Collectables from The Ten O'Clock Show
The oldest stamps and letters

It is generally accepted that the Chinese had a postal service 6000 years ago and that the Assyrians and Egyptians were sending letters some 1000 years later.
In Nehemiah 2: 7-9 'If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river.
By the time Marco Polo visited China in the 13th Century there were 25,000 relay stations in the Empire. The service was only available to the government and private use was severely punished.
In France Louis XI allowed private correspondence to be sent using the postal service in 1464: but in Britain this was not permitted until 1581.

The Cairo museum has evidence of postmarks on the letters of court officials stating ' In the name of the living King - speed'
In 14th Century Venice the postmark urged @Cito, citissime, volantissime' - quickly. very quickly, fleetingly.
The French 200 years later urged 'en diligence' with speed and care
The Tudors introduced the phrase 'Post Haste'

Colonel Henry Bishop, Postmaster General of Britain introduced date stamping in 1961
The first handstruck postage stamp to indicate pre payment was invented by William Dockwra in 1680: These triangular stamps were used by the London Penny Post

Speed of delivery

In 1954 the Parisian postal services attempted to deliver letters posted 72 years earlier. The letters had lain at the bottom of the Seine in waterproof containers.

Paris also claims to be the first city to put numbers on houses to speed up postal deliveries.

The longest postal route by foot was from Lhasa in Tibet to Peking in China. The 3200 kilometers took the foot messengers 189 days.

In the USA the pony express carried Lincoln's inaugural address 3220 km in under 8 days.

In 1879 the Belgian postal service employed 37 cats to deliver letters to villages around Liege - not a good idea!

In Sussex, England, dog carts being used to deliver the mail in the 1890's were discontinued after complaints from animal lovers!

Nathaniel Worsdall invented an automatic mailbag collection gantry for use by moving trains in 1837. The Post Office refuded to pay £3500 he asked for and designed their own which came into service a year later.

Modern Adhesive Stamps

The first adhesive postage stamp may have been issued in Paris on 8th April 1653.

Dundee bookseller James Chalmers (1782-1853) and Sir Rowland Hill (1795-1879) are both credited with advocating the modern adhesive stamp. A dispute between both families lasted several generations.

The Penny Black went on sale on 1st May 1840 and became valid for postage on 6th May that year.

Some postmasters mis-understood Post Office directives and a penny black was stamped as early as May 2nd in Bath.

New York City Despatch Post followed suit and issued an adhesive stamp on February 1st 1842.

The Swiss were the next government postal service to issue stamps March 1st 1843 and in Brazil stamps were valid throughout the country from August 1st of the same year.

Trinidad was the first British Colony to issue a stamp. The steamship Lady McLeod appears on the stamp, a 5 cent blue.

>

Stamp Collecting

Stamp collecting is hugely popular, throughout the world. We regularly update this site with new articles on stamp collecting. Our writers aim to bring you the best news and analysis of the stamp market. There are hundreds of pages, with invaluable information for all collectors.


Latest Stamp Articles


Click here to read all the articles

Every week we spend a lot of money on stamp collections
 

We Buy Stamps and Collectables

Valuations with the Ten O'Clock ShowAre you looking to sell your stamps or collectables? We offer a free valuation service, throughout the UK. We guarantee to make an offer on any collection we view.

Click here for further details.

Our eBay Auctions

Contact Us

The Ten O'Clock Show Ltd
Bay Tree Cottage
47 Lutterworth Road, Burbage
Leicestershire
LE10 2DJ
Tel: (44)01455 202525 (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm)
Email: mail@thetenoclockshow.co.uk