Rule #6 of Collecting: Follow Rule's #1 & #3 plus look for revolutionary new technological advances in the field.
The Penny Black was the world's first official adhesive stamp.
An original printing press for the Penny Black is on display to the public at the British Library in London.
The Penny Black is not a rare stamp. More than 68 million were printed: the total print run from all plates was 286,700 sheets, (i.e. 68,808,000 stamps) and a substantial proportion of these have survived.[citation needed] This is due mainly to the fact that, in those days, it was not the custom to use envelopes; generally, the letter would be written on one side of a sheet of paper, which would be folded over and sealed and then the address and stamp would be on the reverse of the same sheet. Therefore, if the letter was not thrown away, then the stamp would be saved from destruction too.
Although the Penny Black is readily available on the collectors' market today, because of its significance, it is in great demand by collectors and therefore not cheap; in 2000 a used stamp cost about US$200 (around £110), and an unused stamp about US$3,000 (around £1,600). (By contrast, a used penny red was $3 (£1.50).)
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