The Penny Black was the world's first
adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was issued in
Great Britain on 1st May 1840, for official use from 6th May
of that year. It features a profile of
Queen Victoria.
On 13th February 1837, Sir
Rowland Hill proposed to a government enquiry both the idea of a pre-paid stamp
and a pre-paid envelope, a separate sheet folded to form an enclosure for
carrying letters. Hill was given a two-year contract to run the new system, and
together with Henry Cole he announced a competition to design the new stamps.
There were some 2,600 entries, but none was considered suitable; instead a
rough design endorsed by Hill was chosen, featuring an easily recognisable
profile of the former Princess Victoria. Hill believed this would be difficult to
forge. An envelope ( Mulready letter sheet ) bearing a reproduction of a design
created by the artist William Mulready was also issued.
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| Mulberry Letter Sheet |
Although the stamps were not
officially issued for sale until 6th May 1840, some offices such as
those in Bath sold the stamps unofficially before that date. There are covers
postmarked 2nd May, and a single example is known on cover dated 1st
May 1840. All London post offices
received official supplies of the new stamps but other offices throughout the
United Kingdom did not, continuing to accept payments for postage in cash for a
period.
The Penny Black lasted less than a
year. A red cancellation was hard to see on the black design and the red ink
was easy to remove; both made it possible to re-use cancelled stamps. In
February 1841, the Treasury switched to the Penny Red and began using black ink
for cancellations instead, which was more effective and harder to remove. However, people still reused stamps by
combining the uncancelled parts of two stamps to form an unused whole, so in
1864 as a further safeguard the top corner stars on the Penny Red were replaced
by the lower corner check letters in reverse order.
Design
The portrait of Victoria was engraved
by Charles Heath and his son Frederick, based on a sketch provided by Henry
Corbould. Corbould's sketch was in turn based on the 1834 cameo-like head by
William Wyon, which was used on a medal to commemorate the Queen's visit to the
City of London in 1837. This portrait of Victoria remained on British
stamps until her death in 1901, although by then she was 81 years old. All British stamps still bear a portrait or
silhouette of the monarch somewhere on the design. They are the only postage stamps in the world
that do not indicate a country of origin; the monarch's image symbolises the
United Kingdom.
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| Wyon City Medal |
Initially, Hill specified that the
stamps should be 3/4 inch square, but altered the dimensions to ¾ inch wide by ⅞
inch tall (approx 19 x 22 mm) to accommodate the writing at the bottom. The
word "POSTAGE" at the top of the design distinguishes it from a
revenue stamp, which had long been used in the UK; "ONE PENNY." at
the bottom shows the amount pre-paid for postage of the stamped letter. The
background to the portrait consists of finely engraved engine turnings.
The two upper corners hold Maltese
crosses with radiant solar discs at their centres; the lower corner letters
show the position of the stamp in the printed sheet, from "A A" at
top left to "T L" at bottom right. The sheets, printed by Perkins
Bacon, consisted of 240 stamps in 20 rows of 12 columns. One full sheet cost
240 pence or one pound; one row of 12 stamps cost a shilling. As the name suggests,
the stamp was printed in black ink.
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| Stampsheet of Penny Black |
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| A Block of Penny Black |
Technical Details
Date of
Production : 1st May 1840 – Feb 1841
Official Date
of Issue : 6th May 1840
Size : ¾ inch
x ⅞ inch
Perforation
: Imperforated
Stamps per Sheet
: 240 ( 20 rows x 12 columns )
Total
Sheets : 286,700
Printer : Perkins
Bacon
Printing
Process : Engraving
Paper :
White or Bluish paper with WMK 18
Value per
Stamp : 1 penny
Value per Sheet : 240 pence ( 1 pound )
Value per Sheet : 240 pence ( 1 pound )
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| Watermark WMK 18 |
Other ‘Penny’ Stamps
Penny Black V.R. Official
In addition to the general issue of
the Penny Black, a similar stamp intended for official mail was produced, with
the letters “V” and “R” replacing the crosses in the top corners. “V” and “R” are Latin initials for “Victoria Regina”. The Penny Black V.R. Official was never
issued. 3471 sheets were printed but
only 21 were saved of which 13 were sent to Somerset House to be used on
circulars to postmasters. The vast majority
were destroyed on 25th January 1843. Only a few of the stamp passed ( invalidly )
through the posts, including those used by Sir Rowland Hill for testing
purpose.
Penny Blue
Penny Blue was never used as a
postage, thus do not constitute as a postage stamp. It was merely a proof impression to test new
colours for Penny Black and proposed 2-pence stamp. Sir
Rowland Hill tested 3 colours for new stamps : red brown, deep blue and Prussian
blue. Red brown was eventually used for
Penny Red, and deep blue for 2 Penny Blue.
2 Penny Blue
A two penny stamp printed in blue and
covering the double-letter rate (up to 1 oz or 28 g) was issued on 8 May 1840.
Penny Red
On 1st April 1841, Penny
Red succeeded Penny Black as a postage stamp in United Kingdom. The coiour was changed from black to red
because of difficulty in seeing a red cancellation mark on the Penny
Black. In addition to that, cancellation
mark too was changed to black.
