Commemorative stamp of Queen Victoria, although there are no special inscriptions on the stamps, and they were intended as regular stamps. In 1870 Peru issued a 5¢ scarlet Locomotive and Arms stamp and is regarded as the first commemorative postage stamp, issued to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the first railway in South America. Though the United Kingdom often set the precedent for postage stamps and their designs, they were the late runners with the issue of their first commemorative stamp, not issuing one until 1924 when it printed and released the British Empire Exhibition issue of 1924. Other premier commemorative stamps
First stamp of the Russian Empire green, blue, black, and carmine. However, these stamps were eventually not approved. A new design of the first Russian postage stamp, of rectangular shape, was created by an ESSP's senior engraver Franz (Feodor) Kepler who submitted it for consideration on 21 October 1856. Preparing his stamp sketch, Kepler carefully examined all materials brought by Charukovsky from abroad including the original designs and samples of stamps of different countries. As a prototype for creating the Russian postage stamp, Kepler took a printer's sample stamp made by a Prague firm & Sons that was proposed for the Austrian stamps of rectangular shape.