The Penny Black, which introduced a flat rate, was used starting May 6, 1840. Before that, the recipient paid the postage cost.
The world's first postage stamp, the Penny Black, is going up for auction. Sotheby's estimates it could sell for up to $8.25 million.
The item, from 1840, is the earliest securely dated example of the first postage stamp. The adhesive stamp, which features a profile of Queen Victoria, is attached to a document dated April 10, 1840.
It's from the archive of British postal service reformer Robert Wallace, who was a Scottish politician.
The Penny Black, which introduced a flat rate, was used starting May 6, 1840. Before that, the recipient paid the postage cost.
"It is the very first, and it is the earliest known dated stamp," Alan Holyoake, the current Penny Black stamp owner, said. "It came from the very, very first sheet ever printed.
"And the fact that Wallace signed, dated, and issued his note on the scrapbook gives support to the fact that this is the very first example of a postage stamp, which of course every country now uses and indeed by 1870 the world had been using."
The stamp is one of three Penny Blacks believed to have survived from the first sheet of printed stamps. The other two are part of the collection at the British postal museum.
The auction price for this one has been set between four and six million dollars.
"I'd be disappointed if it didn't, therefore, exceed that because this is a world icon. It is the world's first stamp," Holyoake added.
"It took me three years with a team of people to collect the information and to be able to validate. It is certified by all of the top authorities and has been shown in major events as the star item."
The stamp will go on auction on December 7 in Sotheby's Treasures sale.
