The Penny Black Stamp Store: Why is the Penny Black regarded as a stamp of historical significance?

Monday, 20 June 2011

Why is the Penny Black regarded as a stamp of historical significance?

While the Penny Black has been regarded as the world's first adhesive stamp, it has been disputed that the idea of adhesive stamps had existed before the Penny Black, possibly in Austria, Sweden, and Greece. So what makes the Penny Black so special then?

It was simply because of the idea of having an adhesive stamp to indicate pre-payment of postage; as back then before 1840 it was normal for the recipient to pay postage on delivery. Therefore the "ONE PENNY" was indicated at the bottom of the stamp, showing the amount that had been pre-paid for the transmission of the letter to which it was affixed.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Black

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A Brief History

Before 1st May 1840, posting a letter was a very complicated and expensive affair. It could cost the equivalent of a days wage, and it was charged by how many sheets of paper were used and how far it had to travel. Normally the recipient had to pay the cost.

Sir Roland Hill was responsible for reforming the British postal system, and as part of this a competition was held for the public to design the world’s first adhesive postage stamp. However none of the entries were thought suitable, so instead they used the profile sketch of a then 15 year old Queen Victoria. This image was used on stamps until the end of her reign. Because the Penny Black was the first postage stamp in the world, it did not show a country of origin, and to this day British stamps are the only stamps in the world that do not state what country they are from.

However, the Penny Black only remained in circulation for a year, as it was soon found that it was possible to remove the ink of the red cancellation mark and re-use the stamp, so the Treasury switched to the Penny Red and black cancellation ink.