‘Masonic stained glass stamps mark tercentennial year’

     
Masonic philately is alive and well at the Royal Mail, with help from the Masonic Philatelic Club. The club has designed new stamps to commemorate the tercentenary this year of the formation of the first Grand Lodge of England. From the publicity:

Click to enlarge.

300 Years of English Freemasonry

News has been received of a new entrant to the Business Customized stamp sheet world in the guise of the Masonic Philatelic Club, with a little help from John Chapman of Bletchley Park Post Office fame it would appear.

This year marks the 300th anniversary of the formation of the first Grand Lodge in England. To commemorate this event, The Masonic Philatelic Club, in conjunction with The Royal Mail, are releasing a beautifully designed commemorative sheet of ten images of Masonic stained glass windows and ten Royal Mail stamps, with an additional printed sheet with background information on the two Churches featured.

The stamps and images of the stained glass windows are framed beautifully by a classic piece of Masonic art, forming the background to the whole sheet. The two churches whose windows are featured could not be more different. The first is Kingston Parish Church in Jamaica, and the second, a little closer to home, St. Peter’s Church in Leicester.

Ken Elston, Chairman of the Masonic Philatelic Club, is responsible for the design and image research for the project, ably assisted by the Masonic Philatelic Club Magazine graphics team. “When starting this project we explored a number of options for the images on the sheet, but our choice was made easier when we came across the two stained glass windows in Leicester and Kingston, Jamaica,” Elston said. “As well as the team at the MPC magazine, we are indebted to Dr. Andrew Green, an Assistant Professor at The University of Nottingham, for his invaluable background information on St Peter’s Church and its Masonic stained glass window.”

Another driving force behind the project has been John Chapman, former Director of the world renowned Bletchley Park Post Office. “The dedicated work of Ken and his team and Andrew Green’s expert background history has allowed us to produce a truly unique commemorative sheet to mark the 300th anniversary of Freemasonry in England. It represents an opportunity for Masonic stamp collectors and general stamp collectors the world over to add a unique piece of Masonic postal history to their collections.”


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A total of 500 sheets are being printed and more than 300 sheets have already been pre-ordered. The sheets are priced at £45, and any orders of two sheets or more are reduced to £40 each, plus £2.50 for postage.

For more details, contact John Chapman on email.