Queen Elizabeth II 25th Anniversary Coronation First Day Cover, Bermuda postmarked on August 28, 1978.

Bermuda

Discovered by Juan de Bermudez shortly before 1511, Bermuda was first settled in 1612 by the Virginia Company. When early attempts at tobacco cultivation failed, the economy turned to shipbuilding (the Bermuda Rig' could outrun privateers) and the salt pond trade in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Slavery was not of the classical plantation type, but revolt was common despite branding, flogging and hanging; and even now a hot day is called a 'Sarah Bassett' day after the slave who tried to poison her owner'. Bermuda's sun and fine beaches later encouraged tourism, which by 1905 had become the mainstay of the economy.

This issue of Bermuda was designed by BG Studio, and consists of three stamps:

7c — Elizabeth I and the Great Seal. The first known appearance of genuine stamp seals (denoting the emergence of portable private property) occurs at Yarim Tepe, dating from 8000 years ago. As proof of ownership or authority the use of seals was passed via Sumer, Greece and Rome to Mediaeval Europe. In Elizabeth I's Great Seal, in addition to the crowned Tudor Rose and Fleur de Lys, there appears on the reverse, for the first time the Irish harp. The inscribed motto Semper Eadem' means 'Always the Same'.

25c — Elizabeth II and the Great Seal. In accord with Norman tradition, a mounted effigy is shown on one side and a throned and robed figure on the other. The enthroned queen holds in her right hand the symbol of authority, the sceptre, and in her left the symbol of imperial dominion, the orb. Impressions of the Great Seal, 6 inches in diameter, are attached to certain Crown Office documents.

$1 — Elizabeth II in her Coronation Robes. Initially reminiscent of the gold, jewels and rich clothing of the clergy, early Plantagenet Coronation robes became increasingly ecclesiastical as kings aspired to the more absolute authority a holy aura could bring. The Robe Royal, its four corners emblematic of the four corners of the world, is adorned with the rose, shamrock, thistle and eagle. The stole was copied from that of the Byzantine Emperor. Beneath is the supertunica of cloth of gold.