Postage stamp prepaying. From when the first postage stamps were used, postmarks were applied to prevent the stamps being used again. The first stamp, the "Penny black", became available for purchase 1 May 1840, to be valid as of 6 May 1840. Two days later, 8 May 1840, the Two penny blue was introduced. The Penny black was sufficient for a letter less than half an ounce to be sent anywhere within the UK. Both stamps included an engraving of the young Queen Victoria, without perforations, as the first stamps were separated from their sheets by cutting them with scissors. The first
Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps this tradition, being the first U.S. definitive issue on which no presidential portrait appeared; and presidents played only a minor role in the subsequent Great Americans series. Every U.S. president who was deceased has appeared on at least one U.S. postage stamp, and all but Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford have appeared on at least two. George H. W. Bush, who died November 30, 2018, is the only decesased president to not yet be featured on a U.S. postage stamp. The portrayals of various American presidents made their first appearances on U.S. postage at different times for very different reasons.