Penny Black 1840 https://www.pennyblack1840.com Dedicated to the world's first postage stamp & Victorian line engraved stamp collecting Wed, 04 Feb 2026 17:53:04 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.pennyblack1840.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-favicon-32x32.jpg Penny Black 1840 https://www.pennyblack1840.com 32 32 The way we were … European flags in 1979 https://www.pennyblack1840.com/the-way-we-were-european-flags-in-1979/ https://www.pennyblack1840.com/the-way-we-were-european-flags-in-1979/#comments Sun, 23 Jan 2022 12:38:39 +0000 http://pennyblack1840.com/?p=1161 Inaugurated in 1958 as the Common Assembly, the European Parliament originally consisted of representatives selected by the national parliaments of EU member countries. Beginning in 1979, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected by direct universal suffrage to terms of five years. Britannica.com When I saw that today’s theme over at Sunday Stamps, hosted […]

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]]> https://www.pennyblack1840.com/the-way-we-were-european-flags-in-1979/feed/ 4 Speed, Regularity and Security – 200 years of the Royal Mail https://www.pennyblack1840.com/speed-regularity-and-security-200-years-of-the-royal-mail/ https://www.pennyblack1840.com/speed-regularity-and-security-200-years-of-the-royal-mail/#comments Sun, 25 Jul 2021 17:24:47 +0000 http://pennyblack1840.com/?p=1109 When I first read that the theme over at Sunday Stamps today would be “transportation”, I knew right away that this wonderful se-tenant set celebrating the 200th anniversary of the inauguration of the Bristol, Bath, London Mail Coach Service in 1784 would be my choice. This five stamp set of GB commemoratives issued by the […]

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]]> https://www.pennyblack1840.com/speed-regularity-and-security-200-years-of-the-royal-mail/feed/ 3 The first British stamps of the 1900s https://www.pennyblack1840.com/the-first-british-stamps-of-the-1900s/ https://www.pennyblack1840.com/the-first-british-stamps-of-the-1900s/#comments Sun, 18 Jul 2021 13:49:16 +0000 http://pennyblack1840.com/?p=1095 There’s an interesting theme over at Sunday Stamps today at See it on a Postcard: “Issued in the 1900s”. Our website was created initially to celebrate Victorian line-engraved stamps from the 1800s, but Queen Victoria had a very long reign and the very last stamps to be issued while she was on the throne actually […]

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]]> https://www.pennyblack1840.com/the-first-british-stamps-of-the-1900s/feed/ 2 Still Life Painting by Eranuhi Aslamazyan on DDR Stamp https://www.pennyblack1840.com/still-life-painting-by-eranuhi-aslamazyan-on-ddr-stamp/ https://www.pennyblack1840.com/still-life-painting-by-eranuhi-aslamazyan-on-ddr-stamp/#comments Sun, 04 Jul 2021 15:22:42 +0000 http://pennyblack1840.com/?p=1086 The theme over at Sunday Stamps today is “food”, so allowing myself a little wiggle room here, I have chosen a thematic stamp from my childhood album featuring a traditional still life painting depicting arrangements of food – grapes, pomegranates, a lemon, and I think, some oranges, alongside a large pitcher, and other tableware in […]

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]]> https://www.pennyblack1840.com/still-life-painting-by-eranuhi-aslamazyan-on-ddr-stamp/feed/ 5 Back to the future! Information Technology on GB Commemoratives https://www.pennyblack1840.com/back-to-the-future-information-technology-on-gb-commemoratives/ https://www.pennyblack1840.com/back-to-the-future-information-technology-on-gb-commemoratives/#comments Sun, 27 Jun 2021 15:50:40 +0000 http://pennyblack1840.com/?p=1074 The theme this week over at Sunday Stamps hosted by See it on a Postcard is “inventions/discoveries”. My mind went straight to this set of GB commemoratives when I read the topic, so I thought I would once again share them exactly as mounted in my teenage stamp album. This particular pair, with its unusually […]

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]]> https://www.pennyblack1840.com/back-to-the-future-information-technology-on-gb-commemoratives/feed/ 5 Elvis Presley 75th Anniversary Stamps https://www.pennyblack1840.com/elvis-presley-75th-anniversary-stamps/ Mon, 21 Jun 2021 15:33:41 +0000 http://pennyblack1840.com/?p=1063 Some Elvis Presley postage stamp issues are adorned with art work that bears only a passing resemblance to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Not so, with this lovely mini sheet of 4 stamps with portraits by the celebrated rock artist Joe Petruccio, showing Elvis from different stages of his life: his childhood, then the 1950s, 60s and […]

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]]> Elvis Presley in ‘G.I.Blues’ https://www.pennyblack1840.com/elvis-presley-in-g-i-blues/ Mon, 21 Jun 2021 15:25:33 +0000 http://pennyblack1840.com/?p=1058 Elvis movies on stamps! Elvis Presley made a staggering 31 movies between 1956 and 1969 – mostly musicals that critics hated, but fans loved and the box office loved even more! Many stills of Elvis Presley on the silver screen are some of the most iconic images we have of the man – just think of the […]

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]]> Dutch Elvis ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ Stamps https://www.pennyblack1840.com/dutch-elvis-heartbreak-hotel-stamps/ Mon, 21 Jun 2021 15:18:32 +0000 http://pennyblack1840.com/?p=1053 When the Dutch Postal Service issued its first official Elvis Presley postage stamp on 6 June 2006, appropriately it was released with a very special extra – a limited edition promotional CD entitled Heartbreak Hotel Collector’s Edition. The CD contained mostly spoken content with Elvis answering a series of questions as well as candid excerpts from […]

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]]> Elvis Presley 70th Anniversary Stamps https://www.pennyblack1840.com/elvis-presley-70th-anniversary-stamps/ Mon, 21 Jun 2021 15:11:29 +0000 http://pennyblack1840.com/?p=1050 This miniature sheet of 9 postage stamps of images of Elvis Presley from many different moments in his career as both an actor and a singer was issued by São Tomé and Príncipe – officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, a Portuguese-speaking island nation in the Gulf of Guinea – in 2005 to mark the 70th Anniversary of Elvis’s […]

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]]> Beningfield’s Butterflies on Stamps https://www.pennyblack1840.com/beningfields-butterflies-on-stamps/ https://www.pennyblack1840.com/beningfields-butterflies-on-stamps/#comments Sun, 20 Jun 2021 15:32:39 +0000 http://pennyblack1840.com/?p=1035 There is a timely seasonal theme over at See it on a Postcard today for Sunday Stamps. The weekly theme is left open to interpretation, so I have chosen this set of commemorative GB stamps from my childhood collection featuring British Butterflies for the theme of summer. While butterflies are active all year round, with […]

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