SGV1 - VR official of May 1840

VR official

Image source British Postal Museum from the R M Phillips Collection. Vol III Pg 24.
See also lovely scans in red, green, and purple.

"VR" in the upper corners. Prepared for official use but never issued. Sheets had "A" in corners instead of the plate number, as shown in the lower left hand corner above.

More info see Wikipedia

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.

AA AB AC AD AE AF AG AH AI AJ AK AL
BA BB BC BD BE BF BG BH BI BJ BK BL
CA CB CC CD CE CF CG CH CI CJ CK BL
DA DB DC DD DE DF DG DH DI DJ DK DL
EA EB EC ED EE EF EG EH EI EJ EK EL
FA FB FC FD FE FF FG FH FI FJ FK FL
GA                     GL
HA                     HL
IA                     IL
JA                     JL
KA                     KL
LA                     LL
MA                     ML
NA                     NL
OA                     OL
PA                     PL
QA                     QL
RA                     RL
SA                     SL
TA TB TC TD TE TF TG TH TI TJ TK TL

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