GB Queen Victoria   »  Surface Printed issues from SG62-SG174

 Surface Printed Stamps

Surface-printed stamps first appeared on 31st July 1855, printed by De La Rue. Surface-printed stamps of the 1860s and 1870s all used the same profile of Victoria, but a variety of frames, watermarks, and corner lettering.

The new low values were also surface-printed, first was a penny stamp coloured Venetian red in a square frame, issued in 1880. However, the passage of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act of 1881 necessitated new stamps valid also as revenue stamps, and so the Penny Lilac was issued in that year, inscribed "POSTAGE AND INLAND REVENUE". This stamp remained the standard letter stamp for the remainder of Victoria's reign, and vast quantities were printed.