Prince Doria Pamphilj, of Italy, is another of the devotees of the "royal" hobby of stamp-collecting, and his British Empire collection contained an Archer roulette and many choice items in English and colonial stamps. Of the stamps of other countries he has also had a very comprehensive collection; and at the Manchester Exhibition of 1899 he displayed some rarities of these, including the United States 1861 30 cents with grille, and the 1869 15 cents with frame inverted; the 5 cents Confederate local of Petersburg; Spain, 1851 10 reales unused and 2 reales used, 1865 12c. with inverted frame; France, 1849 1 franc vermilion; the double Geneva, types of the Zurich, the 4c. Vaud and the Poste Locale 2½ rappen with cross unframed in used condition. The Prince has made a speciality of the Italian States. Although His Royal Highness sold his chief collection in 1904 for £2,000, he is, I understand, still to be numbered amongst the active philatelists.
[Illustration: A SPECIMEN PAGE FROM THE "TAPLING" COLLECTION AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
Probably the most valuable page, showing the Hawaiian "Missionaries." The two stamps at the top have been removed from the cases, and are now kept in a safe in the "Cracherode" Room.]
Of National collections, Great Britain possesses the finest, in the bequest of the late Mr. T. K. Tapling, M.P. Mr. Tapling died in 1891, and since then the great collection which he had formed of the postage-stamps and postal stationery of the world has been arranged for exhibition purposes, in specially constructed cases, in the King's Library of the British Museum. It is estimated to contain 100,000 specimens, the total market value of which would probably not be much short of £100,000. Since the complete collection has been available to the public for inspection, there has been no one feature at the Bloomsbury institution which has attracted more visitors; and it is good to know that philatelic students are freely using the magnificent opportunities the collection offers for study. Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive official guide to this important collection, but by the courtesy and assistance of the officials I was able to compile a fairly detailed index[23] to its beauties, which was published, together with a history of the formation of the collection, by Messrs. Lawn & Barlow. To detail the gems is but to recount the Mauritius, the British Guianas, the Hawaiians (these are particularly fine), the Moldavias, Newfoundlands, Reunions, &c., to most of which frequent reference has already been made in these pages. There is here one of the copies of the famous Fourpence blue of Western Australia with the centre inverted. Unfortunately the copy is a damaged one, but the stamp is rarer than the Mauritius "Post Office," and a celebrated and fine copy fetched £400 at auction.