Penny Black

The first stamp in the world was born in the UK on 1 May 1840 and was known as the Penny Black or Penny Black as the nominal value of each stamp is a penny and it was printed with black color. They could be used from 6 May.

The brand is unperforated and shows the profile of Queen Victoria. At the top of the word POSTAGE, at the bottom is the nominal value of ONE PENNY. A country name, as is common today, was not used because it not then appeared as necessary, the brand so far the only of its kind was but the British brands also carry up to today no country names, but always show the profile of the chief. The letters in the left and right lower corner indicate the position (row / column) of the stamp in the sheet.

The introduction of postage stamps was part of the British postal reform of Rowland Hill, who is now allowed to leave the letters paid by the sender. This followed the Treasury competition, with the aid of the Treasury of the United Kingdom is expected ideas for the design of this stamp.

To prepare the Penny Black steel plates were used to which means of a so-called transfer roller the brand image has been transferred 240 times. By varying the treatment of these steel plates 9000-38000 sheets could be printed from each of the 11 plates. Exception is the panel 1, of which, prior to curing and after curing, 17,000 sheets 30,000 sheets were printed again. The last plate used with the number 11 was prepared for prints of Penny Red. Due to shortage brand it was also used for the short term prints in black - for 700 sheets. So are black marks of this "red" plate by far the rarest and most expensive.

For collectors, the Penny Black is very popular.

The One Penny Black stamp was only one year in use before it was replaced by the Penny Red. Originally, the devaluations were in red. Very quickly they found, however, that the devaluations were pretty easy to remove. That is why the post office decided to use black devaluations. On a black mark, it was difficult to see whether the mark was already canceled, so that was often tries to use the brand for a second time. On the Penny Red, the black postmark was against it more clearly.

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