Stanley Gibbons Ltd
Encyclopedia
The Stanley Gibbons Group plc is a company quoted on the Alternative Investment Market
(AIM) of the London Stock Exchange
and which specialises in the retailing of collectable postage stamps and similar products. The group is incorporated in Jersey
but with offices in London, Ringwood
in Hampshire and Guernsey
. The company is a major stamp dealer
and philatelic publisher. The company's philatelic subsidiary, Stanley Gibbons Limited, has a royal warrant
from Queen Elizabeth II.
in 1856 and now being a quoted company with a number of subsidiaries.
triangular stamps.
In 1874 Gibbons moved to a house near Clapham Common
in South London and in 1876 he moved again to Gower Street in Bloomsbury
near the British Museum
.
By 1890 Stanley Gibbons wished to retire and the business was sold to Charles Phillips
for £25,000. Phillips became Managing Director, with Gibbons as Chairman.
In 1891 a shop was opened at 435 Strand
in addition to the Gower Street premises, and in 1893 the shop and offices were amalgamated at 391 The Strand where the company's retail premises remained for many years until they moved to 399 The Strand.
In 1914 the company received a Royal Warrant
from George V
.
In 1956 the company celebrated its centenary with an exhibition at the Waldorf Hotel opened by Sir John Wilson
.
In 1968 the previously privately held Stanley Gibbons Limited was floated on the stock market through a tender arranged by S.G. Warburg & Co. Ltd. The offer was a huge success and was oversubscribed five times. The shares were sold at 20 shillings rather than the minimum tender price of 12 shillings and six pence. It was estimated that there were 30 to 35 sharesholders before the offer and they still owned 66% of the equity after the offer, worth at least £1.8 million before trading began. Prices subsequently slipped back, however, later in the year.
In 1977 Stanley Gibbons acquired the stock of the firm Chas Nissen, once run by the eminent stamp dealer and philatelist Charles Nissen
.
In 1979 Gibbons was bought by Letraset
for £19 million in an attempt to diversify away from their dry-lettering business, but the acquisition did not go smoothly and like Flying Flowers later, Letraset faced difficulties integrating Gibbons into its core business. The Chairman of Letraset blamed "indiscriminate expansion" and "imprudent" investment decisions for the problems at Gibbons and was quoted in The Times as saying "We significantly overpaid for what we got." The USD$10 million paid by Gibbons for the Marc Haas collection was also questioned.
after Esselte fought a takeover battle with Mills & Allen International for the company. Letraset had been fatally weakened by losses sustained in its Stanley Gibbons subsidiary. Later the same year Gibbons was put up for sale by Esselte as they said it did not form a logical part of their long-term development.
In 1981 Gibbons bought the stock of the late H.F. Johnson
.
In 1982 Clive Feigenbaum
staged a management buy-out followed by an application in 1984 for a listing on the UK's Unlisted Securities Market
in order to raise funds for new acquisitions. Following the buy-out Feigenbaum, the Chairman, had owned over 50% of the shares with the others owned by the rest of the board. The listing went ahead but the shares were suspended within moments of their debut even before trading had begun, following concerns about Feigenbaum's background highlighted in an article in the Sunday Times. The suspension was said to be the fastest on record at that time. The concerns had surrounded Feignebaum's expulsion from the Philatelic Traders Society
for breaching their code of ethics and his sale of "23 carat gold" stamps of no postal validity from the island of Staffa
. U.S. government tests had shown the stamps, sold at £10 each, to have a gold value of about 5c each. The debacle was said to have caused considerable embarrassment, not just to the company but also to its USM brokers Simon & Coates. Shortly afterwards, Feigenbaum resigned as Chairman and was bought out by a consortium of institutions and individuals for £3 million. A further attempt at a listing was planned for 1985 but did not go ahead.
In 1989 Paul Fraser
began to invest in the firm, and he purchased a further 30% stake in the company from New Zealand businessman Sir Ron Brierley
who is a stamp collector.
was appointed Executive Chairman in 1990. By 1995 Fraser had acquired 76.83% of Gibbons shares and he purchased the rest of the shares in December 1995.
In June 1998 the company was sold for £13.5 million to Flying Flowers. Paul Fraser took shares in Flying Flowers instead of cash and was left with an 8% stake in the enlarged company following the deal. The merger was not a success and in 2000 the two companies were demerged again after a series of profits warnings and trading problems. Paul Fraser's stake was reduced in value from £13.5 million to £4 million. The de-merged Stanley Gibbons became Communitie.com and was listed on AIM
. The chairman of Flying Flowers was quoted as saying the deal "...was at the wrong price and at the wrong time."
ue was a penny price list issued in November 1865 and reissued at monthly intervals for the next 14 years. The company produces numerous catalogues covering different countries, regions and specialisms; many of them are reissued annually. The catalogues list all known adhesive postage stamp
issues and include prices for used and unused stamps.
This contrasts with most other catalogues which are produced by firms that do not sell stamps and therefore base their pricing on an average of market values in the country where the catalogue is published.
All are based on the same numbering system drawn from 'Stamps of the World', apart from the British specialised catalogues which have their own numbering system.
with a retail business located on the Strand
in their Central London offices offering both older stamps and new issues and fulfilling customer want list
s. They produce their own line of other philatelic products, such as albums
, stock books, and other accessories.
and therefore UK financial institutions and financial advisers have been reluctant to recommend the products as investors would not enjoy the same level of protection they receive when investing in regulated products. Gibbons have stated that they intend to launch a regulated investment fund in order to overcome this obstacle.
As recently as 2002 the company's attitude to philatelic investment was that stamps were purely a hobby. Many in the stamp business still had unpleasant memories of the excesses of the 1970s bubble.
Some financial advisers and stamp dealers have doubted the wisdom of investing in stamps due to the relatively high prices charged by Stanley Gibbons compared to other dealers and the experience of the 1970s when many investors lost out after a speculative bubble in stamps burst. The relatively high initial costs have also provoked comment, estimated at not less than 20% compared with less than 5% for many retail mutual fund type investments. Gibbons have responded by emphasising the high quality of their items and the long-term nature of their investment proposition.
In 2007 financial news website Bloomberg announced it would publish the SG100 Stamp Price Index, an index based upon retail and auction prices for the top 100 most frequently traded stamps in the world.
In 2008 a complaint was made to the UK Advertising Standards Authority
that the guarantees offered by Gibbons in the advertising for their investment products could not be substantiated. After investigation the complaint was not upheld, as no portfolios had yet reached their maturity.
is a magazine that lists new issues and publishes articles of interest to philatelists
. Gibbons have published a number of journals over the years but only settled on Gibbons Stamp Monthly as their core magazine in 1927. On 23 January 2009, Gibbons acquired the philatelic trade magazine The Philatelic Exporter from Heritage Studios Limited.
Alternative Investment Market
AIM is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange, allowing smaller companies to float shares with a more flexible regulatory system than is applicable to the main market....
(AIM) of the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
and which specialises in the retailing of collectable postage stamps and similar products. The group is incorporated in Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
but with offices in London, Ringwood
Ringwood
Ringwood is a historic market town and civil parish in Hampshire, England, located on the River Avon, close to the New Forest and north of Bournemouth. It has a history dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, and has held a weekly market since the Middle Ages....
in Hampshire and Guernsey
Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
. The company is a major stamp dealer
Stamp dealer
A stamp dealer is a company or an individual who deals in postage stamps and philatelic products. It also includes individuals who sell postage stamps for day to day use or official stamps for use on court documents.-Stamps on Approval Basis:...
and philatelic publisher. The company's philatelic subsidiary, Stanley Gibbons Limited, has a royal warrant
Royal Warrant
Royal warrants of appointment have been issued for centuries to those who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages. The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the royal family, so lending prestige to the supplier...
from Queen Elizabeth II.
History of the company
The company has a long corporate history, having started as a sole trader business owned by Edward Stanley GibbonsEdward Stanley Gibbons
Edward Stanley Gibbons was an English philatelist and founder of Stanley Gibbons Ltd, publishers of the famous Stanley Gibbons stamp catalogue and other stamp-related books and magazines.-Early life:...
in 1856 and now being a quoted company with a number of subsidiaries.
Before 1900
The business started when, employed as an assistant in his father's pharmacy shop in Plymouth, Gibbons set up a counter selling stamps. In 1863 he was fortunate enough to purchase from two sailors a sackful of rare Cape of Good HopeCape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
triangular stamps.
In 1874 Gibbons moved to a house near Clapham Common
Clapham Common
Clapham Common is an 89 hectare triangular area of grassland situated in south London, England. It was historically common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, but was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878.43 hectares of the common are within the...
in South London and in 1876 he moved again to Gower Street in Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury
-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
near the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
.
By 1890 Stanley Gibbons wished to retire and the business was sold to Charles Phillips
Charles James Phillips
Charles James Phillips , of London, England, and New York City, was a philatelist highly regarded in both England where he started his philatelic career and in the United States, where he emigrated to in 1922.-Philatelic activity in England:...
for £25,000. Phillips became Managing Director, with Gibbons as Chairman.
In 1891 a shop was opened at 435 Strand
Strand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...
in addition to the Gower Street premises, and in 1893 the shop and offices were amalgamated at 391 The Strand where the company's retail premises remained for many years until they moved to 399 The Strand.
1900-1959
A new issue department was opened in 1906.In 1914 the company received a Royal Warrant
Royal Warrant
Royal warrants of appointment have been issued for centuries to those who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages. The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the royal family, so lending prestige to the supplier...
from George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
.
In 1956 the company celebrated its centenary with an exhibition at the Waldorf Hotel opened by Sir John Wilson
John Wilson (philatelist)
John Mitchell Harvey Wilson was a British philatelist, Keeper of the Royal Philatelic Collection from 1938 to 1969...
.
1960s
In 1967 the firm expanded into the United States in a joint venture with Whitman Publishing. A magazine and catalogues were produced.In 1968 the previously privately held Stanley Gibbons Limited was floated on the stock market through a tender arranged by S.G. Warburg & Co. Ltd. The offer was a huge success and was oversubscribed five times. The shares were sold at 20 shillings rather than the minimum tender price of 12 shillings and six pence. It was estimated that there were 30 to 35 sharesholders before the offer and they still owned 66% of the equity after the offer, worth at least £1.8 million before trading began. Prices subsequently slipped back, however, later in the year.
1970s
In 1970 The Crown Agents acquired a 20% stake in the company and appointed two Directors to the Gibbons board. The stake was sold in 1976 by which time it had grown to 25% of the company.In 1977 Stanley Gibbons acquired the stock of the firm Chas Nissen, once run by the eminent stamp dealer and philatelist Charles Nissen
Charles Nissen
Charles Nissen was a philatelist, and stamp dealer who discovered the famous stock exchange forgery and wrote, with Bertram McGowan, the definitive book on the plating of the Penny Black.-The Royal Philatelic Collection:...
.
In 1979 Gibbons was bought by Letraset
Letraset
Letraset is a company based in the Kingsnorth Industrial Estate in Ashford, Kent, UK.It is known mainly for manufacturing sheets of artwork elements which can be transferred to artwork being prepared. The name Letraset was often used to refer generically to sheets of dry transferrable lettering of...
for £19 million in an attempt to diversify away from their dry-lettering business, but the acquisition did not go smoothly and like Flying Flowers later, Letraset faced difficulties integrating Gibbons into its core business. The Chairman of Letraset blamed "indiscriminate expansion" and "imprudent" investment decisions for the problems at Gibbons and was quoted in The Times as saying "We significantly overpaid for what we got." The USD$10 million paid by Gibbons for the Marc Haas collection was also questioned.
1980s
In 1981 Letraset was taken over by EsselteEsselte
Esselte is privately held company headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. It is a holding company, specializing in office products. It owns several companies, including Pendaflex, Leitz, Oxford, Xyron, Rapid, and an operating company also called Esselte....
after Esselte fought a takeover battle with Mills & Allen International for the company. Letraset had been fatally weakened by losses sustained in its Stanley Gibbons subsidiary. Later the same year Gibbons was put up for sale by Esselte as they said it did not form a logical part of their long-term development.
In 1981 Gibbons bought the stock of the late H.F. Johnson
Johnny Johnson (philatelist)
Herbert Frederick "Johnny" Johnson was British stamp dealer and philatelist who was a key figure in the early years of the Junior Philatelic Society and a close colleague of Fred Melville.- Organised philately :A larger-than-life figure, Johnny earned the nickname "the dynamo" for his energetic...
.
In 1982 Clive Feigenbaum
Clive Feigenbaum
Clive Harold Feigenbaum was a colourful and controversial British businessman who was involved in a life-long series of scandals in the world of philately...
staged a management buy-out followed by an application in 1984 for a listing on the UK's Unlisted Securities Market
Unlisted Securities Market
The Unlisted Securities Market , which ran from 1980 to 1996, was a stock exchange set up by the London Stock Exchange to cater for companies too small to qualify for a full listing....
in order to raise funds for new acquisitions. Following the buy-out Feigenbaum, the Chairman, had owned over 50% of the shares with the others owned by the rest of the board. The listing went ahead but the shares were suspended within moments of their debut even before trading had begun, following concerns about Feigenbaum's background highlighted in an article in the Sunday Times. The suspension was said to be the fastest on record at that time. The concerns had surrounded Feignebaum's expulsion from the Philatelic Traders Society
Philatelic Traders Society
The Philatelic Traders' Society is a trade association for stamp dealers and philatelic traders which was established in Britain in 1929 and continues to this day.- Activities :...
for breaching their code of ethics and his sale of "23 carat gold" stamps of no postal validity from the island of Staffa
Staffa
Staffa from the Old Norse for stave or pillar island, is an island of the Inner Hebrides in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The Vikings gave it this name as its columnar basalt reminded them of their houses, which were built from vertically placed tree-logs....
. U.S. government tests had shown the stamps, sold at £10 each, to have a gold value of about 5c each. The debacle was said to have caused considerable embarrassment, not just to the company but also to its USM brokers Simon & Coates. Shortly afterwards, Feigenbaum resigned as Chairman and was bought out by a consortium of institutions and individuals for £3 million. A further attempt at a listing was planned for 1985 but did not go ahead.
In 1989 Paul Fraser
Paul Fraser
Paul Ian Fraser came to prominence through his involvement in the purchase and sale of the famous stamps firm Stanley Gibbons which he sold at a great profit, only to see most of the proceeds lost following trading difficulties...
began to invest in the firm, and he purchased a further 30% stake in the company from New Zealand businessman Sir Ron Brierley
Ron Brierley
Sir Ronald Alfred "Ron" Brierley is a New Zealand investor and corporate raider, chairman and director of a number of companies in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. He founded "R. A. Brierley Investments" in March 1961 with no capital...
who is a stamp collector.
1990s
Paul FraserPaul Fraser
Paul Ian Fraser came to prominence through his involvement in the purchase and sale of the famous stamps firm Stanley Gibbons which he sold at a great profit, only to see most of the proceeds lost following trading difficulties...
was appointed Executive Chairman in 1990. By 1995 Fraser had acquired 76.83% of Gibbons shares and he purchased the rest of the shares in December 1995.
In June 1998 the company was sold for £13.5 million to Flying Flowers. Paul Fraser took shares in Flying Flowers instead of cash and was left with an 8% stake in the enlarged company following the deal. The merger was not a success and in 2000 the two companies were demerged again after a series of profits warnings and trading problems. Paul Fraser's stake was reduced in value from £13.5 million to £4 million. The de-merged Stanley Gibbons became Communitie.com and was listed on AIM
Alternative Investment Market
AIM is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange, allowing smaller companies to float shares with a more flexible regulatory system than is applicable to the main market....
. The chairman of Flying Flowers was quoted as saying the deal "...was at the wrong price and at the wrong time."
Since 2000
In August 2007, Paul Fraser resigned as Executive Chairman and in April 2008 he sold his remaining shares to focus on Paul Fraser Collectibles. Bob Henkhuzens became Interim Chairman and the current Chairman is David Bralsford who works in a non-executive capacity. The company is currently led by Mike Hall as Chief Executive. On 20 September 2010 the company announced it had acquired the trade and assets of the Benham first day cover and collectibles business from Flying Brands Limited.Stamp catalogues
The first Stanley Gibbons stamp catalogStamp catalog
A stamp catalog is a catalog of postage stamp types with descriptions and prices.The stamp catalog is an essential tool of philately and stamp collecting...
ue was a penny price list issued in November 1865 and reissued at monthly intervals for the next 14 years. The company produces numerous catalogues covering different countries, regions and specialisms; many of them are reissued annually. The catalogues list all known adhesive postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
issues and include prices for used and unused stamps.
Stamp Prices
Unlike other dealers' catalogues, Stanley Gibbons state that their catalogue is a retail price list. In other words, if they had that exact stamp in stock in the exact condition specified, the current catalogue price is the price that they would charge for it.This contrasts with most other catalogues which are produced by firms that do not sell stamps and therefore base their pricing on an average of market values in the country where the catalogue is published.
Catalogue range
The range includes the following catalogues:- Stamps of the World. (A simplified catalogue now in six volumes listing stamps from every country in the world.)
- Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps. (A comprehensive catalogue listing stamps from 1840-1970. Sometimes known as 'Part 1'.)
- Individual specialised catalogues for Commonwealth countries. (e.g. Canada, Australia. The same content as Part 1 but up to date.)
- Individual specialised catalogues for Foreign (non-Commonwealth) countries. (e.g. France, United States, parts 2 to 22.)
- Collect British Stamps and versions for the Channel Islands and Isle of Man. (Simple colour catalogues.)
- The Great Britain Concise catalogue. (Intermediate level of detail.)
- The Great Britain specialised catalogues, comprising:
- Vol. 1 Queen Victoria (15th Edition), published in October 2008
- Vol. 2 King Edward VII to King George VI (13th Edition), published in September 2009
- Vol. 3 Queen Elizabeth II Pre-Decimal Issues (12th Edition), published in February 2011
- Vol. 4 Queen Elizabeth Decimal Definitive Issues Part 1 (10th Edition), published in April 2008
- Vol. 4 Queen Elizabeth Decimal Definitive Issues Part 2 (10th Edition), published in April 2010
- Vol. 5 Queen Elizabeth Decimal Special Issues (13th Edition), published in February 1998 with two loose-leaf supplements in 2000 and 2002
All are based on the same numbering system drawn from 'Stamps of the World', apart from the British specialised catalogues which have their own numbering system.
Retail stamp business
As well as publishing, Stanley Gibbons is a stamp dealerStamp dealer
A stamp dealer is a company or an individual who deals in postage stamps and philatelic products. It also includes individuals who sell postage stamps for day to day use or official stamps for use on court documents.-Stamps on Approval Basis:...
with a retail business located on the Strand
Strand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...
in their Central London offices offering both older stamps and new issues and fulfilling customer want list
Want list
In collecting circles, a want list or wish list is simply a list of items that the collector is seeking to acquire. They are the major tool by which collectors organize the construction of a collection...
s. They produce their own line of other philatelic products, such as albums
Stamp album
A stamp album is a book, often loose-leafed , in which a collection of postage stamps may be stored and displayed.- Overview :...
, stock books, and other accessories.
Auction house
The company is also a philatelic auction house and has held thousands of international sales since it was established in 1901.Investment department
Since around 2000 the company has actively offered stamps as investments and has set up a special office in Guernsey for this activity. The company had offered a similar service in the early 1970s on a small scale. Sales of investment products have been strong in Asia and the Middle East and through the company's email database, however, sales in the United Kingdom have been hampered by the fact that the company's philatelic investment products are not regulated by the UK Financial Services AuthorityFinancial Services Authority
The Financial Services Authority is a quasi-judicial body responsible for the regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom. Its board is appointed by the Treasury and the organisation is structured as a company limited by guarantee and owned by the UK government. Its main...
and therefore UK financial institutions and financial advisers have been reluctant to recommend the products as investors would not enjoy the same level of protection they receive when investing in regulated products. Gibbons have stated that they intend to launch a regulated investment fund in order to overcome this obstacle.
As recently as 2002 the company's attitude to philatelic investment was that stamps were purely a hobby. Many in the stamp business still had unpleasant memories of the excesses of the 1970s bubble.
Some financial advisers and stamp dealers have doubted the wisdom of investing in stamps due to the relatively high prices charged by Stanley Gibbons compared to other dealers and the experience of the 1970s when many investors lost out after a speculative bubble in stamps burst. The relatively high initial costs have also provoked comment, estimated at not less than 20% compared with less than 5% for many retail mutual fund type investments. Gibbons have responded by emphasising the high quality of their items and the long-term nature of their investment proposition.
In 2007 financial news website Bloomberg announced it would publish the SG100 Stamp Price Index, an index based upon retail and auction prices for the top 100 most frequently traded stamps in the world.
In 2008 a complaint was made to the UK Advertising Standards Authority
Advertising Standards Authority (United Kingdom)
The Advertising Standards Authority is the self-regulatory organisation of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom. The ASA is a non-statutory organisation and so cannot interpret or enforce legislation. However, its code of advertising practice broadly reflects legislation in many instances...
that the guarantees offered by Gibbons in the advertising for their investment products could not be substantiated. After investigation the complaint was not upheld, as no portfolios had yet reached their maturity.
Magazines
Gibbons Stamp MonthlyGibbons Stamp Monthly
Gibbons Stamp Monthly is a leading British philatelic magazine which can trace its roots back to 1890. GSM is published by the famous stamps and collectables firm of Stanley Gibbons and each issue includes updates to their various catalogues....
is a magazine that lists new issues and publishes articles of interest to philatelists
Philately
Philately is the study of stamps and postal history and other related items. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting, which does not necessarily involve the study of stamps. It is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps...
. Gibbons have published a number of journals over the years but only settled on Gibbons Stamp Monthly as their core magazine in 1927. On 23 January 2009, Gibbons acquired the philatelic trade magazine The Philatelic Exporter from Heritage Studios Limited.