Plating, step by step

Read your stamp

The two letters in the bottom corners give your stamp's place on a sheet of 240. Set them, and the sheet shows the spot.

Row A, stamp 1

The first stamp on the sheet, top left.

Columns A to LOne row: 12 stamps, one shilling

Rows A to T240 stamps, one pound

Four things to check

01The bottom corners

Left letter: the row, A at the top to T at the bottom. Right letter: the place in the row, A to L. A A is the first stamp on the sheet, T L the last.
02The top corners

Maltese crosses mean 1840. Stars mean a Penny Red printed before April 1864. Letters mean April 1864 or later: they repeat the bottom pair in reverse.
03The side lace

From 1864 the plate number is engraved in the lace on both sides, from 71 to 225. Before that, plates are told apart by small flaws and re-cuts.
04The edges

Straight, uneven margins: cut with scissors, before 1854. Holes at 16 to every two centimetres: 1854. At 14: January 1855 onward, because 16 tore too easily.

Issue	In use	Top corners	Edges	Printed
Penny Black	May 1840 to Feb 1841	Maltese crosses	Cut by hand	68,808,000
Twopence Blue	May to Aug 1840	Maltese crosses	Cut by hand	6,460,000
Penny Red	Feb 1841 to 1879	Stars, then letters from 1 Apr 1864	Cut, then perforated 16 (1854) and 14 (1855)	About 21 billion
Penny Venetian Red	1880 to July 1881	Letters	Perforated	Close to 1.5 billion
Penny Lilac	July 1881 to 1901	14 dots, then 16	Perforated	33.6 billion (Die II)

Found your row and your plate? Send a scan and we will check it against our plate records and write it up.