First piece of mail sent using Penny Black stamp could be sold for $2.5 mn

The first piece of mail which was sent using a prepaid stamp could fetch between $1.5 million and $2.5 million when it goes up for auction next month at Sotheby's, in New York, according to a report by CNN.

It is poised to become one of the most precious pieces in the postal history to ever be auctioned, Sotheby's said.

Dated May 2, 1840, the mail's original recipient was William Blenkinsop Jr., the then 35-year-old manager of a Victorian iron works in a town in north England.

The auction house said that the sender of the mail posted it from London and paid for the mail with the 'Penny Black' stamp.

The receiver of the mail, William, turned the envelope inside out and changed it to 'Mulready', a cover with images of the British Empire which was considered another method of prepaid payment introduced at the same time as Penny Black stamp.

Sotheby's Global Head of Books & Manuscripts, Richard Austin said, "Surviving over 180 years, the Mulready envelope sealed with the Penny Black revolutionised the way people from all walks of life correspond, exchange ideas, share news and express themselves", as per the publication.

"At the dawn of the AI age, this remarkable object sneaks to our innate human desire for connection and the ways in which it has evolved to new heights in the two centuries since", he added.

According to the publication, the two stamp dates on which it was sent, stay intact on both sides of the mail - May 2 and May 4, 1840.

The idea of Penny Black as the world's first adhesive stamp was envisaged by teacher and social reformer Sir Rowland Hill, to standardise the complex and expensive postal rates.

The idea was successful and adopted worldwide, but Mulready was withdrawn after it was mocked by people.