The Postal Union Congress (PUC) £1 stamp is one of a series of postage stamps of Great Britain issued in 1929. It is one of the classics of British philately and has been described as one of the most beautiful British stamps ever issued."To be frank, these stamps aren't worth a damn"
by

Simon Heffer Simon James Heffer (born 18 July 1960) is an English historian, journalist, author and political commentator. He has published several biographies and a series of books on the social history of Great Britain from the mid-nineteenth century unti ...

in ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'', 2 January 2010. Retrieved 22 June 2013. The stamp was only the second British

commemorative stamp A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The ''subject'' of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike defi ...

to be issued. The first were the British Empire Exhibition postage stamps of 1924–25.

Design

The stamp was designed by Harold Nelson and features the head of

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

and an image of St George and the Dragon which had originally been drawn as an

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

for the 1924 British Empire Exhibition stamps. A committee was formed to solicit designs and the chosen design from the 16 submitted was approved by Queen Mary as the King was ill with

septicaemia Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

.Royal Mail Group Ltd., Postal Union Congress Stamp Pack. 2010.

Denomination

The stamp was issued along with four other small format stamps to mark the 1929 Postal Union Congress of the

Universal Postal Union The Universal Postal Union (UPU, french: link=no, Union postale universelle), established by the Treaty of Bern of 1874, is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to ...

and was criticised at the time for its high face value. As the other stamps in the set were low values, it has been speculated that the value of the large stamp may have been set at £1 to produce a more impressive souvenir for the visiting postal delegates to the Congress. Alternatively, others have simply seen it as a cynical attempt to extract as much money as possible from stamp collectors.

Stanley Phillips Frederick Stanley Phillips (31 December 1891 – 29 March 1954)Profile in "75 Years of Gibbons Stamp Monthly" by Michael Briggs in ''Gibbons Stamp Monthly'', October 2002, p. 78. was a British philatelist and prolific philatelic author who signe ...

said in

Gibbons Stamp Monthly ''Gibbons Stamp Monthly'' (GSM) is a leading British philatelic magazine which can trace its roots back to 1890. GSM is published by the famous stamps and collectables firm of Stanley Gibbons and each issue includes updates to their various cata ...

that the stamp was ''"Britain’s disgrace"''. He also said that ''"...the policy of issuing a set consisting of four low value stamps and then a one pound denomination is absolutely indefensible."''

Technical details

The stamp was line engraved and recess printed by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co.Archived here.
/ref> The contract was given to them on condition that the stamp would be engraved by J. A. C. Harrison. He had to be given special permission to do the work as he was under contract to

Waterlow and Sons Waterlow and Sons Limited was a major worldwide engraver of currency, postage stamps, stocks and bond certificates based in London, Watford and Dunstable in England. The company was founded as a family business in 1810. It was acquired in 1961 ...

at the time.Stanley Gibbons Great Britain Specialised Stamp Catalogue, Volume 2, 1989 The stamp was given a unique design of GVR Royal Cypher watermark and was issued in sheets of 20 (4 horizontally x 5 vertically), and 61,000Hyde, Rikki. ''Great Britain Numbers Issued 1840 to 1910''. 3rd edition. London: Stanley Gibbons, 2008, p.32. stamps were issued. Waterlow and Sons printed the four low values.

London 2010 International Stamp Exhibition

In 2010 the stamp was reproduced for the

London 2010 International Stamp Exhibition The London 2010 International Stamp Exhibition, 8–15 May 2010 at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London, was a major international stamp exhibition that was granted FIP (Fédération Internationale de Philatélie) patronage. Theme T ...

by Enschede using the original die. The reproductions had a printed design on the back similar to a watermark to help distinguish them from the originals. They also had the word printed diagonally across the back in a repeating pattern. The stamps were sold in blocks of four in presentation packs with an insert written by Douglas Muir. In addition, a separate printing in blue was made at an exhibition of old printing techniques at the London Guildhall Art Gallery by Enschede, also in blocks of four. Fifty imperforate blocks were printed on roughly torn paper which were sold to the public.Archived here.
/ref>

References

External links

Pictures of the 2010 reproduction being printed in ''Dummy Stamps'' Issue 18, Quarter 3 2010.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Postal Union Congress 1 stamp PUC £1 stamp Cultural depictions of George V