A Penny Black described as "one of the great philatelic finds of modern times" will be included in an internet auction starting next month. British philatelic auctioneers Warwick & Warwick announced an association with Sotheby's for online auctions recently. The Penny Black is being auctioned as part of their inaugural sale at www.sothebys.com from August 29th to September 12th.
Sotheby's stamps specialist Mr Richard Ashton recently examined stamps brought to the counter by a member of the public. He found what he understands to be the only example of a commercial printed document with the Penny Black used on the first day of issue. It is expected to realise £8,000 to £10,000 sterling (€13,297 to €16,622). There are a lot of misconceptions about the Penny Black, not least that it is the world's most valuable stamp. Mr Ashton told The Irish Times: "Unfortunately its value doesn't tie up with its fame. Its real significance was that prior to 1840, postage rates were extremely high.
To send a letter from London to Edinburgh could cost you sixpence or even a shilling. Then suddenly overnight it comes down to a penny. It was the start of the educational revolution. From 1840 onwards it became practical for people to learn to read and write because they could then afford to send letters." The Penny Black was issued for only nine months. People discovered that if you put the stamp into a light peroxide solution, "you could clean the postmark off very easily and then reuse the stamp". The design was kept but the colour changed to a red-brown. A blue chemical was added to the paper so that if peroxide was applied to get the postmark off, the image on the stamp was destroyed. But in the nine-month period of the Penny Black, as many as 68 million were printed, of which there are still quite a few around.
Valuing a Penny Black has much to do with how it was cut. They were separated from a sheet by scissors. You had to cut in between the stamps to separate them and there was a very narrow gap between them. A Penny Black with four clear margins is the exception, but even then it might be worth only £40 or £50. If it was cut into, its value could be as low as £3 to £5, he says.
An unused Penny Black can be worth £1,000 or more, while one used on the first day of issue, May 6th, 1840, will be more valuable. "There are a few hundred of them, but very nice ones fetch quite serious money. Even a damaged one would be worth at least £1,000," he says. When Penny Blacks fetch headline-grabbing money, "there are never two things the same". For instance, an unused multiple, a block of 20 or 30, could be worth "hundreds of thousands of pounds". Mr Ian Whyte of Whyte's auction rooms in Dublin says that Penny Blacks were put on sale in London on May 2nd, 1840, even though they weren't valid for use until May 6th. "You shouldn't get them used before that date. However, one known example was used on May 2nd and that fetched around £500,000.
"Dublin was the second city of the British Empire and should have had stamps in time for May 6th but nobody has ever seen an Irish usage that early." He added there were fewer Penny Blacks used in Ireland than in England, making those used in Ireland more valuable, perhaps twice the value, as a similar item with a Penny Black posted in England.
jmarms@irish-times.ie
