Golden Oxen's First Amendment Forum
Collectibles => Philatelics => Topic started by: Golden Oxen on April 21, 2014, 09:48:11 pm
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(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Penny_black.jpg)
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 and features a profile of the Queen Victoria.
Not my favorite for beauty, but the famed Penny Black kicked off the worlds Stamp collecting hobby, a fascinating hobby that reaches everywhere in the globe.
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The Penny Black, with its partner Twopence Blue, are generally regarded as being the World's first postage stamps. They were valid for postage from 6th May 1840, and in the course of the next eight or nine months, more than 70 million of them passed over the Post Office counters. A Penny Black paid to send a letter of half an ounce (14g for the metricated among us) anywhere in Great Britain and Ireland. The Twopence Blue paid for a one ounce letter, and other multiples of the basic rate.
It is a common misconception that Penny Blacks are very rare, they aren't. They are extremely popular as the subject of collections here and around the world, and this popularity leads to quite firm prices, but the stamps are definitely not rare. A good, collectable, stamp such as that illustrated is probably worth about £150. The Twopenny Blue stamps are much scarcer, but are valued at around two or three times the price of the Penny stamp. Much depends on the size of the margins, and the clarity and position of them.
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Strangely, given the extent of the British Empire in the 1840s, the next stamps did not come from any British territories, but as a purely local issue from Zurich on 1st March 1843, followed by a 'proper' issue from Brazil on 1st August 1843, with a famous stamp known as the 'Bull's Eye' which was valid for general postage.
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The United States was a relatively late starter with their first stamps coming along in 1847. After Congress had authorised the issue, a contract was given to Messrs Rawdon, Wright, Hatch and Edson, of New York, to produce the stamps. These were issued on 1st July 1847 and remained in use for a number of years. Numbers used were small, with around 3.7 million of the 5 cent denomination and 870,000 of the 10 cent denomination being sold.
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At approximately the same time, the Indian Ocean territory of Mauritius issued its first stamps. These were evidently based on the designs of the first British stamps. Invitations to a ball at Government House were being prepared, and the Governor's Lady thought that it would be a novelty if they bore postage stamps to carry them through the mail. As there were no official issues for Mauritius, Penny and Two Pence stamps were engraved locally. The invitations arrived on time, but these early issues are now rare and expensive, but thanks to the marvels of modern science you, too, can study examples in your own home!
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For a number of years, stamps were relatively staid in their designs, usually featuring the portrait of a monarch or president, or a coat of arms, or the value of the stamp. But as the nineteenth century progressed, designs became a little more adventurous.
In 1853, The Cape of Good Hope decided that it took too much effort to cut round four-sided stamps, and introduced their famous three-sided triangular stamps, while the New Brunswickians chose to stick with four-sided stamps but turned them round to stand on their corner. Still in New Brunswick, the Postmaster General became officially unpopular in 1860 when he ordered up some new 5c stamps with his own portrait instead of that of Queen Victoria!
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Still in North America, we go straight to the Wild West of the United States. A two cent stamp showing the Pony Express at full gallop was issued by the United States in 1869.
Then back to the Old World where, after years of pedestrian designs featuring first Ceres and then the Emperor Napoleon III, France started on its first exploration of modern artistry with a handsome series issued in 1876, a tradition maintained in many styles, over many years and many issues.
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Meanwhile, back where it all started, the good old General Post Office came up with a triumph of design for the new penny lilac stamp of 1881. This design lasted for twenty years until the accession of King Edward VII.
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The extremely rare Basel Dove was designed by Melchoir Berry. But the blue-crimson-black color scheme of the Basel Dove stamp was not well accepted by the public so it was later on withdrawn.
These rare Swiss stamps are one of the most beautiful classical stamps.
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Have never collected stamps, but am finding this gallery interesting, in that it's like a little slice of travel through time and a glimpse of styles, mores, and visual imagery current at the time.
Thanks, GO.
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Have never collected stamps, but am finding this gallery interesting, in that it's like a little slice of travel through time and a glimpse of styles, mores, and visual imagery current at the time.
Thanks, GO.
True Surly, all of that and more. Stamps are a great hobby to get kids interested in their world and it's people, history, important events. The older you get they take on a different significance, of the kind you mentioned.
Glad you are enjoying the thread. Hope you will stop in often, Have hardly scratched the surface of this remarkable hobby.
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The 1-dollar "Black Bull" of the 1898 Trans-Mississippi issue is one of the great classic stamps.