1840 Penny Black Question From A Novice ...

I am new to stamp collecting and have been captivated by the Penny Black - I think she is wonderful! Last week I put my toe in the water and bought my first Penny Black. She has 4 nice margins, position identifying letters PH, red cancelling, but I'm yet struggling with more information (need more study!). I have been trying to gain information on identifying the plate number ... but am finding it difficult to determine. Is it obvious from the attached image? I haven't received my original in the mail yet so don't have a higher resolution pic. Any help on the plate number, or any other comments, would be most welcomed and appreciated. Cheers Meran

This website may be of use:
http://www.maltesex.com/plating/

Your stamp looks like Plate 2.

High quality photos of all 12 plates used to be available from the Spink. com web site. Not now I believe but will be around somewhere I expect.
Here is all 12 plates with P H check letters. Compare your stamp and find it as plate 2 as already mentioned.

EDIT : the Nissen plate reconstruction photos have errors and plate 2 P H photo is actually plate 1b

Penny Black plating photos ...
http://www.stampsoftheworld.co.uk/w...nny_Black_AA
Change check letters in the address bar to suit your stamps.

there are a lot of threads about this topic over on another forum this is a link to one https://www.stampboards.com/viewtop...3&start=1400
specifically a post by Chipg who somewhere on that forum has done what seemed to me a very useful beginner's guide which might be helpful for you. I'm afraid my filing system for references etc is a bit rubbish so I can't link you straight to it, but a bit of searching under his name should lead you to it

Many thanks to scotzm, crispinhj, and Germania. I really appreciate that you took the time out to provide me with very helpful information, pics, and links. Cheers, Meran