Centenary of first adhesive Postage Stamps
Date of issue: 6 May 1940
The Post Office had made an early decision to mark the centenary of the Penny Black with both special, perhaps even bi-coloured, stamps and an exhibition. In January 1938 The Royal Philatelic Society London, through its President Sir John Wilson, advised the Post Office that it had an exhibition in mind, hoping there would be stamps, even suggesting a miniature sheet sold only at its exhibition.
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Work proceeded on the stamps, to be 1½ times the size of definitives, in the usual manner. Of the ideas submitted by the several artists approached, those favoured, by H L Palmer of Harrison & Sons, the stamp printers, and Edmund Dulac, both featured a ‘dual head’ of Queen Victoria and King George VI. Further work was undertaken and essays produced.
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