The National Philatelic Collection holds millions of international stamps from more than 800 countries and stamp-issuing entities, including many that no longer exist. Philatelic treasures tell incredible stories and connect with important events in world history. Sometimes postal administrations and security printers unintentionally created scarce and rare stamps, stationery, or postal markings. Other treasures are the result of errors made during production, while a few represent “firsts” in the history of philately.
Not surprisingly, controversy often surrounds firsts, and postage stamps are no different. The National Philatelic Collection holds two contenders for the world’s first prepaid postage stamp. Some experts believe that Greece issued an adhesive stamp for mail in 1831, which would make it, not Great Britain’s Penny Black, the world’s first stamp (Figure 104). Four covers are known bearing the stamps. However, all four of these covers date from after 1840, and the stamps do not seem to have been used for postage. One theory suggests that the proceeds, a sort of postal tax, went to a charity or public project. So the hand tips to the Penny Black, first issued in 1840.
The spread of prepaid, adhesive postage stamps around the globe can be charted through the National Philatelic Collection. Brazil’s 1843 “Bulls-eyes” were the first national postage stamps issued in the Western Hemisphere (Figure 105). The bold designs feature the numerals 30, 60, or 90 reis within an oval—the origin of the nickname. Elaborate engraving behind the numerals made forgery difficult. The Sindh district issued Asia’s first stamps in 1852, recalled two years later. The red stamp, embossed in fragile wax, is particularly scarce because over time the wax crumbled (Figure 106).
Of the myriad types of errors that can occur in postage stamp production, collectors covet the invert more than any other. The more arresting and striking the error—that is, the more improbable the subject becomes when turned on its head—the more famous and desirable it is. Most inverts exist in very small numbers, meaning only a few people can own them. The National Philatelic Collection holds some of the most famous international examples (Figures 107 and 108).
An 1895 stamp of the Belgian Congo features an image of Stanley Falls, a famous natural wonder. A single sheet of 100 stamps was printed with the waterfall inverted, complete with dozens of natives in upside-down canoes. About forty survive. In 1959, when Canada and the United States jointly issued a stamp to honor the 1959 opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, a few sheets of the Canadian stamp were fed into the press upside down, inverting the image. The inverted stamp is one of only twenty-four that were actually used.
The National Philatelic Collection contains many examples of mail, often referred to as “covers,” from early folded letters in the prestamp or stampless era to modern examples. Rarity can be attributed to who sent it or why, what adversity the cover encountered en route, or a postmark or auxiliary marking that is seldom found. Examples include Swedish “feather letters” from the mid-1700s to mid-1800s (Figure 109). A squiggly line represented Sweden’s national symbol, three crowns for royal mail, and feathers directed that the letter should be delivered quickly. Another treasure sent through the mail was from a paddle steamer that carried mail around Trinidad. The captain of Lady McLeod issued stamps privately, of which only about forty have survived on cover (Figure 110).
Production and archival material offer glimpses into how stamp design and production have changed through the years. The 1854–55 Diadem Issue of New South Wales in Australia was printed in the colony using plates and pigments sent out by Perkins Bacon & Company, the London firm that also engraved the Penny Black (Figure 111). The Perkins Bacon craftsmen sent handwritten ink recipes explaining the pigments needed to obtain the desired colors. Trial printings of designs that were never issued are prized. The stamps intended to honor the millennium of Cairo’s Al-Azhar Mosque are one example (Figure 112). Formerly in the collection of Egypt’s King Farouk, the essays were seized and sold during the 1952 revolution that deposed him.
