Lot 60054 – 1840 (5 May) Mulready letter sheet (Forme 2, stereo A30) addressed to “Her Majestys Board of Commissioners for Stamp Duties, Somerset House, London” posted one day prior to the first Official day of usage

1840 (5 May) Mulready letter sheet (Forme 2, stereo A30) addressed to “Her Majestys Board of Commissioners for Stamp Duties, Somerset House, London” posted one day prior to the first Official day of usage, rated “1” for prepayment in cash with red London “Paid” date stamp for MY.5.1840 and “T.P. /King William St.” receiving office hs, with the interior prepared as an essay for printed advertisers, mocked-up using contemporary company advertisements and inscribed at lower right “The above slips are promiscuously taken to show the outline of what the system will be in all probability soon become if generally adopted. The print must be supposed imprinted on the cover itself.”, an extraordinary item of major philatelic importance, ex “Wills”, Grunin and “Mayflower”, cert BPA (1989).

Note: Illustrated in the Stanley Gibbons Queen Victoria Volume 1 Part 1 on p.30.