HANDPAINTED ESSAYS 1900 QV 1/2d green and 1d carmine essays made from cut-down keyplates in the issued colours, with the country name and value tablets handpainted over Chinese white, which has also been used around the frames, mounted on card (84x29mm), one of three pairs of these essays which were made (with one of them having the value tablet in solid colour) Provenance: Armstrong booklet of 1910, Adutt Green, Maisel, Booth and Podger Expertise: Cert. RPSL (2013) with this pair stating that these are not original De La Rue essays. However, in the view of this (including Stanley Gibbons who sold the Podger collection) and the previous owners, there is little doubt that these are indeed genuine essays (Image)