The Club of Monte Carlo is a Monegasque Association with international vocation which was created in February 1999 to gather the selected collectors who are invited to exhibit in the Museum of Stamps and Coins of Monaco, during the biennial Exhibition of "100 stamps and philatelic documents among the rarest of the world" and to perpetuate this Event.

Initiative is due to Late Mr. Alexander D . KROO, big renowned collector himself, who had suggested to display 70 mail jewels of extreme rarity outside the commercial Exhibition organized by the Stamp Issuing Office to commemorate, in 1997 , the 700 years of presence of the Grimaldi Dynasty in Monaco.

Success rewarded the innovative characteristic of this Exhibition:

  • Every collector was authorized to present only one document,
  • 10 major Postal Museums participated,
  • H.M. the Queen of United Kingdom’s collection was the guest of honor with the Princely Collection,
  • The absence of jury guaranteed an important neutrality,
  • The gala dinner, in the presence of H.S.H. the Prince, allowed to award every participant with a diploma signed by the Sovereign, giving evidence of his selection,
  • An exceptional and luxury illustrated catalog, presenting each document with its description, prolonged the Event which had aroused more than 3.000 guests in the Stamps and Coins Museum.

The exhibitors, the sector and the press greeted this success which confirmed the specific philatelic place of the Principality, country of tradition and privileged international meeting place for an Elite.

The confirmation of such an exploit corresponded to a demand, to Mr. KROO's will to create a specific spirit, to the approval of The Prince Rainier III to perpetuate such a qualitative Monegasque Event as He is very much interested in philately, about which He declared "stamp is the very First Ambassador of a country".

It is on the occasion of the new Prestigious exhibition, organized by the Stamp Issuing Office in February, 1999, that the initial General Assembly of the Club of Monte Carlo took place:

  • which purpose is to gather the Postal Museums and the private collectors for exhibitions of philatelic rarities, and to promote philately by every possible means suited,
  • which has its head office in the Stamps and Coins Museum and its Board of directors named by H.S.H. The Prince Sovereign.

Since then, the Club organized:

  • 13 Prestigious exhibitions in Principality, in coordination with the Stamp Issuing Office of Monaco and the Stamp and Coin Museum, and is preparing the XIVth edition. "MonacoPhil 2024" will take place from 5 to 7 December 2024, in the Principality,
  • Receptions during big international Exhibitions (Paris, Vienna, Madrid, Washington), to announce Events in the Principality, and cruises ("Med 2 club", "European Stars", Costa Atlantica", around the Mediterranean Sea) to gather the Members in the years without Exhibition.