Great Britain postage stamp year 1841 1d Deep red brown Used
The Great Britain 1841 1 d Deep Red-Brown postage stamp is an early British classic, commonly known to collectors as an early Penny Red / Penny Red-Brown issue (the direct successor to the world’s first postage stamp, the Penny Black).
📌 What It Is
- Country: Great Britain (United Kingdom)
- Issued: 1841 (official date of issue 10 February 1841)
- Denomination: 1 penny (“1 d”)
- Design: Queen Victoria’s profile (same basic design as the Penny Black)
- Imperforate: No perforations (stamps had to be cut apart by scissors)
- Colour: Deep red-brown shade (one of several red-brown tones that exist for this issue)
This stamp replaced the Penny Black because the red-brown colour allowed black cancellations (Maltese Cross or numeral cancels) to show more clearly and reduce the risk of cleaning and reuse.
📜 Historical Context
- The Penny Red-Brown was introduced after the Penny Black (1840) to improve cancel visibility.
- The early red-brown issues were printed from many different plates — and some were even struck from plates originally used for Penny Blacks and then repurposed.
- These stamps were in widespread use across the UK for ordinary mail for many years, making them very common overall — though some specific plate/shade/cancellation combinations are rare.
🔎 Identification
To identify what you have and whether it is the 1841 deep red-brown:
- Imperforate: no perforations around the edges.
- Colour: rich dark red-brown (deeper than the typical pale red-brown).
- Corner letters: 1d stamps of this era have letter pairs in the lower corners — there are part of the control system used on the printing plates
- Cancellation: early stamps are usually cancelled with a black Maltese Cross.
💰 Value & Rarity
The value of a 1841 1d deep red-brown stamp varies massively depending on:
- Condition (centering, margins, faults, tears)
- Shades/plate number (some plates are scarce or highly prized)
- Mint or used and type of cancellation
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