Everything about the Penny Black Stamp

What is it

Now considered a British cultural icon, the Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in Great Britain, on 1 May 1840.

The stamp features a profile of Queen Victoria. It’s undoubtedly the most famous of all stamps - and one which every collector aspires to own.

In 1837, British postal rates were high, complex and anomalous. To simplify matters, Sir Rowland Hill proposed an adhesive stamp to indicate pre-payment of postage. 

At the time the postal service had a very different payment method: the recipient would have to pay postage on delivery, and he would be charged by the sheet and on distance travelled. By contrast, the Penny Black allowed letters of up to 14 grams to be delivered at a flat rate of one penny, regardless of distance. It really simplified matters.

The Penny Black lasted less than a year in circulation

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, they 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. 

 

How many Penny Black stamps do still exist?

The total print run was 286,700 sheets, containing a total of 68,808,000 stamps. Many were saved, and in used condition they remain readily available to stamp collectors.

The only known complete sheets of the Penny Black are owned by the British Postal Museum.

 

How much does the Penny Black cost?

Penny Blacks can cost anywhere between $100-350 for an example in good condition. However, mint Penny Blacks may fetch upwards of $3000 at auction, or much more. Let's see a couple of examples.

 

This VR 4 margined single is enhanced by the marginal inscription. It realised £5,782 in a Warwick & Warwick auction in April 2015.

 

 

 

 

 

This marginal pair of the VR Official realised £17,110. 

 

 

 

 

Interesting facts about the Penny Black

The Penny Black was inscribed in capital letters with the word ‘POSTAGE’ at the top and ‘ONE PENNY’ at the bottom. Its background was made up of finely-engraved engine turnings.

Its upper left and right corners featured two star-like designs, with the lower left and right corners containing letters, which helped to designate the position of the stamp in relation to the sheet on which it was printed (see below). It was printed in sheets of 240 by Perkins Bacon.

Interestingly, the image of Queen Victoria which was used on Penny Black was based on a sketch of her aged 15. However, it was to remain on stamps for the entirety of her reign - which lasted almost 64 years until she died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, on 22 January 1901.

There are more interesting facts about the Penny Black stamp here.