1979 Australia 20c Steam Railways Colour Losing It's Appeal?

Immediately thoughts will be of colour loss through soaking, or rain, or some other leeching process. The envelope was no different to any other and it's the following 'bits' that caught my eye - apart from the obvious, which is why I first looked at it:

. the overall discolouration, etc is not consistent, looks consistent (the green around 'AUSTRALIA 20c' fades consistently) but in terms of specific areas -

. take the man standing at the engine on the left and how he fades in comparison to the man at the right engine.

. right engine man again, to his left the engine part disappears
(side note, the man has three legs! haha guess it's part of the engine but sure looks like it).

. the 'A' in small 'Australia' appears to have loss (to different extents) under the horizontal, it appears out of line with the rest of 'ustralia'.

Any thoughts ? Obviously, the main thing against it is that it is not a known error/flaw and I can't see how only one stamp could be like it if it was during printing (unless everyone threw them away!)

Normal for comparison -

Something bad has happened to the stamp during it's lifetime.
Don

Apart from direct "flaws" and known varieties, I dismiss anything with used stamps.
They are horrendous for giving false impressions.

Those issues in particular, were very poorly produced.

I agree with Don.

My used:

Sadly my view also but needed to 'put it out there' to have other input and (sadly expected) confirm my own thoughts...
Thanks for the input Don and Rod.

Agree this stamp has had a hard life and should be placed in the bin The dead giveaway this stamp has been Washed Out is the discoloration of the white borders.

Nearly all listed Australian missing colours are found mint condition usually in strips, pairs & blocks showing gradual and sometimes dramatic colour errors.

In this form the variety has provenance.

As mentioned some stamp issues where produced with poor quality ink making them susceptible to discolouration.

Bleaching, sunlight and even immersion in water can change the appearance of the stamp.