Great Britain 1891 £1 green Plate 2 printing variety, SG212a.
A very fine and fresh unused example, with original gum, lettered 'TA' showing frame break variety at the lower left.
A lovely example of this difficult to find printing variety with superb colour and gum.
The broken frame varieties are only found on stamps from plate 2 initialled 'JC' or 'TA'.
GB Specialised Catalogue No: K17a.
SG Catalogue Value: £4,500.
The "Long One Pound" stamp is a stunning feature of Great Britain’s postal history. They are widely adored amongst collectors, but outside the financial reach of many because they are so rare and valuable.
The unique horizontal format caused a great stir at the time when it was first issued in 1884. These surface-printed stamps were produced by the printers, Thomas De La Rue.
It has an ornate style with corner letters which are different for each stamp in the sheet, typical of the stamps in the reign, to deter forgers.
Initially the stamps was issued in brown-lilac. Due to concerns about a photographic forgery of the £1 brown-lilac around the middle of 1890, it was decided to change the colour of this stamp to green.
