Edward Stanley Gibbons (1839 - 1913)

Good-Hope

On a day in 1863 two sailors paid a visit to Gibbon's stamp shop and asked him if he was interested in stamps from abroad. Yes, he was. They returned next day and offered him a sack full of Cape-of-Good-Hope stamps, mostly triangular ones. There were a lot of strips and blocks among them. They told Gibbons that they had won the stamps in a lottery during a church bazaar. Gibbons was willing giving them £5 for the stamps. (£5 was a reasonable monthly salary in those days). He sold them to everyone who was interested, mostly to fellow stamp dealers.

Dealer

Who was Edward Stanley Gibbons ? Well, he was the son of a pharmacist in Plymouth. In his youth he was fascinated by the stamps that were only in use for a couple of years in those times. Edward was a zealous collector. After his schooldays he became a bank employee in his home town. In 1856 he left the bank and became an apprentice in his father's shop. His father allowed him to use a counter to sell his stamps in the shop. He also could make use of a side window to expose his stamps: the beginnings of the first stamp shop in the West counties.
Business went well and in short he had his own office in a chamber on the first floor and was able to employ a girl as a shop assistant. He made a lot of contacts abroad and was building up a large stock of stamps. By 1862 his turnover exceeds that of his father's shop. First he used the name of E.S Gibbons, but later he changed the name in E. Stanley Gibbons.

Growing business

After his father's dead he sold the pharmacy shop and went on with his stamp shop. The business became famous, especially by sailors.
In 1865 Gibbons edited his first price list in the form of a magazine. The lists contained prices for used and unused stamps from various colonies and other countries. The famous Gibbons Catalogue was born. He himself designed stamp albums and sold many other things for stamp collectors. In 1872 he moved to a greater shop in Plymouth. Business was so prosperous that he made the plunge to move to London in 1874.

Retirement

In 1890 Gibbons decided to retire. He wanted to visit the countries from which he had sold so many stamps. He sold his affairs to a Mr Charles J. Phillips. Phillips turned the bussiness into a private limited company. To form a link with his customers the firm published a monthly magazine, a forerunner for the famous Gibbons Stamp Monthly of today. In 1893 the shop at 391 Strand in London was opened. A very well known address (now number 399) to many stamp collectors today.
Edward Stanley Gibbons died in 1913. So he had after his retirement enjoyed many visits to various countries in the world from which he had sold so many stamps..

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