Great Britain Stamps

I cannot seem to find these online. Looking for year of issue and value.

These are so-called Penny Reds. They come in many shapes.

The top stamp has letters in the lower corners and stars in the upper corners. Since it is perforated, it dates to the period 1850 - 1864. It appears to be perforated 14, which would further limit it to one of the issues from the period 1855 - 1864. Watermarks, type, alphabet type will narrow it down further. But you are talking upward from £ 8.

The other two have letters in the lower corners that are mirrored in the upper corners. These were in use from 1864 until 1880. The basic price is £ 2.75 but depending on the plate number inscribed on each side in the scrolls, this varies.

If it helps, I recently sold a hundred 1d red "stars" (your top stamp) in varying condition for £25 on ebay. There are still a lot of these and the four-letter type around because of the long period of use. Your third stamp looks like plate 200.

I agree with Geoffha that the third stamp might be from plate 200, which dates to 1877 and is among the cheapest plates catalogued at £ 2.75.

How do you identify plate numbers?

For the ones that have the letters in all four corners (the bottom ones define the plate position, the top ones are in reverse order) you will find the plate number engraved in the scrolls of the frame on both sides of the stamps. To the left, it appear in front of the Queen's face and reads upward. At the back of the Queen's head, it appears at about the same height and reads downward. In both cases, the base of the plate number is on the inside of the frame.

Plate 206 in the white boxes.

If there's a stamp that's had more literature produced about it than the 1d red I can't think what it might be.

An absolutely enormous field to study.

If only they were all as clear as that plate 206.

A Magnifying glass of moderate power and a bit of practice will give you the number of the penny red plates. In the UK I have been to a number of stamp fairs where any children who go are given a penny red as an encouragement to start collecting. obviously not a rare one or one in pristine condition.Back in about 2011 I bought a collection of over 400 in fair condition in an binder, sorted and identified for £24.00

How plate number is identified in stamps with Initials at bottom and stars on top?

Hi Hemang,

The position of the letters in the boxes is the biggest clue, but we're talking about dozens of plates. It's a time consuming and often frustrating exercise.

There's more to it than that of course. As I posted above, it's a vast field.