Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Here is the example that I have. Please note the "F" in the left and right bottom corners.
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Yes, it is plate position -- on many but not all early GB stamps.
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I believe they came in sheets of 240 (value £5) so would be lettered as the penny black. There were 111,960,000 issued comprising 466,500 sheets.
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Just for our non English folks the value, would in England be written as 2½d. Pronounced tuppeny-ha'penny, being a variation on twopenny-halfpenny.
Ain't we English folks strange, not sure what Ian (Brechinite) would call it, probably something unprintable.
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Yo Vic,
Not strange at all... We Americans never went away from our ounces, inches, feet, pounds and miles and we ain't ever gonna change! 
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Ernie, quite agree but you also use cup measures in recipes, rather than weights which was always the UK way.
In Dodgers time in London, he would probably have pronounced it tuppence apeknee when begging or nicking specie. We lost a lot of identity when we went decimal back in the 70's.
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Vic,
Oh, yeah we're all about the cups. If that didn't come from England then where in the world did it come from?
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Not sure where it came from but here is the wikipedia article.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_(unit)
EDIT, sorry to Tim for hijacking his post.
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But hey the Brits were among the last to go to decimal currency. That might even be better bragging rights.
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Thanks for the info guys, and the fun discussion. It would probably be a bit much but it could be fun to collect a whole sheet of some of these early UK stamps that have the sheet position. Is anyone doing this?
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Hi Tim,
The 2½d stamp and the other sideways stamps in this "lilac and green" issue were printed in sheets of 240 stamps with two panes of 120 printed side by side.
The left-hand pane has stamps with bottom corner letters AA to AJ in the top row down to LA to LJ.
The right-hand pane has stamps with bottom corner letters AK to AT in the top row down to LK to LT.
Here's what survives of the 2½d plate 1 registration sheet showing the layout:
The sheet is shown sideways.
The image is from the fantastic site of The Great Britain Philatelic Society which I highly recommend:
https://www.gbps.org.uk/information/sources/registration-sheets/sp-lilac-and-green.php
Sorry, I couldn't get the link feature to work with this one but it should work if cut and pasted.
On the linked page you can click on the individual image of this sheet and then you can clearly see the stamps with their corner letters.
(Modified by Moderator on 2024-11-21 16:05:59)
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I'm not in a position at the moment to check this out in my Scott catalog, assuming it has something relevant. Can anyone tell me what are the significance of the letters in the corners of this stamp, and many others at the time? Is it like the Penny Black and indicate the position on the sheet of stamps?
Here is the example that I have. Please note the "F" in the left and right bottom corners.
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re: What is the significance of the letters in the corners of the 1883 two pence halfpenny from the United Kingdom?
Yes, it is plate position -- on many but not all early GB stamps.
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like this post.
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re: What is the significance of the letters in the corners of the 1883 two pence halfpenny from the United Kingdom?
I believe they came in sheets of 240 (value £5) so would be lettered as the penny black. There were 111,960,000 issued comprising 466,500 sheets.
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like this post.
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re: What is the significance of the letters in the corners of the 1883 two pence halfpenny from the United Kingdom?
Just for our non English folks the value, would in England be written as 2½d. Pronounced tuppeny-ha'penny, being a variation on twopenny-halfpenny.
Ain't we English folks strange, not sure what Ian (Brechinite) would call it, probably something unprintable.
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like this post.
Login to Like.
re: What is the significance of the letters in the corners of the 1883 two pence halfpenny from the United Kingdom?
Yo Vic,
Not strange at all... We Americans never went away from our ounces, inches, feet, pounds and miles and we ain't ever gonna change!
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like this post.
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re: What is the significance of the letters in the corners of the 1883 two pence halfpenny from the United Kingdom?
Ernie, quite agree but you also use cup measures in recipes, rather than weights which was always the UK way.
In Dodgers time in London, he would probably have pronounced it tuppence apeknee when begging or nicking specie. We lost a lot of identity when we went decimal back in the 70's.
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like this post.
Login to Like.
re: What is the significance of the letters in the corners of the 1883 two pence halfpenny from the United Kingdom?
Vic,
Oh, yeah we're all about the cups. If that didn't come from England then where in the world did it come from?
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re: What is the significance of the letters in the corners of the 1883 two pence halfpenny from the United Kingdom?
Not sure where it came from but here is the wikipedia article.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_(unit)
EDIT, sorry to Tim for hijacking his post.
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re: What is the significance of the letters in the corners of the 1883 two pence halfpenny from the United Kingdom?
But hey the Brits were among the last to go to decimal currency. That might even be better bragging rights.
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this post
re: What is the significance of the letters in the corners of the 1883 two pence halfpenny from the United Kingdom?
Thanks for the info guys, and the fun discussion. It would probably be a bit much but it could be fun to collect a whole sheet of some of these early UK stamps that have the sheet position. Is anyone doing this?
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this post
re: What is the significance of the letters in the corners of the 1883 two pence halfpenny from the United Kingdom?
Hi Tim,
The 2½d stamp and the other sideways stamps in this "lilac and green" issue were printed in sheets of 240 stamps with two panes of 120 printed side by side.
The left-hand pane has stamps with bottom corner letters AA to AJ in the top row down to LA to LJ.
The right-hand pane has stamps with bottom corner letters AK to AT in the top row down to LK to LT.
Here's what survives of the 2½d plate 1 registration sheet showing the layout:
The sheet is shown sideways.
The image is from the fantastic site of The Great Britain Philatelic Society which I highly recommend:
https://www.gbps.org.uk/information/sources/registration-sheets/sp-lilac-and-green.php
Sorry, I couldn't get the link feature to work with this one but it should work if cut and pasted.
On the linked page you can click on the individual image of this sheet and then you can clearly see the stamps with their corner letters.
(Modified by Moderator on 2024-11-21 16:05:59)
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