The Penny Red stamps, first printed in 1841, with is distinct brownish-red colour earned notoriety when replacing the Penny Black, just nine months after it had been issued. These remained the main type of postage payment in the UK for almost 40 years. Around 21 billion Penny Reds were produced by Perkins, Bacon $ Co until the stamp usage came to an end in 1879.
Three distinct types of Penny Reds were issued.
The Penny Red Imperforates. Produced from 1841 until 1854, initially using just 7 out of 11printing plates used to produce the Penny Blacks, a further 164 plates were used. It had to be cut from a stamp sheet using scissors. As they started using the existing printing plates, these stamps were effectively Penny Blacks but printed in a new red ink. Plates 132 to 175 can be distinguished by specialists as they have an altered type of alphabet (Alphabet II) in the lower corners.
The perforated Penny Red Stars (1850-1864). Experiments started to see if the sheets of stamps could be perforated to speed up the Post Office clerks and to stop the need to use scissors to separate the stamps. Collectors refer to these as ''Archer'' perfs. From 1850, a 16 gauge perforation version started.
The perforated Penny Red Plates. In 1858, work started on a redesigned Penny Red. Various design changes were made including the use of letters instead of of stars in the upper corner. Small plate numbers were also to be hidden between interlocking lines at each side. To prevent the sheets from easily coming apart, 14 perforations were used instead of 16. Each stamp sheet was made up of 20 rows of 12 stamps (240 in total). This sheet configuration remained till 1971, when sheets were reduced to 200.
The sheet number this can be read vertically between the top and bottom markings on the stamp
The first Penny Reds on sale on 10 February 1841 were printed from Penny Black plates. ''Matching pair'' of Penny Blacks and Penny Reds, issued from the same plate with the same corner letters are much sought after by collectors.
Plate 77 Penny Red. The rarest plate to be used is number 77, from which only one sheet of stamps was printed. Plate 77 dates from 1863, was rejected due to poor alignment which means that some stamps were mis perforated in production. A few examples have been unearthed by collectors. The recent example to be sold from this plate fetched 495,000 UK Pounds in March 2016, making it UK's second most valuable stamp. There are about 10-12 stamps believed to exist. For stamp collectors, Plate 77 Penny Reds are a holy grail of philately, as they were not meant to exist.
Though all Penny Reds may not be very valuable, those of plate 77 being unearthed from 1920 are now being discovered with collectors, that were so far unnoticed. Plate 77 IM, Plate 77 PH, Plate 77 LL, Plate 77 AC, Plate 77 MI, Plate 77 AB, Plate 77 PI, Plate 77 AA and Plate 77 BA have been traced out with private collectors, at auctions and at the British Museum.
Often referred to as the poor mans Penny Black, it is still highly sought after by both young and experienced collectors. The lure of finding a rare plate 77 Penny Red will continue to ensure the next generation of collectors inspired for years to come
What a treasure, Rajeev. You are truly a great philatelist.
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