Since the Penny Black was first produced, countless technological innovations have come and gone, but the overall process by which a stamp is made has remained constant.
As for the Penny Black, a design for each stamp had to be chosen. Probably the most common design is the “framed head” type, where there is a framed center portrait. The Penny Black set the stage, and it was a number of years before there was a significant deviation from this design by any major stamp-producing nation. When looking at stamps, especially earlier issues, one is struck by how much the stamps appear to be representations of coins placed upon a background. In the pre-1870 period, stamps were not valued as an art form in themselves; rather, they were seen only as receipts for services due, in effect, money. So why not make them look like money? Furthermore, the early stamp designers were frequently Treasury artists who had worked as designers of coins and bills. They carried their coin-oriented experience with them into stamps.
