Great Britain Queen Elizabeth II 1990 never issued Thomas Ha...

Hammer

£920

Great Britain Queen Elizabeth II 1990 never issued Thomas Hardy 20p & 37p proofs (WT 344E, 7.12.89), in Harrison & Sons Limited folder. These stamps were issued for 150th Birth Anniversary of Thomas Hardy 10th July 1990. Designed by Ian Pollock, these stamps were not approved by The Queen and cancelled at the last moment. Pollock had also taken too long to complete the assignment and the deadline passed, instead a design by John Gibbs was adopted. Incredibly rare piece of British Philatelic History with no other known issues sold through auction. Information on this issue can be found here: https://www.postalmuseum.org/blog/stamps-that-never-were/ interestingly the values are opposite in the image provided by the Postal Museum.