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The image of a single Penny Black, enlarged from the second interleaf. It was
designed by Sir Rowland Hill because he did not like any of the more than 2,000 entries submitted to the Treasury
Design Contest. Most of the design elements were chosen to discourage counterfeiting: the use of engraving as
the printing method, the check letters at the lower corners, the machine-produced design on the left and right
sides and the choice of a portrait as the central design. A portrait was chosen because the human eye can readily
distinguish subtle differences in a face, a skill that might be necessary to distinguish a forgery from a real stamp. |
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