Untitled

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33241, 2 June 1973, Page 11

that, as far as is known, it was never used for postal purposes at all! In the late 1870 s the Post Office produced a whole range of stamps to prepay telegrams. Some were similar to the corresponding postage stamps, but all were inscribed “Telegraphs.” They ranged from jd. up to £5 in face value. Then it was decided that postage stamps could serve both functions, and the telegraph stamps were withdrawn. The problem was that no £5 postage stamp then existed!

So the word "Telegraph” was simply erased from the printing plate, and the word “Postage” inserted at a second printing operation. One can see the signs of this hasty conversion in the ornaments on the stamp either side of "Postage.” These were included to fill up the space occupied by the longer word “Telegraphs” which had appeared there previously. After the death of Queen Victoria, curiously enough, another £5 stamp was prepared showing the head of King Edward VII. But it was never issued. This was because there were still enough of the Victorian £5 stamps left in stock to last throughout Edward Vll’s reign and even later!