Royal Armouries teams with Royal Mail for collection
Royal Armouries has partnered with Royal Mail to create a collection of 12 stamps celebrating the history and treasures of the Royal Armouries – the United Kingdom’s national museum of arms and armour – and one of the foremost institutions of its kind in the world.
Eight stamps in the main set show extraordinary examples of armour made between 1520 and 1686 which were owned by monarchs, including King Henry VIII, King Charles I, King Charles II and King James II. Featuring magnificent decoration and remarkable engineering, these are armours made to impress.
A further four stamps presented in a miniature sheet show other treasures from the collection: a rare sword and scabbard from the Ming dynasty, c.1420; an ornately decorated flintlock gun by Simpson of York, c.1738; a Japanese helmet from the Edo period, c.1680 and a European sword bearing Arabic inscriptions, c.1365–1432.
The Royal Armouries’ origins lie in the Middle Ages, and at its core is the celebrated collection originating in the nation’s working arsenal, assembled over many centuries at the Tower of London.
In the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, selected items began to be arranged for display to visitors, making the Royal Armouries one of the oldest deliberately created visitor attractions in the country. The collection consists of over 75,000 objects from around the globe and spans the ancient world to the present day. It is displayed at three sites: the White Tower at the Tower of London, a purpose-built museum in Leeds and at Fort Nelson near Portsmouth.
Jack Wanstall, Senior Licensing and Partnerships Manager, Royal Armouries, said: “The Royal Armouries is delighted to be working in partnership with Royal Mail to showcase a selection of objects from our collection of over 75,000 pieces of history. Each object tells a story, and we hope these stunning pieces will inspire curiosity about the role of arms and armour in shaping our world”.
