The British "black penny" is the first stamp in the world. It was originally scheduled to go out on New Year's Day on 1840, but because it was not ready, the stamps went on sale on May 1 and officially went on sale on May 6. On May 6th, 1840, the General Post Office on the Thames in London, England was very lively. When the fog cleared and the sun was warm, people rushed to the spacious industrial and agricultural hall with great interest and crowded around the mahogany counter, scrambling to buy a brand-new "black penny" stamp with shiny pounds. For two days in a row, you can always see a burly and bearded shop assistant carefully observing the sales of stamps at the counter. He wrote in his diary: "Today, stamps first appeared in London, and the post office was very noisy." The next day, he continued to write: "I sold stamps worth 2500 pounds yesterday." He is rowland hill, who is famous in history for his contribution to postal reform and the design of the world's first stamp-"Black Penny". The Queen conferred the title of Earl on him, and the International Philatelic Association honored him as "the father of stamps". Many countries also issue stamps to commemorate rowland hill. Before the birth of stamps, the postage was calculated one by one according to the number of pieces of paper used for letters and the delivery distance. The postage was paid by the recipient, and the charging standard was also very high. 1839, the British Treasury publicly offered a reward for designing stamps, and received about 2 100 works, of which 4 designs won the first prize, but none of them were adopted. So, rowland hill designed it himself. He took 1837 as the original picture, and drew two stamps. The stamps were carved by the sculptor Shane Brothers and printed by Perkins Letter Co., Ltd. On the white paper without background, you can see a small crown watermark in the middle of each stamp under the sunlight, so the world's earliest "black penny" stamp was born. The "black penny" stamp has greatly promoted the postal work and marked the emergence of modern postal services in the world, which is of epoch-making significance. "Black penny" is a combination of color and face value. It is printed in black block printing, without holes, without the name of the country, only the portrait of the queen. This tradition has been passed down to this day. There is the word "postage" above the pattern, and the word "penny" below indicates the face value. Each printing plate includes 12 stamps, ***20 rows of stamps, and ***20 rows of 240 stamps each. This is because the British monetary system at that time was 1 = 12 shilling = 240p, and a complete printed sheet was exactly one pound. What is particularly interesting is that there is an English letter in the lower two corners of the stamp, and the letter in the lower left corner of each stamp pattern in the same row is the same. The first line is a, the second line is b, and so on; The letters in the lower right corner of the pattern indicate the position of stamps printed on the page, which are arranged alphabetically from left to right, such as the first horizontal row AA, AB, AC to Al, and the second horizontal row BA, BB, BC to Bl…… ... This arrangement is to prevent counterfeiting. 1840 Although there are quite a number of stamps, it is very difficult to restore the original complete printed copy. Since stamps have just come out, people still don't know what stamps are, so a caption is printed on the edge of each whole piece of "black penny" paper: "One penny for each stamp, one shilling for twelve stamps, and one British bill for each whole piece. Stick the stamp on the upper right of the receiving address, and don't get the label wet and wipe off the glue. " The stamps were originally scheduled to be issued to the whole world on the first day of New Year's Day. 1840 was not ready until May 6th, but I don't know which post office sold some stamps in advance. So far, it has been found that three tickets for black pennies were sold in Bath, southern England, on May 2nd, 1840, which was regarded as a treasure by philatelists and the price tag was very high. Since1May 6, 840, black penny stamps have been reprinted 1 1 time in less than one year, with 300,000 pieces and 72 million pieces. The eleventh and last printing was the least, with only 700 sheets printed 16800. During this period * * * sold 68158,000 pieces. At the same time as the black penny stamp, there is also a blue penny stamp with the same pattern, commonly known as "blue penny". It is said that the stamps were printed in blue by mistake in printing. The layout of stamps is exactly the same as that of black pennies. Its circulation is less than black cents, and its preciousness is more than black cents, but its reputation is far less than the former. Some blue pennies are printed on the back of the paper, and the portrait of the queen can be seen clearly on the back. This kind of ticket printing is particularly rare. At present, there are only two kinds of blue penny stamps: one is a set of eight-party stamps. The ticket is stamped with the earliest Maltese Cross used in Britain; The other is an envelope fragment with half a blue penny stamp on it, which was cut open with a two-penny stamp for use. The postmark date is 184 1 March 27th, and it is one of the rare postal products in the world. Nine months after the appearance of the black penny, the red penny stamp was issued at 184 1. The reason for the color change is that it is not easy to see the black postmark on the black stamp. Some people pick stamps with black stamps and reuse them, so they use the same mold to print them brown. Black penny stamps have almost all the characteristics of modern stamps, which are both scientific and practical. Many countries have followed suit, creating a new era of stamp issuance.
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