Great Britain 1841 1d red brown Plate 10, SG7.
A superb unused, with original gum, large four margin block of four lettered "FG-GH", lightly mounted on top two stamps only.
A stunning exhibition quality block as exceptionally rare in such fine condition.
SG Catalogue Value: £12,500.
The Post Office discovered that the red Maltese Cross cancellation could be removed from the Penny Black, allowing stamps to be fraudulently reused. The solution was to reverse the colours printing the stamp in red brown and applying a cancel in black. However, the new plates were not yet ready, so several of the original Penny Black plates were pressed back into service to print the first Penny Reds.
