The designer tried to find a way to express the relationship between Leiden and the Pilgrim Fathers.

So the stamp depicts a couple dressed in traditional garb, standing on the historic flag of the city of Leiden, with its crossed double keys.
The couple belonged to the English Congregationalists. Due to increasing persecution in England they fled to the Netherlands, where they settled in Leiden in 1609. John Robinson became their leader over there.

In 1620 the members of the Leiden congregation, with the exception of John Robinson, who remained in Leiden, travelled from Delftshaven to Southampton and from there to Plymouth, Massachusetts on the 'Mayflower'. They founded the Plymouth colony in 1620 and so the United States are of Leiden origin.

The period 1609 - 1620 is symbolised by the dates. In red numbers the date of arrival, equal to Leiden's flag. The year they left is in black digits, like the silhouette of the 'Mayflower'.

It is as though the ship sails off the stamp, towards an uncertain future.

Total printed: 800 copies/sheets

On sheet 328274 the caption is missing.
Sheets 328274 and 335074 know grid variations.  Here you can read the (Dutch) article by Rein Bakhuizen van den Brink, Filatelie 200812.

Thanks a lot... not!

At the introduction of the so called 'grey' frame in 2009 every now and again something went wrong.
The stamp image was slanting to the left or to the right on some of the sheets - 335074 and 328274.
Probable cause: a dog ear in the first of a stack of sheets, newly placed in the printer. It coincided with the appearance of grid variations (see above).

Collectors of misprints welcomed them.