Proof sheet of one penny stamps Stamp Act 1765

The 1765 Stamp Act created a direct tax of one penny per sheet on newspapers and required that the newspapers be printed on stamped paper purchased from government agents. The Board of Stamps prepared two hundred copper dies and eight plates of the one-penny stamps. The design consists of a mantle; St. Edward's Crown encircled by the Order of the Garter; and a scepter and sword. At top is the word AMERICA; at bottom the denomination ONE PENNY and the number of the individual die. Dark red proof impressions of the plates were made on thick laid paper before production of the stamped paper began. Only thirty-two copies of the original dark-red proof impressions made in 1765 have survived. Twenty-six of these are contained in this partial proof sheet owned by the British Library Philatelic Collections. Five more — three singles and a pair — are in private hands, and the one is in the Smithsonian National Postal Museum's permanent collection.