Penny Black Stamps – Fakes or Reprints

Copies and forgeries used to be very common, as although the designs are complex, the paper and printing type is easy to reproduce. A cheap imitation can be obtained by cutting up a 1970 5d stamp, and unfortunately these are often sold to uneducated victims as originals. The corner letters are P and L, which were never printed on genuine penny blacks. It was first in the late 1880's that some collectors claimed to have found forgeries of the penny black. They were originally believed to have been tampered with, as the designs were identical to penny reds but in black. They were in fact genuine reprints!

Stories differ as to where the stamps originated, but it is now known that the stamps were printed in black from a penny red plate in 1864-65. A corner block of three exists in the R M Phillips collection, which clearly shows the plate to be 66, which only existed for the penny red.

One story claims that the reprint was ordered by the Royal Family and only four or five sheets were printed. They were then distributed to younger family members and friends who were interested in stamp collecting. Another version of events, which is apparently supported by a letter, is that the stamps were ordered from the printers directly by Ormond Hill for an unspecified purpose. The issue of whether they were officially endorsed by the Post office remains uknown, but the four or five sheet theory remains between both stories.

The argument of whether the stamps are genuine postage stamps, black prints or just unauthorised reprints continues to this day, although many copies have surfaced after the story was released back in the early 1970's. Some catalogues refuse to list them as they were not technically made available to the public, while some catalogues list them officially as “Royal Reprints of the Penny Black.”

Mark Steele

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