The UK’s largest stamp exhibition takes place in September from the 14th to 17th September. Taking place at The Business Design Centre (BDC) in Islington, London, it is the 60th anniversary of the exhibition and to mark the occasion, two UK music legends are being celebrated. Thanks to the The Postal Museum and Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum, the boyhood stamp collections of Freddie Mercury and John Lennon are being brought together for the first time for enthusiasts to view.
John Lennon was 10 years of age when he was gifted his collection by his older cousin Stanley Parkes and contains stamps from all over the globe. Freddie Mercury’s stamp collection was bought by The National Postal Museum in 1993 with all the proceeds going to The Mercury Phoenix Trust which is an AIDS charity that was set up to commemorate Freddie.
Freddie started collecting stamps when he was 9 and a lot of his collection is focused on stamps from Zanzibar where he was originally born. Freddie was also a big collector of British Empire stamps.
Sponsored by Stanley Gibbons, Stampex is a must-see event for all stamp enthusiasts and is actually free to visit. In addition to the much-anticipated collections of John Lennon and Freddie Mercury there will also be a huge variety of stamp collections from philatelic dealers and specialists with over 100 stands. It promises to be a great event.
For more details, please click here http://thephilatelictraderssociety.co.uk/stampex/stampex-september-2016/