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The Penny Lilac

Introduction

The Customs & Inland Revenue Act of 1881 enabled stamps to the value of 2/6 to be used for collecting revenue or for postage if so inscribed. The revenue value most often in use was the 1d, so that a stamp for that value was required as soon as the Act came into force.

The printers, De La Rue & Co., hurriedly produced what was to be one of their most successful designs, fulfilling its function admirably, escaping criticism levelled at other issues of the period.

The display is divided into two sections - the stamps themselves and the usages.

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Frame 1

THE STAMPS
  1. Introduction
  2. Postal Notice Announcement
  3. The Pearl Motif in the 1d Lilac Frame
  4. The One Penny Unified of 1881 - The First Die
  5. Plate Production - The Working Die Proofs
  6. The First Die - Inks and Shades
  7. The First Die - Settings etc
  8. The Second Die
  9. Further Proofs
  10. The Inks for the 1d Lilac of 1881
  11. The Inks for the 1d Lilac of 1881
  12. The Inks Die 2
  13. Bluish Lilac Shade
  14. Imprimaturs
  15. The Line Perforated Imprimatur
  16. The Settings - First Setting
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Frame 2

THE STAMPS (cont)
  1. The Settings - Second Setting
  2. Plates with Incorporated Printer's Rule
  3. The Result of Improvments to the Ink Used - The Printer's Rule
  4. Plate Identification and the Printer's Rule
  5. Plate Identification and the Printer's Rule
  6. The Printer's Rule and the Interpanneau Bars
  7. "Mould Mark" Watermark
  8. Perforations
  9. The Decoupage or "Make-Ready" Papers
  10. Streamer Flaws
  11. The Size of the Sheet
  12. Printing Variations
  13. Repairs by Substituted Cliche
  14. The Bleute Paper Variety
  15. Watermark Varieties
  16. Separation Varieties
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Frame 3

THE STAMPS (cont)
  1. Plate Varieties
  2. Perforation Varieties
  3. Economy
  4. Economy
  5. Security Devices
  6. Security Devices - Perfins and Underprints
  7. The First Stamp "Booklets"
  8. Colour Trials - 1d of 1881
  9. Colour Trials - 1d of 1881
  10. A De La Rue Forgery
  11. Security Endorsement Experiments
  12. Colour Sample - Embossed Cancellations
  13. A Printers Sample for Colour and Design
  14. Sample of Colour: Issued Postage Stamp
  15. Attempt to Reintroduce a 1d Stamp in Red, 1889
  16. Trials and Essays Using the 1d Lilac Design
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Frame 4

THE STAMPS (cont)
  1. The So-Called "Official" Lithographic Forgeries
  2. Sunlight Soap Advertisement
  3. Facsimile 1d Lilac
  4. Proofs in Colour
  5. Overprinted for use by Government Departments
  6. Handstamped "Specimen" and "Cancelled"
  7. Printing Variations - Paper Folds
  8. Bechuanaland Protectorate Overprints
THE USAGES
  1. Introduction
  2. Date of Issue
  3. The Colonial (Non-UPU) Rate and Imperial Penny Post
  4. The UPU Foreign Rate
  5. The Imperial Penny Post
  6. Redirected Mail - The Forwarding Agents
  7. Redirected Mail - Inland
  8. Redirected Mail
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Frame 5

THE USAGES (cont)
  1. Underpaid Postage to Japan
  2. Underpaid Postage
  3. Underpaid Postage
  4. Posted on Board Ship - Underpaid
  5. Book and Sample Post
  6. Foreign Post Cards
  7. The Parcel Post
  8. Naval Mail
  9. Concessionary Mail
  10. Concessionary Mail - Officers
  11. Concessionary Mail - Sailors
  12. Concessionary Mail - Crown Service
  13. Concessionary Mail - Soldiers
  14. Concessionary Mail - Soldiers
  15. Concessionary Mail - Soldiers
  16. The British Army in South Africa
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Frame 6

THE USAGES (cont)
  1. Use Abroad - The South African War
  2. Concessionary Mail - Prisoners of War
  3. Use Abroad - Ascension Island
  4. Use Abroad - The Niger Territories
  5. Use Abroad - Disinfected Mail from Beirut
  6. Overprinted for Use in British Bechuanaland
  7. Overprinted for Use in African Protectorates
  8. Book Post and Railway Letters
  9. Railway Letters
  10. Urgent Mail - Continental Night Mail
  11. Urgent Mail - Express Letters
  12. Urgent Mail - Telegram
  13. Urgent Mail - Late Fee
  14. Urgent Mail - Late Fee
  15. Urgent Mail - Late Fee
  16. Registration
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Frame 7

THE USAGES (cont)
  1. Registration
  2. Redirected Mail - Foreign
  3. Use Abroad - British Postal Agencies Registered Mail
  4. Mail Posted on a Ship in Port
  5. Mail Posted on a Ship at Sea
  6. Concessionary Mail - Captain's Gratuity and Private Ship Mail
  7. Concessionary Mail - Sailors
  8. Parcel Post for Heavier Letters
  9. Overprinted for Use in the Bechuanaland Protectorate
  10. Overprinted for Use at the Siege of Mafeking
  11. Delayed Mail - Shipwrecked Mail
  12. Delayed Mail
  13. Use by British Postal Agencies - Gibraltar and Malta
  14. Use by British Postal Agencies - Constantinople
  15. Use by British Postal Agencies - Salonica and Smyrna
  16. Abnormal Use Abroad
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Frame 8

THE USAGES (cont)
  1. Abnormal Use Abroad - Prepayment of Foreign and Internal Postage
  2. Abnormal Use Abroad
  3. Multiple Receipt Use - Rent Books
  4. Certificates of Posting of an Insured Parcel
  5. Bisected Stamps
  6. The Post Office Savings Bank Slip
  7. Copy of Birth Certificate
  8. Board of Trade Perfins
  9. Late Use
  10. Imperial Penny Postage
  11. Concessionary Mail - Sailors
  12. Mail Posted on Board a Ship at Sea
  13. Civilian Mail from a Prisoner of War Camp
  14. Underpaid and Redirected
  15. Departmental Overprints
  16. Paquebot Usage - Jamaica
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Frame 9

THE USAGES (cont)
  1. Paquebot Usage - Aden and Port Said
  2. Transatlantic Paquebots Landed from Ships at Rio and Lisbon But Not Sorted on Board
  3. Paquebot Usage - Western Australia
  4. Mail Posted on Board Ship
  5. The First Die
  6. Fiscal Usage
  7. Use Abroad
  8. Paquebot Usage
  9. Paquebot Usage - The Far East
  10. Philatelic Rates