First Penny Black stamp set to fetch a first-class £6m
THE world’s first stamp has gone up in price from 1p to £6million, say auctioneers.
The Penny Black, dated to 1840, is “the earliest securely dated example of the first postage stamp”, according to auction house Sotheby’s, who will be selling it on December 7.
It is attached to the so-called Wallace Document, dated April 10, 1840, and named after Robert Wallace, an MP who led a commission on postal reform.
The Penny Black, which introduced a flat rate for posting letters, came into use a month later, on May 6, 1840.
Before that, the recipient of the letter paid the postage cost.
The adhesive stamp features an image of Queen Victoria based on a sketch of her aged 15. The same image remained on stamps for more than 60 years until her death in 1901.
Henry House, head of Sotheby’s treasures sale, said: “This is the first ever stamp, the precursor to all stamps, and unequivocally the most important piece of philatelic history to exist.
“Though there are many hugely important stamps around the world, this is the stamp that started the postage system as we know it.”
The stamp is one of three Penny Blacks believed to have survived from the first sheet of printed stamps. The other two are at the British Postal Museum in central London.
Businessman and philatelist Alan Holyoake came into possession of the Wallace Document 10 years ago.
He said: “The fact that Wallace signed, dated and issued his note gives support to the fact that this is the very first example of a postage stamp, which every country now uses.”