A 1843 Brazilian Bull’s Eye?

Across Britain on 23 March 1843 families enjoying a breakfast pot of tea with a perusal of a daily newspaper must have choked on their muffins when they read the following report:

‘PENNY POSTAGE IN BRAZIL. We have seen the cover of a newspaper, posted at Rio, and addressed to a gentleman in Manchester, care of a house at Pernambuco, on which is a sort of penny postage stamp, rather larger than the Black Penny in use in this country. It is a paper square with an adhesive substance on the back, by means