The two pence (2d) Tyrian plum was a postage stamp produced by Britain in 1910 as a replacement for the existing two colour 2d stamp of King Edward VII.
One hundred thousand sheets, totalling 24,000,000 stamps, were printed and delivered to the post office stores for distribution to Postmasters. The circulation of the new stamps was delayed while existing stocks of the current stamp were used up so that the change would take effect at one time and the amount of surplus stock of the old value would be kept to a minimum. However following the death of Edward VII on 6 May 1910, it was decided not to issue the new stamp and almost all the stock was destroyed. Only a few examples survive in private hands, making this stamp one of the great rarities of British philately.
A single used example is known used on cover which was sent by the then Prince of Wales, later King George V, to himself. This example is in the Royal Philatelic Collection.
Additionally, a complete imperforate registration sheet of 240 stamps is in the British Postal Museum & Archive along with a perforated sheet of 139 stamps.
Famous quotes containing the words edward, vii, tyrian and/or plum:
“A little on the side—very little.”
—A. Edward Sullivan, U.S. screenwriter. Professor Quail (W.C. Fields)
“I cannot be indifferent to the assassination of a member of my profession, We should be obliged to shut up business if we, the Kings, were to consider the assassination of Kings as of no consequence at all.”
—Edward VII (1841–1910)
“Come, give thy soul a loose, and taste the pleasures of the poor.
Sometimes ‘tis grateful for the rich to try
A short vicissitude, and fit of poverty:
A savory dish, a homely treat,
Where all is plain, where all is neat,
Without the stately spacious room,
The Persian carpet, or the Tyrian loom,
Clear up the cloudy foreheads of the great.”
—Horace [Quintus Horatius Flaccus] (65–8)
“An April Sunday brings the snow
Making the blossom on the plum trees green,
Not white. An hour or two, and it will go.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)