Description: This item features a connected block of commemorative 4d (fourpence) stamps issued by Great Britain’s Royal Mail to celebrate indigenous wildlife. The beautifully rendered individual panes feature a vibrant European Robin with its iconic bright orange breast perched on a branch, a striking jet-black Blackbird showing off its brilliant yellow eye ring and beak, and a serene Black-headed Gull resting peacefully on water. Each composition is bordered by a slate-grey side column housing the crisp white cameo silhouette profile of a young Queen Elizabeth II alongside the denomination, with the printer metadata "HARRISON AND SONS LTD" and designer credit "J NORRIS WOOD" noted cleanly along the lower edge.
Circa: 1966
Condition: MNH Block of 4
Notes:
This block belongs to the famous 1966 "British Birds" set, which is widely considered a landmark release in modern British philately because it marked the first time the Royal Mail issued a multi-colored se-tenant block where different designs were printed together on the same sheet. Created by the accomplished wildlife artist and Royal College of Art alumnus John Norris Wood, the set was meant to include a fourth bird, the Blue Tit, which completes the standard square block configuration.