Description: This commemorative stamp features a striking, hyper-saturated close-up image of Penicillium mold blooming against a vivid yellow background. The growth colony expands with a dense, textured dark-green center ringed by softer layers of turquoise and light teal that seamlessly bleed into the bright background. Formatted vertically, the right edge displays the black text "Millennium 1999/38" and "Fleming's penicillin / M Dempsey." The bottom right corner anchors the item with a large black denomination numeral "43," indicating a 43-pence face value. Tucked in the top left corner sits a subtle, solid silver profile silhouette of Queen Elizabeth II facing right.
Circa: 1999
Condition: MNH
Notes:
This specimen was released by the Royal Mail as part of "The Patients' Tale", which served as the third installment of the highly celebrated 12-month Millennium Series counting down to the year 2000. Designer Michael Dempsey deliberately chose an artistic, almost fluorescent macro-photograph of the lifesaving mold colony to symbolize Alexander Fleming's accidental discovery of penicillin at St. Mary's Hospital in 1928.