Coin and stamp shops in Coventry

Palmer LANE! - yes, definitely

'Lane' of course Do apologise. I just had a read up about Palmer Lane and they mentioned 'Palmer Lane Bridge' and on this forum, on the 'Historic Tour' heading, you have 'River Sherbourne - Palmer Lane and Beyond', with another link to take you underground - '31st August 2006' to click on for loads photos. I keep forgetting to use the Forum Information links on the main page, there is so much there.

Oh wow! The picture of the Coventry Halfpenny brings it all back. I knew nothing had been done to it for years after it closed but its amazing that anything at all survived until 2010 (admittedly not much). I really appreciate the time and effort you're all spending on this! JC

I'm not sure about a coin dealer, but there was certainly a stamp dealer there. It was facing what is now the Litten Tree and may have been in the Liberal Club building, which no longer exists. I know it was on the first floor. I used to buy lots of UK stamps there, often after school. My father bought me a Penny Black there for a birthday. It was called something like 'Grelstamps'. Does anyone else recall this place, perhaps?

You are certainly close with the name but I cannot remember it exactly. The Club which had been the Liberal Club became the Elite Club , a sort of night club/ late drinking establishment. behind the Club there were a number fo small businesses - an alteration tailor, an electrical shop and Arnold Wilkins, a letting agent. At the rear enclosed by a high wall was the original bowling green. There was a garage next door which I seem to recall was called Rickards.

Hi to everyone, I have a memory from 30 years ago of a coin shop in Gosford street, about half way down and on the right hand side if heading into the city centre. I spent quite a while in there looking through a large container full of old coppers pennies, convinced that the old gentleman who ran the shop had missed that rare 1930's penny (can't remember the year now) and I would find it. I'm maybe confusing my thoughts with a Harry Potter movie but it really did look like a set from an old street lane shop from the movie. I'm sure the door was slightly lower set than normal to the street and you kind of had to duck, but that could be my imagination from childhood. Anyhow, anyone else know of this shop as I'm now questioning my sanity

I just came upon your forum and this topic. Yes, I certainly remember Grelstamps on the first floor of the old Liberal Club building, at 1 Warwick Road, now long gone. You might be interested to know that the name was composed from the names of our family, Graham (me), Elsie (mother), Stan (father) and of course stamps, which is what we sold. We subsequently became Coventry Stamp Auctions, which in turn we renamed Warwick & Warwick. If you want a refund on your Penny Black, let me know!

Hello Graham and welcome to the forum Did you also deal in coins or did I imagine that?

Hello Dutchman, yes we had a few coins in the early days, but mostly stamps. Coins were my first interest, I was a schoolboy customer of Appy's curio shop. I started dealing in stamps while still at school (King Henry VIII then Warwick). Grelstamps began at 26 Ford Street, above the cycle shop. We then moved to the Liberal Club and as the ring road scheme approached were re-housed in Warwick Row in the former Jones' shoe shop. The new road demolished that, so we were put in offices in New Union Street. Rents were by then too high for my young business, so I moved us to Rugby: Hillmorton Manor was then home for many years. Many small stamp businesses still exist in the area as spin offs set up by former staff members.

That's correct Midland Red. I bought this little shop when the owner retired and ran it for a while. You are bringing back many old memories!

Hi Graham, welcome to the forum from me too. Fascinating to read the history of Grelstamps after all these years. My friends from KHVIII and I were regulars there and I can recall the delight of saving up pocket money to obtain some special stamp every so often, then choosing it from one of the big themed albums in the shop. I guess I would have been there at least once a week in the mid 60s. We would walk from school and call there on our way into town. I still have the Penny Black, plus many others, mostly UK and Commonwealth. However, I'm afraid I lost interest in philately about 30 years ago and they are just stored in boxes in a spare bedroom. It all brings back memories though. There was even a sort of 'stamp club' at school, run by Snoz Wylie, but it was all low value stuff which was of little interest.

I became bored collecting stamps in 1998, I found Great Britain was turning into a banana republic with constant issuing of garish stamps. I collected GB mint Definative and Commemorative and enjoyed it a lot. Had a few seahorses as well. Realised I was strictly a part time hobbyist when I visited one of Warwick & Warwicks Auctions and saw obscene amounts of money spent on stamps. Not that I condemn those collectors, but I realised I would never be in 'that' elite club. I still like to look at my collection now and then.

I had a feeling that there were at least two stamp and coin dealers in Far Gosford Street in the 60s and so I did a little digging into my stamp collection. I used to collect First Day Covers and would sometimes buy them from these shops. Looking at the covers, they of course bear the name and address of the dealer who sent them through the post to get the appropriate postmark. This has identified both businesses. The one on the right as you head towards the centre was AW Massey at 68 Far Gosford Street. I bought several covers from there in the late 60s and seem to recall they had a very expansive stock of various stamps, coins and other collectables. It was located at about where Google Streetmaps shows a place called Injury Claim Solutions, although the numbering in that street is rather strange. The other shop was further down the road on the opposite side, towards the junction with Vecqueray Street. It was Ross Bros at 139 Far Gosford Street. This I recall as a smaller shop, and a bit haphazard inside, but they did seem to carry a decent range of goods too. It would now appear to be the Generation Barbers Shop and is next to Coventry Cycle Centre. Did anyone else use these back in those days? Thinking about it, there were actually quite a few places where the young philatelist could expand their collections in Coventry.

MisterD-Di, so glad you came up with the name Ross Bros, as I had memories of my father and I using a shop in the lower part of Far Gosford Street on several occasions, but had no thoughts as to the name - it certainly rang a bell immediately I recall that stamps wasn't their main line of business, and a check in the PO Telephone Directory for 1958 shows them listed as Tobacconists I don't recall ever using Massey's which you mention

Wasn't there a tiny stamp dealer's in Spon End at one time, close to the junction with Spon Street?