Penny Black First Day Cover

Paul Fraser Collectibles is reporting an 1840 Penny Black - aka the world's first-ever postage stamp - affixed to a manuscript dated "London 6 May 1840" and posted from London to Paisley sold at auction last week for £44,000.

According to the site, "The stamp, BF (marking its position on its original printed stamp sheet) is stamped with two clear strikes of the red Maltese Cross. The manuscript's date confirms that the stamp was cancelled on its first day of issue - May 6, 1840, was the day the 1d. black stamp, or Penny Black, first entered circulation. It remained in use for little over a year."

Although priced in Stanley Gibbon's catalogue at £125,000, Spink estimated the stamp at £35,000-40,000.

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