The British Empire’s Fourth Dimension

The stamps pictured below, from around the British Empire, were issued between the 1890s and the 1950s. They span five reigns, from Victoria to Elizabeth, that amount to 179 years — and counting. Across this vast expanse of time and territory, these stamps have held to the same design standard set by the first Victoria Jubilee series. These remarkable threads of continuity — from monarch to monarch, century to century, continent to continent —weave a mesmerizing tapestry of empire, don’t you think?
Same design through five reigns: (from top) Victoria, 1837-1901; Edward VII, 1901-1910; George V, 1910-1935; George VI, 1936-1952; Elizabeth II, 1952 —

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