In 2005, Royal Mail set about designing its traditional Christmas issue, and decided as religion as a subject, for the first time in many years. They decided to use paintings of the Madonna and Child taken from around the world. There was nothing unusual about this, but the 68p value featured an unusual painting produced in India around the early 1600’s. The painting, currently housed in the Prince of Wales Museum in Bombay, pictured the Holy Family as Hindus with Tilaka, the traditional forehead markings.

This subject is a very sore point for some collectors, and remains as one of the great examples of stamps losing their value.

It is a common mistake to believe that old stamps are worth more than new stamps. Stamps often increase in price over time, but it is the less common stamps that have and hold the real value.

Personalised stamps have been very common since the late 1990’s, and originated in America. It was not long before they arrived in Britain in the form of “Smilers”.

Drugs entering prisons has always been a problem, and stamps have played a part in that. For many years secret messages have been written on the backs of stamps, away from the prying eyes of prison warders. This has been featured in films and TV shows, and is probably still a major part of prison life.

Penny red stamps are amongst the most famous in the world, made in the image of the first ever stamp, the Penny Black.