Penny Black With Black Cancel In Psc Folio I Bought. A Decent Example?

Hello All - I wanted to dip my toes into the early Great Britain stamp waters and won this item in recent auction. I recall PSC (?) advertising this folio on tv years before I started collecting stamps, if my memory serves me right. Anyway I was hoping someone who has experience could tell me more about this specimen (plate, why black instead of red cancel...) if possible from the attached photos.
Thank you for looking!.

Start here: https://www.spink. com/media/view?id=29#

Thanks for the link! This answers the black Maltese Cross cancel:
"Cancellation - The red and black Maltese Cross cancellations exist on all plates but the black Maltese Cross is more likely to come on the later plates."

Hi greenskull,

The little nick on the right hand side is a shame, so I hope you didn't pay too much for this example.

Anyway, it's a plate 8

I would say it is an example from plate 8.
Edit: Bobby posted his reply as I was writing this.

The red cancels were too easy to remove. The first trials with the black ink for cancellations started towards the end of August 1840. Some plates were used after that date. Some were no longer in use. Widespread use took some time and old stamps may have remained in stock. The later plates are rarer with a red cancellation, the earlier plates are rarer with a black one. But some early plates were in use for a longer time.

Plate 11 was a red plate used for an emergency printing of the Penny Black, early in 1841. This one will be quite rare with a red cancellation.

Your stamp, that I think is from one of the later plates (8, used for printing from the end of July 1840, earliest known use 5 September 1840), is just about from the beginning of the black Maltese Cross period.

Often, the examples in these pockets are not very good. Your example is quite decent. I am somewhat (pleasantly) surprised it is not a much worse example. The righthand margin is a bit close. It, also, appears to have some light damage that appears to extend into the printed area.
The back of the stamp, also, would be relevant for assessing the quality.

These items were sold at highly inflated prices for the quality of the stamp included. But since you bought it at auction, I suspect you got it much cheaper. And it appears a very decent example.

I think Stanley Gibbons would classify this as good (maybe sound) used with a slight fault. But it is far above average. It appears you did well.

I agree NSK. It gives every indication of being an early impression from the plate.

Plate 8 is one that gave rise to the 'intense black' SG1.

Thanks to all who replied..... I owe everybody a handshake and a pint for sharing their time, effort and knowledge..
I was hoping to get lucky on a fair example with a very small budget.... didn't think I would be able to get one with more than 1 margin, honestly.
Paid $28.50 + $7.00 shipping.... about half of what I was able to spend.

Now on to the reds and blues. Further down the road I hope to get a red Maltese Cross canceled Penny Black, too..

Maybe the final question on this stamp:
Should I go ahead and remove it from folio to examine back? I'm thinking there's no added value in the binder, but like to hear opinions.
Thank you so much.

Given how popular the penny black is, I'd say that's a good price

Can it be easily removed from the folio?

Hi Bobby - Excellent, I'm very happy I could snag one that I could afford. I paid for it, but have not received yet.
I will post back here when I can see if easily removed. I'm really hoping if I do cut it out, the back isn't stamped with "copy"!!

@greenskull

I agree with Bobby you did a good deal. You could have done much worse than that price.

The folder does not add anything to the value. If you are planning to extend in the line-engraved area, you might want to keep them in an album. Taking it out of the folder and putting it in an album would be an option. But take care you do not damage it when removing it from the folder.

I'm quietly confident that it's the genuine article

It is genuine.

UPDATE:
I received it an hour ago and scanned it at higher dpi.
Decided not to cut it out of pocket (too nervous!), but the card it was on is easily removed from folio, so I think
displaying in vario sheet is fine with me. The folio is actually fairly nice, hardcover with embossed gold graphics.... will save it for whoever gets the stamp next.
Have a scott #3 imperforate penny red coming any day that I will post for discussion. I need to get the Stanley Gibbons Queen Victoria specialized catalog soon.... well, maybe put it on my Xmas list.
Thanks again and happy collecting!

Unless you're planning to build a serious collection of GB QV, I'd hold off on the Specialised if I were you!

Yeah, probably overkill for me, haha!