Branding and marketing

Royal Armouries partners with Royal Mail to celebrate its collection

Image: The Royal Mail and Royal Armouries stamp collection

Royal Mail unveils 12 stamps showcasing Royal Armouries’ historic weapons and armour from monarchs and diverse global collections.

A new set of twelve stamps celebrating items from the Royal Armouries collection has been revealed by Royal Mail.

Eight of the newly revealed stamps feature examples of armour made between 1520 and 1686 which were owned by monarchs, including King Henry VIII, King Charles I, King Charles II and King James II.

A further four stamps show other treasures from the collection including: a rare sword and scabbard from the Ming dynasty, c.1420; an ornately decorated flintlock gun by Simpson of York, c.1738; a Japanese helmet from the Edo period, c.1680 and a European sword bearing Arabic inscriptions, c.1365–1432.

Jack Wanstall, Senior Licensing and Partnerships Manager at Royal Armouries, said the organisation is “delighted” to be working in partnership with Royal Mail to showcase some of objects from its collection of over 75,000 objects.

“Each object tells a story, and we hope these stunning pieces will inspire curiosity about the role of arms and armour in shaping our world”.

The partnership will see stamp sheets, framed stamp sets, and stamp book go on sale via the Royal Mail website. The collection will go on sale on 30 January 2025.