In the late 1970s, a fascinating series of articles written by Mr. K. Kouwenberg on the history of stamp collecting appeared in the monthly magazine Philatelie. This series served as the source of inspiration for Rob Smit to re-describe the history of stamp collecting in biweekly installments. This is Part 1: Introduction and the first stamp.

Preface

In 1978, when I was sixteen, a series of articles on the history of stamp collecting began in the monthly magazine Philatelie. At that time, I myself was very much involved with stamps. Like many others, I had been collecting from a young age. However, things turned out slightly differently for me. My parents regularly visited collector fairs because my father collected old postcards of Haarlem and also traded a bit in postcards and picture albums. Naturally, I went along and soon discovered that, besides trading, I particularly enjoyed trading stamps, which quickly took on considerable proportions.

Rob as a 12-year-old at a trade fair.

Unlike many collectors and semi-dealers of that time, I did not focus solely on Dutch stamps, but especially on those from other countries. Sifting through catalogues (back then mainly Yvert) took a lot of time, which did not always have a positive impact on my school grades, though it did on my general knowledge and language skills. In addition, I had always been interested in history. When I was in primary school and was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, the answer was invariably: archaeologist. Besides stamp catalogues, I mainly read books on history and geography. This background was undoubtedly the reason why the series of articles in Philatelie appealed to me so much. And it probably even contributed to the fact that I became a stamp dealer rather than an archaeologist. It certainly contributed to me starting to collect old philatelic publications instead of stamps (although my stock of trade is actually a very large collection of stamps to this day). The stories about the pioneers in the fifty years following the appearance of the first stamp have always particularly appealed to me. How did the first catalogue or album come into being, how did people collect back then, how did they exchange information, and how did they acquire their stamps? And, of course, from my perspective: how did those first dealers and publishers fare? All of this is covered in this series of articles, with an emphasis on the pioneers of the 19th century. In two weeks, we will examine when the first collectors emerged; in four weeks, how the first catalogue came into being.. Just like the series written by Mr. Kouwenberg, this series of articles is not intended to be a scientifically sound history of collecting. It is a reflection of what can be found in the literature and on the internet, supplemented with findings from my own collection.  

1. The first stamp

A postage stamp is essentially a receipt for a prepayment for a service, namely the delivery of a postal item. Viewed in this light, the first postage stamp appeared in Paris in 1653. Monsieur de Villayer established a postal service whereby the sender paid the postage costs in advance and a receipt was attached to the letter. As soon as the postal item was delivered, the receipt was removed and destroyed, likely to prevent further misuse. Today, not a single example of this receipt is known to exist. We all know now that the Penny Black, pictured above, is considered the first postage stamp. Rowland Hill devised a gummed receipt that could be purchased in advance, affixed to a postal item, and rendered unsuitable for re-use by cancellation. However, there are a number of others who came up with more or less the same ideas earlier. In 1823, the Swede von Treffenberg devised a mailing method using special envelopes and stamps that were difficult to counterfeit. The Swedish postal service considered his idea nonsensical, and it was never implemented. In 1836, the Austrian Laurenz Kosir came up with an idea to arrange the prepayment of postal shipments by purchasing a single stamp. His idea, too, was never implemented. In Scotland, James Chalmers made proofs for stamps. His son later accused Rowland Hill of having stolen the idea for a stamp from his father. (to be continued on Thursday, April 30)