Great Britain 1936 12th Nov 2½d King Edward VIII Coronation Essay, SG460var

Great Britain 1936 12th Nov 2½d King Edward VIII Coronation Essay, SG460var.

Very fine imperforate essays of the King from the Humphrey Paget effigy (Small head) with the rectangular frame by Eric Gill (Design Type R). Printed in Green, Red, Brown & Blue on gummed E8R watermarked paper.

All are mounted on thin card as they were presented to the Post Office and the Royal Arts Commission on 12th November 1936.

A very rare set of King Edward VIII stamp essays as only four examples were released.

When Edward became king of the United Kingdom in January 1936, he made it clear he planned to marry Wallis. When he was told by Parliament this was impossible, he abdicated in December of that year. The couple lived out the rest of their lives in a whirl of parties and foreign travel.

The Paget head essays were shown to the Postmaster General and the Director General. It was decided a well know typographer, Mr Eric Gill, should review the designs and carry out any modifications required to the technical details.

The Postmaster General decided on 13 November to abandon the design but to proceed with Eric Gill's.

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