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| 1840 Penny Black not over-printed Specimen |
1841 1d and 2d The 2d has no corner letters and the stamps are not over-printed Specimen |
Introduction of 6d embossed 1854 |
Embossed 1855 | Introduction of letters in all four corners 1858 |
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| new design six pence 1856 replaced 1854 6d embossed (Rowland Hill) |
new value three pence 1862 (Rowland Hill) |
new value 9d and change of colour of 4d 1862 (Rowland Hill) |
new values 10d, 2s and 5s 1867 |
10d, 2s and 5s (marked) |
Image source British Postal Museum from the R M Phillips Collection.
Rowland Hill became Secretary to the Postmaster General in 1846 and Secretary to the Post Office in 1854 until his retirement in 1864. |
Between 1847 and 1948 some stamps were overprinted with "SPECIMEN" or "CANCELLED". Between 1847 and 1873 examples of new stamps overprinted "SPECIMEN" were distributed to postmasters. From 1879 the overprinted stamps were sent to the UPU for distribution to member administrations. After 1892 the overprints are restricted to values of one shilling and above until 1948. The specimen stamps are listed in Stanley Gibbons Concise catalogue as well as the Specialised. |
Circular to Postmasters showing specimen stamps from Rowland Hill in 1862
Image source British Postal Museum from the R M Phillips Collection. Vol XXXI Pg 18
For images of Specimen stamps go here