GB 1 Penny Stamps

Gibbons distinguishes between
SG1 "intense black" (£5,000 / £300) and
SG2, just "black" (£3,750 / £225).

All the other GB firsts are shown here .

I have indulged in the common modest conceit of buying one showing my initials.

SG7 is the same design but printed from the Penny Black plates 1-11 and priced at £700 - £4,000 mint, £75- £250 used, depending on the plate.

The first of my tangential excursions on this page is to the Prince Albert Consort Essay. These were not issued postally, but produced in 1850 by Henry Archer to practise his perforations on, having been advised not to play with images of QV. There are black, red-brown and blue examples. Further details here.

Prices range from a few hundred pounds to five figures for the rares examples, such as unperforated blues and browns (there are three known copies of each).

They are all "FJ"s

The simplified variants here are:
1854 SG17 wmk small crown perf 15 £190 / £18
1855 SG24 wmk small crown perf 14 £350 £45
1855 SG26 wmk large crown perf 16 £700 / £80
1857 SG40 wmk large crown perf 14 £40 / £9

Still looking for an "NB".

Identifying letters top and bottom.

Nearly an NB - still looking... [Nov 2011] Graham Kay has kindly sent a scan of an NB.

SG174, Die II has 16 dots in each corner. SG171 (Sc88), Die I with 14 dots is £125 / £25.

It is unfortunate that the standard rate of postage (presumably) increased to 1½d in the 1880s (I'm still trying to find out exactly when). This meant that there was no 1d value in the 1883 issue (not that much of a problem as they were rather prosaic), and (more significantly) for the 1887 QV Jubilee and the 1902 KEVII issues which are rather attractive. The 1½d values SG198 and SG221 are shown here.

There are shade, watermark and perforation variants.

This is the stamp in GB's first stamp booklet .

SG336 has a different watermark £30 / £30

The difference between SG327 and 341 is the shading on the lion.

SG345 (£8 / £3) and SG350 (£15 / £8) have different watermarks.

The 1912 SG357 has a different watermark.

This, GB's first commemorative, is outside the brief of this page but is included to complete the set, as one of the three 1d GB commemoratives, see also SG454 and SG480 .

There was a very similar issue in 1925, the only difference being the year printed on it, Sc203 SG432, £15 / £25

This might be considered a commemorative rather than a definitive, but since I already have a copy, I will include it.

Silver Jubilee

The other GB 1d commemoratives are the 1924 SG430 , the 1940 SG480 and probably the 1929 SG435 .

The brief, uncrowned reign of E8 resulted in a single issue of definitives, rather nicely simple and elegant in my view, following the rococo excesses of earlier stamps.

Had he not abdicated, there were plans for some splendid issues to coincide with Edward's coronation. These were detailed in the August 2005 issue of Stamp Magazine. The Post Office invited printers Harrison and Sons to provide suggestions for designs, and also Mr Wilmot of the GPO. Individuals, famous and otherwise submitted their ideas. I particularly like Harrison's Tower Bridge, although it was rejected by the Postmaster General. The other four designs are from the great Dulac, Wilmot and two more pictorials from Harrison's. Thanks to Richard West for the article and the British Postal Museum and Archive for the images, taken from the article.

The second stamp is an interesting variant, a German propaganda forgery, allegedly "produced at German Labour Camps" (according to Dauwalders, who had a large number available when this page was originally written in 2005). A close examination - click the image - reveals a Star of David at the top of the crown and a Hammer and Sickle replacing the 'D' in the denomination, shown also in the enlarged detail.

In 2006, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the issuing of stamps for the Three Kings in 1936, the Post Office released this miniature sheet (SG MS2658) showing the three 1d values (not stamps) plus a £3 QE2 which defined the price of the item.

This commemorative is outside the brief of this page but is included to complete the set, as one of the three 1d GB commemoratives, see also SG454 and SG430 .

There was a similar issue in 1941 with a lighter background (wartime economy on the ink), SG486 30p / 30p.

This was presumably another ink-saving ploy - see previous stamp.

The change to blue was a UPU-driven attempt to standardise colours. Damned bureaucrats. Wikipedia notes 'Initially, countries typically made a random choice of colors for denominations. In 1896, the members of the Universal Postal Union agreed on green, red, and blue as the standard colors for inland postcard, inland letter, and foreign letter rates, respectively. This convention was gradually abandoned from the 1930s on however'.

This stamp is available in numerous alternative configurations:

1955 SG541 watermark variation
1957 SG562 two graphite lines on the back
1958 SG571 watermark variation
1958 SG588 graphite lines again
1959 SG600 phosphor on the front, graphite on the back
1960 SG611 phosphor bands on the front

SG724 has 2 phosphor bands. The otherwise identical SG725 has one centre phosphor band

SG-X844 1p crimson 2 phosphor bands
SG-X845 1p crimson 1 centre band
SG-X846 1p crimson 'all over' phosphor
SG-X847 1p crimson 1 band left
SG-X847Ea 1p crimson 1 band right
SG-X925 1p crimson phosphor paper

This is the stamp currently on sale (Jan 2005 ... and still in September 2009).

SG-Y1667 1p crimson 2 bands, elliptical hole in perf
SG-Y1743 1p lake 2 bands (from booklet)