Stamps sold for ten pence to fetch £20k

A LETTER once sent by post for only a few pence almost 200 years ago is expected to fetch a staggering £20,000 at auction next month.

Sent from Inverary to a law firm in Edinburgh, the envelope carries a unique set of stamps auctioneers say may be the only ones in existence.

Addressed to Dickson and Stuart Esquires at 17 India Street, Edinburgh, the sender attached four Two Penny Blue stamps and two Penny Blacks to ensure safe delivery.

It was posted on 28 August, 1840 - only four months after the Penny Black and Two Penny Blue were brought in.

And the item has soared in value over the years, with auction house Spink expecting it to go for between 15,000 and 20,000.

Dominic Savastano, a stamps expert at the auction house, said: "This is an exquisite cover of exhibition standard."

"It is a big rarity to find this combination of stamps on a cover and that is what makes it something very special."

The item has been put under the hammer by current owner, multi-millionaire beef baron Lord Vestey.

The Penny Black, the world's first adhesive postage stamp, went into use in the UK on 1 May, 1840. The Two Penny Blue was brought in a few days later.

The Edinburgh envelope will be auctioned at Spink in Bloomsbury, London, on 9 September.