British embossed postage stamps very narrow which is why examples with four margins are rare. In some cases the impressions were impressed overlapping each other by quite a large amount. The stamps were embossed, (printed), at Somerset House. Early collectors would often cut the stamps to shape retaining only the embossed central design and cut square examples are much more valuable. In 1856 after the European postage rate was reduced the stamps were replaced by surface printed issues. 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
Postage stamps of Ireland organisations in 1984, An Post took over the responsibility for all Irish postal services including the issuing of postage stamps. To identify postage stamps used in Ireland between 1840 and 1922, it is necessary to identify the postmark cancelling the stamp as being from an Irish town. Stamps used during this period are referred to as "Great Britain used in Ireland". From 1840 to 1844, the Penny Black, and other stamps issued, were obliterated with the Maltese Cross cancellation. There was no text or numeral to help identify any of these cancels as Irish, but some Maltese Crosses are uniquely