Nothing sells like nostalgia, not even hotcakes, and the proof lies in a unique Mulready letter sheet. This piece is the first-ever mail sent with a prepaid stamp and is expected to sell for $2.5 million. It’s dubbed one of the greatest leaps forward in human communication and will hit the auction block at Sotheby’s in New York next month. The letter dates back to May 2, 1840. The recipient was a 35-year-old manager named William Blenkinsop Jr., who lived in Bedlington, North England.
Sotheby’s states that all that’s known about the letter’s sender is that they posted the message in London and paid for it with the Penny Black stamp, the world’s first adhesive postage stamp. What is even more fascinating in the age of texting and video calls is that after receiving the letter, Blenkinsop Jr. turned the envelope inside out and refashioned it into a Mulready, a wrapper that acted as another method of prepaid payment introduced at the same time as the Penny Black. This second envelope was addressed to another Mr. Blenkinsop, most likely his father. Over time, the contents of both letters themselves have been lost.
“Surviving over 180 years, the ornate Mulready envelope sealed with a Penny Black revolutionized the way people from all walks of life correspond, exchange ideas, share news, and express themselves,” said Richard Austin, Sotheby’s Global Head of Books & Manuscripts. “At the dawn of the AI age, this remarkable object speaks to our innate human desire for connection and the ways in which it has evolved over two centuries.”
Before the introduction of postage stamps, mail recipients in Britain paid for their mail. Teacher and social reformer Sir Rowland Hill introduced the Penny Black adhesive stamp, bringing standardization to a complex and expensive postal system. The Penny Black features a portrait of Queen Victoria’s head and profile. While the stamp became immensely popular and successful, the Mulready envelope was withdrawn after the public mocked it.
