Great Britain 1850 1d Prince Consort Essay, SGDP71b.
A very fine unused, with original gum, four margin imperforate example lettered 'FJ' printed in black.
Very scarce, especially in black and a most interesting piece of postal production history particularly in that Prince Albert did not feature on any stamps issued by Great Britain.
Based on evidence given to the 1851 House of Commons Select Committee, it is indicated the Prince Consort essays were prepared for Henry Archer in connection with his offer to produce surface-printed postage stamps and perforate them on more favourable terms than the existing contract at the time with Perkins, Bacon.
Edwin Hill, Supervisor in the Stamp Department of Somerset House cautioned Archer's engraver, Reynolds, against use of the Queen's head. Archer took the advice and chose to use the head of the Prince Consort instead.
This finished essay remains imperforate. The perforated examples which followed were perforated on the same machine Henry Archer used for his perforation experiments.
Accompanied with a 2003 Royal Philatelic Society (RPS) Certificate of Authenticity.
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