Great Britain 2d Green and scarlet, the duty die with a speckled...

Great Britain 2d Green and scarlet, the duty die with a speckled engine-turned background, full original gum, superb and exceptionally rare. 2d Stamps were printed with the duty die having lined, solid and speckled (engine-turned) backgrounds, the former being adopted after various trials, with the speckled background being almost immediately rejected and virtually all the printed stamps destroyed. Wiseman describes the experiments (pages 309-310) and states “only the tablet with solid colour was involved in the relevant trials, formal examples of the trials with the engine turned tablet were never sent to Purcell and it is believed that this is why the engine turned essays are so much rarer than the solid colour ones. No engine turned example exists in the Royal Collection or in the Phillips Collection - nor indeed in the N.P.M at all”. S.G. list both the solid and speckled duty plate 2d at the same price (£12,500) despite the fact that the speckled duty plate stamp is much rarer. One of the rarest of all “Jubilee” issue stamps. Wiseman FFa-4. S.G. £12,500. Photo on Back Cover. £7,000-8,000 Dealer Argyll Etkin Auction Starting Price: 7000.00 GBP (via Philasearch.com: 32nd Argyll Etkin Worldwide Stamps and Postal History - item 9350-A32-478)