Gibraltar Coins 1 Crown 2000 Uniform Penny Post
Commemorative issue: 160th Anniversary of Uniform Penny Post
Obverse: Crowned bust of Queen Elizabeth II right.
Lettering: GIBRALTAR · ELIZABETH II · 2000 ·
Engraver: Ian Rank-Broadley
Reverse: “Tuppenny Blue” - Two Penny Blue or The Two Pence Blue - Mauritius "Post Office" 2 Pence postage stamp with a profile of Queen Victoria, blue center
Lettering: 160TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIFORM PENNY POST POSTAGE POST OFFICE MAURITIUS TWO PENCE 1 CROWN
Engraver: William Wyon
Value 1 Crown = 0.25 Gibraltar Pound.
Composition: Bi-Metallic Titanium center in Gold (.999) ring
Diameter 38.61 mm
Shape Round
Struck by the Pobjoy Mint in England, this coin was issued to commemorate the 160th anniversary of the Uniform Penny Post. These is among the first coins in the world stuck in titanium. The titanium has a rich Cobalt Blue appearance which makes a striking contrast to the gold.
Uniform Penny Post
The Uniform Penny Post was a component of the comprehensive reform of the Royal Mail, the UK's official postal service, that took place in the 19th century. The reforms were a government initiative to eradicate the abuse and corruption of the existing service. Under the reforms, the postal service became a government monopoly, but it also became more accessible to the British population at large through setting a charge of one penny for carriage and delivery between any two places in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland irrespective of distance.
Campaign for reform
Richard Cobden and John Ramsey McCulloch, both advocates of free trade, attacked the Conservative government's policies of privilege and protection, including their archaic postal system. McCulloch, in 1833, advanced the view that "nothing contributes more to facilitate commerce than the safe, speedy and cheap conveyance of letters." The campaign for cheap postage was actually initiated by Robert Wallace, who in 1835 argued, before a governmental commission set up to investigate the problems, that greater use of the mailing system would lead to increased revenue for the government.
Rowland Hill's reforms
Sir Rowland Hill expounded his concept for the reformed service at a meeting of the commission on February 13, 1837, and published a famous pamphlet Post Office Reform: its Importance and Practicability late that year. In 1838 Hill made a proposal to parliament in which he suggested that "the postage on all letters received in a post-town, and delivered in the same, or any other post-town in the British Isles, shall be at the uniform rate of one penny per half ounce". However, Hill did not include a specific timetable for the introduction of a "penny post" in his proposal, nor did he suggest a plan for its implementation. Nonetheless, Hill's 1838 proposal paved the way for the 1840 Act which introduced the Uniform Penny Post.
In his proposal, Hill also called for official pre-printed envelopes and adhesive postage stamps as alternative ways of getting the sender to pay for postage, at a time when prepayment was optional. Previously, postage had depended on distance and the number of sheets of paper; now, one penny would assure delivery of an envelope and the letter it enclosed anywhere in the country provided together they satisfied the weight condition. This was a lower rate than before, when the cost of postage was usually more than 4d (four pence). The reform did not settle the issue of who paid for the postage, as it still remained optional for a number of years in spite of Hill's efforts as Secretary to the Post Office to alter the situation.
As of 2013 the value of one penny in 1840 ranges from 32p (GBP) to 4.89 (GBP); the latter based on mean income. It would appear that the cost to an established semi-skilled man of sending a letter in 1840 can be represented by approximately 1.00 (GBP) in 2013 values.
This however was a lower cost than previously and made postal communication more affordable to the increasing numbers of people capable of reading and writing as a consequence of public education. Financially, the penny post scheme was a disaster. More than thirty years elapsed before revenues were back to the pre-1840 level. The real benefits were the encouragement and support that the availability of cheap letterpost communication gave to the development of transport links, education, commerce and social cohesion.
Two Penny Blue
The Two Penny Blue or The Two Pence Blue was the world’s second official postage stamp, produced in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and issued after the Penny Black.
Initial printing took place from 1 May and in all 6,460,000 were printed from two plates until 29 August.:161 Officially the stamps were valid for postage from 6 May but were only available from 8 May.:164 It was first sold to the public at the London Inland revenue office on 6 May 1840. Except for its denomination, the design is exactly the same as the 1d black and was struck from the same die.
It was intended that the 2d blue be issued at the same time as the 1d black; the earliest postmark seen on one of these is 6 May 1840. The first issues of this value (intended for double rate letters), were printed from plates 1 and 2. The printing plates were destroyed in 1843.:161 Copies of the stamp are now significantly rarer and more expensive than the Penny Black.
Later when the colours of the stamps were being revised, the inks chosen were red-brown for the penny value and a new blue ink for the two pence value. As the printed stamps in the new ink looked the same as the original issue, it was decided to add a horizontal line at the top and bottom of the label so as the newer printings could be easily identified. Printing of the revised stamps began on 27 February 1841 and were placed on sale in March.:174–5 These are referred to as the white lines added issue, as pictured above. They are more common than the original 1840 printing.
The Penny Black allowed a letter weighing up to half an ounce to be sent anywhere within Britain; the Two Penny Blue's weight limit was a full ounce.
Mauritius "Post Office" stamps
The Mauritius "Post Office" stamps were issued by the British Colony Mauritius in September 1847, in two denominations: an orange-red one penny (1d) and a deep blue two pence (2d). Their name comes from the wording on the stamps reading "Post Office", which was soon changed in the next issue to "Post Paid." They are among the rarest postage stamps in the world.
The stamps' history
They were engraved by Joseph Osmond Barnard, born in England in 1816, who stowed away on a ship to Mauritius in 1838. The designs were based on the then current issue of Great Britain stamps (first released in 1841), bearing the profile head of Queen Victoria and issued in two denominations in similar colours: one penny red brown and Two pence blue. Although these locally produced stamps have a distinct primitive character, they made Barnard’s “name immortal in the postal history of Mauritius”.
Five hundred of each value were printed from a single plate bearing both values and issued on September 21, 1847, many of which were used on invitations sent out by the wife of the Governor of Mauritius for a ball she was holding that weekend. The stamps were printed using the intaglio method (recessed printing), and bear the engraver's initials "JB" at the lower right margin of the bust.
The words "Post Office" appear in the left panel, but on the following issue in 1848, these words were replaced by "Post Paid." A legend arose later that the words "Post Office" had been an error.
The stamps, as well as the subsequent issues, are highly prized by collectors because of their rarity, their early dates and their primitive character as local products. Surviving stamps are mainly in the hands of private collectors, but some are on public display in the British Library in London, including the envelope of an original invitation to the Governor's ball complete with stamp. Two other places where they can be seen, in Mauritius, are at the Postal Museum and at the Blue Penny Museum, both in Port Louis, the capital city. The two stamps also can be seen at the Museum for Communication (Museum für Kommunikation) in Berlin and in the Postal Museum of Sweden in Stockholm. A two pence blue is also at display at the Museum for Communication (Museum voor Communicatie) in The Hague.
The "Post Office" stamps have been reprinted from the original plates and, like many other postage stamps, both rare and common, have been faked many times.
One of the "Post Office" stamps is the MacGuffin in a 1962 episode of The Avengers titled "The Mauritius Penny". Theresa Rebeck's play Mauritius is about two sisters who inherit a stamp collection which might be worth a fortune, which includes one of the deep blue "Post Office" stamps (to which the title refers). One of the Billy Bunter novels is titled "Billy Bunter and the Blue Mauritius", where the blue two pence stamp is stolen and recovered.