SG2 - Penny black of May 1840

Plate 1b
A nice four-margin Penny Black with a very light strike of a red Maltese Cross

Plate 1a

The worlds first prepaid adhesive postage stamp

The Penny Black was the worlds first prepaid adhesive postage stamp. It was issued on 6th May 1840 and the Twopenny Blue was issued on 8th May 1840 early in the reign of Queen Victoria, who reigned from 1837-1901, her portrait was used on the stamp as it would be more recognisable by the public. The postal rate of one penny meant that a letter not exceeding half an ounce in weight could be sent to any part of the United Kingdom. The purpose of the stamp was to indicate that the postage had been prepaid. Before the invention of the stamp the receiver paid the postage rather than the sender.

A postal delivery system had been in place since 1510 for the King's Post. The General Post Office was established in London in 1710. Prior to the uniform penny postage introduced in 10th January 1840 the postage depended on the distance travelled and the number of sheets of paper used. In 1812 the rate for single letter was 4d. for a distance of not more than fifteen miles. A letter from London to Brighton cost 8d., to Nottingham 10d and over the Scots border to Edinburgh 1s 1½d which was a days salary then. The postage was paid by the receiver rather than the sender and much effort was spent by the Post Office in collecting the money from a reluctant receiver. By prepaying the postage the difficulty in collecting the money was reduced and money could be saved by the Post Office.

Rowland Hill is the man usually connected with the postal reform. He was born in Kidderminster in 1795 and for a time he was a teacher. Hill published his most famous pamphlet "Post Office Reform: its Importance and Practicability" in 1837. Hill wrote in his reform plan about the need for pre-printed envelopes and adhesive postage stamps. The Reform also called for a uniform low rate of one penny per half-ounce a letter. He worked for the Treasury between 16th Sep 1839 until 1843, he returned to office as Secretary to the Postmaster-General in 1846 until his retirement in 1864, he was knighted in 1860 and died in 1879. The success of the Uniform Penny Postage can be seen by the number of letters carried in the United Kingdom.

With the advent of prepaid postage Rowland Hill advocated that houses should have letter boxes to facilitate delivery of the letter.

The line engraved printing method was used in which the ink was in grooves on a plate and pressure was used to force the ink onto the paper. The printing was carried out by Perkins Bacon and Petch.

The stamps were printed in sheets of 240 (20x12) and the stamps had corner letters corresponding to its position on the plate. There were 240 pence to the pound and 20 shillings to the pound, so a sheet of stamps would cost £1, half a sheet ten shillings, one row cost a shilling. Four different alphabets were used in the course of time to form the corner letters.

The stamps were initially not perforated, but had to be cut with scissors, perforations were introduced in 1854. Each stamp had its own 'small crown' watermark. Due to wear eleven different plates were used to print the Penny Black. Initially the cancellation was in red, then changed to black. In 1841 some of the same plates would be used to print the Penny Red, the colour was changed so that the black cancellation would be more clearly seen.

The Penny Black is not that rare a stamp as about 68 million were issued in 1840-41, today the price varies according to condition, since the stamps were cut by scissors, the best prices are for stamps which still have all four margins of the design intact. A good four margin used copy can be bought for about $120 (see Arthur Ryan Private Treaty list). The Twopenny Blue issued two days later is actually much rarer as only 6.5 million were issued, prices start for good used four margin copies at about $220. As with most collectibles condition is king. Rather rarer is the Five Pound orange only 246,826 of these were issued or the Two Shilling brown only 77,620 were issued. Colour trials such as the beautiful DP20 or DP43 are even rarer and can be bought for as little as $500. Stamps overprinted with 'specimen' were sent to postmasters as examples of issued stamps, these are available on the market at a fraction of the cost of mint examples. Used examples of the period have killer cancellations that were designed to obliterate the stamp - 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 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.

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