Internationally recognised art and literary critic, writer and cultural producer. Published in ELLE, Glamour, Esquire and Cosmopolitan; member of the Union of Writers.
The first known piece of mail sent using a prepaid stamp – “one of the greatest leaps forward in human communication” – could fetch between $1.5 million and $2.5 million when it comes up for auction at Sotheby’s in New York next month.
The letter, dated May 2, 1840, was sent from London to Bedlington, a town in the north of England, by William Blenkinsop Jr., the manager of a Victorian iron works. He paid for it with the Penny Black stamp, the world’s first adhesive stamp designed by Sir Rowland Hill to standardize the complex and expensive postal rates at the time.
The Penny Black stamp revolutionized the postal service and was adopted worldwide within months. It was also followed by another innovation: the Mulready envelope, an ornate wrapper that acted as another method of prepaid payment introduced at the same time as the Penny Black.
The Mulready envelope was used to send a second letter from London to Dalston, Carlisle, most likely by Blenkinsop’s father. The two letters were both sent on May 4, two days before the official start date of the Penny Black.
However, both letters have been lost over time and only their envelopes remain. The envelopes still bear the stamped dates on which they were sent, making them rare and valuable historical documents.
Sotheby’s said that “surviving over 180 years, [the envelopes] speak to our innate human desire for connection and the ways in which it has evolved to new heights in the two centuries since.”
The auction house estimated that both envelopes could sell for between $1.5 million and $2.5 million, depending on their condition and provenance. The auction will take place on January 29, 2024.
The Penny Black stamp is one of several stamps that will be featured in Sotheby’s upcoming sale of British Empire stamps on January 30-31, 2024. The sale will include stamps from various periods and regions that illustrate Britain’s imperial expansion and influence around the world.
The sale will also coincide with another historic event: Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2024. To mark this occasion, Sotheby’s will create a special edition stamp featuring images from across Britain’s history and culture.
Sotheby’s said that “this remarkable object speaks to our innate human desire for connection and … [is] one of those rare pieces that can make history.”
