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It is estimated that more people have collected stamps at some point in their lives than have participated in any other hobby. My father was a stamp collector and he introduced me to the hobby as a sm..

The penny black stamp and two penny blue stamps were introduced as the cornerstone of Rowland Hill's postal reform of 1840. The 2d value was printed from 2 plates and the 1d value from 11.Stamps from ..

The 2d stamp value was changed from plates 1 and 2 by the addition of two white lines one below 'POSTAGE' the other above 'TWO PENCE'. Two plates were used on these stamps, Plates 3 and 4. SG (Ref 1) ..

Separating stamps from imperforate sheets was cumbersome in poorly lit post offices (hence many imperforate stamps have poor margins). Henry Archer experimented with perforating machines and was grant..

Towards the end of 1854 it was felt that the stamps were developing a worn appearance and it was agreed a new die would be prepared. Soon Die 2 was available and the plate numbering system started aga..

The stamp printers were obliged by contract to have a reserve plate for every press operating. Towards the end of a stamp series they applied and were allowed to use some of these reserve plates for p..

Compared to the 1d value very few plates were used for the 2d stamps. We previously mentioned that Plate 4 can be found both imperforate and with perforation 16 and 14. Plates 5 and 6 are only found p..

No collection of line engraved stamp is complete without some examples of stamps used on covers. In fact, any stamp from this period still remaining on cover or on piece should be left as such and not..