Penny Black Plate 7?

Hi All,
I have a penny black stamp with authenticity certificate but there is no plate number on it. I think it is plate 7 please advise!

Thanks



*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

Have you checked here?

https://www.spink.com/nissen-reconstructions.aspx

Correct... plate 7

I suspect the "authenticity" certificate will be a commercial one and not a philatelic one. Normally a certificate would have a lot more detail with all known data. The stamp is genuine but I doubt if the cert has any validity other than for commercial purposes.

Mine is the S-C, so what do all these different plates mean, historically ? Very interesting link GeoffHa and your posts are always pertinent !

FYI, I asked the admins to please move this topic to a different form since this is for US classics...Ray

Whimsical is probably more accurate. At the risk of stepping into territory where scotzm is an expert, the 1d black was printed from eleven plates between May 1840 and February 1841, stamps from Plate 11 being the scarcest. As no plate numbers appear on the stamps themselves (unlike many later QV issues), plates have had to be painstakingly deciphered, leading to things like the guide on the Spink site. Subject to scotzm's views, I'd reckon your stamp, based on what it looks like from the front, would be "average used" in dealer terms - four margins, but quite close in each case, with a dealer price of maybe £50-60.

..."with a dealer price of maybe £50-60"

As an estimate of worth was not asked for... and the photo is reasonably poor quality... I'd not ventured a guesstimate.
I'd happily say that it might be worth at least double the £50-£60 as a good used plate seven though its condition is very hard to see via the photo.
Decent 4 margin Penny Blacks are going up in value with the better quality ones getting even higher increases. This is off-set by a steep drop in the price of 3 margin stamps. Less than 3 margins are really not worth collecting although available for £20 or less.

you might enjoy this site also:
http://victoria.cgpostal.com

The intro page will let you know a bit about the stamp and reasons for the different letters.