SEFI, Michael Richard LVO (1943-2026)
colinp
Michael Sefi, philatelist and Keeper of the royal stamp collection under Queen Elizabeth II
Working on the royal stamp collection was ‘like being a small boy in a toy shop, cum cake shop, cum sweet shop, all rolled into one’
Michael Sefi, who has died aged 82, was a distinguished philatelist who was appointed Keeper of the Royal Philatelic Collection, the monarch’s personal stamp collection, by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003.
The origins of the collection, housed during Sefi’s tenure in St James’s Palace, go back to the late 19th century, when Queen Victoria’s second son Prince Alfred began to collect stamps. But it was his nephew, George V, an avid stamp-collector from boyhood, who built it into a huge and hugely valuable collection of British and Empire stamps, which he housed in 328 so-called “Red Albums”, each of about 60 pages.
Most famously, as Prince of Wales in 1904 he bought an 1847 Mauritius twopenny blue featuring what Sefi called a “hideous” portrait of Queen Victoria. He paid £1,450, a world-record price at the time, reportedly prompting one of his secretaries to comment that “some damned fool” had paid a huge sum of money for one postage stamp. “I am that damned fool,” replied George. By 2002 the “Mauritius blue” was estimated to be worth £2 million [….]
Although he was required to make regular reports to the Queen about the state of her collection, when asked whether she ever popped across from Buckingham Palace to inspect it, the answer was “no” [….]
Michael Richard Sefi was born in London on December 11 1943 to Antony Sefi and Judith, née Hull. From Downside School he trained as a chartered accountant and by 1975 he had become a partner in the accountancy firm Mann Judd [….]
Sefi was appointed LVO in 2013 and retired in 2018.
In 1968 he married Harriet Davidson, who survives him with two daughters and a son.
Michael Sefi, born December 11 1943, died May 9 2026