Penny Black
The Penny Black is the first postal Timbre of the history. It was emitted on May 1st 1840 with the the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, for a use starting from the May 6th on the initiative of Rowland Hill at the time of the reform of the British postal system intended to make from now on pay the shipper, and more the recipient like before.
Description
This stamp represents the profile of the queen Victoria. It was printed in Taille-douce to dissuade the defrauders with the details from the Gravure. The color was abandoned during its replacement, certain customers dishonest persons managing to erase sufficiently the ink of the Oblitération to re-use the stamps.The first pulling was of 60.000 specimens. When the stamp was withdrawn from the sale, approximately 70 million specimens had been printed.
Characteristics
This first postal stamp was also the first object sought by the philatelists because of a characteristic: each stamp carries the coordinates of the place which it initially occupied on the printed sheet. These coordinates are made of two letters: for the line and for the column, of AA with TL. Printed in the corners of the stamp, these letters make it possible to the philatelists to reconstitute the complete sheets first British stamps.The system of letters aimed at complicating the work of the forgers. It thereafter complicated the work of the draftsmen of stamps in homage to the Penny Black . In 1990, on the Soviet stamps , the draftsman made the error of lettrer the British stamps with its initial (“VK” for Vladimir Koval) and those of his/her daughter (TP). The Soviet post office emitted corrected stamps.
To better be able to control the stamps used by the administrations and institutions profiting from the postal frankness, a Penny Black was prepared in 1840 with the letters “V” and “R” in the higher corners of the stamp. However, these stamps remained not emitted.
Homages
Being the first postage stamp ever invented, One Penny Black is reproduced on many stamps commemorating its birth. These stamps are called “Timbre on stamp”.
In 2004, Penny Black appears on a British stamp celebrating the 250e birthday of the Royal Society off Arts (the royal Company of Arts), whose first medal was given to Rowland Hill in 1864.
See too