The first known piece of mail sent using a prepaid stamp—“one of the greatest leaps forward in human communication”—is expected to sell for between $1.5 million and $2.5 million when it is auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York next month. According to Sotheby's, if the sale of the letter meets these estimates, it will become one of the most valuable artifacts sold at auction in postal history.
On May 2, 1840, William Blankensop Jr., the original recipient of the letter, was a 35-year-old manager of a Victorian ironworks factory in the town of Bedlington in northern England. Sotheby’s noted that all that is known about the sender of the letter is that it was sent from London, which is about 300 miles south of the town, and that payment was made using the world’s first adhesive prepaid stamp: the Penny Black. After receiving the letter, Blankensop Jr. turned the envelope inside out and reshaped it into a "Mulready," a decorative envelope featuring images representing the British Empire, which was used alongside the introduction of the Penny Black stamp.
The second envelope reached Mr. Blankensop, who is thought to be his father and lived in Dalston, Carlisle, which is 75 miles away, and he kept it despite losing the contents of both letters. Richard Austin, the global head of books and manuscripts at Sotheby’s, stated: “The decorative Mulready envelope has stood the test of time for over 180 years and was revolutionary in the way people from all walks of life communicated, exchanged ideas, shared news, and expressed themselves.”
