Discover Collections

The 1847 5-cent Franklin is the first general-issue US stamp, alongside the 10-cent Washington. Before this, US post used postmasters' provisional adhesives.

Zürich's cantonal stamp, issued March 1843 — one of the first adhesive stamps in continental Europe, alongside the Brazilian Bull's Eye.

The Bull's Eye is the second country issue in the world after the Penny Black — Brazil's first adhesive stamp, released 1 August 1843.

The Cape Triangular — the first stamp issued in Africa and the first triangular stamp ever produced. Designed to help illiterate postal workers distinguish international from domestic mail.

The "Schwarzer Einser" (Black One) was the first postage stamp of the Kingdom of Bavaria and the first adhesive stamp issued in the German states.

The Basel Dove is the first three-colour stamp in philatelic history — issued by the Swiss canton of Basel-Stadt in 1845, before Switzerland's federal postage system.

Reproduction of the unique Treskilling Yellow — a Swedish stamp that should have been green but was printed in yellow by mistake. A single copy is known.

Reproduction of the celebrated "Blue Mauritius" — one of the most desirable classic stamps, from the first British Empire colony to issue postage stamps after Britain itself.

High-quality photographic reproduction of the 1856 British Guiana 1c Magenta — the most valuable stamp in the world. The single known original sold for US$8.3m in 2014.

Earliest stamps of the Kingdom of Hawaii, typeset by the Polynesian newspaper. The 2c value was used on missionary correspondence home to New England.

One of philately's most celebrated errors — a 1918 US airmail stamp with the Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" biplane printed upside down. Only one sheet of 100 reached the public.

Surface-printed replacement for the Penny Red. The "14-dot" and "16-dot" varieties distinguish the 1881 issues.

The Penny Red replaced the Penny Black in 1841 and became the most widely-used stamp of the 19th century — circulating for 38 years.

Companion to the Penny Black, issued 8 May 1840 for double-rate inland letters. The "Two Penny Blue" is the second adhesive stamp in postal history.

The world's first adhesive postage stamp, issued 6 May 1840 as part of Rowland Hill's Uniform Penny Post reform. Carries a young portrait of Queen Victoria by William Wyon.

Struck by Matthew Boulton at Soho Mint, Birmingham — the first penny produced by steam-powered press, with its famous raised rim giving the "cartwheel" nickname.

A matched set of Maundy coins distributed by Charles II at the Royal Maundy ceremony — the oldest continuous Royal tradition in Britain.

A hammered silver groat from the Second Issue of Elizabeth I. The groat was equal to fourpence — a day's wage for a common labourer in Tudor England.

The last of the guinea denominations, nicknamed "spade" for the heart/spade-shape of its reverse shield. Replaced by the sovereign in 1817.

A wartime farthing — by 1917 farthings were being blackened at the Mint to distinguish them at a glance from sovereigns.

First-year Edward VII penny with George William de Saulles's Britannia reverse. The 1902 penny is especially collected for its "Low Tide" and "High Tide" reverse varieties.

Old-Head Victorian threepence — by the 1890s these circulated alongside matching "Maundy" threepences of the same weight and finish.

The obverse legend "VIGO" below the bust commemorates silver captured from Spanish treasure ships at the Battle of Vigo Bay, October 1702.

Struck during the Great Recoinage of 1696, when Isaac Newton as Warden of the Mint oversaw the replacement of clipped hammered coinage.

The short-lived four-shilling piece — one of the most unpopular Victorian denominations, struck for only four years between 1887 and 1890.

First-year Jubilee portrait florin — the two-shilling piece, or one-tenth of a pound. Pre-Imperial "godless" florins were replaced by this design in 1887.

Jubilee-portrait half-crown with the "spade" crown-and-garter reverse. A workhorse Victorian silver denomination in near-proof finish.

The celebrated "Gothic" pattern crown designed by William Wyon — widely considered the finest British silver coin ever struck. Only 8,000 pieces issued to collectors.

Jubilee-head half-sovereign struck at the Royal Mint. The reverse carries a crowned shield rather than the Pistrucci St George.

Jubilee-head gold sovereign struck at the Royal Mint, Tower Hill, to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. Reverse by Benedetto Pistrucci (St George and the Dragon).

The camera that democratised photography — a million units sold between 1901 and 1935 at $2 each, each taking six 2¼ × 3¼ in exposures on 120 film.

Cosina's homage to the all-mechanical Leica M rangefinder, offering an M-bayonet at a fraction of Leitz pricing.

The Technika is the professional's folding technical camera — rangefinder-coupled, with extensive movements and interchangeable backs.

Modular Japanese press camera capable of 6×7, 6×9 and sheet-film backs, with a rugged bellows front.

Ground-breaking SLR that introduced Minolta's CLC (Contrast Light Compensator) metering — the first widely-marketed centre-weighted dual-cell TTL system.

Affordable Japanese TLR that offered the TLR experience at a fraction of Rolleiflex pricing through the 1970s.

Edwin Land's audacious folding single-lens-reflex instant camera — a technical tour-de-force of integrated mechanical and chemical engineering.

Pentax's first TTL-metering SLR; the Takumar lens introduced the legendary thorium-doped elements of later variants.

German-built folding Retina with coupled rangefinder and matching-accessory 35 mm / 80 mm front lens cells.

Yoshihisa Maitani's landmark compact SLR, credited with forcing rivals to shrink their own designs through the 1970s.

The first commercially successful microprocessor-controlled SLR; Canon sold over a million AE-1s before the introduction of the AE-1 Program.

The camera that established Nikon as a professional brand. Body with later Photomic TN CdS-metering finder and Nikkor-S 50 mm f/1.4 lens.

Classic Hasselblad 500C/M body with A12 back and Zeiss Planar 80 mm f/2.8 C T* lens.

Franke & Heidecke Rolleiflex 2.8F with Zeiss Planar 80 mm f/2.8 taking lens. Produces 6 × 6 cm square negatives on 120 roll film.

Double-stroke Leica M3 with matching Summicron 50 mm f/2 collapsible lens. The M3 introduced the now-ubiquitous M-bayonet mount and parallax-corrected bright-line finder.

Star-shaped single-celled organism tests (Baculogypsina sphaerulata and Calcarina spp.) sieved from beach sand on Taketomi Island.

Scalenohedral calcite crystals (dogtooth spar) perched on a bed of dark-brown sphalerite, from the Tri-State Mining District.

Three bullet-shaped belemnite guards from the Kimmeridge Clay of the Dorset coast.

A 120 mm slant-height tooth from the largest macropredator of the Cenozoic, with serrated cutting edges intact.

Pinnate fern-like fronds preserved as a carbonised film on a split siltstone slab from the coal measures of Pennsylvania.

A heart-shaped echinoid ("sea potato") preserved in the Upper Chalk, showing the characteristic petaloid ambulacra.

A polished slice of Late Triassic coniferous wood permineralised with silica, from the Chinle Formation of Arizona.

Adult male stag beetle showing the enormously enlarged mandibles used in contests between males.

A captive-bred Blue Morpho pinned in a conservation-quality riker mount, wings spread to show the structurally-coloured dorsal surface.

A bisected nautilus shell showing the internal chambers arranged in a logarithmic spiral, polished to reveal the nacreous layer.

A botryoidal (grape-like) malachite cabochon showing concentric banding of alternating dark and pale green zones.

Natural interpenetrating pyrite cubes with mirror-sharp faces, from the celebrated Navajún locality.

A hollow basalt geode half, lined with deep-violet quartz crystals, from the Artigas basalts of northern Uruguay.

A fully prepared Middle Devonian trilobite with compound eyes and articulated thoracic segments visible.

A well-preserved coiled ammonite cephalopod from the Lower Jurassic cliffs of the Dorset coast, partially replaced by golden iron pyrite.