Great Britain 1915 5s pale carmine "Seahorses" (worn plate), SG410.
A very fine unmounted mint, with full original gum, well centred example printed by De La Rue.
GB Specialised Catalogue No: N67(3).
SG Catalogue Value: £1,400.
The intricacy of the design of the Seahorse stamp issue is the credit of the renowned Australian sculptor, Bertram Mackennal.
The most famous stamp collector at the time (King George V) personally approved the designs.
They are beautifully engraved, being produced by the intaglio recess printing method. This meant they were of higher quality than most stamps before and after. You can really feel the engraved lines indented into the paper.
Four contractors were used to print over 100 million of the Seahorse stamps (Waterlow & Layton, De La Rue, Bradbury Wilkinson and Waterlow & Sons).
