Oldest surviving piece of post to be auctioned for $2 million (friom The Times of London, 11/01/2024)

[Valentine Mark Herman]

"The ornate letter sheet was stamped with a Penny Black, the world’s first adhesive postage stamp, over 180 years ago

The earliest surviving piece of mail using a pre-paid postage stamp that was sent to a Cumbrian iron works is to be sold in New York.

The piece of postal history is a Mulready letter sheet that was stamped with a Penny Black, the world’s first adhesive postage stamp, on May 2 1840. It was sent from London to the village of Dalston and then posted back again before the revolutionary items even became legal tender on May 6.

Described by an auction house as marking a “significant leap forward in the history of human communication”, the Mulready letter sheet was a way of indicating that postage had been pre-paid by the sender.

The stationery was sent to William Blenkinsop Jr, a 35-year-old iron works manager near Carlisle. He then appears to have “ingeniously repurposed” the letter sheet and used it to send a letter back to London. It covered over 400 miles finishing back in the capital before the Mulready and Penny Black were even officially introduced on May 6.

While the adhesive stamp became the mainstay of the world’s postal systems, the Penny Black was phased out within the year in favour of a new design. The Mulready with its ornate designs was widely mocked by newsagents who were fearful for their stationery trade.

While the original letter within the Mulready has been lost, the surviving letter sheet and stamp are to be sold by Sotheby’s in New York next month at an auction branded “The One”, dedicated to one-of-a-kind items. The letter sheet and stamp have an estimate of $1.5 million to $2.5 million.

The ornate letter sheet was stamped with a Penny Black, the world’s first adhesive postage stamp, over 180 years agThe earliest surviving piece of mail using a pre-paid postage stamp that was sent to a Cumbrian iron works is to be sold in New York

The ornate letter sheet was stamped with a Penny Black, the world’s first adhesive postage stamp, over 180 years ago

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[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

...when Val sent me a Penny Black:

Sept. 3.2013 :-)

worth a million?