Help With GB One Penny Red ID

The 1d black and 2d blue had the same design. In the bad light, it was difficult for staff to discern the stamps. Also the red cancellation was easier to wash off than a black one, but a black one was not visible on the Penny Black.

So, in 1841 the 1d was printed in red ink making a black cancel visible. Also, to add a design feature that made it easier to discern between the two stamps, white lines were added to the design of the 2d.The white lines, therefore, are not relevant to 1d reds. The alphabets are, but they may help you discern between groups that often can also be identified by other features.

A lot of work was done on the positioning of the corner letters. I provided a link to high-resolution pictures of the imprimatur sheets (not all stamps are left as some stamps were cut out of these imprimatur sheets). If you do not have the tooling for measuring positions, comparing letters helps. But always check the frame lines of all four corner boxes and the rays of the stars in the top corners.

For rays to appear when they are not in the imprimatur photos and for changes that strengthen or extend frame lines to exist, there must have been a plate repair. Usually, stars were not repaired. Always consider that wear may cause rays to become weak or disappear. Frame lines can thin or break.

The extension of the top frame line to the right is helpful for identification. Also not the very strong right frame line of the top right box in which the star appears. This appears to jut out. Furthermore, the rays on the right-hand side of the right star are very distinct.

Thanks NSK, whilst I wasn't only looking at the letters, I did miss the frame extension in the top right corner that you have pointed out.

I'm happy to agree that it's plate 124.

Actually, I strongly doubt that one as well. The G does not fit and the star has very short rays in the imprimatur, but long rays in the post, and the lines must have been strengthened. The other way around would have been possible.

It, basically, would be a question of going through the 120 or so plates to see whether there are other candidates.

Off topic - please - I do not understand the date sequencing in the SG 2021 Commonwealth & British Empire catalog. Question - page GB3, SG 7 & 8 again, the dates listed are 1841 (10 Feb) and 1841 (late Feb). Why are there no end dates? And why are the months in ( ) ? I dont see an explanation of listings in the catalog and not sure where to look.

Also, is there a "best" sequencing to use when trying to figure out the plating? i.e., id aplhabet 1st the look at stars then so on?? A best process if you will or at least a starting one for beginners? Thank you.

PS I do have the Queen Victoria Vol 1, part 1

Gibbons usually lists first issue dates, where known. Unless things have changed, its practice has not been to list "end dates", which would, in any case, be near-impossible to establish for most issues. The parentheses merely indicate the more precise issue date as a sub-category of the main year date.

Thank you- excuse brevity , I am on a tablet…. I did look at the correct link I think, but when I tried to enlarge the images, I could not get them to a size where I could note details. They became distorted rather quickly on enlargement. I'll try again when I get back home to computer.

This is what I was referring to: yes/ no? I have looked again in catalog for explanation but see none.

What more explanation do you need? The bold figures are the period of first issue of all stamps within that group. The figures in brackets are the dates of first issue of particular types etc. The date the last stamp of a particular type was sent to a post office is not given, and probably not known.

Sorry, I guess I was confused when you said


And I see 1854-57 and 1864-79 , the bold to me meaning an end date.

I am just trying to understand the formatting and it seems to me to be a basic starting before I can go on from there. Apologies.

As an example, 1864-79 means that stamps from this group first appeared in 1864 (plate 71), with the last, Plate 225, appearing in 1879.

To add to the previous post: look at recent commemoratives. Those, normally, show one date. That is the issue date. There is no end date.
As GeoffHa wrote: the dates show the period during which the listed stamps were first issued.
SG7 was new as it was a change from black to red. SG8 is not a new stamp. Only philatelists see that as a new stamp. So, the date is vague.




Probably, perforation type and gauge (if at all), portrait type, alphabet type. The latter, as you showed yourself, is not always straightforward. The alphabet types do not always work well. They are rough indications.
With the correct measurement tooling, the measurement of the letters should suffice.

I hope your misunderstanding of catalog dating conventions didn't cause you too many headaches.

Hi Stamps4Life,

Yes, you'll need a computer rather than a tablet to see the details of the imprimatur sheets.

As mentioned, if you're interested in getting more information on these stamps, the Gibbons Specialised Queen Victoria catalogue will be very helpful.

Hi NSK,

I'm still happy with plate 124.

@NSK and @Bobby seeing as you mentioned a computer, which I am now on - although 16" laptop. Does this look right resolution from the provided link on 1st page of thread? Now sure how detailed its suppose to be once enlarged.... But detail is hard to get.






Tk you for looking

I will continue to read up on this and have also downloaded some older articles from the APS site on plating - for reference. I am also going too try again to figure out the e-guage on gbps site - for the life of me I had trouble counting the ticks and ruler placement.....