In 1847 America, it was common for addressees to pay the postage for letters received.
All that changed on July 1, when Congress authorized America's first stamps -- seven years after Great Britain introduced the world's first stamp.
Benjamin Franklin, on the 5¢ issue, was the first person in the world other than a head of state to be on a stamp.
The 10¢ George Washington was issued simultaneously.
Both of these old postage stamps were imperforate.
MORE INFO: On The USA Number 1 - 5¢ Franklin - First U.S. Postage Stamp
On July 1, 1847 Congress authorized our first prepaid postage stamps so that the sender, rather than the recipient, paid for the delivery of the letter.
The 1847 issues had an adhesive backing.
The first U.S. postage stamp featured America's first Postmaster, Benjamin Franklin, who created postal routes, implemented mail wagon service, and worked to maintain an inexpensive rate of postage some 75 years before the first pre-paid stamp.
The original 5¢ rate could be used to transport a standard 1/2 ounce letter up to 300 miles.
the first U.S. postage stamp was produced by the private security printer Rawdon, Wright, Hatch, Edson & Company, who suggested printing the stamp in 2 colors for security reasons; however the government decided that one color was more cost effective.
Surprisingly, the U.S. Post Office would not make pre-paid postage mandatory until 1856.
However, the prepaid adhesive postage stamps were a resounding success.
In 1851 more than 1.2 million postage stamps were sold and the Post Office decided to reduce the cost of mailing a letter a distance less than 500 miles to a single penny.
This reduction from 5¢ to 1¢ led to an astronomical 45-fold increase in volume to 52 million letters in 1852.
MORE INFO: On The USA Number 2 - 10¢ Washington - black
The historic 1847 10 Cent Washington is the Black Pearl of U.S. Philately.
It was released simultaneously with U.S. #1 the 5 Cent Benjamin Franklin but very few of these early stamps survived.
The government had authorized but not required the prepayment of postage at that time.
And, because people were accustomed to sending their mail "collect" (the recipient had to pay the postage) the purchase of prepaid postage stamps was slow to catch on and only a relatively few of these beautiful classic issues remain.
The 10 Cent Washington Issue was designed for a postal destination of 300 miles or more at a time when most generations of families "clustered" around the same or adjacent towns or cities.
Consequently, usage was not high ... and the 10 Cent stamp became considerably more scarce than the 5 Cent Issue.
