Penny black stamps | Penny black value | Rare English stamps Penny Black stamps The history and value of first adhesive postal stamp: the penny black stamp The Penny Black is the moniker of the world’s first adhesive stamp used in public postal system. The idea of an adhesive stamp indicates that a letter has been paid. The first postage stamp was proposed to reform the British postal system by Rowland Hill in 1837. On May 1, 1840 the British postal service sold the first Penny Blacks, and continued to issue the stamps until 1841. The stamp cost 1 pence and was darkly colored, hence the name Penny Black. Nowadays, it is considered as one of the rarest British stamp. It was widely issued in United Kingdom. All London posts offices received the new official stamps but other offices in the country did not. One of the offices like Bath offered the stamp unofficially after May 2. The inscription “postage” appeared at the top of the stamp and “one penny” at the bottom. The word one penny indicates the amount of transmission in which it was affixed on the envelope. The background of the stamp consists of finely engrave engine turnings.

The two upper corners contained two star-like designs and the lower corners contained letters designating the position of the stamp it was printed. The sheets were printed by Perkins Bacon. The imperforate Penny Black stamp were printed in sheets of 240 with 12 stamps across and 20 stamps down and had to be individually cut by hand. As the name suggests, the stamp was printed in black ink. The Penny Black was used only for a year. It was found out that red cancellation was hard to see on a black background and the red ink is easy to remove. It was easier to see a black canceling on a Penny Red. Hence, it is not a very rare stamp. Penny Black successors The Penny Red was issued in 21st of January 1841. It was the successor of Penny Black stamp. There were 10,000 sheets of Penny red stamp printed and issued to the public a month later. It was used as the definitive stamp in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until 1879. There were only minor changes on the stamp. The color was change from black to red because of the difficulty in seeing the red cancellation mark on the Penny Black.

Further more, a black cancellation mark is readily visible on a Penny Red. The world's second official adhesive stamp was the Two Penny Blue or 2d blue. It was also issued in May 1840 by the United Kingdom. It was more or less the same as the Penny Black. It was planned that 2d blue stamp will be released together with Penny Black. However, the earliest post mark seen on a Two Penny Blue was on May 8, 1840 which is two days after the Penny Black was released. The Two Penny Blue is much rarer and more expensive than the Penny Black. The Legacy of Penny Black This small rectangular stamp developed a new system of processing and delivering mails. It includes transferring parcels, special delivery, air mail, bulk mail and various other options. Sending letters with uniform price made communication possible by all means. The combination of uniform prices, new transportation methods, and more efficient postal system indicates that postal services were low enough that almost everyone could afford to write a letter. Penny Black printing plates Penny Black stamps were printed from 11 plates. Unfortunately, plate 1 needed a thorough investigation for repair due to excessive wear.

It was generally considered as two separate plates, 1a and 1b. Plate 11 was solely intended for the new red stamps but a small number were printed in black. These stamps printed with black Plate 11 are very rare. The stamps were printed in unperforated sheets. And it is cut in scissors for sale. Jacob Perkins invented the D cylinder press. It was the original printing press for the first postage stamp. It was patented in 1819 and was on display at the British Library in London. Rare Penny Black postage stamp corner letters Each penny black stamp has an inscription at the four corners of stamp. These inscriptions determine the position of the sheet the stamp had occupied. When the printing plates produced were blank, the two lower squares are also blank. The letter inscription will be punched by hand. The left square letter shows which horizontal row the stamp was in the first row being A, the second B, and so on down to the twentieth row with T. The right square letter indicates the vertical column, again with A for the first column, B, C, and so on across to L for the last twelfth column.

It should be noted therefore that each letter combination is just as common or as scarce as any other. Penny black postage stamp values There were 68,158,080 penny black postage stamps issued. There are only 2% survival rate likely about 1.3 million stamps still existing. The survival rate could also be higher, because in 1840's the use of envelops was unusual. Most letters were folded and sealed with wax. This means that whenever the letters are kept - the whole thing including the adhesive stamp is kept. But by the times that people started to collect stamps, people having these rare stamps sold it. Penny black stamp values depend on different factors like condition, the plate the stamp was printed from, and the overall appearance of the stamp. The condition of the stamps also matter. The physical condition such as thin, tear, crease, or stain will lower the value of the stamp. The number, size, and regularity of the margins make a big difference to value. The value of old postage stamps varies in condition and rarity of the stamp. Rare postage stamps that are in poor condition cost low while rare postage stamp that is in good condition cost high.

Old postage stamps not perforated were separated by scissors or knife. The stamp is easier to separate by straying and cutting into the printed design of the stamp because the distance of each stamp is just 1mm. Collectors will pay higher prices if the stamps have four good, wide, and even margins. Penny Black stamp rarities There were 286,700 sheets printed with 68,808,000 stamps. Some of these stamps had survived. During this era large envelopes were not normally used. Letters in the form of letter sheets were folded and sealed. The stamp and the address are placed on the obverse. The stamp survives if the letter is kept. The Penny Black is available in the stamp collectors' market. Postage stamp prices vary in many factors like condition, plate of stamp, and the number of stamps produced. The rarest Penny Black stamps were those printed from plate 2. There were only 16,800 stamps which come from 700 sheets only. Over 10 million copies were printed from plate 1a / 1b, yet even a medium poor copy of a plate 1 stamp is expensive.

Strips of Penny Blacks are scarce and blocks are very rare. Penny black that are printed in plate 11 is one of the rare postage stamps. The color of the postage stamp was switched from black to red but the red ink is not yet ready so they used black ink as a substitute. Therefore, provisional stamps of Penny black were printed with 700 sheets in a two day period. Plate 11 was intended only for Penny red. Used Penny black stamp in plate 11 cost $685 as of 2009. Penny Black stamp forgeries Forged Penny black stamp first appeared in 1840. The counterfeits are made from wood engravings. An electrotyped forgery was discovered in March 1841. It led to the first prosecution and conviction of stamp forgery. Rowland Hill’s postal stamp system was adopted by some countries starting with Brazil in 1843. Stamp collecting exists together with the existence of postage stamps. It even kicked off the world's most popular hobby, philately.

Related articles: The Penny Black, how to determine its value | The Stamp Echo The Penny Black, how to determine its value Posted on November 13, 2008 by Daniel Arpin 1840 Penny Black As most stamp collector already know the Penny Black is the world’s first adhesive postage stamp and was issued by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on May 1st 1840. Due to its significance this stamps is very popular and following my past article What are the most famous rare and valuable stamps? , I have been receiving a lot of questions about its value. Well let’s try to understand a bit more about this famous stamp and what affects its value. Rarity The Penny Black is not that rare a stamp, as there were 68,808,000 issued, yes 68 million! A substantial number of these have survived, largely because envelopes were not commonly used yet, letters being written, folded and sealed with wax, with the stamp and the address on the obverse. This meant that whenever a letter was filed in a lawyer’s office, bank, etc., the whole thing would be kept.

Small crown watermark Printing plates The stamps were printed in sheets of 240, from engraved steel plates, on gummed paper with a single small crown watermark on each stamp. They were imperforated and had to be cut out with scissors. Over time, due to excessive wear, eleven different printing plates were used (plate 1 is usually differentiated into plate 1a and plate 1b), and it is possible in almost every case to work out which plate any individual stamp was printed from by little characteristics. Things like the positioning of the corner letters within their squares, the presence of the “O flaw”, which rays of the stars in the upper corners are broken at what points, and so on, can point to a correct plate identification, but specialized literature is required in order to do this. Some plates are scarcer than others, plate 11 being the rarest, intended originally solely for the new red stamps, only 16800 stamps were printed from this plate. These are now very rare. Penny Black Printing Plates Penny Black with red cross Penny Black with red cross A special postmark was also introduced to cancel the stamps. Popularly known as the Maltese Cross. It was to begin with, in black.

But since it was difficult to see a black postmark on a black stamp the color was changed to red. Many used examples of the period have killer cancellations, so that it could not be used again. The postal authorities were clearly worried that people might ‘clean’ the stamp so that it could be used again. The colour of the Penny Black was later changed to red for this very reason. Used examples with a light cancellation command a much higher premium on the market than heavily obliterated ones. Corner letters Corner letters The stamps were printed in sheets of 240 (20×12) and the stamps had corner letters (bottom left and right of the stamp) corresponding to its position on the plate. Starting with AA, AB, AC…to AL for the top row, the second row goes from BA to BL and the twentieth row from TA to TL. Four different alphabets were used in the course of time to form the corner letters. A penny black with the corner letters «JF» is shown below, as well as its position on the sheet. TL Main factors affecting Value 1- The condition grading and centering. An unused or mint stamp is generally worth much more than a used one.

The number, size, and regularity of the margins make a big difference to value. The stamps were not perforated, and had to be separated using scissors. As there is only about 1mm between one stamp and another, it is very easy to wander off just a little and cut into the printed design of the stamp. A stamp with two full margins and perhaps a couple of other part margins is about average. Collectors will pay higher prices for examples with four good, wide, and even margins. 2- The plate the stamp was printed from. 3- The overall appearance of the stamp. Any fault such as a thin, tear, crease, or stain will lower the value Conclusion The Penny Black is readily available on the collectors’ market today. However, because of its significance, this stamp in fine condition is in demand by collectors and therefore not cheap. It can be dangerously misleading to suggest values, as some readers of this will be naturally optimistic, others being natural pessimists (or realists!).

In 2009, a used Penny Black in poor condition can cost as little as $20 and up to $300 for one in very nice condition, an unused or mint example would average around $1000 to $7000, depending if it has the original gum or not and if the margins around the stamp are close or wide. The retail price on these is steadily rising. By contrast, a used Penny Red is only $20 and a mint $450 in nice condition. Share this: 114 Responses to The Penny Black, how to determine its value Rolland Hagedorn hi i just wondered if you could help me with the age of the stamp that i have. It is s burgubdy red colour, one penny with the letters L top left and O in the top right The bottom right is also an L but it is difficlut to see what the bottom wleft is any advice would be appreciated regarsd January 13, 2009 at 10:41 am Your stamp is probably the Penny Red.

The Penny Red was Great Britain’s longest running stamp, from February 1841 to the end of November 1879. It was used for the standard letter postage rate of 1d and approximately 21 billion were issued. January 29, 2009 at 6:16 am A very informative article and has been useful in helping me to make my purchase. Tell me how does one know which plate the stamp came from, I understand the length of rays on the stars on the top left & right corners is the key is this true and are there any other clues ? February 24, 2009 at 4:15 pm What would a 4 block of mint penny blacks be worth? I haven’t seen the stamps yet to determine their condition but have been informed that they are mint. Just a ball-park figure as I’m sure the owner would wish to sell! October 25, 2014 at 7:52 am Did u ever find out the value of your One Penny Black stamp? I have one with letters JK. Im guessing its plate 8 by the noticable flaws. If so your may have been beside mine.

Since they were cut by hand i was curious about yours and how it would match up. Maybe you would be interested in it? [email protected] 304-671-8658 call or text Thanks,Margie Augusta, WV 26704 July 22, 2010 at 4:07 am My penny black has four margins, one is a bit wonky,one thinner than the other 3 and 2 fairly even.It has the red stamp mark which is quite pale over head neck and face.It has the letter I and E in the bottom corners,it is in excellent condition.Can you give me a rough valuation,thanks Catherine August 19, 2010 at 2:32 pm I have a Penny Black on cover dated August 4 1841 with an accompanying letter of Mr Grodeski from Gibbons,my brother paid 1765 Pounds for it 30 years ago,he gave it to me ,but any Idea of its worth now ?

Many Thanks September 27, 2010 at 9:48 am Dear Sir, We got a letter dated Jan 1841 with penny black stamp with letters M and F on corners and the wax seal at the back of the letter , the stamp have good even egde all around , any ideas of the value ? Thanks November 13, 2010 at 8:28 pm I have a Penny Black Stamp/ May of 1840/ Issued in England/ Portrait of Queen Victoria. #0560. I would like to know the value if possible and I am interested in selling it. It is in a plastic case in excellent condition. The bottom left has letter T and right G. Please help me what this stamp is worth. Jo I have a 1840 ( December 6th) cover penny black with letters JA on the corners. I purchased it in 2004 for £195 any idea of it’s value now?

many thanks December 4, 2010 at 9:16 pm hi there, I have a used penny red , J and E corner letters and a nice clean bold number 9 in black , it also has one penny printed on the top end of the stamp below perperations and nothing at bottom , is this a common fault , February 7, 2011 at 6:20 pm Hi there I was just wondering if you would give me an idea how much a never used penny black is worth. It has the letters AA on the bottom and the glue is still on the back. Thank you Hi, I have ‘The Penny Black’ May 6, 1840 stamped with the red Maltese Cross. ‘O’ in the bottom left and ‘C’ in the bottom right. The stamp comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and is housed in a capsule. Is this stamp valuable? Hello Very informative. My father has a penny black with a pale red Maltese cross over part of the Victoria’s head. Three of the margins are good but the right one goes in slightly at the top by the star. The bottom left reads G and right reads C.

It’s in a black presentation wallet with the Summer collection printed on the back. Would you be able to give us an idea of it’s value? Thank you July 2, 2011 at 3:18 am i would like to know how mutch is a penny black letters 1d in the corners with a red maltease mark on the stamp would be valued i know it was the first issue and it was the forth row when printed can you please tell me the value of penny black stamp with letters pl durai from tamil nadu I have an unused Penny Black Plate 9 cut close one margin and regummed. Certificate. What would be it’s value? December 23, 2011 at 2:21 am I have a penny black plate with the letters P and L. It has 4 markings on the back : RC in a five sided box, and star within a circle, a lion, and the letter D in italix. What would this be worth? Are you sure about the Maltese Cross colour change from BLACK to RED Surely it was RED to BLACK !!

June 4, 2014 at 10:25 am The Maltese Cross began life in May 1840 in red, during September of the same year experiments were carried out in London using black ink and then in February 1841 the country officially moved to black ink. The comment from Daniel is incorrect Hello, I have a used Penny Black with letter E and G. Any idea how much it’s roughly worth please? Thanks. March 3, 2012 at 5:16 pm I have 5ea. penny black stamps, i’ve been trying to find out the price of these unused stamps, no one seems to know, can’t find any info on the plate letters… 1ea. 1840 mk., 1ea.1854-57ba., 1ea.lb., 1880-81ce., 1883-84 1ea.

Ia…need some help from anyone… john northrop eny one i can send a photo penny black November 17, 2012 at 4:59 am I have a letter, written January 1st 1841, with a Penny Black stamp. The two letters are ‘M’ at bottom left, and ‘G’ at bottom right. The stamp is slightly stained, and has been franked with a red Maltese Cross, and has a circular frank on the letter saying ‘South Molton’. The borders are not central, but a white border can be seen all around. A possible value, please? If the stamp is stained from the oils used in making the ink for the red obliterator, then it’s acceptable, if not, then it detracts from the value. On a full cover [not piece, [part, front, etc.!] they are worth about double those ‘off cover’. Your margins sound like a ‘fine’ copy in British Grading, so about 60% of the generic, non-plated price of £350 as full retail. With Penny Blacks, appearance is ALL! Hi,I have a penny black with red cross.

In great condition and the letters on left and right side are both “F”. Says its 172 years old on the paper I got. Just wondering if you could tell me approx value. Thanks, March 17, 2013 at 6:38 pm I don’t understand many of the people here. “I have a (blah blah blah) How much is it worth?” What part of “It can be dangerously misleading to suggest values….” do you people not understand? This article is largely common sense. April 9, 2013 at 7:27 am Hello I have an 1840 one penny black stamp with a red cross over it..it is on envelope dated July 16th 1840 . I would like to know if it has any value to it please. Kind Regards May 5, 2015 at 11:02 pm Michael, I have a black penny and its May 6, 1840 the black penny has a Red Cross on it !! Would love to no it value ??

April 10, 2013 at 3:01 pm Hi I have a penny black,letters o bottom lift h on right.interested in selling. Would like to here from somebody who know’s about the value, if anybody can help me with that call me 1 519 305 0577 or email me thank you. April 13, 2013 at 6:34 am I have blue stamp with a black ink marking on it. it is hard to make out the date, at the bottom it has TWOPENCE HALFPENNY. I can just make out the letters RSA ON TOP. There is no markings on the back. Please can you let me know if there is any value. It is in fair condition. Thank you. May 17, 2013 at 4:14 pm Hi i when to this thrift store where i found a red nice carpet like a book.when i open it it have a stamp which is the black penny. It have the story about the blak penny and is one of first postage stamps.

It says may 6 1840 and its a letter fold inside and stamp with the black penny. It says first day issue in london may 6 1840 and is sing by james a. Helzer president. It got letter j a in each corner and the other stamp letter t f the floder is in good condiction so the letter. I want to know how much it worth and both stamps are market in red. Plz let me know any informtion thank you. I have had a Penny Black since I was a child in my collection, with the letters P L on the bottom. Does anyone have any idea the value of this. Thanks for your help. December 22, 2013 at 12:45 pm trying to i.d. plate no for 1d black. 4 very good straight margins, slight thinning 1 small patch, very slight. letters t left k rt bottom, centre of top lt star four pointed cross in centre 12 pointed outer star lt top,2-8 th star point thick, top rt star centre black dot only, not cross like lt,2 3 and 11th point of rt star appear small.

red mx cancellation clear, rest of stamp is crisp and sharp, any help appreciated July 3, 2015 at 10:47 am Which Plate does your Penny Black stamp come from? To many, the plating of the worlds most famous stamp is a mystery, indeed it was to me when I first started stamp collecting. But the plating of the 1d black can be both absorbing and rewarding. The 1d black was placed on sale to the public on May 2nd 1840 for use on May 6th. It was printed in sheets of 240. From a series of plates, each plate was manufactured from the same master dye. This dye was engraved and hardened before being pressed 240 times on to a softened plate. This plate was then hardened, cleaned and polished and eventually set to print many millions of stamps, 68 million 1d blacks were printed and released from 12 different plates, numbered 1 to 11, plate 1 being 2 plates, the softened version plate 1A and the hardened and longer wearing plate 1B. The plate numbers appeared in the sheet margin at the bottom left and right hand corners.

At the end of 1840 it was decided to change the colour of the stamps to red brown as the black cancellers used in the later stages of this issue did not show up too clearly on the black stamp. Plate 11 was the first plate produced solely for printing stamps in the new red brown shade, due to last minute shortages of the black stamp before the red could be issued, it was, for two days only, used as an emergency to supply the late demand. Plate 11 therefore is by far the rarest of all the 1d blacks and is highly sought in any condition. In order to plate a 1d black we must first look at the corner letters, on each sheet there are 240 differently lettered stamps, the first stamp of the top row is lettered AA. The row continues to AL and then starts at the 2nd row BA to BL and so on throughout the sheet until the final row TA to TL. These letters are the only part of the design that was put in my hand. After the steel dye had been rolled 240 times to produce the plate, the letters were then punched in.

It is therefore possible to collect a 1d black lettered say, AA from each plate, although the stamps looks identical it can be seen that in each case the letters differ in position, some may be high, others low or to the left or right, some may be crooked or doubled where the punch was struck twice, so these letters play an important role in plating the black. As the dye was pressed during the manufacture of this plate, weakness occurred, some of the arms of the top left hand star became invisible in certain plates, known as the 5 o clock, 7 o clock ray flaws because of their positions on the clock face appearance of the star. These rays became faint and disappeared and this clue is a guide to some plates. Let us suppose that a 1d black shows a ray flaw in the top left star, as this was only found on plates 1A, 1B and 2, then it must come from one of these three. The engravers finally saw what had happened and retouched the dye, so this clue has your black almost plated, but there are other clues, the O flaw, where the O in one of one penny grows a leg, much like a Q in appearance.

Plates 7, 8, 9 and 10 have this flaw, it is faint in plate 7 but gets worse in plate 10 and there are three stages of the flaw, known as O flaw 1, 2 and 3. Faint to pronounced as the dye works through the four plates. Plate 11 has a single flaw that sets it apart from the others. A 7 o clock ray flaw in the right star. It is completely missing and very clearly so, it is the easiest and rarest of blacks to plate. If a stamp is on a dated cover, your chances of finding its plate are even better, if the cover is dated say August 1840, then that black can only come from 1 to 6, as later plates were not set for printing until after this date, if the stamp shows no ray flaws then it must be from plate 3, 4, 5 or 6. Narrowing the field by eye is relatively simple, it is when you want to pin point the plate that you must look closer at your black much closer in fact for fainter, slighter clues are hidden in this most perfect of designs.

With a strong glass (a watch makers glass in perfect) and a good light, there are many tiny flaws that show up as pointers to the correct plate. ‘Re entries’. The most substantial variety, where the roller impression on the newly prepared plate was not firm enough, resulting in loss of design. The engravers sometimes rolled the impression over again or re entered the design by hand, engraving or touching up lines or strokes, usually visible in the corner stars, they look hairy or bitty with doubling or odd marks that should not be there. Also marks in the wording and lower squares ‘Guide Lines’. Simply lines scratched on to the plate to guide the dye roller, usually seen horizontally or vertically in the star and letter squares and sometimes through the value wording, fairly clear to see in most cases. ‘Extended Lines’. Going past the design at the corners. ‘Dots and Spots’. Again for guiding purpose in laying the plate. All over the place but generally in or around the letter squares. ‘Double or crooked letters’. A good guide.

‘The colour of the cancel’, red for early plates, black for later plates although all plates can be found in RED and BLACK, but a reasonable guide especially for plate 10, which is rare, with red cancel and plate 11, which is almost always in black. But to be honest it is impossible for all but the true black specialist to plate a stamp by eye, if you handle them in quantity which is a dream of course we would all like to realise, then with careful study you can plate more or less without turning to the reference works on the subject. If however you have just a few blacks then you will need to get a book and use it with this short guide. Gibbons specialist red book vol 1 is a good aid, although not outstanding. ‘The Postage Stamps of Great Britain Vol 1’ by Seymore is better and if you have both books it is easier. Ormond plating cards in folder give a good break down with most flaws listed, but by far the best book is ‘Guide lines to the Penny Black’ by Litchfield, with almost 100% success every time.

Plating the 1d black is not easy but it is a most rewarding and worthwhile pastime that can be polished to a fine art. Plating penny reds is exactly the same but much harder, as instead of twelve plates to choose from, there are over 170, but it is always a delight to turn the page of a collection and see a fine plated set of penny blacks. Yes, very nice indeed. May 1, 2015 at 3:15 am my family have refurbished old buildings for years, just after WW2 we rebuilt what was a post office upstairs (what was left of it) had a small office and safe. The previous postmaster had told us that the safe hadn’t been used in decades and that the key was never found and the only reason it stopped where it was, was due to the weight.

The safe was extremely decorative so it came back to my grandfathers building yard and stayed there until around 1980 when my father decided it needed to go as we were relocating, curiosity got the better of him and despite back in the day the postmaster being adamant that it would be empty he decided to oxyacetylene it open, there inside were two complete sheets of first edition Penny Blacks! I guess their value would be through the roof, however my dad was an honest man and returned them to the post office, how many of us would do that I wonder February 27, 2016 at 10:07 am You don’t say if the stamp is perforated or not. The 1d Red with no perforations and so only letters in the bottom corners came from plates 1-177. The number for this series is not on the stamp itself – it was only in the corner margins of each sheet of 240 stamps. Generally you need to be quite a specialist to plate such a stamp, from the position of the check letters and other tiny differences, but the type of cancel, the shade, the corner lettering type can all narrow down the range.

May 25, 2016 at 8:08 pm KoKo, If your stamp has 1840 on it as part of the printing, it does not sound like an original 1d Black. A modern stamp that depicts a 1d Black might be worth 10 cents. If you have identified your stamp as a genuine 1d Black that was printed in 1840 (before a scarce printing in January 1841), then you need to look at the “Main factors affecting Value” section within the opening part of this article. The values given in the conclusion to the opening part above are from 2009. Values have increased since then. To get to 2016 values, I suggest you add 50% to 75% to the 2009 values. May 27, 2016 at 11:07 am The 1B on the back could be from someone plating it as Plate 1b. We just don’t have enough relevant information from Koko. To Koko, no thanks, I don’t want to see a picture of your stamp.

Great you are sure your stamp is original. There were over 68 million of them printed and although just a small proportion have survived, it would still mean that I could be inundated with queries and photos. To anyone who has a question about their 1d Black, I strongly suggest:- 1. You read Daniel Arpin’s excellent opening article first. 2. For the vast majority of 1d Blacks, which are used and not from a scarce plate, condition is the all important factor on value. 3.. If you have an interest beyond pure value (you would have to be lucky to find a 1d Black from Plate 11 at random, but even 400-1 odds means it does very occasionally happen), and are thinking about becoming a philatelist, do try and plate your stamp. In which case first read what Dawn says in her posting of July 3, 2015. To that add the excellent photos (see my posting of May 17, 2016) at which were only put on-line in 2012, so after Daniel wrote his article. 3. That just leaves values, which have increased 🙂 since Daniel wrote his article.

My posting of May 25, 2016 suggests you add 50% to 75% to the 2009 values. Anything more specific is probably not for this forum. Happy stamping everyone. Penny Black: the turbulent history of the short-lived stamp - Telegraph Penny Black: the turbulent history of the short-lived stamp The Penny Black, which emerged 175 years ago, had an influential but limited lifespan The Penny Black stamp: worth thousands today Photo: Jeff Gilbert By Alice Vincent , Arts Writer 11:23AM BST 01 May 2015 Follow It has become a stamp collector's holy grail: the little black stamp that made post affordable for a normal Victorian. But the Penny Black, which first went on sale in London 175 years ago today, had a troubled birth. Before the Penny Black, the world's first adhesive stamp, only the very rich could afford to use the post. Until 1840, letters were charged by the number of sheets written upon and the distanced travelled to send them – and the recipient, rather than the sender, had to pay.

Victorians made their correspondence as efficient as possible: writing both horizontally and vertically on a page, but even two decades before the Penny Black was printed it was clear something needed to be done. James Chalmers, a bookseller and printer from Dundee, suggested a solution of pre-paid postage stamps in 1822, but it took another 15 years for MP Robert Wallace to imagine an envelope, of a standard size, which would carry the stamp. Two years later, the Penny Postage Bill was passed in Parliament and treasurer Roland Hill announced a competition to find the designer of envelops and stamps: 2,600 entries were submitted. • What is a Penny Black stamp? Although there are reports of some winners being announced, including Henry Cole and Charles Whiting, who were established printers, Hill decided to run with an envelope and stamp designed by artist William Mulready. Mulready's stamped lettersheet was perhaps a better idea than reality: an elaborate "poetic" design inspired by the country's empire, with a figure of Britannia and an apathetic lion in the middle, it was roundly mocked and inspired so many cariactures it had to be withdrawn.

William Mulready's letter sheet, which was rounded mocked (Jonathan Lodge) More successful was the stamp – for a while, at least. Its depiction of Queen Victoria was drawn from a sketch that artist William Wyon made of the Queen when she was 15. Victoria was 21 in 1840, but engraver Henry Corbould still used this reference for the stamp, which was in turn used by Charles and Frederick Heath to make a die for its printing. Along with the fine border work and stars in the corners, the Penny Black didn't feature the name of the country: Victoria was synonymous with the nation at this point. Instead, the word "Postage" differentiated it from the revenue stamps that had been used for decades. Both that and the price, One Penny, were printed on the stamp. • The best art exhibitions on now Issued in sheets of 240 stamps, costing £1 sterling a sheet, although these were the first adhesive stamps – thanks to a "glutinous wash" on the back – perforation wasn't to arrive for 14 years. Instead, the person behind the counter in the post office had to cut the stamps apart with scissors.

Ultimately, it was the reason for the stamp's name that marked its demise. The wonderfully gloomy black ink easily disguised the red ink used to cancel stamps – this made them easy to reuse. Within 12 months, the Treasury reprinted it as a red stamp, and changed the cancellation stamp to have black ink. The Penny Red was born, but the Black remains the memorable – and valuable – one. With just 68 million stamps printed, they are worth anywhere between £1,800 and £15,000 a piece. This Day in History… May 1, 1840 | Mystic Stamp Discovery Center This Day in History… May 1, 1840 World’s First Postage Stamp Issued Item #Black1 – a closely trimmed Penny Black. The world’s first postage stamp, the Penny Black, was issued on May 1, 1840. Sir Rowland Hill, a man credited with inventing the postage stamp, was born on December 3, 1795, in Kidderminster, England. By 1807, young Roland was already a student teacher at the same school where his father taught.

Twelve years later, in 1819, Roland founded the Hazlewood School, in nearby Edgbaston. Hazlewood was unique, as it had a science laboratory, swimming pool, gymnasium, library, gas-powered lights and central heating – at a time when other schools were very poor. Item #Bla1 – A Penny Black Reproduction sheet. During the early 1800s, the cost of sending a letter in England was very expensive. Each letter was weighed individually and priced according to the weight and distance. In addition, the addressee instead of the sender paid for the mail, and the addressee could refuse to pay. This resulted in not only very high operating costs for the Post Office, but heavy annual losses – due to refusal of payment. Rowland Hill recognized that the recent industrial revolution had significantly increased literacy among English citizens. He knew that this rise in literacy would result in a greater mail volume, if the postage rates were only lowered a bit. So, the reform-minded Hill proposed the use of adhesive postage stamps and stamped envelopes. By making the sender responsible for the delivery fee, the Post Office would stop losing money on refused letters.

Plus, the uniform, low rate of one cent per half-ounce would make mailing a letter affordable for the Post Office and the public. Letters wouldn’t have to be weighed and logged individually anymore, cutting the administration costs drastically. Item #M11606 – Mint sheet marking 175th anniversary of the Penny Black. After presenting his idea on February 13, 1837, Hill was given a two-year contract to run his new system. The design of the stamps was open to a competition that received 2,600 entries. However, none were considered suitable, so they selected a profile of Queen Victoria that was used on an 1837 medal (and based on an image of her as a princess). Item #MA723 – Penny Black with 2-3 margins on cover. Each individual Penny Black is scarce due to a special lettering system. Printed in sheets of 240 stamps, two bottom-corner letters were hand-punched onto the printing plate for each stamp.

The stamp in the upper-left corner of a sheet was given the letters “AA”, next was “AB”, all the way to “AL.” Below the “AA” stamp was “BA”, and the 2nd row continues to “B.” Item #7507755 – Worldwide stamps marking 150th anniversary of Penny Black. Finally, the Penny Black was issued on May 1, 1840, though it wouldn’t officially go on sale until May 6. There are few examples of the stamp on cover with May 1 and May 2 postmarks. The issuance of the Penny Black was the first major step in mass communications. Mail service became affordable to every British citizen for the first time. From that day forward, any Englishman from any walk of life could correspond with any other person anywhere in England. The postage stamp was so revolutionary that it instantly became popular with collectors. In fact, Dr. John Edward Gray of the British Museum purchased a block of Penny Blacks the very first day they went on sale with the intent of preserving them – making him the world’s first stamp collector.

The Queen was so pleased with the stamp’s portrait of herself at age 18, it was used exclusively on Great Britain stamps throughout her 60-year reign! Item #4588193 – Penny Black commemorative coin. In 1839, the year before the Penny Black was issued, the British postal service moved 82 million pieces of mail. In 1840, the first year of the issue, the Penny Black more than doubled the mail volume to over 169 million pieces of mail. Soon, other countries would follow with their own first issues. Click the images to add this history to your collection. Did you like this article? Click here to rate: [Total: 271 Average: 4.8] 20 Responses to "This Day in History… May 1, 1840" By Richard H. Demarest May 1, 2016 - 2:46 am Very interesting article on the first stamp and stamp collecting in general. Did not know anything about Sir Rowland Hill and the invention of the first postage stamp. Guess we all, as stamp collectors, need to honor him for our interest in stamp collecting.

Thanks Sir Rowland Hill! By RickyDee May 1, 2016 - 9:34 pm Here, here!! By noah May 1, 2016 - 5:58 am Another good and interesting piece of history that still affects all of us today. By Valorie Mattice May 1, 2016 - 6:37 am And now we know the how it all started! By Robert Choinski May 1, 2016 - 6:56 am Refusal of payment would certainly cut down the junk mail. Reply By Mary Boylen May 1, 2016 - 8:36 am This is amazing! Never knew how or why postage stamps came into exsistance. Really a great story to share. By cjclemens May 1, 2016 - 9:33 am One learns something everyday! Reply By Robert LaBelle May 1, 2016 - 11:38 am Certainly, we’re not using his invention in the same way, and not as frequently as heretofore, but we stamp collectors still celebrate the occasion and the idea.

By Wayne I. King May 1, 2016 - 11:50 am I commend you, again, for your interesting and informative information on stamps and the history they represent. May I suggest, maybe once a month, you do an article on the first stamp issued by major countries. The history Canada’s Scott #1 will enlighten many collectors on our “beaver” and the man who created it. ie Where did world time zones originate? By Carolyn May 1, 2016 - 11:55 am Fascinating history of the postage stamp. Reply By Stu Hoyt May 1, 2016 - 11:57 am A picture is worth a thousand words but not in this case. History is such an important part of our lives and too often ignored. I thought the school with the gas lights and central heating in 1819 was interesting and I never though school teachers were paid much. By Mary Rose Francini May 1, 2016 - 12:58 pm In USA July 1 1847 Benjamin Franklin #1 Stamp came out anyway.

Reply By Hans Frankfort May 1, 2016 - 2:13 pm A great invention that we still use in our every day lives! We need a new stamp to honor Sir Rowland Hill. I did’t hear about him until this article brought us to this detail in stamp history. Reply By Janet May 1, 2016 - 6:28 pm Thank you, Mystic, for printing this wonderful article. It is such a fascinating subject. After the Penny Black came the Penny Blue and the Penny Red. Reply By Mary Rose Francini May 2, 2016 - 10:50 am I have 500 years of Royal Mail (Royal Mail Prestige Stamp Booklet) on page stamp pane of Penny Black/Penny Blue/Penny Red. Reply By Richard Robb May 1, 2016 - 6:51 pm It’s funny, I had never really considered how the postage stamp got it’s start. Although, had anyone asked me, I would have thought it’s beginning would have been earlier, say in the late 1700’s, with good old Benjamin Franklin and his starting of the U.S. postal service.

By Tom Lawver May 1, 2016 - 7:41 pm Excellent content, and clearly expressed and written. A good artiocle. Reply By Nigel Harpham May 2, 2016 - 3:21 am Early British stamps like the penny black and two-pence blue had letters printed in the corners, each sheet of 240 stamps had 240 variations, so it’s good fun to try and collect all 240 combinations and try to reconstruct a full sheet. Also here in England collectors like to get a stamp with their own initials, my own is NH. So if you are collecting early Great Britain try to get your own initials on a stamp or try to reconstruct a sheet – it’s fun! Reply By Jim Woodfill May 3, 2016 - 4:34 am A whole barrage of stamps was issued by countries of the British Commonwealth (mostly former colonies of the British Enpire) in 1979, honoring Sir Rowland Hill on the 100th anniversary of his death. Yet in 1995, the 200th anniversary of his birth went philatelically unnoticed.

Strange that such a great man’s death should be honored, but not his birth. Several independent countries participated in the 1979 SRH death stamp issue, but the USPS did not participate in either. The US has issued stamps honoring world leaders before, such as Winston Churchill after his death in 1965, so they could very well issue a stamp for Mr. Hill. 2020 will be the 225th anniversary of his birth, 2029 the 150th anniversary of his death. By Dave May 7, 2016 - 12:32 pm Just found this app. Interesting article. Great Britain Stamps | American Collectibles, LLC Mulready and his postage-paid envelopes; Wyon and his Queen 1841 Penny Red Practically every stamp collector in the world wants to own a Great Britain 1840 Penny Black, Two Pence Blue or the 1841 Penny Red . But there is much more to the lure than the fact that they were the first postage stamps in the world.

The design is simple and elegant with an image modeled on the William Wyon head of a young Queen Victoria and the legends “POSTAGE” at the top and “ONE PENNY” or “TWO PENCE” at the foot. The sides show an intricate engine-turned background. The “O” flaw – notice the tiny bulge at the lower right of the letter “O” that engages some collectors. There came to be three separate stages (I, II and III) of the flaw as it grew larger. It is present only in stamps from printing plates 7, 8, 9 and 10. It was likely due to a small piece of foreign matter stuck to the roller die when the impressions were made for those plates. The flaw also appears in Penny Red stamps made from the same plates. While volumes have been written about the printing and plating history of the Penny Black, Two Pence Blue and Penny Red, no attempt will be made to present the depth of that topic here. It is enough to say that very comprehensive records and resources exist and are easily accessible to the average collector.

With modern research methods, it is easy to determine such minutiae as when a particular scratch or wear appeared on what printing plate and the outcome of that to why the letter “O” is distorted in some of the stamps. At least one sizable volume exists containing information about only the cancellation marks, complete with illustrations. The Penny Black was printed from eleven separate printing plates, each containing 240 impressions arranged in 20 horizontal rows of 12 which was important for Post Office accounting purposes. The stamp in the upper-left corner of the sheet had the letters AA in its lower corners, the next stamp was lettered AB then AC, AD and on to AL at the end of the row. The first stamp in the next row was BA, etc., down to the lower-right corner of the sheet which was lettered TL and was the last stamp on the plate. This was done to deter forgery as it was thought it would be difficult for a forger to be able to reproduce 240 different combinations of lettering and it would be noticed if quantities of mail bearing stamps with the same letters were found. Mathematically, each stamp within the official lettering system is equally rare and equally common.

The 240 impressions in each plate were produced from a single die that had blank lower corners. The die was rocked onto a steel plate 240 times and the corner letters were then hand-punched onto the plate. Inevitably, there are small differences in the positioning of these letters which, along with other plating aids, enables us to distinguish between the plates. The first plate (plate I) was rushed into use to meet the issue date for the stamps and was used before the steel had been hardened properly; this resulted in very rapid wear. Owing to the extreme wear, the engraved lines of the Queen’s head became very faint, and this required the restoration of every one of the 240 units of the plate before they had been used for even three months. Therefore, stamps from plate 1 are classified as either plate 1a (the original plate) or plate 1b (the re-entered plate).

The Penny Black and Two Pence Blue immediately proved to be very popular with the public despite the facts that they had to be cut from the sheets with a knife or scissor (perforations were still 10 years or more away) and the rather inconsistent gluey wash on the back had to be licked to adhere the stamp to the letter. The stamps were to be cancelled by a red postmark, in a design known the “Maltese Cross”. Some of the cancellation devices were damaged, lost or never received so alternate devices were used, resulting in what are known as “distinctive” Maltese Cross cancellations. Sometimes the cancellation was applied in a different colored ink such as blue, magenta, yellow or violet. After 1844, there would be countless cancellation devices with myriad different designs, some specific to a particular region of the United Kingdom. Black stamp vs. red, with their respective obliterating Maltese Cross cancels Soon it was discovered that the red ink used for cancelling the black stamps could quite easily be cleaned off and there was a concern about stamps being used again. This was definitely not what the Royal Post wanted.

In August, 1840 it was decided to change the color of the one-penny value from black to red, but printing of the stamps in the new color was delayed. Extensive experiments were conducted to find a new type of black ink for obliterating the stamps in order to prevent postmark removal and reuse of the stamps. Printing of the stamps in red began in late December, 1840 and the stamps came into use in early February, 1841. Therefore, the Penny Black had an active life of less than one year. Several of the original Penny Black plates, were used to print the stamps in red. Curiously, because supplies of the black stamps were running low, additional printings were made in that color, even after the red printing had commenced. Two Pence Blue with white lines added Whereas the Penny Black was intended for use on mail weighing up to one-half ounce, the Two Pence Blue’s weight limit was a full ounce. The same printing plates were used for the Two Pence Blue and the design was identical to that of the Penny Black, varying only in its color and its cost, with “TWO PENCE” appearing beneath the image of Queen Victoria.

When the decision was made to change the color of the Penny Black stamp to red, the ink used for the Two Pence Blue was also changed to prevent the cleaning and reusing of the stamps. At the same time, two new printing plates were made for the Two Pence Blue that included white lines below the word “POSTAGE” and above “TWO” to differentiate the new versions from the previous ones. These issues are generally referred to as the “white lines added issue”. Penny Red with engraved plate number (Plate 148); thus, printed 1864 or later The Penny Red was sold until 1879, so vastly more of them were produced than either of the other stamps. However, they are still very old, very rare, very scarce and highly sought-after stamps. Throughout its 38-year life, the plates for the Penny Red were replaced many times over. The color in 1841 was a reddish-brown and was changed to lake-red in 1858. In 1854, stamp perforations were invented and were adopted at perforation 16.

In 1855, the perforations were changed to 14 gauge as the sheets of 16 perfs came apart too easily when handled by postal clerks. Also in 1855, the watermark on the stamp paper was changed from a small crown to a large crown. The style of lettering in the corners was changed and letters began to be printed in all four corners of each stamp in 1858 with a new system of letter placement. Beginning in 1864, the plate number was engraved on each stamp, from Plate 71 going forward. Of the three varieties of early Great Britain stamps discussed, the Two Pence Blue is considerably rarer than the Penny Black and immeasurably rarer than the Penny Red, which is reflected in its value. Likewise, the Penny Black is considerably rarer than the Penny Red. In general, the Blue stamp will cost more than three times as much as the Black and up to five times more than the Red. Regardless of which stamp a collector buys first, it is unusual for any collector not to want all three of the Great Britain issue that were the first uniform postage stamps used in the world.

Question: What were the Penny Black and the Two Pence Blue that first went on sale in England in May 1840?
Answer: Postage stamps