GB GV Profile Head Issue

Hello, something GB for this piece, inspired by a chance converstaion I had last night.

It is always good to catch up with old friends and colleagues but when gets chatting and finds out you have something in common it is even more enjoyable. During one conversation last night I found out just how enjoyable that can be. What surprises me is that we worked togther, and travelled together on the occassional long haul flight, yet never found out we both collected stamps. And what is more we both collect and specialise in GB GV. So I was thrilled last night to be talking stamps to an old friend, and as I say, am inspired to show an example of a stamp from the Profile Head issue of 1924 - 26 - because it is his specialism.


The Profile Head issue replaced the Downey Head Issue (my speciality as some of you may recall) in 1912, larely, I believe, because people did not like the view of the Kings head that was used on the Downey issue. The Profile Head design was based on the coinage and medal profile of the King, a design made by Bertram Mackennal. These stamps are also often referred to as Mackennals, not surprisingly

The stamps were isued with two different watermarks over the years 1912 through to 1926, with two different dies, various colour shades, two printers, and many now recorded varieties. The control shown above is from the 1924 - 26 issue with the Block Cypher watermark -(about a month ago I wrote a piece showning GB watermarks, have a look through previous writings if you want to remind yourself of these). This control has the variety "Gash in Crown" on the right hand margin stamp and the detail is shown below; just to the left of the top of the crown is a small white gash ( loooks like a while line) as correctly called, cutting through the border of the stamp.


Maybe some more on this interesting issue over the weekend.

Enjoy your stamps... Michael