Penny Black printing plates Penny Black printing plates The printing plates for the Penny Black, two pence blue and the VR official were all constructed by Perkins Bacon, the printers of the first postage stamps issued in Great Britain. The construction of these plates was long and complicated, which was intentional so as to make the forgery of the finished article almost impossible. The first stage involved the engraving of a background for the design. This was produced with a rose engine which laid down a circular pattern of symmetrical design onto a piece of soft steel. This was then partly cleared to leave
Push penny Durham were people who kept this tradition going over the years, but the custom was stopped again in the middle of the 19th century. It is unlikely that this tradition will come back. During the monastic period, roughly 300-600 people would gather by the Prior's Mansion and pennies were thrown out at them. At Bishop Auckland the Bishop would throw pennies on specific days of the year. Push penny Push penny was a long-observed custom at Durham Cathedral in England which occurred three days in the year. During this tradition money was thrown into the crowd on the college-yard. The