This card gives us the very beginning of our story, for it was this man, Charles II, who appointed John Flamsteed as Royal Observator to The King on March the 4th 1675.
And also he who decreed on the 22nd of June in that same year that "... in order to the finding out of the longitude of places for perfecting navigation and astronomy, we have resolved to build a small Observatory within our Park at Greenwich upon the highest ground … with lodging rooms for our Astronomical Observator and his Assistant."
However this did not begin construction until the 10th of August.
This set first appears in our first ever original reference book, RB.1, published in 1942, where it is described as :
- 1902 (about)
40. KINGS AND QUEENS (untitled series). Size 2 3/4" x 1 1/2", Unnumbered. Fronts, lithographed in full colour, name and dates in a shield. Backs printed in chocolate brown, no descriptions. "W. & F. Faulkner Ltd." Probably issued in connection with the Coronation of Edward VII. Similar to Singleton & Cole. Subjects numbered here, and arranged in datal order.
Now since the list in that book is so well done, I will try to scan it and paste it in here later, despite the fact that it is over two pages.
The Singleton & Cole mention is intriguing, for the fronts of that set seem the same as ours, though I have not tracked down their Charles II.
Now when I wrote this I noted that in our original World Tobacco Issues Index their set was issued in two formats, with different sized lettering in the shield - either 1 m/m or two m/m - and I said that I was not sure if this may also apply to our set and nobody has ever noticed it before.
However, when I got to the listing of our set in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, I found that reads :
- KINGS & QUEENS (A) Sm. 68 x 38. Unnd. (40). See H.157 and Ha.157 ... F14-26
A. Small lettering in caption shield, names about 1 m/m high
B. Larger lettering in caption shield, names nearly 2 m/m high.
So that difference must have only been noted in the years between 1942 and 1956, and I may, therefore, be able to track down the original discovery in contemporary magazines. Once I have, I will add it here.
Sadly, with space at a premium for our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, the listing is very truncated, to just :
- KINGS & QUEENS (A) Sm. 68 x 38. Unnd. (40). See H.157 ... F150-550
But tomorrow I will hit the handbooks and see what they reveal.....