Elephants in the Contemporary British Philately

In his letter of July, Guy Thomas, Stamp Magazine's editor, decided to illustrate the articles about George VI reign stamps with a joke : the difference between this reign and the one of her daughter Elizabeth II was that the latter has not put an elephant on stamp yet.

But, Thomas made some research and the United Kingdom issued postal elephants three times in 1983, 2002 and 2006.

Finally, here is his wisdom : in the time of Queen Elizabeth, it may require many dubious reasons to put an elephant on a stamp, while at the time of George VI, the Empire permitted to find rich and various topics of stamp illustrations.

Here is my proposition for a philatelic historical thesis :

The end of colonization as the cause
of philatelic depreciation of the metropole.