History of The Penny Black Stamp

A new system of postal charges which depended on the weight of letters, and ignored distance to travel was introduced in early 1840 with the release of the famous Penny Black. This new system introduced "adhesive labels" paying in advance for the postal charges of the letters to which they had been stuck. This method of funding postal services spread throughout the world, and is still in use today, almost 160 years later, after many changes in design, printing methods and, of course, the cost! The design used to create The Penny Black continued for 40 years and remains an exceptional example of miniature design , engraving and printing.

THE DESIGN
The Portrait head of Queen Victoria used in the design was taken from a medal of 1838 designed by William Wyon, was issued without perforations and had to be hand-cut at the post office.
Printing of the new stamp began on 11 April 1840 by Perkins, Bacon & Co, London, the stamp was placed on sale on 1st May 1840 and became valid for postage on 6th May 1840, an important date which our outlet in Singapore will celebrate each year.

NUMBERS ISSUED
In all , about 68 million Penny Blacks were printed. Then, as now, most of these stamps were thrown away after use, making surviving stamps a precious piece of history.

CANCELLATIONS AND THE DEMISE OF THE PENNY BLACK
A cancellation to obliterate the stamps to prevent reuse was required, and a simple design called the "Maltese Cross" was introduced and stamps were cancelled in red or black ink.
By October 1840, it was realised that the cancellations could be removed fraudulently from the black ink stamps. This sealed the fate of the Penny Black with a change of colour being decided upon to help overcome the problems. The new "Penny Red" stamp was placed on sale on 10th February 1841, only nine months after the introduction of The Penny Black.

Despite its relatively short life the Penny Black postage stamp remains possibly the most valuable stamp in the world and today an unfranked or unmarked piece will fetch many hundreds of thousand pounds sterling in the open-market.
The value of the stamp and its obvious connection with communication and finance made The Penny Black the perfect name for this pub. Situated in the heart of Singapore's financial district and on the banks of the Nation's most historically significant river, THE PENNY BLACK VICTORIAN LONDON PUB is a piece of living history!

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