SOTHEBY’S is set to offer the earliest securely dated example of the very first postage stamp — one of the most significant inventions in human history, the precursor of mass and global communication as well as the keystone and lynchpin of one of the world’s most popular collecting disciplines.

Dating to 1840, this small Penny Black — a pristine impression, unused, and from plate 1a (the very first printed sheet) and lettered A-I — represents the birth of a device that would be central to the birth of mass communications across the globe for more than a century and a half and that still has not been completely supplanted by newer technologies.

Rediscovered nearly three decades ago but not fully recognized until much more recently, the stamp’s identification began when British businessman and philatelist Alan Holyoake came into the possession of The Wallace Document, to which the stamp is attached, almost 10 years ago.

Holyoake was to instigate a three-year research project — which culminated with the document being issued with certificates of authenticity from The Royal Philatelic Society, London (2016) and The British Philatelic Association (2015), and its subsequent exhibition at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington D.C. It will now be offered at Sotheby’s in London on Dec. 7, with an estimate of US$5.5-8.3 million, as part of a sale of “Treasures.”

Henry House, head of Sotheby’s Treasures Sale, said: “This is an extraordinary opportunity for a collector to acquire an object bursting with history; an object that is the earliest known of an iconic design; an object produced by the highest levels of technical excellence; and an object that is the progenitor of mass and global communication.

“This is THE FIRST ever stamp, the precursor to all stamps, and unequivocally the most important piece of philatelic history to exist. Though there are many hugely important stamps in collections both public and private around the world, this is the stamp that started the postage system as we know it. The Wallace Document represents the very dawn of social communication, and this stamp was a game-changer, allowing people to communicate from all levels of society and business to flourish.”

Before 1840 it was the recipient who paid the cost of postage but, in a complete reversal of thinking, a competition was held to determine the best method to provide proof that the sender had paid. The eventual front runners were the Mulready and the Penny Black. Designed to be complementary, the public infinitely preferred the Penny Black. (SD-Agencies)