The Penny Lilac was the basic penny postage stamp

Postage stamp

A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...

 of Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 from its first issue on 12 July 1881 and was used until 1901. It superseded the short lived Penny Venetian Red

Penny Venetian Red

The Penny Venetian Red was a British postage stamp equal to the value of one penny. Issued in 1880, it was designed and surface-printed by security printing company De La Rue...

 because the Customs and Inland Revenue Act of 1881 necessitated new stamps that were also valid as revenue stamp

Revenue stamp

A revenue stamp, tax stamp or fiscal stamp is a adhesive label used to collect taxes or fees on documents, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines, playing cards, hunting licenses, firearm registration, and many other things...

s, and so the Penny Lilac was issued in that year, inscribed "POSTAGE AND INLAND REVENUE". All previous stamps had been inscribed merely "POSTAGE". This stamp remained the standard letter stamp for the remainder of Victoria's reign, and vast quantities were printed.

The Penny Lilac was a surface-printed stamp and was issued in two forms.

• Die I with 14 dots in each corner from 12 July 1881 (495,984,000 issued)
• Die II with 16 dots in each corner, 13 December 1881-1901 (33,600,000,000 issued)