The first Victorian halfpenny stamp

During the first thirty years of adhesive stamp sales in Great Britain (1840 to 1870) only two values – ONE PENNY (The Penny Black) and TWO PENCE (Tuppeny Blue) – were needed for use on the several billion inland letters weighing up to one ounce that passed through the mails in those decades.

• The introduction of a lower halfpenny stamp was prompted by a reduction in the postal rate for newspapers and postcards.
• The Halfpenny Rose Red was issued on 1 October 1870
• It was Britain's first halfpenny stamp.
• To represent the value, the new stamp was half the size of the one penny stamp
• The stamps soon became known as 'Bantams'.

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A mixed reception for the 'Bantams'

The London City Press described the halfpenny stamp as 'about two thirds the size of the ordinary penny stamp and printed in a similar red. But the portrait of Her Majesty in a circular medallion is disfigured by large halfpenny symbols on the left and right.'

The stamp’s design continued to meet with disapproval well into the 20^th century, probably culminating in 1943 with the disparaging remarks of John Easton, author of British Postage Stamp Design:

'The Halfpenny of 1870 was a freak with a miniature head of the Sovereign floating in a small white circle, with figures of value of huge disproportion flanking to left and to right.'

Design implications of the half-sized, halfpenny stamp

The design of the Victorian halfpenny of 1870 was not as easy as the postal authorities would have liked…

• Difficulties had arisen from the unexpected introduction of the word HALFPENNY into the design mix.
   
• The word was almost twice as long as PENNY, yet required to fit on a stamp much smaller than a Penny Red.
   
• The paper on which bantams were printed had the word halfpenny in manuscript style as a watermark that stretched across three stamps. Perkins, Bacon & Co’s solution to space restrictions on the surface involved moving the d abbreviation of denarius to a position above the ½ symbols on both sides of the portrait; an innovative if puzzling value figure on a postage stamp.
   
• The printer’s original intention had been to issue the miniature HALFPENNY in a shade of light green. Experiments to produce a fugitive ink in that hue proved, however, too time-consuming; so they dropped the plan and used rose-red ink instead.

The Bantam’s replacement – a standard-sized stamp inscribed POSTAGE HALFPENNY – was surface printed and issued in light green by De La Rue in 1880, thus ending the ten-year use of the unique 'bantams'.

Discover more about Victorian stamps…

• 10 facts about the 1840 Penny Black stamp
• Victorian embossed stamps
• Victorian 1d lilac stamp of 1881