United Kingdom, 1864
Queen Victoria in profile on a red stamp with a postmark.
Illustration of a historical stamp for learning, shown at screen size. Not valid for postage.
How to read it
Same young Queen Victoria as the Penny Black, now in red, and still no country name.
- 1POSTAGE: no country named
- 2ONE PENNY
- Inscription
- POSTAGE · ONE PENNY
- Meaning
- Again no country name, only POSTAGE and the value.
- Issued by
- United Kingdom
- Today
- the United Kingdom Flag of United Kingdom
- Year
- 1864. Penny Reds with the plate number in the design were used from 1864; this one is from plate 148.
- Made by
- William Wyon (portrait after a medal head, died 1851)
One fact
The penny stamp changed from black to red in 1841; on these later Penny Reds the tiny number in the side borders is the printing plate, here 148.
Source and public-domain rule
UK Crown copyright, published more than 50 years ago. General Post Office stamp published in 1864: Crown copyright ended in 1914. Stamps made by the General Post Office before 1 October 1969 are Crown copyright works; Crown copyright in a work published commercially ends 50 years after the end of the year of publication. Legal sources: Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, s. 163(3)(b).
Scan: Stamp UK Penny Red pl148.jpg on Wikimedia Commons (revision 1164914687), licence templates {{PD-UKGov}}, {{PD-old}}. Downloaded 2026-10-19, sha256 992f30779977…; cropped and cleaned for this site. Facts checked 2026-10-19 against source 1 and source 2. Research record, not legal advice; a human rights review is pending. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
