Philately - Blog Posts

Football stamp issued by Finland in 1952 as part of a sports set to commmemorate the Helsinki Olympics. The 1952 Olympic football Champions were Hungary who beat Yugoslavia 2-0 in the final.  Sweden defeated Germany 2-0 in the third place play-off to take the bronze medal.

On this day, 6th May 1840, the first adhesive postage stamp in the world, the Penny Black, came into official use in Great Britain.

It depicted a portrait of Queen Victoria and stamps continued with her image until her death in 1901.  All British stamps still show the monarch somewhere on the design. They are the only postage stamps in the world that do not indicate a country of origin; the monarch’s image symbolises the United Kingdom.       

The Penny Black lasted less than a year. A red cancellation was hard to see on the black design and the red ink was easy to remove; both made it possible to re-use cancelled stamps. In February 1841, the Treasury switched to the Penny Red and began using black ink for cancellations instead, which was more effective and harder to remove.

The State Library of New South Wales holds significant postage stamp collections, which include a number of penny black stamps -

Sir William Dixson Stamp Collection

1840 One Penny black Queen Victoria Recess printed Watermark Small Crown Imperf ( 1 mint, 3 used, 1 forgery )    and 

DP/M014 Series 02: Sir William Dixson Stamp Collection : Great Britain and Commonwealth Countries issued to 1952 Great Britain 1840

1840 One Penny black Recess printed Watermark Small Crown Imperf ( 6 used ) DP/M010 :- Box with miscellaneous items mounted on pages, numbered DP/M011 to DP/M127