Johnston Collection Chismon Collection Chinchen Collection Contributions Agency Collection Crawford Library Crown Agents Archive Crown Agents Collection Davies Collection Ewen Collection Feldheim Collection Fitzgerald Collection Fletcher Collection Foreign and Commonwealth Office Foreign Office Collection General Collection Ginger Collection H.M. Customs and Excise Collection H.M. Stationery Office Collection Harrison Collection Harrison & Sons Collection Heys Collection Imperial War Museum stamp collection Inland Revenue Stamping Archive Johnson Collection Kaluski Collection Kay Collection Langmead Collection Landmark Trust Lundy Archive McInroy Collection Model Collection Monks Collection Mosely Collection Muraleetharan Papers Murray Collection Photograph Collection Postal Authority Publicity Collection R.P.S.L. Handouts Collection Row Collection Ryan Collection Seymour Collection Scott Collection Shelley Collection Sherborn Collection Smith Collection Supplementary Collection Tapling Collection Treasury Excise Correspondence Turner Collection of Forgeries Turner Collection of Newspaper Tax Stamps Turner Collection of Railway Letter Stamps U.P.U. Collection Walker Collection Williams Papers Wilson-Todd Collection Sound British Library Sound Archive Oral History of British Science St Mary-le-Bow Debates Other Bookbindings Employees Friends Panizzi Lectures Preservation Advisory Centree Reading Room Sounds Category Commons --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tapling Collection](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapling_Collection) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapling_Collection?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.