GREAT BRITAIN ONE PENNY (1d) Black Re-entries The First Postage Stamp The PENNY BLACK was the world's very first postage stamp, issued in May of 1840. It was line-engraved and printed from a flat steel plate of 240 images, each one rocked in one by one by a transfer roll. And with it came our specialty of the wonderful world of re-entries! Many plate positions contained fresh entries, which look identical to re-entries, but occurred before the plate was put into use. Plate wear and damage resulted in the necessity to strengthen the worn or damaged images on the plate by realigning the transfer roll with each worn position and re-entering the design by rocking the transfer roll back and forth over the earlier image. If this was not done precisely, doubling of the design would occur and a specialty was born! If it was done precisely, the old image would be deepened and strengthened, but no visible doubling would occur. If this repair took place over a design that already contained a fresh entry, it would be altered. Another, different case of doubling might occur, or previously doubled areas might be blotted out. All of this resulted in massive areas of study, with numerous books published on the various fresh entries, re-entries, retouches and the like. And this study continues to this day. |
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*1 |
Scott #1 Great Britain 1d Black Major Re-entry Plate 1a Position HD This stamp shows a beautiful, sharp Fresh Entry, visible in all of the lettering, 3 of the 4 corner boxes, and the bottom margin. Courtesy of Jean-Claude Vasseur |
Courtesy of Jean-Claude Vasseur |
*2 |
Scott #1 Great Britain 1d Black Major Re-entry Plate 1b Position HD This stamp shows the same stamp as above, but from the re-entered state of the plate. Notice that some of the re-entry details have been altered, while others are now completely missing. Courtesy of Jean-Claude Vasseur |
Courtesy of Jean-Claude Vasseur |
*3 |
Scott #1 Great Britain 1d Black Major Re-entry Plate 1b Position CL This stamp is from the re-entered state of Plate 1 and shows a nice re-entry in the UL and LR boxes, some marks in POSTAGE, and many marks in ONE PENNY. Courtesy of Jean-Claude Vasseur |
Courtesy of Jean-Claude Vasseur |
*4 |
Scott #1 Great Britain 1d Black Major Re-entry Plate 1b Position MH This stamp is from the re-entered state of Plate 1 and shows a nice re-entry in both upper corner boxes, and parts of POSTAGE. Courtesy of Jean-Claude Vasseur |
Courtesy of Jean-Claude Vasseur |
*5 |
Scott #1 Great Britain 1d Black Major Re-entry Plate 1b Position OA This stamp is from the re-entered state of Plate 1 and shows a nice shift in the UR corner box and tiny bits of POSTAGE, along with small remnants in the bottom margin below NN. Courtesy of Jean-Claude Vasseur |
Courtesy of Jean-Claude Vasseur |
*6 |
Scott #1 Great Britain 1d Black Re-entry Plate 2 Position PL This stamp shows a doubling in the UR corner and tiny marks in some of the lettering. Courtesy of Jean-Claude Vasseur |
Courtesy of Jean-Claude Vasseur |
*7 | Scott #1 Great Britain 1d Black Major Re-entry Plate 8 Position DL This stamp shows a marked upwards shift, visible in the UR corner box and portions of ONE PENNY. Courtesy of Jean-Claude Vasseur |
Courtesy of Jean-Claude Vasseur |
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Return to Index Return to Listings Page Ralph E. Trimble Specialist in BNA Re-entries |