To mark the 50th anniversary of Queen’s formation, the Royal Mail will be putting the band on a postage stamp on July 9th.
According to UCR, this will be the second time the band has been honoured with a stamp, previously the singer Freddie Mercury was put on a postal mark in 1999.
When Mercury was a young boy he was very interested in stamp collecting and his own collection was auctioned two years after his death in 1991. The profits from the sale went to the Mercury Phoenix Trust.
The postal museum said that it was Freddie’s father, “Bomi” who originally inspired his son to become a stamp collector and said in 2011 that Freddie built up his own collection between the ages of nine and 12.”
His collection was assembled according to geography, size and colour, they were carefully ordered in a black book.
Apparently one set of stamps was laid out in the shape of the letter F, for “Freddie” which the young Farrokh Bulsara was nicknamed. He added “Mercury” around the time the band Queen was formed.
The museum noted, “Freddie Mercury’s collection includes stamps from a wide range of countries across the world,” adding, “Many are from the British Empire, and those of particular philatelic interest are from Zanzibar, Mercury’s birthplace…”
“Included in the album is a large selection of stamps from Eastern Europe and Commonwealth countries. As pop memorabilia and for cultural reference, Freddie Mercury’s collection is priceless.”
There was a bit of a controversy over the 1999 stamp release because the drummer Roger Taylor could be seen in the background. One of the Royal Mail rules, state that the only living people who can be illustrated on stamps must be members of the Royal Family.
However, the postal service responded that “both the Queen and Freddie Mercury’s family had approved its final design.”
