SG 318 5/- Carmine M52 (2) in very fine used condition with attractive double ringed Congleton CDS cancellation complementing.


As I will often note and point out these Somerset House printings are far scarcer than the earlier and much longer lived De La Rue ones and should command higher catalogue and retail prices to reflect.

Of course much of the current price parity we see is based solely on the fact that so many sellers and buyers are unable or unwilling to tell the two issues apart so of course the supply and demand equation that generally sets prices is currently broken.


One excellent and easy way to tell apart relates to the fact that Somerset House used a totally different perforating machine and actually leaves a tell tale finger print on the trio of these format higher values, we can even tell if left or right hand feed.

Hence, the eight perforation along from the right side here is a far thicker tooth with corresponding and balancing narrower one to its side.

So many of these issues have such little ways of telling printers and shades apart with the all required 100% accuracy every time and always a help where these tells are ones that can be easily used and deployed via images rather than needing the stamp in the flesh.