“A bit of paper just large enough to bear the stamp and covered at the back with a glutinous wash which the user might, by applying a little moisture, attach to the back of the letter.” That was it— the first ment
Today, stamps are such an everyday experience for us that we do not appreciate the magnitude of the invention. With the advent of the stamp, postal money was created, and because the use of the post office had become so widespread, great care had to be taken to assure that no one could counterfeit stamps (after all, they were negotiable money). Also, provisions had to be made to alter or cancel the stamp after it had performed its service, so that it could not be reused.ion of a potage stamp as it was described in Hill’s original proposal. Later he added to this proposal an envelope that would show prepayment, which became known as the Mulready envelope, named after its designer, William Mulready.
After the passage of the British Postal Reform Act in 1839, a Treasury Competition (so called because it was administered by the Treasury Department) commenced, whereby artists were asked to submit designs for the first stamp. Prizes were offered to the winners, with the best proposal to receive 200 pounds— a marve
lous sum for an era in which Rowland Hill was offered 500 pounds per annum as Assistant Postmaster of England. Twenty-six hundred designs and proposals were submitted, a tribute, as one philatelic writer as said, to the imagination of the Victorians, although one could equally well describe it as a testimony to the creative stimulus of 200 pounds. The suggestions ranged from the very crude to the very ornate. Finally, a design using a medal crea
ted by William Wyon was chosen. The world’s first stamp, produced by Great Britain, first date of valid use May 6, 1840, has been designated the “Penny Black” by collectors all over the world. This is because the face value of the stamp was 1 penny and the color was black. Today, it is the world’s most popular stamp.
