First postage stamps or the roots of stamp collecting (Part 1)

Postage stamps have long and very captivating history.

People still debate about the man who has invented this thing. There are a lot of candidates to the title of the first stamp inventor.

Postage stamps appeared in the United Kingdom.

According to the documents, postage stamps appeared in the United Kingdom in 1840, and became the crucial part of postal reforms. From that time till now the sender not the recipient pays the postage fee with the help of stamps.

Some states have the richest history connected with different postage stamps.

First countries that adopted the usage of postage stamps were Switzerland, Brazil, United States of America and India. These countries are the real pioneers. It is doubtless, that these particular countries have the richest history connected with different postage stamps.

Shape of stamps:

All the initial stamps came with the same size and shape. They were rectangular with different famous political figures, including Queens and Presidents which were depicted on them.

After a while the shape, size and the pictures of postage stamps altered. Some changes were warmly welcomed by the citizens while other changes were widely criticized not only by the citizens but also by the press.

In 1869 a big scandal in the U.S. took place because the post office used pictures of horse and train along with picture of Presidents.

Can you imagine a sheet of post stamps without perforations?

During the first decades of stamp existence, there were no perforations. In 1854 the United Kingdom was the first to use perforation and “The Penny Red” had become the first perforated postage stamp.

To be continued…