Initial printing took place from 1 May 1840, and in all 6,460,000 were printed from two plates until 29 August.[1]: 161 Officially the stamps were valid for postage from 6 May.[1]: 164 It was first sold to the public at the London Inland revenue office on 6 May 1840.[citation needed] Except for its denomination, the design is exactly the same as the penny black and was struck from the same die.[2]
It was originally intended that the 2d blue be issued at the same time as the 1d black; the earliest postmark seen on one of these is 6 May 1840. The first issues of this value (intended for double rate letters), were printed from plates 1 and 2. The printing plates were destroyed in 1843.[1]: 161 Copies of the stamp are now significantly rarer and more expensive than the Penny Black.[3]
Later when the colours of the stamps were being revised, the inks chosen were red-brown for the penny value and a new blue ink for the two pence value. As the printed stamps in the new ink looked the same as the original issue, it was decided to add a horizontal line at the top and bottom of the label so as the newer printings could be easily identified. Printing of the revised stamps began on 27 February 1841 and were placed on sale in March.[1]: 174–5 These are referred to as the white lines added issue, as pictured right. They are more common than the original 1840 printing.
Several differences exist in the post-1841 stamps due to watermark, perforation, paper and type variations. In all the 1840-80 series of this design used 15 plates.[4]
The Penny Black allowed a letter weighing up to half an ounce to be sent anywhere within Britain or Ireland; the Two Penny Blue's weight limit was a full ounce.[5]
penny, blue, mauritian, stamp, mauritius, post, office, stamps, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news. For the Mauritian stamp see Mauritius Post Office stamps This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Two penny blue news newspapers books scholar JSTOR December 2011 Learn how and when to remove this message The Two Penny Blue or The Two Pence Blue was the world s second official postage stamp inconsistent produced in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and issued after the Penny Black Two Penny Blue 1841 second white line issue Country of productionUnited KingdomDate of production6 May 1840 1840 05 06 PerforationNoneDepictsQueen VictoriaNotabilityWorld s second official postage stamp inconsistent Face value2d Initial printing took place from 1 May 1840 and in all 6 460 000 were printed from two plates until 29 August 1 161 Officially the stamps were valid for postage from 6 May 1 164 It was first sold to the public at the London Inland revenue office on 6 May 1840 citation needed Except for its denomination the design is exactly the same as the penny black and was struck from the same die 2 It was originally intended that the 2d blue be issued at the same time as the 1d black the earliest postmark seen on one of these is 6 May 1840 The first issues of this value intended for double rate letters were printed from plates 1 and 2 The printing plates were destroyed in 1843 1 161 Copies of the stamp are now significantly rarer and more expensive than the Penny Black 3 Later when the colours of the stamps were being revised the inks chosen were red brown for the penny value and a new blue ink for the two pence value As the printed stamps in the new ink looked the same as the original issue it was decided to add a horizontal line at the top and bottom of the label so as the newer printings could be easily identified Printing of the revised stamps began on 27 February 1841 and were placed on sale in March 1 174 5 These are referred to as the white lines added issue as pictured right They are more common than the original 1840 printing Several differences exist in the post 1841 stamps due to watermark perforation paper and type variations In all the 1840 80 series of this design used 15 plates 4 The Penny Black allowed a letter weighing up to half an ounce to be sent anywhere within Britain or Ireland the Two Penny Blue s weight limit was a full ounce 5 See also editPenny Black Penny Blue Penny Red VR official List of British postage stampsReferences edit a b c d Muir Douglas N 1990 Postal Reform amp The Penny Black London National Postal Museum ISBN 0 9515948 0 X 1840 2d and 1841 2d a plating aid Steven Allen British and Colonial Stamps Archived from the original on 29 June 2014 Retrieved 7 April 2015 The COMPLETE Two Penny Blue stamp guide value history rarity amp legacy www warwickandwarwick com A guide to identifying 2 penny blue line engraved issues of 1840 80 Linns Stamp News Beal Peter 2008 A dictionary of English manuscript terminology 1450 2000 Oxford Oxford University Press p 426 doi 10 1093 acref 9780199576128 001 0001 ISBN 978 0 19 957612 8 External links editImages of the Two penny blue from the Phillips Collection at the British Postal History Museum nbsp This philatelic article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Two penny blue amp oldid 1221806280, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
