Penny Black: The World's First Postage Stamp
People have been sending letters to each other ever since paper and pen were invented, but it was not until 1840 that a new idea was introduced where people could prepay the cost of delivering their letter to their chosen destination using a Penny Black postage stamp. This was the Universal Penny Post. No longer did the recipient have to give money to the person who delivered the letter or pay a wildly differing amount depending on how far and how long the letter had travelled. The post system became highly efficient, and at one penny a stamp, it was a service just about anyone could afford.
Stamp Design
In 1837, Roland Hill had the idea that a prepaid adhesive stamp could be used for all letters, wherever their destination in the British Isles. The government adopted the idea since it would surely boost revenue and help pay for a more reliable and regular postal service. The first postage stamp carried an engraving of Queen Victoria in profile and cost one penny. The queen's portrait gave some authority to the little pieces of paper; the queen even gave the design her royal approval. The words 'POSTAGE' and 'ONE PENNY' clearly indicated the purpose and cost of these tiny receipts of payment. The stamp's colour and price gave it its familiar name: the Penny Black. There was also a two-penny version, which was a deep blue. The Penny Black covered the cost of delivering a half-ounce (14 g) letter anywhere in the British Isles. Anything weighing more than half an ounce simply required fixing more stamps on the envelope.
The design of the Penny Black was line-engraved (aka recess-printed) using a steel plate. Letters in each of the bottom corners of the stamp varied depending on the position of the individual stamp within the sheet of printed stamps. This system, which created 240 varieties, was designed to prevent forgery or the combining and reusing of non-postmarked parts of different stamps. The intricate design of the left and right sides of the stamp and the background were also intended, like banknotes, to make illegal replication difficult. Another device to prevent forgery was to use watermarked paper so that each stamp had a small crown watermark.
The Penny Black stamp has a reputation for rarity, but millions were printed as the idea of a prepaid postal system took off. Unlike today, when national post offices worldwide issue new sets of stamps each month, the Penny Black was in service from May 1840 to February 1841. At one point, the printers were producing 600,000 stamps every day. Around 68 million Penny Blacks were printed; it is estimated that only around 5% of these have survived today, and most of those are in poor condition.
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⇒ Penny Black: The World's First Postage Stamp
