Court of Honour – The Chalon Head Design

We are delighted to be able to show a number of items in the Court of Honour:

Classic British Empire – Perkins, Bacon Issues
The Chalon Head Design
Chris Harman RDP, Hon. FRPSL, RNCP

One of the most iconic portraits of Queen Victoria was the 1837 oil painting by Alfred Edward Chalon.  It shows the young Queen standing in her Coronation Robes.  Numerous prints exist showing this portrait and it, and its variants, were used on a number of stamps and bank notes throughout Victoria’s reign.  The display shows 10 frames of these attractive stamps bearing the Chalon portrait as printed from the Perkins, Bacon plates.

Two countries – Nova Scotia (1853) and New Zealand (1855) used a miniature copied from the original Chalon portrait.  The Chalon design for Tasmania (1855), Bahamas (1859), Natal (1859), Queensland (1860) and Grenada (1861) emanated from a small watercolour painting of 1854 by Edward Henry Corbould.  This exquisite miniature now resides in the British Royal Philatelic Collection.  Other derivations not included are those from the Chalon portrait that were used by the American Bank Note Company and its predecessors.