Great Britain 1929 £1 Postal Union Congress (P.U.C.) Specimen, SG438s.
A superb unmounted mint, with full original gum, example overprinted "SPECIMEN" type 32 in red.
Very scarce in such perfect condition.
These rare "SPECIMEN" examples were used solely by postal administrations for reference purposes to help spot any attempted forgeries.
The 1929 British £1 Postal Union Congress stamp is regarded as one of the most striking stamps ever to have been issued.
GB Specialised Catalogue No: NCom9s.
Stanley Gibbons catalogue value: £3,500.
The PUC £1 became Britain's second commemorative stamp and was issued to mark the meeting of the Universal Postal Union in London on 10 May 1929.
In determining the design for this stamp, artists proposing designs were instructed "It is desirable that any design for the £1 stamp should be either of national significance or should be symbolic of the assembly which it is intended to commemorate."
The design selected was by Harold Nelson, a prolific "black and white" artist specialising in medieval illustrations. Normally, selected designs for stamp issues would be approved by King George V. However, due to the King's illness at the end of 1928, Queen Mary approved this stamp design.
A number of different colours were trialled during the printing process. Black was finally selected since it was felt it sharpened the contrast and accentuated the darker parts of the engraving.
The PUC £1 managed to encapsulate everything that defined English pride at the time. The elaborate design depicting the patron saint of England, Saint George, slaying the dragon is an image designed to command attention.
It was printed using the line engraved technique by Bradbury Wilkinson & Co, using printing plates they also manufactured.
The watermark is unique to this stamp, comprising a large format GvR with crown over single cypher.
The print run was very low compared to most other stamps at the time. Only 61,000 were ever printed. Compare this to the 68 million stamps issued for the Penny Black!
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