Early Great Britain Stamps 1840~1867

 

Issued 1840 to 1867

Great Britain Queen Victoria

Used & Mint

Overview

Like a car, every classic stamps of Great Britain have their owned plate numbers, either its are appeared directly or indirectly. Its weres began on the world’s first adhesive postage stamp namely as Penny Black in April 1840.

Despite of plate numbers, Cancellation used special postmarks were also introduced and most popular cancellation was the Maltese Cross. It was began with black colour and soonest was changed with red colour due to difficulty to see a black postmark on a black stamp.

Complexity

One Penny Black is the most complex amongst others prior to determine the plate number, when the corner letters were printed in sheet of 240 pieces (20 x 12), and the stamps had corner letters at bottom left and right of the stamp was printed from engraved steel plates on gummed paper with a single small crown watermark on each stamp.

A sample sheet of One Penny Black indicated 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	CJ
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	EL
GA	GB	GC	GD	GE	GF	GG	GH	GI	GJ	GK	GL
HA	HB	HC	HD	HE	HF	HG	HH	HI	HJ	HK	HL
IA	IB	IC	ID	IE	IF	IG	IH	II	IJ	IK	IL
JA	JB	JC	JD	JE	JF	JG	JH	JI	JJ	JK	JL
KA	KB	KC	KD	KE	KF	KG	KH	KI	KJ	KK	KL
LA	LB	LC	LD	LE	LF	LG	LH	LI	LJ	LK	LL
MA	MB	MC	MD	ME	MF	MG	MH	MI	MJ	MK	ML
NA	NB	NC	ND	NE	NF	NG	NH	NI	NJ	NK	NL
OA	OB	OC	OD	OE	OF	OG	OH	OI	OJ	OK	OL
PA	PB	PC	PD	PE	PF	PG	PH	PI	PJ	PK	PL
QA	QB	QC	QD	QE	QF	QG	QH	QI	QJ	QK	QL
RA	RB	RC	RD	RE	RF	RG	RH	RI	RJ	RK	RL
SA	SB	SC	SD	SE	SF	SG	SH	SI	SJ	SK	SL
TA	TB	TC	TD	TE	TF	TG	TH	TI	TJ	TK	TL

The Early Issuance of Penny Black as follows:-

Plate	Issuance Date	Quantity
1a, 1b	15 Apr 1840	10.05 millions
2	22 Apr 1840	7.65 millions
3	9 May 1840	4.78 millions
4	19 May 1840	6.70 millions
5	1 Jun 1840	8.61 millions
6	17 Jun 1840	9.09 millions
7	8 Jul 1840	8.13 millions
8	31 Jul 1840	7.18 millions
9	9 Nov 1840	3.84 millions
10	9 Dec 1840	1.92 millions
11	27 Jan 1841	168,000

Plate 11 was the smallest quantity was issued for definitive used and followed by Plate 10 and 9. However, Plate 1a & 1b was the first issuance and rarest.

After find the corner letters, next step to determine the correct plate number which is required extraordinary efforts.

Steps To Determine The Plate Number

1.    The Normal Ray at top corner.

Normal Ray

   

  2.    Comparison Between Sample And Normal Ray

   Sample of Plates 
           

Plate 1b

10 & 7 O’clock Ray Flaw

Further Review

    Below Collection to determine the correct plate number.

1.    Zooming into top corner ray and compare with normal ray.

Thicker Round 1-6 O’clock

2.    Comparison of IB/Plate 1 to Plate 11.

 

Plate 1a -10 flaw & 7 weak	Plate 1b -10 & 7 flaw

Plate 2 – Thicker round 1-9 O’clock	Plate 3 –  Thicker round 1-12 O’clock

Plate 4  - 6 O’clock weak	Plate 5 – 7 & 9 O’clock flaw

 

Plate 6 – Thicker round 1-3 O’clock	Plate 7 – Thicker round 1-6 O’clock

Plate 8 – 3 & 4 O’clock slanting	Plate 9 – 10 O’clock flaw

Plate 10 – 5 O’clock flaw	Plate 11 – One Penny Red

Conclusion

The above sample from the album is most probably from Plate No. 7.