Gary Sidney Ryan was an eminent philatelist who specialised in the stamps and postal history

Postal history

Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of postage stamps and covers and associated material illustrating historical episodes of postal systems...

 of Hungary and later in revenue stamp

Revenue stamp

A revenue stamp, tax stamp or fiscal stamp is a adhesive label used to collect taxes or fees on documents, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines, playing cards, hunting licenses, firearm registration, and many other things...

s.

Ryan was awarded the Crawford Medal

Crawford Medal

The Crawford Medal is a vermeil medal awarded by the Royal Philatelic Society London for the most valuable and original contribution to the study and knowledge of philately published in book form during the relevant period....

 of the Royal Philatelic Society London in 1988 for his work on the cancellations of Hungarian Post Offices on the first stamps of Hungary and he signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists

Roll of Distinguished Philatelists

The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists is a philatelic award of international scale, created by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in 1921...

 in 1980.

His philatelic writing won him a rarely awarded Grand Prix award for Literature at Frankfurt in 1989.

With Robson Lowe

Robson Lowe

John Harry Robson Lowe , Robbie to his friends, was an English professional philatelist, stamp dealer and stamp auctioneer.- Life and career :...

 and Ronald Butler, Ryan was one of the founders of The Revenue Society

Revenue Society

The Revenue Society was formed in 1990 and is the only international philatelic society which covers revenue stamps of the whole world...

 of Great Britain in 1990 and his involvement with the FIP (Federation Internationale de Philatelie

Fédération Internationale de Philatélie

The Fédération Internationale de Philatélie was founded on June 18, 1926 and is the world federation for philately based in Zürich, Switzerland.- Aims :The primary aims of the FIP are:*To promote stamp collecting and philately....

) was instrumental in raising the profile of Revenue stamps within the organisation.

Ryan's extensive collection of judicial revenue stamps was the basis for "Judicial Stamps of Great Britain and Pre-1922 Ireland" by Roger Booth and Clive Akerman

Clive Akerman

Geoffrey Clive Akerman is an English philatelist. In 2001, Ackerman and Gavin H. Fryer won the Crawford Medal from The Royal Philatelic Society London for their work "The Reform of the Post Office in the Victorian Era and Its Impact on Economic and Social Activity"...

published in 1997.

Ryan's profession as a lawyer helped him obtain revenue stamps used on documents with which to expand his collection.

After his death, Ryan's collection was auctioned by Christies.

Selected publications

• "The Hungarian classics" in The London Philatelist, Vol. 82 June & November 1973.
• "The first stamps of Hungary" in Stamp Collecting, 29 November 1979.
• The cancellations of Hungarian post offices on the first five issues of Austrian stamps, 1850-67, during the Austrian administration, Royal Philatelic Society London, 1980. ISBN 0900631090.
• "1867 - the first issue of Hungary" in The London Philatelist, Vol. 93, March/April 1984.
• The Cancellations of Hungarian Post Offices on the First Issue of Hungary 1867-1871, Royal Philatelic Society London, 1988. ISBN 090063118X.
• Rarest Mixed Frankings of Hungary: Handbook and Catalogue, Royal Philatelic Society London, 1992. ISBN: 0900631260.