Philatelic Friday: Royal

"The Wedding" has been inescapable so I call uncle and offer a tip of the hat to the Royals with a survey of the Queen from my box of stamps.

This classic image was created by Arnold Machin in 1967 and has been featured on over 200 billion stamps! It is the main definitive stamp series in the UK and has lasted over 40 years. The stark design is fittingly graceful, but my favorite aspect is the panoply of colors.

1980s? Great Britain

I also like the colors of these stamps from Hong Kong (it was hard to reproduce, but that orange is almost fluorescent). The design is a little busy, but the squiggly flourishes are a nice touch. Here's an idea of what the rest of the series looks like.

1982-86 Hong Kong

And this stamp from 1977 is pretty straight-forward (it's a photo taken by Warren Harrison to commemorate the Silver Anniversary of her Accession), but I've never seen a price change just printed on a stamp. They had a change in postal rates and for some reason decided it was easier to cross out the 10c instead of just issuing a new/make-up stamp? Not exactly a classy move.

1977, 1979 New Zealand