Annigoni Portrait of Her Majesty the Queen

After Pietro Annigoni (1910-88) painted his famous full length portrait of The Queen in 1956, parts of it were subsequently adapted for use with many British Commonwealth stamp issues. The portrait shown here is a large black and white photograph of Her Majesty's head and shoulders, which has been highlighted in paint by the stamp designer MICHAEL GOAMAN, for use with the 1959-63 1d definitive stamp for Fiji. This portrait is also well known for the Hong Kong 1962-73 definitives, Cayman Islands 1962-64 definitives, Antigua 1966-70 definitives, and many other issues.

Michael Goaman (1921-2009) was a leading British stamp designer, who throughout the 1960s and 1970s was responsible for the design of more than 40 issues - from Great Britain and the Commonwealth, including Nigeria, Falkland Islands, St Vincent, St Lucia, New Hebrides, and Nauru, just to name a few.

Over the coming weeks there will be many more examples of the artwork of Michael Goaman and his wife Sylvia (1924-2006), who often worked with him. Sylvia herself was a stamp designer of some significance; most notably on the subject of Flowers.