Penny Black Penny Black The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in Great Britain on 1 May 1840, but was not valid for use until 6 May. It features a profile of Queen Victoria. In 1837, British postal rates were high, complex and anomalous. To simplify matters, Sir Rowland Hill proposed an adhesive stamp to indicate pre-payment of postage. At the time it was normal for the recipient to pay postage on delivery, charged by the sheet and on distance travelled. By contrast, the Penny Black allowed letters of
Penny (unit) nail, the higher the cost per long hundred. The system remained in use in England into the 20th century, but is obsolete there today. The d is an abbreviation for "denarius", a Roman coin similar to a penny; this was the abbreviation for the monetary penny in the United Kingdom before decimalisation. Penny (unit) In the United States, the length of a nail is designated by its penny size, written with a number and the abbreviation d for penny; for example, "10d" for a ten-penny nail. A larger number indicates a longer nail, shown in the table below. Nails under