Charles Nissen
{{Short description|British philatelist (d. 1944)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2015}}
File:Great Britain 1929 PUC advertising pane op cancelled SG436var.jpg
File:British 1936 KEVIII 1½d stamp booklet advertising pane.JPG
Charles Nissen (c.1880[http://www.abps.org.uk/Home/Who_Was_Who/index.xalter Profile at Who Was Who in British Philately.] [https://web.archive.org/web/20100927225700/http://www.abps.org.uk/Home/Who_Was_Who/index.xalter Archive here] Retrieved 11 August 2010. – 13 March 1944"Mr. Charles Nissen" by Bertram McGowan in The London Philatelist, April 1944, Vol. 53, No. 628, p. 65.) was a British philatelist, and stamp dealer who discovered the famous stock exchange forgery and wrote, with Bertram McGowan, the definitive book on the plating of the Penny Black.
The Royal Philatelic Collection
He was instrumental in building the Royal Philatelic Collection and often acted as auction agentStanley M. Bierman, The World's Greatest Stamp Collectors, Frederick Fell Publishers, New York, 1981, p. 72. for King George V of the United Kingdom by whom he was awarded a Royal Warrant.
The Perkins Bacon records
With Harry Nissen and Thomas Allen, Nissen purchased the Perkins Bacon records which were then acquired by The Royal Philatelic Society London.de Worms, Percy. Perkins Bacon Records, Royal Philatelic Society London, 1953, Introduction by John Easton, p.xv.
The Stock Exchange forgery
File:1872 Stock Exchange Forgery 1s green Pl. 5 lett FK on part telegraph form.jpg
Nissen discovered the Stock Exchange Forgery of 1872-73 in 1898 when examining used stamps from telegraph forms.{{Cite book |last=Melville J. |first=Fred |authorlink=Fred Melville |title=The Mystery of the Shilling Green |publisher=Chas Nissan & Co Ltd |year=1926 |location=London |pages=9 & 15 |url=http://www.philatelicsannex.org/reference/stockexforgery.pdf |access-date=26 March 2011 |archive-date=27 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727173510/http://www.philatelicsannex.org/reference/stockexforgery.pdf |url-status=dead }}Andrew Higson & Steve Hiscocks, "The Telegraphic Use of Great Britain Postage Stamps", Gibbons Stamp Monthly, London, June 2007, pp. 42-45. The stamps were found to be forged due to the absence of a watermark and because they had impossible corner lettering. It is believed that a clerk in the Stock Exchange Post Office, London, had been supplementing his income by taking the one shilling telegram fees and using forged stamps instead.
Organised philately
Nissen was an early member of the Fiscal Philatelic Society, and was appointed to the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1923.
Writings
In 1922 Nissen wrote, with Bertram McGowan, his masterwork The Plating of the Penny Black Postage Stamp of Great Britain, 1840 for which he received The Crawford Medal for philatelic literature from The Royal Philatelic Society London.
His firm, Chas. Nissen & Co. Limited continued after his death and enjoyed a Royal Warrant from Queen Elizabeth II as stamp dealers.Source: Advertising of the firm appearing in various publications 1958. Nissen also worked with McGowan on the plating of the Queen Victoria Penny Red and his work was eventually completed by J.B.M. Stanton and published after Nissen's death by his own firm.J.B.M. Stanton, Great Britain: The Varieties and Characteristics of the 1d. Red Line-Engraved Stamps 1841–1864, Chas. Nissen & Co. Ltd., London, 1958.
Publications
- The Plating of the Penny Black Postage Stamp of Great Britain, 1840, London 1922. (With Bertram McGowan)
- Official Stamps of Great Britain, London 1906. (With I.J. Bernstein)
References
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Category:British stamp dealers
Category:Signatories to the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists