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I am trying to get a Great Britain Penny Black with my initials. It would complete the set as I already have a 4-Margin Blue, and a 4-Margin Red so all I need now is a 4-Margin Black. I know there are different plates that make pricing a moving target. How much should a nice 4-Margin lower plate value retail for ?

Thanks

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"Life is a tough Teacher, it gives you the test first and the lesson later"
Anonymous

Mint or used?

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If it erupts, don't blame me!!

A nice 4 margin used without any faults would be about £150.00

I've been keeping an eye out for a nice R-C for you but with no joy as yet.

http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=31468

Iggy

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Buying & Selling Stamps of Great Britain http://www.gbstampsonline.co.uk

There are 2 different imperf blues - that of 1840 (no white lines near POSTAGE and value) and of 1841 (white line under POSTAGE and over value). The 1840 one is worth more than the Penny Black.

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My wantlist for Malta Revenues

I have the 1841 with the White lines. Thanks Iggy, I've seen a few but it must have been the plate position as they were all $300 US +. I'm in the market for a used one to answer the other question, but only if the letters are clearly visible. I suppose I'm overlooking one thing, can certain corner letters only come from 1 or 2 plates ?

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"Life is a tough Teacher, it gives you the test first and the lesson later"
Anonymous

www.mypennyblacks.com currently has plate 8 with broken London points MX for sale at a reasonable price if it is RC that you want.

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If it erupts, don't blame me!!

No, all 1d blacks, 1d reds and 2d blues were printed in sheets of 240, in twenty rows of 12. That way a row would cost one shillind, and a sheet twenty shilling, which equalled to one pound.

The first row had these corner letters:
A-A, A-B, A-C, A-D, A-E, A-F, A-G, A-H, A-I, A-J, A-K, A-L

The second row had these:
B-A, B-B, B-C, B-D, B-E, B-F, B-G, B-H, B-I, B-J, B-K, B-L

...and so-on until the twentieth row which had these:
T-A, T-B, T-C, T-D, T-E, T-F, T-G, T-H, T-I, T-J, T-K, T-L

So if your initials are R-C, all stamps with those initials come from row 18, stamp 3.

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My wantlist for Malta Revenues

I am giving away a Penny Black for our FIFTH Birthday on April 1 .. so maybe hold off on buying for a wee while.

Glen

Is that a good price for a plate 8 ? I don't know what plate this one is but I had been considering it but the plate 8 at Pennyblacks is nicer and for only 10$ US more.



Was only one plate needed for an entire sheet ? Glen, any with RC corner letters ?

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"Life is a tough Teacher, it gives you the test first and the lesson later"
Anonymous

Yes. One plate printed a complete sheet.

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My wantlist for Malta Revenues

Wait till I've checked mine Stallzer, I haven't looked for an RC one.
But I've done the same thing for a set of 4 matching letters to my initials.

The most expensive is the first 2 penny blue (1840), much rarer than the penny black.

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Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

If numbers of sheets printed is any indication of rarity and price:

Plate 1a - 17,000
Plate 1b - 30,000
Plate 2 - 30,000
Plate 3 - 20,000
Plate 4 - 35,000
Plate 5 - 36,000
Plate 6 - 38,000
Plate 7 - 25,000
Plate 8 - 30,000
Plate 9 - 16,000
Plate 10 - 9,000
Plate 11 - 700

These numbers, supplied by Richard Frajola, are for only the black plates.

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If it erupts, don't blame me!!

The mypennyblacks stamp is much better than the one you illustrate. The one in the message is tight on the right and is in at the bottom right. The one linked has nice margins all around and a distinctive MX.

As for whether the price is fair for a plate 8, look at the others he's offering, look at the prices for comparable other plates, and make a decision. The vendor can only put a number on "price." The customer (potential or otherwise) is the only one who can put a number on "value."

To expand on iomoon's comment on relative value, In Edward Proud's book on the penny black, he puts relative values for the different plates and states of the plates. For some of the RC position, plates 1b, 2, 4 and 5 are "N;" plate 6 is 1.1 x N; and plate 8 is 2.2 x N; Plate 5, state 2, is listed as 3 x N.

BTW - Doug of MPB is a nice guy and completely reputable. However, you might ask him to check his plating. RC Plate 9 has the left frame line extending, just like the picture, while RC Plate 8 doesn't have the extended frame line.

Also BTW - don't get sucked into being one of those crazy initial collectors. A loony lot, they are.

Chip
http://victoria.cgpostal.com

[quote="chipg"]Also BTW - don't get sucked into being one of those crazy initial collectors. A loony lot, they are.

Then I should fit right in Since my US collection has become a bit stagnant due to the cost of the items I need to tighten up the collection I was looking for a new avenue. Since I found my Blue for very cheap and my Red on cover for $20, I figured I'd go for all the Great Britain stamps with my initials. I'm quite certain I'm not the first to do this.

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"Life is a tough Teacher, it gives you the test first and the lesson later"
Anonymous

Chip

ROTFLMAO

I wish I could find as many OI's as you did CG's.
Though QVPennies has one I want at the moment.

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If it erupts, don't blame me!!

If you stick to "design different" stamps, you'll probably have a reasonable number to look for. Once you move to the SG specialized catalog listing, you start looking at plates, perforation varieties, trial things (e.g. Archer perforations, Treasury Roulettes, etc.). That's when you know you've gone over the deep end.

Good luck to you.
Chip

I know the Penny Blacks etc don't have AW, but were there any plates
with smaller stamps, revenues or other that used AW? Otherwise
I'll have to go first name middle name!

Andrew

Andrew, the GB 1870 ½d were printed in sheets of 480 (20 rows of 24 stamps)

The letters would be from A-A to T-X so your A-W is there.

There were 15 different plates used from plate 1 to plate 20. Plates 2,7,16,17,18 not being used.

Plate 13 shown below:



Iggy

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Buying & Selling Stamps of Great Britain http://www.gbstampsonline.co.uk

Cheers, something to look for!

Andrew

Rather than start a new topic, I'm adding my question to this one which is a pretty similar thread.

I cannot understand all the plates etc which mypennyblacks.com refers to . This is my wife's treasured penny black. I assume since much of the 'ONE PENNY' is chopped off, it isn't worth much. Any ideas on how I can identify it?



Similar with these penny reds? I know I'm being a bit lazy here but there's no way I'm going to become an expert on these stamps



Thanks

Tony

It isn't easy to make it out from the photos but for the 1d reds on the left and right, the plate number is in the design on the left and right of the stamp. I THINK the second digit of the stamp on the right is a zero; with a magnifying glass you should be able to read it easily. For the one in the centre and the 1d black you'll need a set of reference works such as Harold Fisher's five volume 'The Plating of the Penny' published for the Great Britain Philatelic Society as only by measuring exactly the position of the letters in the lower corners will you know which plate they come from.
This is no easy task!

The 1d red in the centre COULD be from plate 55 but there are other possibilities. It is difficult to make out exactly the position of the letters and compare with the illustrations I have of all the OAs from plates 22 to 68 + Reserve plate 17 of die II - but it is certainly one of this group.

I have tried to identify the plate of the 1d black but there is too much missing from the area where the letters are.

This red maltese cancel 1d black up for grabs for $100.
Any suggestions as to the plate?



Cheers

Difficult to be sure but most likely plate 6

At a glance plate 7. I need to grab my books. There is a whole thread just for identifying PB Plates.
PS for $100 buy it.

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Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

I agree with Greg. It is from plate 7


Iggy

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Buying & Selling Stamps of Great Britain http://www.gbstampsonline.co.uk

Thanks for all the info and advice, much appreciated.

PS. I think I will buy it at $100.

Cheers