In Praise of the Penny Black

Sir Rowland Hill and the Democracy of Letters

"Sir Rowland Hill (1795- 1879) may not have "invented" the postage stamp but his British postal reforms of 1839 recognized the growth of literacy created by the Industrial Age."

The "father" of the adhesive postage stamp was a North London schoolmaster by trade and a self-proclaimed efficiency expert. In 1839, he was commissioned by the deficit-ridden British Post Office to help them straighten out the mess. When Hill presented his proposal to Parliament he was met with considerable skepticism. Not only did the reformer advocate a uniform postal rate based on weight, he actually proposed lowering the postal rates to make the post office solvent! It cost as much as a shilling-a sum out of the reach of most working people-to send a letter through the British post.

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"The revolution in letters sparked by Hill's reforms meant that even the poor and isolated were now drawn into the world beyond their doors."

Rowland Hill's great contribution to history was his recognition of an historical phenomenon that no one had quite understood before-namely that the European Industrial Revolution had led to greater literacy. This meant that many more people would make use of an affordable postal system, guaranteeing income for the Post Office even at reduced rates. The income was further guaranteed with another Hill innovation, the pre-payment of mailing costs through the use of mailing labels-or postage stamps.

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Compare the impact of email in our own time on business, commerce, and the creation of "on-line communities" and then we have a good analogue for the impact of Rowland Hill's innovations on his own time. The postage stamp caught on-with Brazil and Switzerland adopting the technology in 1843 and the United States, somewhat belatedly, in 1847. By 1874, the use of postage stamps had become so widespread that a Universal Postal Union was created in Bern, Switzerland to set international standards for the delivery of mail.

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"Mulready Sheets appeared about the time of postage stamps and also offered cheap postage sanctioned by the British Post Office. The idea survives in the foldable aerogramme."

in praise of the penny black

First issued in 1840, the "Penny Black" might almost be said to sum up an age.

The product of an industrial technology new to the 19th century, the stamp nevertheless conveys the sense of tradition, probity, and decorum we often associate with the Victorian Age.

The stamp's status as a masterpiece of the engraver's art lies in its simplicity and elegance. The profile of the young queen Victoria wearing a crown, designed by printer Charles Heath and inspired by a medal struck in her honor following the queen's first visit to London in 1837, is framed by the words "POSTAGE" and "ONE PENNY" top and bottom, and vertical columns of woven lines. This pattern, and that of the background behind the profile, was adapted from an 1822 machine-made design submitted to the printing firm Perkins Bacon as a trial for a currency design.

Position characters or "check letters" can be seen in the lower corner squares of each stamp in this partial sheet of Penny Blacks. Image is from Fundamentals of Philately by L.N. Williams (1990)

The queen's profile is reminiscent of the cameos of rulers found on coins and, indeed, that was the designer's intention since the new postage stamp was a type of legal tender. It also was designed to strike the right note of classical authority and confidence.

Engraved rosettes at the top corners and capital letters at the bottom complete the design elements. These letters are known as plate position characters or "check letters"- in this instance the letters "C" and "J".

What about those letters?

The characters identify the position of the stamp on the engraved steel grid (or plate) from which a sheet of stamps is produced.

In the case of the Penny Black, and other early British issues, the stamps are marked "A" through "T" horizontally on the grid and "A" through "L" on the vertical, with "AA" being at the top left of the sheet (see the accompanying illustration).

The position characters serve as a form of quality control for the printers. Many the collector who has mightily tried-and failed before the Grim Reaper came to claim him-to collect all the plate positions for this particular issue.

No wonder, since there are 240 plate positions! Who says that stamp collecting doesn't have dangers, real thrills, and derring-do?

Elements of this 1822 Perkins Bacon banknote design were incorporated into the design of the Penny Black. Image is from Fundamentals of Philately by L. N. Williams (1990).

The Penny Black that crowns this article is of exceptionally fine quality, its design fresh, its details sharply defined, almost as if it were chiseled from a block of Marmora marble. Even though the stamp was produced in the millions during its brief lifespan of only one year, exceptional copies with wide margins are difficult to come by.

Not the Falcon, but the Cross

To complicate the work of counterfeiters, the "Penny Red" succeeded the "Penny Black" in 1841. This copy is cancelled with an "oval obliterator" containing a number. Beginning in 1842, British post offices were issued numerical hand-stamps to identify the point of origin into the mail stream.

Our Penny Black (at the top of the page) is hand-stamped with a bright vermilion variant of the Maltese cross.

Brass hand-stamps struck with this design, along with red ink, were issued to all the original British postal stations as a means of thwarting counterfeiters.

The ink red, it was discovered, was easy to remove so black was substituted.

This scheme failed too for the black ink tended to blend in with the design, so the British postal authorities decided to release a new stamp, retaining the same design but in a different color.

This was the "Penny Red", issued in 1842, for which black ink was specified.

As an added precaution, a "Large Crown" watermark replaced the "Small Crown" of the Penny Black.

Infinite in Her Variety . . .

"The Penny Black design was often imitated, but it was never surpassed. 19th century colonial issues from Bermuda, Natal, and Western Australia."

This introduction of the 1840 Penny Black set a style which was imitated by virtually all of Britain's colonies and continues to this day in the austere beauty of the "Machin heads", as the Queen Elizabeth II definitives are known. Another tradition was introduced with this famous first issue. While other countries identify themselves on their postage, you will not find "Great Britain" or "United Kingdom" on proud England's issues. With the eloquence of the Sphinx, the enigmatic profile of the ruling monarch tells us all we need to know.

"The Penny Black's elegant design is echoed in the present day "Machin heads" of Queen Elizabeth II definitives."

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in praise of the penny black

What about those letters?

Not the Falcon, but the Cross