Great BritainFirst Postage Stamp

Where it all began

This was the very first. A small black rectangle that changed how the world communicated. Issued in May 1840, what’s now widely known in the philatelic world as the Penny Black was the world’s first adhesive postage stamp, introducing a flat-rate postage system for all. Printed in sheets of 240 and issued without perforation, each stamp had to be cut by hand. It was replaced a year later by the Penny Red, which kept the same design but became the first stamp in the world to be perforated, making it easier to separate. Penny Black collectors often focus on printing plates, the engraved metal sheets used to produce the stamps. There were 11 different plates in total, each with subtle variations. Stamps also carry corner letters that reveal their original position on the sheet. Some advanced collectors even try to reconstruct entire sheets, collecting one stamp from each of the 240 positions of a single plate. Plate 11 is the rarest, as it was only used very briefly before being reassigned to the new Penny Red. Every stamp album, every postal story, starts here!