Meet the expert
Meet Daniel Ardley
Daniel Ardley is the founder of Blackheath Stamps and the dealer behind everything we sell and publish. He has collected stamps since the age of nine and has been a full-time, professionally accredited dealer since 2017, with a particular expertise in Great Britain line-engraved issues and Commonwealth philately. He is a member of the PTS, the IPDA and the GBPS, and a familiar name in the online collecting community, where he administers several philatelic groups and is often the person others turn to with a difficult identification or an unsorted collection.
At a glance
How I came to stamps
Like a lot of children in the nineties, I started out collecting Pokemon cards. What I did not expect was that the same instinct, the urge to find, sort, complete and care for a collection, would carry me from a playground craze to a lifelong calling. The names change, but the impulse to collect does not, and it is one of the reasons I am confident stamp collecting will be here for many decades yet.
My father and grandfather encouraged the move, and stamps quickly took hold. My first set was the Twelve Days of Christmas, and the piece I prized above all else as a boy was the 1967 United Nations stained glass miniature sheet, which I still have a soft spot for now. From there the collection grew, the knowledge grew with it, and what began as a childhood enthusiasm became, in time, a profession.
What I specialise in
Over the years my knowledge has deepened in a few areas in particular.
Great Britain line-engraved issues are where I am most at home: the Penny Black, the Penny Red and the Twopenny Blue, and the detail of plating, check letters, shades and varieties that turns a common-looking stamp into something far more interesting. It is the most rewarding area I know, and the one I am most often asked about.
Commonwealth and Empire material is a close second, and a natural extension of a Great Britain collection.
I am also, for better or worse, the person people bring their unsorted collections to. A shoebox or an old album that no one else can make sense of is exactly the kind of thing I enjoy: working out what is there, what matters, and what it is worth.
How I work
If there is one thing I want you to know about dealing with me, it is that honesty comes first. I would rather lose a sale than overstate a stamp, and I will always tell you plainly when an auction would serve you better than I can. You will find the same candour throughout this site.
The second thing is that I care about every stamp I handle. A penny definitive and a stamp worth a small fortune get the same attention, the same accurate grading and the same careful description. That is not a slogan, it is simply how a collector treats stamps, and I have never stopped being a collector first.
Every stamp, from a penny to a million pounds, gets the same care.
Everything else, the accurate grading, the fair pricing and the willingness to answer a question, follows from those two things.
Credentials and community
- Full-time stamp dealer since 2017
- Member of the Philatelic Traders Society (PTS), the Internet Philatelic Dealers Association (IPDA) and the Great Britain Philatelic Society (GBPS)
- Administrator of several philatelic groups within the online collecting community
- A regular point of contact for identification and grading questions, for customers and fellow collectors alike
A professionally accredited dealer
Frequently asked questions
Daniel Ardley is the founder of Blackheath Stamps. He has collected stamps since the age of nine and has been a full-time, accredited dealer since 2017, specialising in Great Britain line-engraved issues and Commonwealth philately.
His deepest expertise is in Great Britain line-engraved issues, the Penny Black, Penny Red and Twopenny Blue and their plating and varieties, followed by Commonwealth and Empire material. He is also widely consulted for sorting and identifying unsorted collections.
Yes. He is a member of the Philatelic Traders Society, the Internet Philatelic Dealers Association and the Great Britain Philatelic Society, and has dealt full-time since 2017.
Yes. Daniel is happy to help with identification and honest valuation, including unsorted collections that no one else can make sense of. You are welcome to get in touch.
Yes. The educational guides across this site are written from Daniel's own experience as a collector and dealer.
Daniel Ardley
Founder and stamp dealerLast updated June 2026