Penny Lilac of the Penny Lilac was adapted from that used for revenue stamps in Britain from the early 1860s. In that respect it represented a break with 40 years of tradition in postage stamp design. Its predecessors (the Penny Black, the Penny Red and the Penny Venetian Red) all had rectangular designs. The use of the colour lilac for low value definitives was extended in 1884 when other low-value stamps were issued in lilac, with green then being used for higher-value stamps. The Penny Lilac was a surface-printed stamp and was issued in two forms: Penny Lilac stamps are often found
Penny Black people still reused stamps by combining the uncancelled parts of two stamps to form an unused whole, so in 1864 as a further safeguard the top corner stars on the Penny Red were replaced by the lower corner check letters in reverse order. Imprimatur sheets are from among the first sheets of stamps printed from a finished printing plate. The actual imprimatur (Let it be printed) refers to the written permission of the Inland Revenue officials entered on the back of the sheet of stamps. In the 19th century, it was common for officials to remove some stamps from each