SG8
London., 1841
SG8
1841 Red brown - Issued Stamp New Plates
SG8a
1841 Red brown - VERY BLUED PAPER Issued Stamp New Plates
Watermark
Small Crown
Ivory Head
Back of some stamps
Tinted
Lavender tinted paper
Specimen
Sheet
The Union Jack
A re-entry in both the top stars has caused them to take on the appearance of Union Jacks. From plate 75, a used copy of this will fetch £1,750 at an auction.
The blank B
Missing the B from the bottom right corner this stamp is extrremely scarce. It was missing the letter A and came from plate 77.
M over K
Plate 35
SJ re-entry
Plate numbers for SG8
FEBRUARY 1841
12 through 131
FEBRUARY 1852
132 through 177
PLATE #'s
Essays and Proofs
Essay
Prince Consort
Essay
Rainbow Trial
Imprimatur
Color Trial
Purple
Proof
Perkins Bacon rejected 1d die - 1909 reprint
Rainbow Trials
It was discovered that the red MX cancellations were being removed from the penny black in order that they could be reused. This prompted Rowland Hill initiate the Rainbow trials, whereby different inks and printing techniques were tested in order to overcome this problem. The goal was create an ink which would be more permanent than the ink used to print the stamp. It resulted in only the black MX cancel being used, and red-brown printing ink, the combination of which clearly showed the cancel.
Sheet x 9 Black
Sheet x 9 Black (invalidated corner)
Sheet x 9 Orange-red
Sheet x 3 Mauve-pink
Sheet x 3 Lilac-brown
1840 (Sept.) 1d. red-brown part sheet of ten impressions from the fugitive ink trials marked "No 9 plain", "Potash", Tartaric Acid", "Prussic Acid", "Creosote and "Turps" in the hand of Joshua Bacon, the top left corner marked "A1", stamps 3, 4, 7, 8, 11 and 12 additionally stamped "no 712",
Acid trials, click 'enlarge image' to see learn more
State 2 Red-brown
State 3 Red-brown
Blue with black MX cancel
Blue on paper dipped in potassium of potash
Distinctive MX Cancels
Ashton-under-Lyne
One central point crosses at it's end
Belfast
Brighton
Channel Islands
Alderney?
Coleshill
Cork
Coventry
Dublin I
Dublin II
Greenock
Almost straight sides, a large centre with prolonged points
Hollymount
Only the outer frame (the rest broke away)
Kelso
Straight sides and small centre
Kilmarnock
Dot in the centre
Leamington
Central points greatly elongated
Leeds
Very rounded loops
Limerick
Manchester
Center points resemble fish tails
Melksham
Three dots in the design
Montrose
Mullinger
Notches cut into each side of the outer frame of the cross
North Allerton
One point of the centre noticeably elongated
Norwich
Oxford
Solid centre
Perth
Central points are elongated and central cross is not symmetrical
Plymouth
SCOTTISH
Small diamond
SCOTTISH
Large diamond
Stonehaven
Only in brownish orange
Tadcaster
Tallow
Tarporley
Tunbridge Wells
Welshpool
Solid centre
Wincanton
Wotton-Under-Edge
File marks cut across
York
Number in Centre
Numbers
1 through 12
Cancel colours
Green Town
Black
Red
Red MX Ink Composition
1lb Printers Red Ink
1 pint of linseed oil
½ pint droppings of sweet oil
Red MX ink was easily removed, it was discontinued Feb. 1841
Red
Brownish-red
Lilac-rose
Ruby
Orange-Red
Orange-Brown
Bright Orange
Vermilion
Bright Violet
Magenta
Brown
Blue
Purple
The Line Engraved Imperforate Issues
Click your selected stamp
