Stamp & Coin Mart - April 2016_

44 APRIL 2016

GUERNSEY

Around the islands

Dawn Gallienne joined Guernsey Post as a

marketing coordinator eleven years ago and

became Head of Philatelic in 2008. During

that decade she has worked on a vast range

of stamp issues covering all kinds of subjects;

no day is quite the same. ‘I love the variety

of work in the philatelic world,’ Dawn says.

‘Each stamp issue uncovers different treasures

and I love immersing myself in the topic

and the research behind each theme. We still

undertake some of the affixing and cancelling

in house by hand, so it’s a thrill to see the

final products come together.’

As with any philatelic bureau, the stamp

subjects are carefully planned in advance,

with suggestions being made by collectors,

members of the public, and members of the

Stamp Committee. ‘Our Committee brings

together lots of different perspectives,’ she

explains, ‘we deliberately include people from

different areas of our business so that we have

a range of perspectives.’

Of course, once the subjects are decided

upon, there is one more step to the process,

which involves sending the designs to

Buckingham Palace. ‘The Queen is a

stamp collector,’ Dawn says. ‘Her Majesty

personally approves all of our stamp issues

and we are unable to print the stamps until

we have received Royal Approval. Once the

stamps are issued we supply a number of

sets to go in the Royal Philatelic Archive

at Buckingham Palace. Stamp designers are

always thrilled when they realise Her Majesty

personally approves their work.’

Collectors of Guernsey’s stamps share this

enthusiasm for the stamp sets, but as Dawn

tells us, they’re not afraid to speak up if they

don’t like the stamps! Thankfully most are

very pleased with the output and are keen

to add the stamps to their albums. ‘We have

customers from all over the world and it is

great to meet them when we attend stamp

shows. It’s also lovely when some of our

overseas customers pop in to see us when

they are on holiday in Guernsey.’

The schedule for the rest of 2016, which

will be covered in the regular ‘Around

the Islands’ feature, has many highlights,

including Alderney’s set for the Queen’s

ninetieth birthday, along with the Herm

RAMSAR set for Guernsey. ‘This has been

in the pipeline for such a long time but we

had to wait for Herm to be designated as

an official RAMSAR site,’ Dawn says. ‘It is

the final set in our RAMSAR series having

previously issued stamps on Sark, Alderney

and Guernsey’s L’Eree Wetlands area. Artist

Wendy Bramall has once again produced

beautiful illustrations.

‘It’s really important to us that we continue

to offer innovative and creative stamps across

a diverse range of subjects; planning ahead

is part and parcel of achieving that, which is

why are thoughts are already turning to what

we’ll cover for 2017.’

Watch this space to discover the many

intriguing stories behind Guernsey’s stamps

in the months and years ahead.

Guernsey’s stamp stories

Stamp stories

‘Uncovering the history of Sark through

“The Fief of Sark” issue for Guernsey

last year was really fascinating and

an absolute must for any history

enthusiasts,’ says Dawn. ‘In 2015 we

issued a set of stamps to mark the

Liberation of Guernsey. Most of the

stamps feature photographs taken on the

day of Liberation and one in particular

depicts two young boys having what was

probably their fi rst taste of chocolate.

I really liked this image and wondered

what they remembered of the day, but

we were unsuccessful in making contact

with either of them. To our surprise, on

the day of issue, the younger brother

appeared at our head offi ce wanting to

purchase the stamps. He was thrilled to

be on the stamps with his late brother

and we were really pleased to meet him.’

In a special ‘Around the Islands’ article, we spoke to Dawn Gallienne,

Head of Philatelic at Guernsey Post, and asked her about her

role at the philatelic bureau

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