Postage Stamp – Tiny Paper, Big Responsibility

Stamps: the unsung heroes of snail mail and philatelists’ obsessions. From penny posts to rare collectibles, we explore how these tiny pieces of paper power the postal world—just in case you needed something extremely soothing to think about before sleep.

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast,

Where I bore you to sleep with my soothing voice.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster.

Tonight's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled,

Postage Stamps,

And was sponsored by Sam Horton Martin.

Thanks,

Sam,

For sponsoring the podcast.

Now let's get started with tonight's episode.

A postage stamp is a small piece of paper used by a post office,

Postal administration,

Or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage,

The cost involved in moving,

Insuring,

Or registering mail.

Then the stamp is affixed to the face or address side of any item of mail,

An envelope or other postal cover,

E.

G.

Packet,

Box,

Mailing cylinder,

Which they wish to send.

The item is then processed by the postal system,

Where a postmark or cancellation mark,

In modern usage indicating date and point of origin of mailing,

Is applied to the stamp and its left and right sides to prevent its reuse.

Next,

The item is delivered to its address.

Always featuring the name of the issuing nation,

With the exception of the United Kingdom,

A denomination of its value,

And often an illustration of persons,

Events,

Institutions,

Or national realities that symbolize the nation's traditions and values,

Every stamp is printed on a piece of usually rectangular but sometimes triangular or otherwise shaped special custom-made paper.

Every stamp is printed on a piece of usually rectangular but sometimes triangular or otherwise shaped special custom-made paper whose back is either glazed with an adhesive gum or self-adhesive.

Because governments issue stamps of different denominations in unequal numbers and routinely discontinue some lines and introduce others,

And because of their illustrations and association with the social and political realities of the time of their issue,

They are often prized for their beauty and historical significance by stamp collectors.

Whose study of their history and of mailing systems is called philately.

Because collectors often buy stamps from an issuing agency with no intention to use them for postage,

The revenues from such purchases and payments of postage can make them a source of net profit to that agency.

On the 1st of May,

1840,

The Penny Black,

The first adhesive postage stamp,

Was issued in the United Kingdom.

Within three years,

Postage stamps were introduced in Switzerland and Brazil,

A little later in the United States,

And by 1860 they were in 90 countries around the world.

The first postage stamps did not need to show the issuing country,

So no country name was included on them.

Thus,

The United Kingdom remains the only country in the world to omit its name on postage stamps.

The monarch's image signifies the United Kingdom as the country of origin.

Throughout modern history,

Numerous methods were used to indicate that postage had been paid on a mailed item,

So several different men have received credit for inventing the postage stamp.

In 1680,

William Dockra,

An English merchant in London,

And his partner Robert Murray,

Established the London Penny Post.

The LPP was a mail system that delivered letters and small parcels inside the city of London for the sum of one penny.

Confirmation of paid postage was indicated by the use of a hand stamp to frank the mailed item.

Though this stamp was applied to the letter or parcel itself rather than to a separate piece of paper,

It is considered by many historians to be the world's first postage stamp.

In 1835,

The civil servant Lovrenc Kosir,

From Ljubljana in Austria-Hungary,

Now Slovenia,

Suggested the use of artificially affixed postal tax stamps using gepreste papirablata,

Pressed paper wafers.

But although civil bureaucrats considered the suggestion in detail,

It was not adopted.

The papirablata were to produce stamps as paper decals so thin as to prevent their reuse.

In 1836,

Robert Wallace,

A member of British Parliament,

Gave Sir Rowland Hill numerous books and documents about the Postal Service,

Which Hill described as a half-hundred weight of material.

After a detailed study,

On the 4th of January 1837,

Hill submitted a pamphlet entitled Post Office Reform,

Its Importance and Practicability,

To the Chancellor of the Exchequer Thomas Spring Rice,

Which was marked private and confidential and not released to general public.

The Chancellor summoned Hill to a meeting at which he suggested improvements and changes to be presented in his supplement,

Which Hill duly produced and submitted on the 28th of January 1837.

Summoned to give evidence before the Commission for Post Office Inquiry on the 13th of February 1837,

Hill read from the letter he wrote to the Chancellor that included a statement saying that the notation of paid postage could be created by using a bit of paper just large enough to bear the stamp and covered at the back with a glutinous wash.

This would eventually become the first unambiguous description of a modern adhesive postage stamp,

Though the term postage stamp originated at a later date.

Shortly afterward,

Hill's revision of the booklet dated the 22nd of February 1837,

Containing some 28,

000 words,

Incorporating the supplement given to the Chancellor and statements he made to the Commission,

Was published and made available to the general public.

Hansard records that on the 15th of December 1837,

Benjamin Hawes asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it was the intention of a government to give effect to the recommendation of the Commissioners of the Post Office,

Contained in their Ninth Report relating to the reduction of the rates of postage and the issuing of penny stamps.

Hill's ideas for postage stamps and charging paid postage based on weight soon took hold and were adopted in many countries throughout the world.

With the new policy of charging by weight using envelopes for mailing documents became the norm.

Hill's brother Edwin invented a prototype envelope-making machine that folded paper into envelopes quickly enough to match the pace of the growing demand for postage stamps.

Rowland Hill and the reforms he introduced to the United Kingdom postal system appear on several of its commemorative stamps.

In the 1881 book The Penny Postage Scheme of 1837,

Scotsman Patrick Chalmers claimed that his father,

James Chalmers,

Published an essay in August 1834 describing and advocating a postage stamp,

But submitting no evidence of the essay's existence.

Nevertheless,

Until he died in 1891,

Patrick Chalmers campaigned to have his father recognized as the inventor of the postage stamp.

The first independent evidence for Chalmers' claim is in an essay dated the 8th of February 1838 and received by the post office on the 17th of February 1838 in which he proposed adhesive postage stamps to the general post office.

In this approximately 800-word document concerning methods of indicating that postage had been paid on mail,

He states,

Therefore,

Of Mr.

Hill's plan of a uniform rate of postage,

I conceive that the most simple and economical mode would be by slips.

In the hopes that Mr.

Hill's plan may soon be carried into operation,

I would suggest that sheets of stamped slips should be prepared,

Then be rubbed over on the back with a strong solution of gum.

Chalmers' original document is now in the United Kingdom's National Postal Museum.

Since Chalmers used the same postage denominations that Hill had proposed in February 1837,

It is clear that he was aware of Hill's proposals,

But whether he obtained a copy of Hill's booklet or simply read about it in one or both of the two detailed accounts,

On the 25th of March 1838,

And the 20th of December 1837,

Published in the Times,

Is unknown.

Neither article mentioned a bit of paper just large enough to bear the stamp,

So Chalmers could not have known that Hill had made such a proposal.

This suggests that either Chalmers had previously read Hill's booklet and was merely elaborating Hill's idea,

Or he had independently developed the idea of the modern postage stamp.

James Chalmers' organization petitions for a low and uniform rate of postage.

The first such petition was presented in the House of Commons on the 4th of December 1837 from Montrose.

Further petitions which he organized were presented on the 1st of May 1838 from Dunbar and Cupper,

14th of May 1838 from the County of Forfar,

And the 12th of June 1839.

At the same time,

Other groups organized petitions and presented them to Parliament.

All petitions for consumer-oriented low-cost volume-based postal rates followed publication of Hill's proposals.

Other claimants include,

Or have included,

John Gray of the British Museum,

Samuel Forrester,

A Scottish tax official,

Charles Whiting,

A London stationer,

Samuel Roberts of Flanbernmire,

Wales,

Francis Worrell-Stevens,

Schoolmaster of Lofton,

Ferdinand Egerter of Spital,

Austria,

Curie Gabriel Treffenberg from Sweden.

Postage stamps have facilitated the delivery of mail since the 1840s.

Before then,

Ink and hand stamps,

Hence the word stamp,

Usually made from wood or cork,

Were often used to frank the mail and confirm the payment of postage.

The first adhesive postage stamp,

Commonly referred to as the Penny Black,

Was issued in the United Kingdom in 1840.

The invention of the stamp was part of an attempt to improve the postal system in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,

Which in the early 19th century was in disarray and rife with corruption.

There are varying accounts of the inventor or inventors of the stamp.

Before the introduction of postage stamps,

Mail in the United Kingdom was paid for by the recipient,

A system that was associated with an irresolvable problem.

The costs of delivering mail were not recoverable by the postal service when recipients were unable or unwilling to pay for delivered items,

And senders had no incentive to restrict the number,

Size,

Or weight of items sent,

Whether or not they would ultimately be paid for.

The postage stamp resolved this issue in a simple and elegant manner,

With the additional benefit of room for an element of beauty to be introduced.

Concurrently with the first stamps,

The United Kingdom offered wrappers for mail.

Later related inventions include postal stationery,

Such as prepaid postage envelopes,

Postcards,

Letter cards,

Aerograms,

And postage meters.

The postage stamp afforded convenience for both the mailer and postal officials,

More effectively recovered costs for the postal service,

And ultimately resulted in a better,

Faster postal system.

The irony of ironies is that I have to pause reading because the UPS truck outside is so loud that I can hear it in my microphone.

I don't know if it's picked up at all,

But I think that's hilarious that I'm reading about postage stamps,

And it's the mail truck that's keeping me from recording about it.

With the conveniences stamps offered,

Their use resulted in greatly increased mailings during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Postage stamps released during this era were the most popular way of paying for mail.

However,

By the end of the 20th century,

We're rapidly being eclipsed by the use of metered postage and bulk mailing by businesses.

As postage stamps became more and more widespread,

Historians and collectors began to take notice.

The study of postage stamps and their use is referred to as philately.

Stamp collecting can be both a hobby and a form of historical study and reference,

As government-issued postage stamps and their mailing systems have always been involved with the history of nations.

Although a number of people laid claim to the concept of the postage stamp,

It is well documented that stamps were first introduced in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on the 1st of May 1840 as a part of postal reforms promoted by Sir Rowland Hill.

With its introduction,

The postage fee was paid by the sender and not the recipient,

Though it was still possible to send mail without prepaying.

From when the first postage stamps were used,

Postmarks were applied to prevent the stamps being used again.

The first stamp,

The Penny Black,

Became available for purchase the 1st of May 1840,

To be valid as of the 6th of May 1840.

Two days later,

The 8th of May 1840,

The Two Penny Blue was introduced.

The Penny Black was sufficient for a letter less than half an ounce to be sent anywhere within the United Kingdom.

Both stamps included an engraving of the young Queen Victoria,

Without perforations,

As the first stamps were separated from their sheets by cutting them with scissors.

The first stamps did not need to show the issuing country,

So no country name was included on them.

The United Kingdom remains the only country to omit its name on postage stamps,

Using the reigning monarch's head as country identification.

Following the introduction of the postage stamp in the United Kingdom,

Prepaid postage considerably increased the number of letters mailed.

Before 1839,

The number of letters sent in the United Kingdom was typically 76 million.

By 1850,

This increased five-fold to 350 million,

Continuing to grow rapidly,

Until the end of the 20th century,

When newer methods of indicating the payment of postage reduced the use of stamps.

Other countries soon followed the United Kingdom with their own stamps,

The Canton of Zurich in Switzerland issued the Zurich 4 and 6 Rappen on the 1st of March 1843.

Although the penny black could be used to send a letter less than half an ounce anywhere within the United Kingdom,

The Swiss did not initially adopt that system,

Instead continuing to calculate mail rates based on distance to be delivered.

Brazil issued the bullseye stamp on the 1st of August 1843.

Using the same printer used for the penny black,

Brazil opted for an abstract design instead of the portrait of Emperor Pedro II,

So his image would not be disfigured by a postmark.

In 1845,

Some postmasters in the United States issued their own stamps,

But it was not until 1847 that the first official United States stamps were issued,

Five and ten cent issues depicting Benjamin Franklin and George Washington.

A few other countries issued stamps in the late 1840s.

The famous Mauritius Post Office stamps were issued by Mauritius in September 1847.

Many others,

Such as India,

Started their use in the 1850s,

And by the 1860s most countries issued stamps.

Perforation of postage stamps began in January 1854.

The first officially perforated stamp was issued in February 1854.

Stamps from Henry Archer's perforation trials were issued in the last few months of 1850.

During the 1851 parliamentary session of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom,

And finally in 1853-54 after the United Kingdom government paid Archer £4,

000 for his machine and the patent.

The Universal Postal Union,

Established in 1874,

Described that nations shall only issue postage stamps according to the quantity of real use,

And no living person should be taken as subjects.

The latter rule lost its significance after World War I.

After World War II,

It became customary in some countries,

Especially small Arab nations,

To issue postage stamps en masse,

As it was realized how profitable it was.

During the 21st century,

The amount of mail and the use of postage stamps accordingly has reduced in the world because of electronic mail and other technological innovations.

Iceland has already announced that it will no longer issue new stamps for collectors,

Because sales have decreased and there are enough stamps in stock.

In 2013,

The Netherlands Post-NL introduced Post-Zigocodus,

A nine-character alphanumeric code that is written as a 3x3 grid on the piece of mail as an alternative to stamps.

In December 2020,

590,

000 people sent cards with these handwritten codes.

When the first postage stamps were issued in the 1840s,

They followed an almost identical standard in shape,

Size,

And general subject matter.

They were rectangular in shape.

They bore the images of queens,

Presidents,

And other political figures.

They also depicted the denomination of the postage paid and,

With the exception of the United Kingdom,

Depicted the name of the country from which issued the postage stamps.

Nearly all early postage stamps depict images of national leaders only.

Soon after the introduction of the postage stamp,

Other subjects and designs began to appear.

Some designs were welcome,

Others widely criticized.

For example,

In 1869,

The United States Post Office broke the tradition of depicting presidents or other famous historical figures,

Instead using other subjects,

Including a train and horse.

The change was greeted with general disapproval and sometimes harsh criticism from the American public.

Perforations are small holes made between individual postage stamps on a sheet of stamps,

Facilitating separation of a desired number of stamps.

The resulting frame-like rippled edge surrounding the separated stamp defines a characteristic meme for the appearance of a postage stamp.

In the first decade of postage stamps' existence,

Depending on the country,

Stamps were issued without perforations.

Scissors or other cutting mechanisms were required to separate a desired number of stamps from a full sheet.

If cutting tools were not used,

Individual stamps were torn off.

This is evidenced by the ragged edges of surviving examples.

Mechanically separating stamps from a sheet proved an inconvenience for postal clerks.

And businesses,

Both dealing with large numbers of individual stamps on a daily basis.

By 1850,

Methods such as rouletting wheels were being devised in efforts of making stamp separation more convenient and less time-consuming.

The United Kingdom was the first country to issue postage stamps with perforations.

The first machine specifically designed to perforate sheets of postage stamps was invented in London by Henry Archer,

An Irish landowner and railroad man from Dublin,

Ireland.

The 1850 Penny Red was the first stamp to be perforated during a trial course of Archer's perforating machine.

After a period of trial and error and modifications of Archer's invention,

New machines based on the principles pioneered by Archer were purchased.

And in 1854,

The United Kingdom postal authorities started continuously issuing perforated postage stamps in the Penny Red and all subsequent designs.

In the United States,

The use of postage stamps caught on quickly and became more widespread when,

On the 3rd of March,

1851,

The last day of its legislative session,

Congress passed the Act of March 3rd,

1851,

An act to reduce and modify the rates of postage in the United States.

Similarly introduced on the last day of the Congressional session four years later,

The Act of March 3rd,

1855 required the prepayment of postage on all mailings.

Therefore,

Postage stamp use in the United States quickly doubled and by 1861 had quadrupled.

In 1856,

Under the direction of Postmaster General James Campbell,

Toppen and Carpenter,

Commissioned by the United States government to print United States postage stamps for the 1850s,

Purchased a rotary machine designed to separate stamps patented in England in 1854 by William and Henry Bemrose,

Who were printers in Derby,

England.

The original machine cut slits into the paper rather than punching holes,

But the machine was soon modified.

The first stamp issued to be officially perforated,

The 3-cent George Washington,

Was issued by the United States Post Office on the 24th of February,

1857.

Between 1857 and 1861,

All stamps originally issued between 1851 and 1856 were reissued with perforations.

Initially,

Capacity was insufficient to perforate all stamps printed,

And thus perforated issues used between February and July 1857 are scarce and quite valuable.

In addition to the most common rectangular shape,

Stamps have been issued in geometric,

Circular,

Triangular and pentagonal,

And irregular shapes.

The United States issued its first circular stamp in 2000 as a hologram of the earth.

Sierra Leone and Tonga have issued stamps in the shapes of fruit.

Stamps that are printed on sheets are generally separated by perforations,

Though more recently,

With the advent of gummed stamps,

Do not have to be moistened prior to affixing them.

Designs can incorporate smooth edges,

Although a purely decorative perforated edge is often present.

Stamps are most commonly made from paper designed specifically for them,

And are printed in sheets,

Rolls,

Or small booklets.

Less commonly,

Postage stamps are made of materials other than paper,

Such as embossed foil,

Sometimes of gold.

Switzerland made a stamp that contained a bit of lace,

And one of wood.

The United States produced one of plastic.

East Germany issued a stamp of synthetic chemicals.

In the Netherlands,

A stamp was made of silver foil.

Bhutan issued one with its national anthem on a playable record.

The subjects found on the face of postage stamps are generally what defines a particular stamp issue to the public,

And are often a reason why they are saved by collectors or history enthusiasts.

Graphical subjects found on postage stamps have ranged from the early portrayals of kings,

Queens,

And presidents,

To later depictions of ships,

Birds,

And satellites,

Famous people,

Historical events,

Comics,

Dinosaurs,

Hobbies,

Knitting,

Stamp collecting,

Sports,

Holiday themes,

And a plethora of other subjects too numerous to list.

Artists,

Designers,

Engravers,

And administrative officials are involved with the choice of subject matter and the method of printing stamps.

Early stamp images were almost always produced from an engraving,

A design etched into a steel die,

Which was then hardened and whose impression was transferred to a printing plate.

Using an engraved image was deemed a more secure way of printing stamps,

As it was nearly impossible to counterfeit a finely detailed image with raised lines for anyone but a master engraver.

In the mid-20th century,

Stamp issues produced by other forms of printing began to emerge,

Such as lithography,

Photogravure,

Intaglio,

And web offset printing.

These later printing methods were less expensive and typically produced images of lesser quality.

Occasionally,

Postal authorities issue novelty scented or aromatic stamps,

Which contain a scent more readily apparent when rubbed.

The effect is achieved by using ink which contains microcapsules that provide the desired fragrance when broken.

The scent usually only lasts for a limited time after production,

Such as a few months or years.

Such stamps are usually related to aromatic subjects including coffee,

Roses,

Grapes,

Chocolate,

Vanilla,

Cinnamon,

Pine needles,

Or freshly baked bread.

The first scented stamps were issued by Bouton in 1973.

Reviews

Postage stamps do have an important job! Boring yet important! 😂 Thank you! 😁

Postage stamps is another great sleep inducer. (You even repeated a line about shape “rectangle…” which emphasized its boringness.) 🥱😴💤

I fell asleep 😴 giggling 🤭 to you and your adventures with other postal workers 😂🥱😴😴 Thank you Ben!