Penny Black VR official facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Penny Black VR Official |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| Location of production | London |
| Date of production | May 1840 |
| Depicts | Queen Victoria |
| Nature of rarity | Few exist |
| No. in existence | Unknown |
| Face value | 1 penny £sd |
| Estimated value | US $20,000 |
The VR official was a special postage stamp made in the United Kingdom in May 1840. Its purpose was to pay for official mail from government offices. At the same time, two other stamps, the Penny Black and the Two Pence Blue, were released for everyone to use. There were also special envelopes and letter sheets called Mulready envelopes and letter sheets for the public.
The VR official stamp looked almost exactly like the Penny Black. The only difference was in the top corners. Instead of small Maltese crosses, the VR official had the letters "V" and "R". These letters stood for "Victoria Regina," which means "Queen Victoria" in Latin. That's why it's called the VR official.
The way this stamp was designed on the printing plate was very similar to the Penny Black and Two Pence Blue. The only small change was how the plate was identified. Instead of a number, the VR official plate used a letter to show which plate it came from.
The original idea was for government departments to use this stamp for their official letters. However, people really disliked the Mulready envelopes and letter sheets. They even made fun of them! Because of this, many Mulready envelopes were given to government offices instead, especially the tax office.
Since the government could use the Mulready envelopes they already had, the idea of the VR official stamp was stopped. Most of the VR official stamps that had been printed were destroyed on January 25, 1843. Only 21 sheets of these stamps survived. A few were even used by mistake on regular mail. Rowland Hill, who helped create the postal system, used some of them to test different ways of canceling stamps.
What Is a Forgery?
A forgery is a fake copy of something valuable, like a stamp. People create forgeries to trick others into thinking they are real.
Famous Forgery of the VR Official
The VR official stamp was famously forged in August 1890. A man named Bernhardt Assmus created the fake stamps. He was caught by a stamp dealer named Morris Giwelb. Assmus had tried to sell one of his fake stamps to Giwelb, who realized it wasn't real.
See also
- List of British postage stamps
- List of notable postage stamps
