The Penny Black Stamp Store: Last Penny Black Press Unveiled

Friday 24 June 2011

Last Penny Black Press Unveiled

The ancient contraption, dating from 1819, was one of several presses housed in the London printers Perkins, Bacon and Petch. Invented by an expatriate American from Boston, called Joseph Perkins, it continued producing British stamps until 1870. The press was also used to produce stamps in the colonies, including those for the Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, Trinidad and Western Australia. David Beech, head of philatelic collections at the British Library, said: "In 1840 Britain's postal service led the world. "Reforms of the Post Office brought about an inexpensive service and the introduction of the first postage stamp, the One Penny Black - an idea since copied throughout the world.

The British Library is now exhibiting the only remaining printing press used to print the famous Penny Black postage stamp in its production. You can find information on the opening times of the British Library here: http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/quickinfo/loc/stp/opening/index.html

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2618419.stm

No comments:

Post a Comment

A Brief History

Before 1st May 1840, posting a letter was a very complicated and expensive affair. It could cost the equivalent of a days wage, and it was charged by how many sheets of paper were used and how far it had to travel. Normally the recipient had to pay the cost.

Sir Roland Hill was responsible for reforming the British postal system, and as part of this a competition was held for the public to design the world’s first adhesive postage stamp. However none of the entries were thought suitable, so instead they used the profile sketch of a then 15 year old Queen Victoria. This image was used on stamps until the end of her reign. Because the Penny Black was the first postage stamp in the world, it did not show a country of origin, and to this day British stamps are the only stamps in the world that do not state what country they are from.

However, the Penny Black only remained in circulation for a year, as it was soon found that it was possible to remove the ink of the red cancellation mark and re-use the stamp, so the Treasury switched to the Penny Red and black cancellation ink.