Here is an attractive and eye-catching group of six modern MS/stamps, covers and postcards from Surinam, the UK and US bearing images of the iconic Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp. They have some faults, bumps etc., some of it from postal handling.

One of the stamps is a 76p unmounted mint GB issue commemorating the revolutionary introduction of uniform postage in 1840. The other is on a Surinam mini-sheet from 1981 issued to mark the WIPA stamp exhibition in Austria. It is one stamp from the mini-sheet, with the other stamps portraying a classic Austrian stamp and a more modern issue. The mini-sheet is on a piece along with a Surinam bird stamp, probably cut from a large envelope. 

The postcards have striking Penny Black images: one with the classic first French Ceres issue (from the London postal museum), one a rejoined block of 25 (published by Mark Bloxham) and one a large-scale reproduction published by the British Library. This latter card was sent from the US to England and bears two fine and attractive Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollok modern art stamps. 

Finally we have a 1986 FDC of the US stamp collecting issue featuring the work of stamp engravers. The cachet is a large Penny Black, fittingly issued in State College, then home of the American Philatelic Society.

An attractive and varied group of modern Penny Black images.

The postage costs on this item are higher than I would like and, after leaving them unchanged for several years, I have raised them slightly in line with the 2024 postage rates. As these tags are quite thick they cannot go via the basic Royal Mail letter rate. I advise that items costing more than £25 be sent via tracked post and cannot be responsible for such items sent by ordinary post. 

As I have some fixed-price listings anyone who purchases one of my items might want to look there before paying. Additional postage is free for subsequent purchases unless they are too big for my normal very low basic rates. If you are buying more than one item please wait for me to send an invoice so I can combine postage.

When payment for lots won is received by teatime British time (it is usually dished up about 4:30) I normally post the item the next morning. Our village post office is closed on Saturdays, however, so if you pay on Friday the item cannot go out until the following Monday.

Ref 7072