The world's first letter sent by stamp is worth about 2.5 million USD

The world's first letter sent with a prepaid stamp - one of the biggest leaps in human communication - could fetch between $1.5 million and $2.5 million when it is auctioned at Sotheby's in New York next month.

If the antique stamped letter achieves its estimated price, Sotheby's says it will become one of the most valuable works in postal history ever sold at auction.

The world's first letter sent by stamp is set to sell for up to $2.5 million.

CNN

The letter was dated May 2, 1840. The original recipient was William Blenkinsop Jr., a 35-year-old manager working at a Victorian building in Bedlington, a town in northern England. Sotheby's stated that all that was known was that someone had sent the letter from London—about 300 miles south of Bedlington—and prepaid for it by affixing a Penny Black stamp.

After receiving the letter, Blenkinsop Jr. turned the envelope inside out and refashioned it into a "Mulready" – an envelope elaborately decorated with images representing the British Empire, which acted as another prepaid payment method introduced around the same time as the Penny Black stamp.

The envelope was returned as "Mulready"

CNN

That second envelope reached Mr. Blenkinsop, most likely Blenkinsop Jr.'s father, who lived in Dalston, Carlisle, 75 miles from Bedlington, and he kept it, although both letters were lost.

"For more than 180 years, the 'Mulready' envelope, bearing the ornate Penny Black stamp, revolutionized the way people from all walks of life exchanged letters, exchanged ideas, shared news and expressed themselves. At the dawn of the AI ​​age, this remarkable object speaks to the innate human desire for connection and the ways it has evolved to new heights in the two centuries since," Richard Austin, Sotheby's global head of books and manuscripts, told CNN .

Both sides of the envelope still clearly show the date of sending, the first side is dated 2.5.1840 and the second side is dated 4.5.1840.

Penny Black stamp from 1840

CNN

Teacher and social reformer Sir Rowland Hill conceived the idea for the Penny Black, the world’s first stamp, to standardize the complex, expensive, and unpredictable postage rates of the time, which were charged to the recipient. The system was difficult for both users and postal services to use. Many were sometimes unable to recover the cost of shipping goods and letters if the recipient did not pay.

The Penny Black stamp was extremely successful and was subsequently adopted worldwide.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/first-letter-of-the-gioi-duoc-gui-bang-tem-co-gia-khoang-25-trieu-usd-185240114082105532.htm