USA postage stamps

1847 5¢; the first US stamp, Scott #1
1847 10¢, Scott #2

Congress finally provided for the issuance of stamps by passing an act on March 3, 1847, and the Postmaster-General immediately let a contract to the New York City engraving firm of Rawdon, Wright, Hatch, and Edson. The first stamp issue of the U.S. was offered for sale on July 1, 1847, in NYC, with Boston receiving stamps the following day and other cities thereafter. They consisted of an engraved 5-cent red brown stamp depicting Benjamin Franklin (the first postmaster of the US), and a 10-cent value in black with George Washington. As for all U.S. stamps until 1857, they were imperforate.

The 5 cent stamp paid for a letter weighing less than 1 oz and travelling less than 300 miles, the 10 cent stamp for deliveries to locations greater than 300 miles, or, twice the weight deliverable for the 5 cent stamp. Each stamp was hand engraved in what is believed to be steel, and laid out in sheets of 200 stamps. The 5 cent stamp is often found today with very poor impressions because the type of ink used contained small pieces of quartz, and wore down the steel plates to which the stamp was printed. On the other hand, most 10 cent stamps are of strong impressions. A fresh and brilliantly printed 5 cent stamp is prized by collectors.
3 cents, 1851
1 cent, 1851, type II

The stamps were an immediate success; about 3,700,000 of the 5¢ and about 865,000 of the 10¢ were sold, and enough of those have survived to ensure a ready supply for collectors, although the demand is such that a very fine 5¢ sells for around US$500 as of 2003, and the 10¢ in very fine condition sells for around $1,400 in used form. Unused stamps are much scarcer, fetching around $6,000 and $28,000 respectively, if in very fine condition. One can pay as little as 5 to 10% of these figures if the stamps are in poor condition.

The post office had become so efficient by 1851 that Congress was able to reduce the common rate to three cents (which remained unchanged for over a century), necessitating a new issue of stamps. Values included a 1¢ profile of Franklin in blue, a 3¢ profile of Washington in red brown, a 5¢ portrait of Thomas Jefferson, and portraits of Washington for 10¢ green and 12¢ black values. The 1c stamp achieved notoriety, at least among philatelists, because production problems led to substantial plate modifications, and there are no less than seven major varieties, ranging in price from $100 to $200,000, and sharp-eyed collectors periodically find the rare types going unrecognized.

1857 saw the introduction of perforation, and in 1860 24¢, 30¢, and 90¢ values (with still more images of Washington and Franklin) were issued for the first time.

Treskilling Yellow

Issue Date	1855
Issuer	Sweden
Known For	Most expensive stamp in the world
Approximate Value	$2.5 million Swiss Francs (as of 1996)

History

The normal three skilling stamp printed in Sweden is colored green while the eight skilling stamp was printed in yellow. However, due to an unknown error (but most likely the three skilling plate was accidently replaced by an eight skilling one), the three skilling stamp was printed in yellow, creating the Treskilling Yellow Stamp.

The only known copy of the Treskilling Yellow was discovered by a schoolboy named Georg Wilhelm Baeckman in 1886 while going through his grandparents' attic.

To this date, this is the only copy known in existence and is worth about $80 billion/pound by weight - one of the most expensive objects in the world

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Inverted Jenny

Issue Date	May 10, 1918
Issuer	United States
Known For	Most famous error in American Stamps
Approximate Value	$525,000 US Dollars

The 24 cent Jenny Stamp was created for delivery of mail by air - a new concept in 1918. This is a large sum compared to the 3 cents that it costs for ground delivery. As a result, the stamp was created and printed in a hurry.

The Jenny Stamps were printed in sheets of 100, but each sheet had to be fed through the printing machine twice. Therefore, it's very easy to accidently flip the sheet on the second pass, and this is exactly what happened. One of these sheets were printed with the jenny plane upside down, and sold before it was noticed, creating the Inverted Jenny error.

The sheet of stamps were subsequently sold for ever higher amounts. Eventually, the sheet was broken up when the owner realized that the Inverted Jenny Stamps were worth more (resale wise) when separated.

A block of 4 stamps was purchased in 2005 for $2.9 million dollars.

Post Office Mauritius - Blue Penny / Red Penny

Issue Date	September 20, 1847
Issuer	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Known For	Also known as Blue Penny/Red Penny, one of the rarest stamps in the world. Has the words "Post Office" instead of "Post Paid". First stamps of Britian to be produced outside of the United Kingdom.
Approximate Value	€1 million pounds sterling

History

A design created by Joseph Barnard (1816-1865), whose initials are engraved on the neck of the queen on Post Office Mauritius Stamps. A copper plate of 3.25 inches by 2.5 inches was used to engrave the design. 240 pieces of this stamp was sold before it was realized that words on the stamp should be "Post Paid" and not "Post Office".

There are only 26 known copies of the Post Office Mauritius Stamps that have survived to this day. One Penny: 12 cancelled, 2 mint. Two Penny: 6 cancelled, 6 mint. They are mostly in the hands of private collectors, but are on display at the British Museum in London and the Blue Penny Museum in Mauritius.

Mauritius was the 5th British colony (and country) to issue postage stamps.

Most of the stamps were sent out in some ball invitation letters sent out by Mauritius' governer's wife (Lady Gomm):

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Penny Black

Issue Date	May 1, 1840 (for use on May 6)
Issuer	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Known For	World's first prepaid adhesive postage stamp
Approximate Value	Used: $200 (as of 2000) $240 (as of 2007) Unused: $3000 (as of 2000)

History

Before the Penny Black was issued, post offices of the era had to take payments for mail delivery in cash. This was, of course, not very efficient as people had to wait in line much as we do at the post offices today to deliver every piece of mail. In addition, post offices had to handle cash and count the number of pages each person has. Postage was charged by the sheet and the amount of distance traveled.

In 1837, Rowland Hill proposed to reform the British postal system by wrapping the letter in an extra piece of paper (envelopes) and attach an adhesive stamp to indicate the prepayment of postage.

The picture in the stamp is that of Queen Victoria. It is based on a sketch done by Henry Cole who based his work on that of William Wyon. Wyon orignially sketched a head for a medal that commemorated Queen Victoria's visit to London in 1837, the year she ascended the throne (she was 15 at the time). The stamps were printed by Perkins Bacon.

The Penny Black Stamp was only used for one year because the red cancellation mark was hard to see on the black background. As a result of this, the Treasury reprinted the stamp as a red stamp so that the black cancellation marks that are later used are easier to see and harder to remove.

The Penny Black Stamp was not perforated. In fact, perforation was not introdued until 1854. Because of wear and tear, eleven different plates were used during the life cycle of the Penny Black.

A postage stamp is adhesive paper evidence of a fee paid for postal services. Usually a small rectangle attached to an envelope, the stamp signifies the person sending it has fully or partly paid for delivery. Postage stamps are the most popular way of paying for retail mail; alternatives include prepaid-postage envelopes and postage meters. The study of postage stamps is philately. Stamp collecting is the hobby of collecting stamps.

History

Although James Chalmers and Lovrenc Košir lay claim to the concept of the postage stamp, postage stamps were first introduced in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on May 1, 1840 as part of postal reforms promoted by Rowland Hill. With its introduction the postage fee was to be paid by the sender and not the recipient, though sending mail prepaid was not a requirement. The first stamp, the Penny Black, put on sale on 1 May, was valid from 6 May, 1840; two days later came the Two pence blue. Both show an engraving of the young Queen Victoria and were a success though refinements like perforations were instituted later. At the time, there was no reason to include the United Kingdom's name on the stamp, and the UK remains the only country not to identify itself by name on the stamps (the monarch's head is used as identification).

Stamps were not officially perforated until January 1854, except in the parliamentary session of 1851, when stamps perforated by Mr. Archer were issued at the House of Commons. In 1853, the Government paid Mr. Archer £4,000 for the patent.

Other countries followed with their own stamps: the Canton of Zürich in Switzerland issued the Zurich 4 and 6 rappen on 1 March, 1843. Although the Penny Black could send a letter less than half an ounce anywhere within the UK, the Swiss continued to calculate mail rates on distance. Brazil issued the Bull's Eye stamps on 1 August, 1843. Using the same printer as for the Penny Black, Brazil opted for an abstract design instead of a portrait of Emperor Pedro II so that his image would be not be disfigured by the postmark. In 1845 some postmasters in the U.S. issued their own stamps, but the first official stamps came in 1847, with 5 and 10 cent stamps depicting Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. A few other countries issued stamps in the late 1840s. Many more, such as India, started in the 1850s and by the 1860s most countries had stamps.

Following the introduction of the stamp in the UK the number of letters increased from 82 million in 1839 to 170 million in 1841. Today 21 billion items are delivered by post every year in the UK.

Postage stamp design
Main article: Postage stamp design

Stamps have been issued in shapes besides rectangle, including circular, triangular and pentagonal. Sierra Leone and Tonga issued stamps in the shapes of fruit; Bhutan issued one with its national anthem on a playable record. Stamps have been made of embossed foil (sometimes of gold); Switzerland made a stamp partly of lace and one of wood; the United States produced one of plastic, and the German Democratic Republic issued a stamp of synthetic chemicals. In the Netherlands a stamp was made of silver foil. On paper, stamps have been produced by a variety of printing techniques such as lithography, line engraving, photogravure, intaglio and web offset printing.