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1840 Penny Blacks

The famous Penny Black was the world's first postage stamp. It was issued by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 May 1840, for use from 6 May of that year.

The Penny Black was printed from 11 plates, but as plate 1 was completely overhauled due to excessive wear, it is generally considered to be two separate plates, 1a and 1b. Plate 11 was originally intended solely for the printing of new penny red stamps, but a small number were printed in black. These are scarce.

Although The Penny Black was the World`s fisrst postage stamp it is not a rare stamp. The total print run was 286,700 sheets with 68,808,000 stamps and a substantial number of these have survived.