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The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp. It was issued by the United Kingdom on the 1 May 1840 and used from the 6 May the same year. All London post offices received official issues of the new stamps, but other offices in the country did not. Some post offices like in Bath, offered the stamp unofficially after 2 May.
Once the stamps were used, they had a red cancellation. However, it was hard to see, and it could easily be taken off. It is not very rare. The total print run was 286,700 sheets with 68,808,000 stamps. A mint condition stamp might fetch £3–4,000.
A Penny Black, with a red cancellation that was hard to see and easily removed
A large mint block of the Penny Black
The Jacob Perkins' press, which printed the Penny Black and the 2d Blue, in the British Library Philatelic Collections
A mint block of six, plate 11
The pub sign of the Penny Black pub in Oxfordshire
