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Penny Black
The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in the United Kingdom (referred to in philatelic circles as Great Britain), on 1 May 1840, but was not valid for use until 6 May. The stamp features a profile of Queen Victoria. In 1837, British postal rates were high, complex and anomalous. To simplify matters, Sir Rowland Hill proposed an adhesive stamp to indicate pre-payment of postage. At the time it was normal for the recipient to pay postage on delivery, charged by the sheet and on distance travelled. By contrast, the Penny Black allowed letters of up to to be delivered at a flat rate of one penny, regardless of distance. Treasury competition On 13 February 1837, Sir Rowland Hill proposed to a government enquiry both the idea of a pre-paid stamp and a pre-paid envelope, a separate sheet folded to form an enclosure for carrying letters. Hill was given a two-year contract to run the new system, and tog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Definitive Stamp
A definitive stamp is a postage stamp that is part of the regular issue of a country's stamps, available for sale by the post office for an extended period of time and designed to serve the everyday postal needs of the country. The term is used in contrast to a "provisional stamp", one that is issued for a temporary period until regular stamps are available, or a "commemorative stamp", a stamp "issued to honor a person or mark a special event" available only for a limited time. Commonly, a definitive issue or series includes stamps in a range of Denomination (postage stamp), denominations sufficient to cover current postal rates. An "issue" generally means a set that is put on sale all at the same time, while a "series" is spread out over several years, but the terms are not precise. Additional stamps in a series may be produced as needed by changes in postal rates; nevertheless some values may be permanently available, regardless of prevailing rates; examples include 1c or 1p and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Cole
Sir Henry Cole FRSA (15 July 1808 – 18 April 1882) was a British civil servant and inventor who facilitated many innovations in commerce and education in the 19th century in the United Kingdom. Cole is credited with devising the concept of sending greetings cards at Christmas time, introducing the world's first commercial Christmas card in 1843. Biography Henry Cole was born in Bath the son of Captain Henry Robert Cole, then of the 1st Dragoon Guards, and his wife Lætitia Dormer. He was sent in 1817 to Christ's Hospital, and upon leaving school in 1823 became clerk to Francis Palgrave, and then a sub-commissioner under the Record Commission. Cole was employed in transcribing records, but found time to study water-colour painting under David Cox, and exhibited sketches at the Royal Academy. He lived with his father in a house belonging to the novelist Thomas Love Peacock, who retained two rooms in it, and became a friend of young Cole. Cole drew for him, helped him in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bath, Somerset
Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, west of London and southeast of Bristol. The city became a World Heritage Site in 1987, and was later added to the transnational World Heritage Site known as the "Great Spa Towns of Europe" in 2021. Bath is also the largest city and settlement in Somerset. The city became a spa with the Latin name ' ("the waters of Sulis") 60 AD when the Romans built baths and a temple in the valley of the River Avon, although hot springs were known even before then. Bath Abbey was founded in the 7th century and became a religious centre; the building was rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries. In the 17th century, claims were made for the curative properties of water from the springs, and Bath became popular as a spa town in the Georgian era. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Two Pence 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 1840, and in all 6,460,000 were printed from two plates until 29 August. Officially the stamps were valid for postage from 6 May but were only available from 8 May. 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 penny black and was struck from the same die. It was originally 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. Copies of the stamp are now significantly rarer and more expensive than the Penny Black. Later when the colours of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maltese Cross
The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically. It is a heraldic cross variant which developed from earlier forms of eight-pointed crosses in the 16th century. Although chiefly associated with the Knights Hospitaller (Order of St. John, now the Sovereign Military Order of Malta), and by extension with the island of Malta, it has come to be used by a wide array of entities since the early modern period, notably the Order of Saint Stephen, the city of Amalfi, the Polish Order of the White Eagle (1709), the Prussian order ''Pour le Mérite'' (1740), and the Bavarian Military Merit Order (1866). Unicode defines a character named "Maltese cross" in the Dingbats range at code point U+2720 (✠); however most computer fonts render the code point as a cross pattée. History The Knights Hospitaller during the Crusades used a plain L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Engine Turnings
Engine turning, also known as jewelling, is a fine geometric pattern turned onto metal as a finish. Aluminium is often the metal chosen to inscribe, but any appropriate surface can be finely machined to produce intricate repetitive patterns that offer reflective interest and fine detail. Uses Aircraft ''Perlée''-style engine turning was used on the sheetmetal panels of the engine cowling (nose) of Charles Lindbergh's aircraft, the ''Spirit of St. Louis''. The sheet metal parts of the World War I Fokker Eindecker fighter aircraft series, especially around the engine cowl and associated sheetmetal, are noted for having a "dragged" form of engine turning entirely covering them. The tool creating the "swirls" was repeatedly moved along a short irregular path each time while pressed against the metal, to create the intricate appearance that was characteristic of the aircraft's sheet-metal parts. It is partly surmised to have been a mechanical method to "clad" a duralumin-alloy s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Revenue Stamp
A revenue stamp, tax stamp, duty stamp or fiscal stamp is a (usually) adhesive label used to designate collected taxes or fees on documents, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines, playing cards, hunting licenses, firearm registration, and many other things. Typically, businesses purchase the stamps from the government (thereby paying the tax), and attach them to taxed items as part of putting the items on sale, or in the case of documents, as part of filling out the form. Revenue stamps often look very similar to postage stamps, and in some countries and time periods it has been possible to use postage stamps for revenue purposes, and vice versa. Some countries also issued dual-purpose postage and revenue stamps. Description Revenue stamps are stamps used to designate collected taxes and fees. They are issued by governments, national and local, and by official bodies of various kinds. They take many forms and may be gummed and ungummed, perforated or imperforate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silhouette
A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhouette is usually presented on a light background, usually white, or none at all. The silhouette differs from an line art, outline, which depicts the edge of an object in a linear form, while a silhouette appears as a solid shape. Silhouette images may be created in any visual artistic medium, but were first used to describe pieces of cut paper, which were then stuck to a backing in a contrasting colour, and often framed. Cutting portraits, generally in profile, from black card became popular in the mid-18th century, though the term ''silhouette'' was seldom used until the early decades of the 19th century, and the tradition has continued under this name into the 21st century. They represented a cheap but effective alternative to the portrai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
City Of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, but the modern area named London has since grown far beyond the City of London boundary. The City is now only a small part of the metropolis of Greater London, though it remains a notable part of central London. Administratively, the City of London is not one of the London boroughs, a status reserved for the other 32 districts (including Greater London's only other city, the City of Westminster). It is also a separate ceremonial county, being an enclave surrounded by Greater London, and is the smallest ceremonial county in the United Kingdom. The City of London is widely referred to simply as the City (differentiated from the phrase "the city of London" by ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Wyon
William Wyon (Birmingham 1795 – 29 October 1851), was official chief engraver at the Royal Mint from 1828 until his death. Biography Wyon was born in Birmingham and, in 1809, was apprenticed to his father, Peter Wyon who was an engraver and die sinker. In 1816, he went to London. He studied the works of John Flaxman, attended the schools of the Royal Academy, and gained a gold medal from the Society of Arts for a copy of the head of Ceres, and a second for an original group. In 1816 he was appointed assistant engraver to the mint, and in 1828 chief engraver. In 1831 he was elected associate and in 1838 full member of the Royal Academy. He died in Brighton, United Kingdom. Wyon is buried under a simple rectangular York stone slab at West Norwood Cemetery. He was the father of engraver Leonard Charles Wyon. Designs Under the influence of Flaxman, a master of relief sculpture, Wyon was a highly visible proponent of the Neoclassicist vogue. In 1834 he modelled the head of Pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cameo (carving)
Cameo () is a method of carving an object such as an engraved gem, item of jewellery or vessel. It nearly always features a raised (positive) relief image; contrast with intaglio, which has a negative image. Originally, and still in discussing historical work, cameo only referred to works where the relief image was of a contrasting colour to the background; this was achieved by carefully carving a piece of material with a flat plane where two contrasting colours met, removing all the first colour except for the image to leave a contrasting background. A variation of a carved cameo is a cameo incrustation (or sulphide). An artist, usually an engraver, carves a small portrait, then makes a cast from the carving, from which a ceramic type cameo is produced. This is then encased in a glass object, often a paperweight. These are very difficult to make but were popular from the late 18th century through the end of the 19th century. Originating in Bohemia, the finest examples were mad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Corbould
Henry Corbould (1787–1844) was an English artist. Life The third son of Richard Corbould, he was born in London. He studied painting with his father, and was at an early age admitted as a student of the Royal Academy, under Fuseli, where he gained the silver medal for a study from the life. While at the Academy he made the friendship of Flaxman, Stothard, West, Chantrey, and Westmacott. He several times sat as a model to West in whose picture of 'Christ Rejected' his head was painted for that of St. John; as also in that of 'Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple,' in the National Gallery. In 1808 he exhibited a painting of 'Coriolanus'; in the following year 'The Parting of Hector and Andromache,' and 'Thetis comforting Achilles,' &c.; but his name has been comparatively little before the public except as a designer for books, his time having been almost entirely occupied in making drawings from ancient marbles in the possession of various English noblemen. Those of the Wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
