The profile of Queen Victoria of England was the design chosen for the stamp, an image that would mark international postal history forever. The creation of the first adhesive stamp represented a significant step forward in the reform of the English postal service, overseen by Sir Rowland Hill (Kidderminster, 1795 – London, 1879). In recognition for his contributions to the history of communications, his remains were exhumed and moved to Westminster Abbey.

The stamp was issued on 1^st May 1840, though it was not made official until five days later. The initial print run was for 283,992 sheets, each containing 240 stamps. The Gabinet Postal has one of these stamps; it bears the coordinates for sheet Q and L, and features a “Maltese Cross” franking mark in green ink, thus indicating that the stamp was one of the first to be issued in England. If you want to find out more about the history of the Penny Black, you can read an article on the subject in the section Singulars.