Great Britain postage stamp year 1855 1d red brown Perforation 14 & 16 

Great Britain postage stamp year 1841 1d Deep red brown Used

🇬🇧 Great Britain 1 d Red-Brown (1855 era)

📜 What Stamp This Is

• Name (common): Penny Red (1 d) – standard British definitive for one penny postage.
• Issued: Perforated versions from 1854 onwards, with changes around 1855.
• Design: Queen Victoria profile (same basic design as earlier Penny Reds).
• Perforation: Early experiments used gauge 16; it was changed to gauge 14 in 1855.

📌 Perforations: 16 & 14

🟡 Perforation 16 (Gauge 16)

• Introduced: Officially in 1854 on many Penny Reds.
• Characteristics: Many stamps printed with perf 16 before 1855.
• Why changed: The hole size was found to be too fine so sheets would tear easily.
• Collectors: This type persists on stamps printed into early 1855.

🟢 Perforation 14 (Gauge 14)

• Introduced: January 1855 as the standard choice to strengthen sheet integrity.
• How to tell: Larger perforation holes per 2 cm (14 around 2 cm vs. 16 for the earlier type).
• Co-existence: Both perf 14 and perf 16 stamps were produced around 1855–1857 as the Post Office transitioned.

🧾 Key Varieties Around 1855

In the mid-1850s, Penny Reds with the following features existed:

🧠 Historical Notes

• The Penny Red was Britain’s main 1 d definitive stamp from 1841 to 1879.
• Perforation was a new technology in the 1850s; Henry Archer developed the first usable machines.
• Perf 16 was the first widely-used perforation, but it was soon changed to the sturdier perf 14.
• After 1864 the stamps were changed to show letters in all four corners and a plate number engraved in the design — but mid-1850s issues still lack the engraved plate number within the stamp design (plate numbers exist only in the margins).