THE PENNY BLACK THE WORLD’S FIRST STAMP. Fine – Used Stamp (NE) in Presentation Album! A fine, 4 margin stamp with a clear profile bearing a faint red Maltese cross cancel! A few words from the album. Simple postal systems, created exclusively for official use, have existed for thousands of years. Public use of mails, however, was unheard of before the 1500s. England’s King Henry VIII appointed the first “Master of Posts” in 1516. England established post offices in major cities and introduced the London Penny Post, under which letters could be mailed anywhere within the city limits for a penny. But outside London, mails were very expensive and erratic. In a pamphlet published in 1837, Hill called for an inexpensive, standard rate for letters, regardless of the distance involved. Charles and Frederick Heath engraved the Penny Blacks and they were printed in black ink by Perkins, Bacon & Company. The color was changed to red-brown for the one-penny stamp of 1841. It was officially postmarked during actual use, nearly 150 years ago. (Bd Rm Cpd Tp). This item is in the category “Stamps\Great Britain\Victoria”. The seller is “zyphr_philately” and is located in this country: IN. This item can be shipped worldwide.
- Year of Issue: 1840-1841
- Certification: Uncertified
- Place of Origin: Great Britain
- Topic: Royalty
- Era: Queen Victoria
- Country/Region of Manufacture: United Kingdom
- Grade: XF (Extremely Fine)
- Quality: Used
- Color: Black
