British embossed postage stamps

The adhesive embossed postage stamps of the United Kingdom, issued during the reign of Queen Victoria between 1847 and 1854 exhibit four features which are unique to this issue: Three values of the octagonal stamps were introduced to cover higher foreign and registered postal charges on the following dates: 1 Shilling (green) - 11 September 1847, 10d (brown) - 6 November 1848, 6d (mauve/lilac/purple) - 1 March 1854 The 1 shilling was the first British postage stamp to bear a value above 2d.

[2] The dies used for this type of printing have the embossed, (raised), portions of the stamp design cut away, (recessed), into the metal.

The original master die did not show the pendant curl at the back of the hair and was not used in this form on the postage stamps, although it was used at the Royal Mint for coinage.

This takes the form of a number with the letters W W either before or after and appears at the base of the neck of Queen Victoria.

In 1856 after the European postage rate was reduced the stamps were replaced by surface printed issues.