Australian Sports Stamps 1973 County Cricket Centenary GB

1973 County Cricket Centenary GB

73CCC02

On 16 May 1973 the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) issued a set of three stamps to commemorate the centenary of county cricket. County Cricket is uniquely an “English” activity, except for a branch in Glamorgan in Wales. The stamps were designed by Edward Ripley of the Berkshire College of Art in Reading. The designs are from a series of a hundred drawings of Dr William Gilbert Grace by Punch artist, Harry Furniss, first published in 1900. WG, as he was affectionately known, was born 18 July 1848 at Downend near Bristol. At the 1873 Meeting that finalised the rules for county cricketers, WG represented his county of Gloucestershire. He died in London on 23 October 1915, a legend in his lifetime, having dominated English cricket for forty years in a period when the game of cricket was evolving. Thanks WG & RIP.

Image	Description	Price AU	#	Order
	Bencard of Middlesex England (now Glaxo), first day cover, DL (110 mm x 220 mm), single 3p stamp showing WG, cancelled on the first day of issue, commemorative The Birthplace of English Cricket postmark 16 May 1973, Hambledon Portsmouth Hants.	$55	73CCC01

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