File:Penny_black.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Type
- Definitive postage stamp
- Country of issue
- United Kingdom
- Date of issue
- 1 May 1840 ( 1840-05-01 ) – February 1841 ( 1841-02 )
- Printer
- Perkins Bacon , London , UK
- Perforation
- None
- Depicts
- Queen Victoria
- Notability
- World's first adhesive postage stamp
- Nature of rarity
- Classic stamp
- Number span no printed
- 68,808,000
- Number span no in existence
- c. 1,300,000
- Face value
- 1 penny
- Estimated value
- £40–£1000s
via Wikipedia infobox
~10 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in the United Kingdom on 1 May 1840 but was not valid for use until 6 May. The stamp features a profile of 21-year-old Queen Victoria.
In 1837, British postal rates were high, complex, and anomalous. To simplify matters, Sir Rowland Hill proposed an adhesive stamp to indicate pre-payment of postage. At the time it was normal for the recipient to pay postage on delivery, charged by the sheet and on distance travelled. By contrast, the Penny Black allowed letters of up to 1⁄2 ounce (14 grams) to be delivered at a flat rate of one penny, regardless of distance.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Penny Black” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.