Arts & Entertainment

First Penny Black stamp expected to fetch millions at Sotheby’s auction

Hong Kong, Oct 26 (EFE).- The world’s first postage stamp, a Penny Black, is due to go under the hammer at the Sotheby’s auction house in London later this year, where it could fetch up to 6 million pounds ($8.3 million).

The Penny Black, which bears a cameo-esque profile of Queen Victoria, comes with documentation dated 10 April 1840 signed by Robert Wallace, a lawmaker who led a commission to reform the postal service. The example is from the first sheet of stamps ever printed.

The Penny Black stamp went into circulation in May 1840.

The adhesive stamp revolutionized the postal service, allowing the sender to pay a flat rate of one penny to post a letter weighing up to 14 grams. Before its introduction, recipients would pay to receive a post.

The example, the earliest datable stamp in existence, went on display on Tuesday in Hong Kong before its auction in London on 7 December as part of Sotheby’s Treasures sale.EFE

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