Penny Red issued in 1841

 

The Penny Red is a British postage stamp, issued on 10 February 1841. It succeeded the Penny Black and continued as the main type of postage stamp in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until 3 December 1879, with only minor changes to the design during that time. The colour was changed from black to red because of difficulty in seeing a cancellation mark on the Penny Black a black cancel was readily visible on a Penny Red.

Initially some of same plates that were used to print the Penny Black were used to print the Penny Red and stamp had no perforations, and had to be cut from the sheet using scissor in the same manner as for the Penny Black and the early printing of the two pence Blue.