03 April 2018
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The used stamp showing the unadopted design
GB stamp dealer and blogger Ian Billings has reported the discovery of a used Christmas 2nd class stamp featuring an unadopted design by artist Gaia Bordicchia
GB stamp dealer and blogger Ian Billings has reported the discovery of a used Christmas 2nd class stamp featuring an unadopted design by artist Gaia Bordicchia.
The 2nd class stamp was spotted on a piece of mail, having apparently travelled through the postal system.
Gaia Bordicchia produced four designs for the 2014 Christmas stamps (all of which can be seen on her website at: www.gaiabordicchia.com) but none were chosen for the final stamp designs. The discovery of one of the designs on a stamp remains a mystery.
Writing on his website (blog.norphil.co.uk) Ian said:
‘So the question is, who produced the stamp? My deduction is that it is certainly not a print from the website, because the perforations on the used one are torn, not die-cut, and if you were cutting out a picture printed from the web, it would be straight-edged either including or excluding the printed perforations. So it must have been taken from a perforated sheet (or miniature sheet?). Did Royal Mail produce some as trials – gummed trials are cheaper than self-adhesive? How many of the four were printed, how many different designs, and how many were used?’
With thanks to Ian Billings for permission to use the image.
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