Great Britain 1841 1d red brown Plate 10, SG7.
A superb unused, with original gum, four margin bottom right hand corner marginal plate block of nine lettered 'RJ-TL', with full deckle edge selvedge, sheet marginal inscription, plate number "10".
Spectacularly showing basal shift printing variety on 'RK' & 'RL', J flaw printing variety on 'SJ' & 'TJ' and "P converted into R by hand engraving" on 'RJ'.
A magnificent and very rare exhibition showpiece and one of the most prominent of "penny red" philatelic rarities.
GB Specialised Catalogue No: AS69c/d/g.
Provenance: Ex. "Verus".
The Stanley Gibbons Queen Victoria Specialised Catalogue does not list prices for these printing varieties in unused condition for these pre-provisional printings in red. The catalogue value for the "P converted into R" for printings in black is £30,000 and £28,000 for the basal shift variety and J flaw variety.
The pre-provisional printings in red using the original plates used for the penny black as notably scarce due to the very short initial printing in red in early January 1841.
Plate 10 was withdrawn from use soon after issue. It is believed its withdrawal was the result of a complaint from Rowland Hill referring to them as 'badly printed' stamps, possibly due to being a worn printing plate. It was destroyed on 21 February 1843.
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