The significant reduction of postal charges following the introduction of Penny Postage resulted in more — not less — revenue for the British Post Office, as written communications exploded in volume. This was one of the factors, along with the Industrial Revolution etc., which propelled Great Britain to its place of dominance among world powers in the mid-Nineteenth Century. Decades later, Prime Minister Gladstone described the 1840 Penny Black as “the stamp that changed the world.”
We offer a lovely unused example of the world’s first stamp as Lot 801. This is one item from a very strong collection of Great Britain stamps.