Gary Sidney Ryan (1916–2007Birch, Brian. (2012)
Biographies of Philatelists and Dealers
''. 12th edition. Standish, Wigan: Brian Birch, p. 1813.) was an eminent

philatelist Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is possi ...

who specialised in the stamps and

postal history Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of the use of postage stamps and covers and associated postal artifacts illustrating historical episodes in the development of postal systems. The term is att ...

of Hungary and later in

revenue stamp A revenue stamp, tax stamp, duty stamp or fiscal stamp is a (usually) adhesive label used to designate collected taxes or fees on documents, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines, playing cards, hunting licenses, firearm registration, ...

s. Ryan was awarded the

Crawford Medal :::''See also'' Crawford Award for fantasy novels. :::''See also'' Max Crawford Medal Australian academic award. The Crawford Medal is a vermeil medal awarded by the Royal Philatelic Society London for the most valuable and original contribution ...

of the

Royal Philatelic Society London The Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL) is the oldest philatelic society in the world. It was founded on 10 April 1869 as ''The Philatelic Society, London''. The society runs a postal museum, the Spear Museum of Philatelic History, at its he ...

in 1988 for his work on the cancellations of Hungarian Post Offices on the first stamps of Hungary and he signed the

Roll of Distinguished Philatelists The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists (RDP) is a Philately, philatelic award of international scale, created by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in 1921. The Roll consists of five pieces of parchment to which the signatories add their n ...

in 1980. His philatelic writing won him a rarely awarded Grand Prix award for Literature at Frankfurt in 1989."Gary Sidney Ryan" Obituary by Clive Akerman in ''The Revenue Journal'', Vol.XIX, No.1, Whole No.73, June 2008, pp. 3-5. With

Robson Lowe John Harry Robson Lowe (7 January 1905, London – 19 August 1997, Bournemouth) was an English professional philatelist, stamp dealer and stamp auctioneer. Life and career Lowe is regarded by philatelists as the father of postal history, ha ...

and Ronald Butler, Ryan was one of the founders of The Revenue Society of Great Britain in 1990 and his involvement with the FIP (

Federation Internationale de Philatelie A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing ...

) was instrumental in raising the profile of Revenue stamps within the organisation. Ryan's extensive collection of judicial revenue stamps was the basis for "Judicial Stamps of Great Britain and Pre-1922 Ireland" by Roger Booth and

Clive Akerman Geoffrey Clive Akerman (28 September 1939 – 24 September 2013) was an English philatelist. In 2001, Akerman and Gavin H. Fryer won the Crawford Medal from The Royal Philatelic Society London for their work "The Reform of the Post Office in the ...

published in 1997. Ryan's profession as a lawyer helped him obtain revenue stamps used on documents with which to expand his collection. From 1982 to 1986 he was the President of the Grand Prix Club.GRAND PRIX CLUB Communication No 1/2013
Grand Prix Club, December 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2014
Archived here.
/ref> After his death, Ryan's collection was auctioned by Christies.

Selected publications

*"The Hungarian classics" in ''The London Philatelist'', Vol. 82 June & November 1973. *"The first stamps of Hungary" in ''Stamp Collecting'', 29 November 1979. *''The cancellations of Hungarian post offices on the first five issues of Austrian stamps, 1850-67, during the Austrian administration'', Royal Philatelic Society London, 1980. . *"1867 - the first issue of Hungary" in ''The London Philatelist'', Vol. 93, March/April 1984. *''The Cancellations of Hungarian Post Offices on the First Issue of Hungary 1867-1871'', Royal Philatelic Society London, 1988. . *''Rarest Mixed Frankings of Hungary: Handbook and Catalogue'', Royal Philatelic Society London, 1992. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Gary British philatelists Revenue stamps 20th-century English lawyers Philately of Hungary 1916 births 2007 deaths Signatories to the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists