The Penny Red 1841-79
Issued in Feb 1841
A colour trial of 1840
In 1841 the stamp colour was changed from black to red-brown and the Penny Red was born,
it was to be the work-horse of early Victorian stamps until 1879, over 21 billion were issued.
It had two corner letters at the bottom, four corner letters were introduced in 1864 to avoid forgery.
it was to be the work-horse of early Victorian stamps until 1879, over 21 billion were issued.
It had two corner letters at the bottom, four corner letters were introduced in 1864 to avoid forgery.
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| Red MX postmark | Black MX postmark |
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| Plate 10 | Plate 11 |
| Penny reds printed from the same plates used to print Penny blacks | |
For me these are intersting singles and blocks of this fascinating series of stamps, enjoy...
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| blued paper | small crown watermark | large crown watermark |
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| Imperforated colour varieties (die I, Alph I or II) | ||
Perforated Stamps 1854
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| Colour varieties SG 17, watermark small crown, perf 16, blued paper, Die I, Alph II | |||
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| Die II, wmk small crown, perf 16 | Die II | wmk Large crown, perf 16 | perf 14 |
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| perf 16 | perf 14 | ||
Letters in all four corners, and plate number on stamp, 1864-79 Plate 195The extra letters were introduced to avoid forgery e.g. AB at bottom and BA at top  | |||
| Numbers issued | |
| Imperforated 1841-54 | 2,468,000,000 |
| Perforated 1854-61 | 5,116,000,000 |
| Plate numbers 1858-69 | 13,434,000,000 |
The Penny Red is Great Britain's longest running stamp, from Feb 1841 to Dec 1879. It was used for the main letter rate and about 21 billion were issued. The colour of the Penny Black was changed from Black to red so that the black cancelation could be clearly seen. Until 1854 it had no perforations. In 1855 the watermark was changed from small crown to large crown. The first die was used to produce 204 plates, plus 6 reserve plates. A new die II was also introduced in 1855, this was used to produce 225 plates, plates 71-225 have the plate number engraved on the stamp. The paper also changed from blued, to cream to white between 1854 and 58. All these changes together with subtle variations between stamps make the Penny Red an interesting, and inexpensive, stamp to specialise in.
In 1864 the design was modified, there are now letters in all four corners and the plate number is engraved engraved on each stamp. It was printed using the line-engraved method by Perkins, Bacon & Petch (from 1852 Perkins, Bacon & Co). It was replaced by the surface-printed 1d provisional issue in 1880.
