IN a cabinet in a Swindon living room, two Diamond Jubilee mugs are separated by a couple of inches of shelf space and 41,986 days.

One commemorates our Queen’s celebration on Tuesday, June 5, and the other that of her great great grandmother, Victoria, on Tuesday, June 22, 1897.

Both are in a collection assembled by David Macey, a 69-year-old retired Co-op funeral director recognised as the leading expert on the Co-op’s history in Swindon.

He regularly gives talks and presentations on the subject, and he’ll be at the High Street branch with his display boards on Saturday, June 9 from 10am to 4pm.

That’s the day when the store plans to mark the Queen’s 60 years on the throne with various special events, and it’ll tie in neatly with another of the dedicated amateur historian’s passions.

“I’ve been collecting royal memorabilia since the early 1980s,” said David, who lives in Park South with wife Daphne.

“I kept seeing stories about them on television and in newspapers and it sparked my interest.”

David began assembling a collection that now runs to several thousand items, including model soldiers, souvenir books and magazines, paperweights and novelties.

He has three scarce model coaches, including a highly-desirable one of the Coronation coach, which was issued in 1953.

This model is not often found in as good a condition as David’s because many were given to small children and ended up crammed into boxes of model cars.

There are also dozens of mugs. David has two examples of the 1897 Diamond Jubilee commemorative, which look like fragile china but are in fact made from carefully painted tin.

He also has examples of mugs issued to commemorate every coronation since that of Edward VII, Victoria’s son, in 1902.

Remarkably, his collection includes a mug issued to commemorate an event that never took place. The coronation of Edward VIII was scheduled to happen in May of 1937, Edward having succeeded his father, George V, the previous year. Souvenir producers across Britain and the Empire set their production lines running.

The abdication crisis was a disaster for them.

“I buy my items from antiques fairs,” said David. “I don’t use eBay – I like to find things myself.

“I collect because of the fascination of royalty, the colour and pageantry of it, and I’m also a royalist. The Diamond Jubilee means a lot to me.

“The Queen has done a great service for our country.”