First Adhesive Postage Stamp to Be Auctioned

Feb. 20, 2009 -- The world's first adhesive postage stamp of a public postal system, the "penny black," along with the world's second issued stamp, the "two-penny blue," have just surfaced in a Sotheby's auction that will feature other rare and valuable stamps belonging to renowned collector David Barton, who died last year.

The first two issued stamps, released in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, both feature the profile of a 15-year-old princess who became Queen Victoria, the U.K.'s longest reigning monarch. The stamps provide a glimpse of mail service history, right down to early glitches.

The "penny black," which paid for letters weighing up to half one-once, and the "two-penny blue," which was for letters over half one-ounce and up to an ounce, were supposed to have been issued on the same day, May 1, 1840. Problems with the adhesive delayed the two-penny blue's release five additional days.

"The adhesive used by the printers Perkins, Bacon and Petch was potato starch," Sotheby's Philatelic Consultant, Richard Ashton, told Discovery News. "As this was mixed and prepared 'as required' the consistency varies greatly."

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He added, "Production problems had clearly existed from early on as the engraved legend in the sheet margins reads, in part, 'In Wetting the Back be careful not to remove the Cement.'"

Eager customers were licking off all of the potato starch glue.

While the mint condition of Barton's penny stamps is rare, later issued stamps tend to be even more valuable, due to the envelope's growing popularity.

"When postage stamps were first in use, the envelope as we know it was rarely used," Ashton explained. "Letters were written on single or multiple sheets of paper, folded and addressed on the outside and the stamp placed in the upper-right corner. Hence, on arrival the letter was read, retained in the family or business archive with the stamp still attached."

"Later, letters were placed in envelopes, which were often discarded after receipt," he said.

Other rare stamps that will be sold at the March 6 auction in London include early American designs known for their iconic beauty and detail. A one-dollar stamp commemorating the 1898 Trans-Mississippi Exposition, for example, depicts a moving scene of western cattle bracing themselves against a winter storm.