John Barefoot (born April 1948) is a British

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 ...

stamp dealer A stamp dealer is a company or an individual who deals in stamps and philatelic products. It also includes individuals who sell postage stamps for day to day use or revenue stamps for use on court documents. Stamp dealers who sell to stamp collect ...

, and publisher, best known for his catalogues of

revenue stamps 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, ...

which are known collectively as the "Barefoot catalogue". Barefoot has collected stamps since he was a boy and first began to trade in them at the age of 14 to supplement his personal collection. He now trades as a stamp dealer in York, England, specialising in European stamps. Apart from his catalogues of revenue stamps he has also produced the European Philately series, a series of Forgery and Reprint Guides, and has edited the ''Journal of Chinese Philately''. In 1997, he was invited to sign the Maurice Williams Roll of Notable Cinderella Philatelists, and in 2010 he was awarded the

Revenue Society The Revenue Society (originally ''The Revenue Society of Great Britain'') was formed in 1990 and is the only international philatelic society which covers revenue stamps of the whole world. The society is also noted for the particularly high qualit ...

's Research Medal for his work in the field of revenue philately.

Early life

John Barefoot was born in April 1948. A stamp collector from a young age, he first began to trade in stamps at the age of 14 to supplement his personal collection of French issues.Barefoot, John. (2013) ''Telegraph Stamps of the World''. York: John Barefoot. Cover notes. ISBN 0-906845-70-X. He received his advanced education at the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

from where he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in linguistics, after which he self-published ''The Language Question in Belgium'' in 1970.

Career

Barefoot trades as a stamp dealer in York, England, specialising in European stamps."Standholders at BPE 1986", ''

Gibbons Stamp Monthly ''Gibbons Stamp Monthly'' (GSM) is a leading British philatelic magazine which can trace its roots back to 1890. GSM is published by the famous stamps and collectables firm of Stanley Gibbons and each issue includes updates to their various catalo ...

'', Vol. 60, No. 5 (October 1986), p. 5. Scott Tiffney, librarian at the

American Philatelic Research Library The American Philatelic Research Library (APRL), based in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, is the largest public philatelic library in the United States. The library serves the needs of the members of the American Philatelic Society (APS) – with which ...

, has described Barefoot as a "notable stamp dealer", and observed that his catalogues began to appear as revenue philately began to enjoy a renaissance in the 1970s.Resource of the Month – Barefoot Revenue Catalogs.
Scott Tiffney, ''Philatelic Literature & Research'', 6 March 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2021. Barefoot has produced three series of publications:

British Commonwealth Revenues 10th edition 2019

* The European Philately series of booklets which ''

The London Philatelist ''The London Philatelist'' was first published in January 1892
by

"J. Barefoot (Investments} Ltd. European Philately &c.", G.E.B., ''The London Philatelist'', Vol. 93 (1984), p. 30. * The Forgery and Reprint Guides. Booklets to assist in the "identification of forgeries, forged overprints, reprints, forged or doubtful postmarks and other problem stamps". * The catalogues of revenue stamps collectively known to collectors as the "Barefoot catalogue", the largest volume of which is his ''British Commonwealth Revenues'', first issued with Andrew Hall in 142 pages in 1980. The fifth edition was described by

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 ...

in ''

'' as the "only comprehensive illustrated listing of the adhesive revenue stamps of the Commonwealth"."Revenue Review", Clive Akerman, ''Gibbons Stamp Monthly'', Vol. 73, No. 9 (February 2000), pp. 99-102 (p. 102). In ''The London Philatelist'', he described the sixth edition as "one of the revenue world's most important publications" and the equivalent for revenue stamps of

Stanley Gibbons The Stanley Gibbons Group plc is a company quoted on the London Stock Exchange specialising in the retailing of collectable postage stamps and similar products. The group is incorporated in London. The company is a major stamp dealer and philat ...

' British Commonwealth postage stamp catalogue."British Commonwealth Revenues 6th Edn.", G.C.A., ''The London Philatelist'', Vol. 109, p. 242. Akerman noted that the catalogue had continued to expand, from 219 to 271 pages in the sixth edition, as collectors continued to find new stamps and varieties of existing stamps for inclusion."Revenue Review, Booklets, Books and Matters Miscellaneous", Clive Akerman, ''Gibbons Stamp Monthly'', Vol. 74, No. 4 (September 2000), pp. 83-85 (p. 83). In reviewing the 8th edition in 2008, Dingle Smith noted that the catalogue, which he described as "the A (Aden) to Z (Zululand) for British Commonwealth revenues" had many new entries, particularly of Australian stamps. By the tenth edition, published in 2019, the catalogue was over 500 pages long. Barefoot was also the editor of the '' Journal of Chinese Philately''. In 2012 and 2013 a discussion took place in the pages of ''The Revenue Journal'' about the interface between postage stamp catalogues and revenue stamp catalogues in which the policies of the Stanley Gibbons (postage) and Barefoot (revenue) catalogues were compared and comment received from both, with John Barefoot observing that many of the most highly priced stamps in Gibbons' catalogues were used primarily or wholly for revenue (fiscal) purposes. In a guest editorial for ''The Revenue Journal'' in 2015, he extolled the benefits of revenue philately over collecting postage stamps, describing revenues as coming with a "fat-free guarantee, virtually free of exploitative commemoratives and made-for-collector issues.""Guest Editorial - The Bigger Picture", John Barefoot, ''The Revenue Journal'', Vol. XXVI, No. 2 (September 2015), Whole Number 102, pp. 29-30.

Awards

In 1997, Barefoot was invited to sign the

Maurice Williams Roll of Notable Cinderella Philatelists The Cinderella Stamp Club was founded on 5 June 1959 in London, England, and is an association of philatelists, amateur and professional, whose interests lie in local stamps, telegraph stamps, railway stamps, revenue stamps, fiscals, forgeries, bo ...

. In 2010, he was awarded the

's Research Medal for "...his many years of revenue research and ground-breaking publication of an enormous range of revenue catalogues which continue to act as the standard references for so many countries.""AGM, Annual Accounts, Auction, 13th November 2010" in '' The Revenue Journal'', Vol. XXI, No. 4 (March 2011), Whole No. 84, p. 169.

Selected publications

All published by John Barefoot in York, England, unless otherwise shown.

European Philately series

* No. 1 ''Great Britain Revenues'' (1st, Chesterfield 1978) (2nd 1983) * No. 2 ''Belgium Numeral Cancels 1849-1866'' (Chesterfield, 1978) * No. 3 ''Basle Police Revenues'' (Chesterfield, 1978) * No. 4 ''Guernsey and Jersey Revenues'' (Chesterfield, 1979) * No. 5 ''Hungary Revenues'' (1st, Chesterfield, 1979) (2nd 1987) * No. 6 ''Poland Locals'' (1981) (With Andrew Hall) * No. 7 ''GB Revenue Compendium'' (1981) * No. 8 ''Denmark Numeral Cancels'' (1983) (With V. Tuffs) * No. 9 ''Baltic States Revenues'' (1st 1983) (2nd 1988) (With Andrew Hall) * No. 10 ''Romania Revenues'' by Andrew Hall (1983) * No. 11 ''Georgia'' (1983) (With Andrew Hall)"Books", ''Gibbons Stamp Monthly'', Vol. 57, No. 9 (February 1984), pp. 74-75. * No. 12 ''Latvia Map Stamps'' (1983) (2nd 1987) * No. 13 ''Norway Number One'' by V. Tuffs (1983) * No. 14 ''Scandinavia Revenues'' by Andrew Hall (1st 1983) (2nd 1988) * No. 15 ''Russian Zemstvos'' by F. G. Chuchin (1984)

Forgery and Reprint Guides

Titles in the series: * No. 1 ''Great Britain'' (1983) * No. 2 ''Alsace & Lorraine'' (1983) * No. 3 ''Armenia 1922 Pictorials'' (1983) (With Andrew Hall) * No. 4 ''Armenia 1923 Pictorials'' (1983) (With Andrew Hall) * Nos. 5-6 ''Samoa Express'' (1983) (Editor) (With Andrew Hall) * Nos. 7-8 ''D.D.S.G.'' (1983) * No. 9 ''Latvia 1'' (1983) (With Andrew Hall) * No. 10 ''Latvia 2 Airmails'' (1983) (With Andrew Hall) * No. 11 ''Azerbaijan'' (1983) (With Andrew Hall) * No. 12 ''Portuguese Colonies'' (1983) * No. 13 ''Roumania 1906 Charity Issue'' (1983) * No. 14 ''Suez Canal'' (1983) * No. 15 ''Poland Airmails'' (1983) * No. 16 ''Western Army Eagles'' (1984) (With Andrew Hall) * Nos. 17-18 ''Upper Silesia'' (1984) (With N. Urban) * No. 19 ''Heligoland Reprints'' (1984) * No. 20 ''Western Australia'' (1987)

Barefoot catalogue

British Commonwealth Revenues by John Barefoot and Andrew Hall

* ''Hungary Revenues'' (1st 1979) (2nd 1987) (3rd 2007) * ''British Commonwealth Revenues'' (1st 1980 & 2nd 1984 with Andrew Hall) (3rd 1986) (4th 1990) (5th 1996) (6th 2000) (7th 2002) (8th 2008) (9th 2012) (10th 2019) * ''Benelux Revenues'' (1st 1987) (2nd 2007) * ''Great Britain Revenues'' (3rd 1989) (4th 2002) (Continued from the European Philately series) Continued as ''United Kingdom Revenues'' from the 5th edition (2010) * ''Baltic States Revenues'' (1998) * ''Poland Revenues'' (1998) * ''Czechoslovakia Revenues'' (2001) * ''Albania & Greece Revenues'' (2002) (Special editor Roger Witts) * ''Austria Revenues'' (2002) (Special editor Roger Witts) * ''Bulgaria and Romania Revenues'' (2003) (With Valentin Robu) * ''Yugoslavia Revenues'' (2003) * ''Russia Revenues'' (2004) * ''South East Asia Revenues'' (2006)South East Asia Revenues.
Ivo Spanjersberg,

Korea Stamp Society Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic of ...

, 8 February 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2021. * ''Italy Revenues'' (2013)

Other

* ''The Language Question in Belgium'' (1970) * ''Bhopal: Notes on plating the "primitives"'' (Chesterfield, 1978) * ''Poland 1918 Locals'' (1999) * ''Telegraph Stamps of the World'' (2013)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barefoot, John Living people 1948 births British philatelists British stamp dealers Philatelic literature British publishers (people) Alumni of the University of York Philatelic authors Stamp catalogs