[Illustration:]

VII.

Stamps with a History.


There are numbers of stamps that have an interesting history of their
own. They mark some official experiment, some curious blunder or
accident, some little conceit, some historical event, or some crude
and early efforts at stamp production.

What is known as the V.R. Penny black, English stamp, is said to have
been designed as an experiment in providing a special stamp for
official use, its official character being denoted by the initials
V.R. in the upper corners; but the proposal was dropped, and the V.R.
Penny black was never issued. For a long time it was treasured up as a
rarity by collectors, but now that its real claims to be regarded as
an issued stamp have been finally settled, it is no longer included in
our stamp catalogues. In the days of its popularity it fetched as much
as £14 at auction. It is now relegated to the rank of an interesting
souvenir of the experimental stage in the introduction of Penny
Postage.

Of curious blunders, the Cape of Good Hope errors of colours are
amongst the most notable. In 1861 the 1d. and 4d. triangular stamps,
then current, were suddenly exhausted, and before a stock could be