Lot Essay
Note: The use of this watermark on this value is not an error, as commonly supposed, but a trial printing on the handmade paper about to be used for the new De La Rue plate to see how it would perforate. This value's dimensions are similar to the surface-printed 2d. issue of 5 May 1869 but, in all the examples of the trial printing, the watermark is devered so that the "SA" appears above the Crown instead of below.