1937 Coronation Series

On 11 December 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne, thrusting his younger brother Prince Albert — shy, soft-spoken, and plagued by a stammer — into the role of King George VI. The Coronation date already planned for Edward, 12 May 1937 at Westminster Abbey, was kept, leaving precious little time to organise a commemorative stamp issue across the entire British Empire.

The result was one of philately's great logistical feats. The Crown Agents in London coordinated 47 issuing territories spanning every continent, producing 202 stamp variants in time for Coronation Day — without email, faxes, or air freight to most destinations. Most territories issued three denominations, each depicting portraits of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth alongside Royal Symbols and the date. Seven territories including Australia, Canada, and South Africa produced their own independent designs; the rest shared the common omnibus design.

Great Britain itself issued only a single 1½d value — the printer Harrisons warned there was only time for one denomination, scrapping the originally planned 9d, 10d, and 1/- trio. The design, chosen by the King himself, was the work of artist Edmund Dulac, based on photographs by the Dorothy Wilding Studio. Some exceptions stand out: Newfoundland issued a much larger set of 11 values, and some territories like South Africa issued bilingual pairs in both English and Afrikaans. In total, over 2.5 million stamps were sold from the Falkland Islands alone — more than six times the demand of the preceding 1935 Silver Jubilee omnibus.