A sheet of stamps and a thick bundle of postcards

As a boy I was an enthusiastic collector of stamps. In my basement is a box of Australian 'stamp packs', 'first day covers' and other Australia Post memorabilia. While I outgrew the hobby, I still enjoy themed stamps, and have cast an occasional eye over the Sherlockian and Doylean world of philately.  I should acknowledge that this post is about stamps. I just can't get into coins (sorry Greg).

I picked up two different editions of 'Philatelic & Numismatic Holmes' by Benton Wood BSI ("A Scandal in Bohemia", 1927-2007), one from 1993 and one from 1995 (which is signed). Rev. Dr. Benton Wood was a chaplain, the chaplain of the BSI, and an ardent philatelist. 

These books are the convergence of his enthusiasm for Holmes and for stamps. It appears the first edition of this book appeared in 1990, then 1993 and 1995. The books aim to describe all stamp releases that include Sherlock Holmes, including images and some brief information about each release. The major change to the 1995 edition (apart from an update with a new stamp release) is the inclusion of color plates for each of the stamps to replace the black & white images in the 1993 edition.

As of 1993, there were surprisingly few stamp releases, and stamps are usually more affordable than books, so I decided to gather all the stamps within the books. While I'm missing a few first day covers shown in the books, I've gathered all the stamps, and those are shown here in colour over the top of the relevant images on the page. And here they all are!!

Nicaragua released the first Sherlock Holmes stamp (!!!) in 1972. To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of INTERPOL, the Holmes stamps was one of twelve in a series of famous detectives. 

Next was San Marino, with a 1979 issue of stamps showing five different detectives. The next year, Comoro Islands issued a stamp for the 50th Anniversary of Arthur Conan Doyle's death. This stamp featured Holmes looking through his magnifying glass, with a small silhouette of a hound at the bottom.

Perhaps the most attractive stamps in this small catalog are the 1984 issues from Turks & Caicos. Four individual stamps were released featuring scenes from four short stories, along with a separate souvenir sheet with a stamp showing Conan Doyle. This series was released to mark the 125th Anniversary of Conan Doyle's birth.

And finally, here's an unexpected set of releases. The first is from Dominica in 1991 (top left), a souvenir sheet showing Holmes and Watson watching the Brunig Line train descend from Brunig Pass to Meiringen in Switzerland. This stamp was released to observe the "Reichenbach Centenary". Second (bottom left) is an issue from Redonda from 1984, a souvenir sheet showing Goody as Sherlock seeking out easter eggs. At right, while at the time of publishing the UK had not (remarkably) released Sherlock-themed stamps, they had produced these four beautiful stamp booklets (the stamps are inside). The art on the outside depicts scenes from two novels and two short stories.

OK so I clearly need to work on adding stamps from the 1995 edition, and seeking out other editions of Wood's wonderful booklets!


EDIT: Since posting this, I stumbled across another Benton Wood philately publication. I visited Denny Dobry today (Oct 14 2024) in Reading PA, and found an undated (but post-1984) Pleasant Places of Florida publication containing two items. The first is 'Dirty Pool', a reprint of a philatelic pastiche by Herman Herst BSI. The second is possibly the first philatelic summary by Wood titled 'Philatelic Philandering... or "Stamping Around" with Sherlock Holmes' showing 'all the Sherlockian stamps extant'.