Great Britain 1841 1d red brown Plate 10, SG7.
A superb unused, with original gum, four margin right hand marginal block of sixteen lettered 'II-LL', with full deckle edge selvedge and sheet marginal inscription.
A magnificent exhibition quality block of the highest pedigree, lightly mounted on four stamps only.
GB Specialised Catalogue No: AS69.
Accompanied with a 2013 British Philatelic Association (BPA) Certificate of Authenticity.
Whilst the penny black enjoys the accolade of being the stamp that changed the world, it did have one serious failing. It became apparent that the red cancellation used might be cleaned from the black stamp, allowing it to be reused. This failing was identified in the first month of issue of the penny black and trials began to find a better combination of stamp and cancellation colours. The end result was a decision to swap the colours around and introduce a red stamp with a black cancellation.
In February 1841, nine months after the issue of the penny black, it was replaced by the Penny Red. The imperforate penny red covered the standard letter rate in Great Britain until the arrival of perforated stamps in 1854 and consequently was the stamp most used during the Victorian Communication Revolution which changed the world. During this period, both literacy and letter-writing grew at unprecedented rates.
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