Description: This 26-penny commemorative postage stamp from the Royal Mail represents a key entry in the historic turn-of-the-century Millennium series. The multi-colored artistic vignette captures a pivotal moment of diplomacy, portraying a group of seventeenth-century English Pilgrims interacting with Indigenous leaders against the backdrop of the masted sailing ship Mayflower. The primary Native American figure holds a traditional peace pipe and a green gourd vessel over a woven basket brimming with freshly harvested corn and local squash crops. Inset in the upper left corner is the crisp white-embossed silhouette profile of Queen Elizabeth II, while the right margin features the vertical thematic inscriptions "Millennium 1999" and "Pilgrims" positioned directly above the bold white denomination "26". This specific specimen showcases exceptional fresh preservation, boasting clean comb perforations along all four sides and an immaculate face completely free of commercial postmark ink cancellations.
Circa: 1999
Condition: MNH
Notes:
This stamp stands out as part of the highly celebrated, massive Millennium Series project executed by the Royal Mail across 1999 and 2000. The project commissioned various contemporary artists to create fifty-two unique stamps divided into monthly thematic sets, with this specific "The Settlers' Tale" series exploring historic British migrations across the globe.