Philatelic

King George is a philatelist and crippled ex-Sergeant F. W. J. Winter knew it.

It happened this way. King George drove to Windsor Castle. Alighting from his auto, the King perceived the ex-sergeant sitting in a hand-propelled chair in the Park and immediately went to have a chat with him.

During the conversation, the ex-ser-geant asked the King if he would accept a halfpenny stamp with the watermark placed sideways. His Majesty inquired if he had a duplicate and, upon receiving an affirmative answer, he accepted the gift and departed.

A few days later, Winter received a small registered packet. Inside were eight valuable stamps and a letter: Dear Sir: The King wishes me to say that he was pleased to see you and that he has placed the used halfpenny stamp with the watermark sideways in his collection with an unused pair of this variety which he already has. As you are a philatelist, His Majesty hopes that you may find the enclosed stamps of some use for your own collection.

King George has a collection of stamps said to be worth $750,000. King Vittorio Emanuele of Italy is a collector of coins (numismatist) and is the author of Corpus Numorum Italicorum, a massive work on coins in eight volumes.