Wednesday, 27 March 2013

Penny black stamp.

As part of my research for my extended project, I wanted to broaden my research. So I decided at British stamps. I looked at a stamp named 'The Penny Black'. This is the information I found out about this stamp.

Penny Black

Country of production United Kingdom
Location of production London
Date of production 1 May 1840–
February 1841
Perforation None
Notability World's first adhesive postage stamp
Face value 1 penny
Estimated value £3–4,000 (mint)


A Penny Black, with a red cancellation that was hard to see and easily removed.
A rare large mint block of the Penny Black.
The Jacob Perkins' press, that printed the Penny Black and the 2d Blue, in the British Library Philatelic Collections
The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was issued in Britain on 1 May 1840, for official use from 6 May of that year.
All London post offices received official issues of the new stamps but other offices throughout the United Kingdom did not, continuing to accept postage payments in cash only for a period. Post offices such as those in Bath began offering the stamp unofficially after 2 May.
The idea of an adhesive stamp to indicate pre-payment of postage was part of Sir Rowland Hill's 1837 proposals to reform the British postal system; it was normal then for the recipient to pay postage on delivery. A companion idea, which Hill disclosed on 13 February 1837 at a government enquiry, was that of a separate sheet that folded to form an enclosure or envelope for carrying letters. At that time postage was charged by the sheet and on the distance travelled.
Postal delivery systems using what may have been adhesive stamps existed before the Penny Black. Apparently the idea had at least been suggested earlier in Austria, Sweden, and possibly Greece.


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