 In philately, Burd specialised in early Great Britain, particularly pre-adhesive mail.He was an early student of plating and was one of a small group of dedicated collectors who succeeded in plating the Penny Black.In 1922 he reminisced in "The London Philatelist" about the task of which he said "To most observers it must have appeared a visionary undertaking, the self-imposed task of quixotic idealists, whose conclusions could admit neither verification nor refutation."