Great Britain 1840 'VR Official' Penny Black
- Maker
- United Kingdom (Inland Revenue / GPO)
- Year
- 1840
- Rank
- 83 of 100
Great Britain 1840 'VR Official' Penny Black
Great Britain 1840 'VR Official' Penny Black by United Kingdom (Inland Revenue / GPO) (1840) is ranked 83 in the FLOAT 100 for Stamps. It carried a market asking price of $26,934 on 6 August 2026, which is not a sale. The Penny Black variant prepared for government mail but never issued and almost entirely destroyed — a famous 'what-if' of philately.
What is it, and why is it in the FLOAT 100?
The Penny Black variant prepared for government mail but never issued and almost entirely destroyed — a famous 'what-if' of philately.
SG V1, 1d black with 'V' 'R' in upper corners — the unissued official; ~33 possible examples; imprimatur/single
What is the best-sourced number for it?
- Figure
- $26,934
- Kind
- Market asking price, not a sale
- Date
- 6 August 2026
Paul Fraser Collectibles (Jersey) offers this exact stamp — GB 1840 1d black VR Official (Before Hardening) imprimatur, SG V1, a very fine unused imperforate single lettered TI, one of only 33 possible examples, with a 2006 Brandon certificate — at GBP 20,000, In stock, confirmed by the page's schema.org Offer (priceValidUntil 2026-08-16). Converted at 1.3467 USD/GBP = $26,934 (the page's own live conversion shows $26,907.58). The same GBP 20,000 is the Stanley Gibbons GB Specialized Queen Victoria catalogue value for SG V1 (down from GBP 35,000 in the Nov 2020 edition), so asking level and guide value agree. Note that a soiled and creased unused-without-gum non-imprimatur VR Official realized only GBP 2,400 at Spink — imprimatur status is what carries this figure.
This is not a sale. It is what the market was asking, and no transaction is recorded behind it. Source.
How this is made
- The figure
- One reference price, taken from a named public source and shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. A market asking price and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- Why no grade ladder
- Most FLOAT 100 entries are individual objects. There is one of this, so there is no population and no spread across grades to show.
- Archive
- 2026-08-08