Tapling Collection

Tapling collection
The Tapling Collection includes this 1854, 4 annas stamp in blue and pale red from India with the error of having the head inverted.
Housed at	British Library
Curators	Paul Skinner

The Tapling Collection was donated to the British Museum from the estate of Thomas Tapling in 1891.

The probate value of the Tapling collection was set at £12,000 but on arrival Richard Garnett (assistant keeper of Printed Books) estimated their value at more than £50,000 and described the bequest as the most valuable gift since the Grenville Library in 1847 (equivalent to £24,000,000 in 2011).

It is held in the Philatelic Collections of the British Library and selected items are on permanent public exhibition.

The collection features these rarities: